Our ability to remember or imagine specific events involves the construction of complex mental representations, a process that engages cortical and hippocampal regions in a core posterior medial (PM) ...brain network. Existing theoretical approaches have described the overarching contributions of the PM network, but less is known about how episodic content is represented and transformed throughout this system. Here, we review evidence of key functional interactions among PM regions and their relation to the core cognitive operations and representations supporting episodic construction. Recent demonstrations of intranetwork functional diversity are integrated with existing accounts to inform a network-based model of episodic construction, in which PM regions flexibly share and manipulate event information to support the variable phenomenology of episodic memory and simulation.
Episodic recollection and simulation increase activity and functional communication of a PM network, a subsystem of the default network.Remembering and imagining specific events is a constructive process that requires the coordination of distinct cognitive operations and representations to integrate features into a coherent mental image.Recent work has started to map constituent aspects of episodic construction, such as the specificity of event features, relational binding within a hierarchical framework, and egocentric perspective, onto distinct brain regions and connections within the PM network.Here, we review recent developments in characterizing PM functioning and synthesize these findings into an integrated network-based model of how episodic information is flexibly represented and transformed through this system.
Nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs are considered the highest-yield sample for diagnostic testing for respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The need to increase capacity for SARS-CoV-2 testing in a ...variety of settings, combined with shortages of sample collection supplies, have motivated a search for alternative sample types with high sensitivity. We systematically reviewed the literature to understand the performance of alternative sample types compared to NP swabs. We systematically searched PubMed, Google Scholar, medRxiv, and bioRxiv (last retrieval 1 October 2020) for comparative studies of alternative specimen types (saliva, oropharyngeal OP, and nasal NS swabs) versus NP swabs for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis using nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT). A logistic-normal random-effects meta-analysis was performed to calculate % positive alternative-specimen, % positive NP, and % dual positives overall and in subgroups. The QUADAS 2 tool was used to assess bias. From 1,253 unique citations, we identified 25 saliva, 11 NS, 6 OP, and 4 OP/NS studies meeting inclusion criteria. Three specimen types captured lower % positives (NS 82%, 95% CI: 73 to 90%, OP 84%, 95% CI: 57 to 100%, and saliva 88%, 95% CI: 81 to 93%) than NP swabs, while combined OP/NS matched NP performance (97%, 95% CI: 90 to 100%). Absence of RNA extraction (saliva) and utilization of a more sensitive NAAT (NS) substantially decreased alternative-specimen yield of positive samples. NP swabs remain the gold standard for diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, although alternative specimens are promising. Much remains unknown about the impact of variations in specimen collection, processing protocols, and population (pediatric versus adult, late versus early in disease course), such that head-to head studies of sampling strategies are urgently needed.
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This article is linked to Al‐Ani et al and Garg et al papers. To view these articles, visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15779 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15796.
Episodic memories reflect a bound representation of multimodal features that can be reinstated with varying precision. Yet little is known about how brain networks involved in memory, including the ...hippocampus and posterior-medial (PM) and anterior-temporal (AT) systems, interact to support the quality and content of recollection. Participants learned color, spatial, and emotion associations of objects, later reconstructing the visual features using a continuous color spectrum and 360-degree panorama scenes. Behaviorally, dependencies in memory were observed for the gist but not precision of event associations. Supporting this integration, hippocampus, AT, and PM regions showed increased connectivity and reduced modularity during retrieval compared to encoding. These inter-network connections tracked a multidimensional, objective measure of memory quality. Moreover, distinct patterns of connectivity tracked item color and spatial memory precision. These findings demonstrate how hippocampal-cortical connections reconfigure during episodic retrieval, and how such dynamic interactions might flexibly support the multidimensional quality of remembered events.
Plants employ highly variable chemical defenses against a broad community of herbivores, which vary in their susceptibilities to specific compounds. Variation in chemical defenses within the plant ...has been found in many species; the ecological and evolutionary influences on this variation, however, are less well-understood. One central theory describing the allocation of defenses in the plant is the Optimal Defense Hypothesis (ODH), which predicts that defenses will be concentrated in tissues that are of high fitness value to the plant. Although the ODH has been repeatedly supported within vegetative tissues, few studies have compared vegetative and reproductive tissues, and the results have not been conclusive. We quantified variation in glucosinolate profile and tissue value between vegetative and reproductive tissues in Boechera stricta, a close relative of Arabidopsis. B. stricta manufactures glucosinolates, a set of defensive compounds that vary genetically and are straightforward to quantify. Genetic diversity in glucosinolate profile has been previously demonstrated to be important to both herbivory and fitness in B. stricta; however, the importance of glucosinolate variation among tissues has not. Here, we investigate whether allocation of glucosinolates within the plant is consistent with the ODH. We used both clipping experiments on endogenous plants and ambient herbivory in a large-scale transplant experiment at three sites to quantify fitness effects of loss of rosette leaves, cauline leaves, and flowers and fruits. We measured glucosinolate concentration in leaves and fruits in the transplant experiment, and asked whether more valuable tissues were more defended. We also investigated within-plant variation in other aspects of the glucosinolate profile. Our results indicated that damage to fruits had a significantly larger effect on overall fitness than damage to leaves, and that fruits had much higher concentrations of glucosinolates, supporting the ODH. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study to explicitly compare both tissue value and chemical defense concentrations between vegetative and reproductive tissues under natural conditions.
The aim of this paper was to examine the early impact of COVID-19 on substance use to assess implications for planning substance use treatment and support systems.
A systematic review of literature ...published up to March 2021 was conducted to summarize changes in prevalence, incidence, and severity of substance use associated with COVID-19 and the accompanying public health measures, including lockdown, stay-at-home orders, and social distancing.
We identified 53 papers describing changes to substance use at the population level. The majority of papers described changes related to alcohol use and most relied on self-reported measures of consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with pre-pandemic use. There was less evidence to support changes in non-alcohol substance use. In general, risky pre-pandemic alcohol use, caregiving responsibilities, stress, depression, anxiety, and current treatment for a mental disorder were found to be associated with increased substance use.
This review provides preliminary data on changes in substance use, indicating that certain segments of the population increased their alcohol use early on in the COVID-19 pandemic and may be at greater risk of harm and in need of additional services. There is a need for additional population-level information on substance use to inform evidence-based rapid responses from a treatment system perspective.
•Segments of the population increased frequency and amount of substance use early in the pandemic.•People who already drank in risky ways before the pandemic were more likely to increase their substance use.•Caregiving, psychosocial distress, anxiety and depression, and poor mental health were associated with greater use.
The increases were strongly correlated with increases in synthetic opioid deaths but not with pharmaceutical fentanyl prescribing rates, suggesting that the increases were largely due to IMF.3 In a ...recent report, fentanyl was detected in at least half of the opioid overdose deaths from July to December 2016 in 7 of the 10 states examined.4 Traditionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others have included synthetic opioid deaths in estimates of "prescription" opioid deaths. Only 4.9% bought opioids from a drug dealer or stranger, and 5.6% reported obtaining them by stealing from a doctor's office, clinic, hospital, or pharmacy or in some other way.5 The National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) multiple causeof-death mortality files record drug overdose deaths, which are identified with the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (1CD-10; Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 1992), according to the underlying cause-of-death codes X40 to X44 (unintentional), X60 to X64 (suicide), X85 (homicide), or Y10 to Y14 (undetermined intent). Death rates under both measures remain alarmingly high. Because of the increasing evidence that deaths involving synthetic opioids are likely a result of IMF, this more conservative approach likely provides a relatively more accurate number of prescription opioid- involved deaths, even though it excludes synthetic opioids that may have been pharmaceutically manufactured and prescribed. Advances in surveillance, such as the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control's State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, which currently funds 32 states and Washington, DC, allow for data abstraction from preliminary death certificates and medical examiner or coroner reports on unintentional and undetermined opioid overdose deaths, with detailed data from death scene investigations and toxicology testing.
Among the myriad of intracellular signaling networks that govern the cardiac development and pathogenesis, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are prominent players that have been the focus of ...extensive investigations in the past decades. The four best characterized MAPK subfamilies, ERK1/2, JNK, p38, and ERK5, are the targets of pharmacological and genetic manipulations to uncover their roles in cardiac development, function, and diseases. However, information reported in the literature from these efforts has not yet resulted in a clear view about the roles of specific MAPK pathways in heart. Rather, controversies from contradictive results have led to a perception that MAPKs are ambiguous characters in heart with both protective and detrimental effects. The primary object of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current progress, in an effort to highlight the areas where consensus is established verses the ones where controversy remains. MAPKs in cardiac development, cardiac hypertrophy, ischemia/reperfusion injury, and pathological remodeling are the main focuses of this review as these represent the most critical issues for evaluating MAPKs as viable targets of therapeutic development. The studies presented in this review will help to reveal the major challenges in the field and the limitations of current approaches and point to a critical need in future studies to gain better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of MAPK function and regulation in the heart.
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