Children’s ability to share attention with another person (i.e., achieve joint attention) is critical for learning about their environments in general1–3 and supporting language and object word ...learning in particular.1,4–14 While joint attention (JA) as it pertains to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often more narrowly operationalized as arising from eye gaze or explicit pointing cues alone,2,5,10,15–19 recent evidence demonstrates that JA in natural environments can be achieved more broadly through multiple other pathways beyond gaze and gestures.2,4,20–31 Here, we use dual head-mounted eye tracking to examine pathways into and characteristics of JA episodes during free-flowing parent-child toy play, comparing children with ASD to typically developing (TD) children. Moments of JA were defined objectively as both the child's and parent’s gaze directed to the same object at the same time. Consistent with previous work in TD children,4,21,25,30–32 we found that both TD and ASD children rarely look at their parent’s face in this unstructured free play context. Nevertheless, both groups achieved similarly high rates of JA that far exceeded chance, suggesting the use of alternative pathways into JA. We characterize these alternate pathways, find they occur at similar levels across both groups, and achieve similar ends: namely, for both groups, targets of JA are named more frequently by parents in those moments than non-jointly attended objects. These findings broaden the conceptualization of JA abilities and impairment in ASD and raise questions regarding the mechanistic role of the face-gaze-mediated JA pathway in ASD.
•ASD children engage in joint attention at frequent and typical levels during toy play•Like TD dyads, ASD dyads follow hands (rather than eyes) to establish joint attention•In both groups, parents name toys more frequently during moments of joint attention•These results raise questions about the meaning of joint attention deficits in ASD
Using head-mounted eye tracking, Yurkovic-Harding et al. find that children with ASD engage in joint attention at frequent and typical levels during toy play with parents. Joint attention is achieved via typical behavioral pathways (hand- rather than gaze-following). This work raises questions about the meaning of joint attention deficits in ASD.
Cyclodextrins (CDs) have been previously shown to display modest equilibrium binding affinities (K
~ 100-200 M
) for the synthetic opioid analgesic fentanyl. In this work, we describe the synthesis ...of new CDs possessing extended thioalkylcarboxyl or thioalkylhydroxyl moieties and assess their binding affinity towards fentanyl hydrochloride. The optimal CD studied displays a remarkable affinity for the opioid of K
= 66,500 M
, the largest value reported for such an inclusion complex to date. One dimensional
H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) as well as Rotational Frame Overhauser Spectroscopy (2D-ROESY) experiments supported by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggest an unexpected binding behavior, with fentanyl able to bind the CD interior in one of two distinct orientations. Binding energies derived from the MD simulations work correlate strongly with NMR-derived affinities highlighting its utility as a predictive tool for CD candidate optimization. The performance of these host molecules portends their utility as platforms for medical countermeasures for opioid exposure, as biosensors, and in other forensic science applications.
•We examined ecosystem diel hysteresis using eddy-covariance data.•Significant lower GPP and higher ET are found in the afternoon.•This afternoon GPP drop is mostly explained by a decrease in light ...use efficiency and changes of incoming PAR.•The drop in light use efficiency can be related to plant hydraulics and afternoon impact on stomatal regulation.
Diurnal environmental variations can be dynamically strong (driven by solar radiation) and can lead to hysteretic plant responses. The diurnal hysteresis patterns of ecosystem fluxes and meteorological variables are important to understand the relations and interactions between vegetation and its surrounding environment. To provide new insights on hysteresis at the ecosystem scale, we systematically evaluated the differences in ecosystem fluxes between morning (time of day before the highest potential shortwave incoming) and afternoon (time of day after the highest potential shortwave incoming), as well as both biotic and abiotic driving mechanisms, using half-hourly and hourly data from 82 eddy-covariance sites in the FLUXNET2015 Tier 1 dataset. Results show that gross primary production (GPP) is slightly higher in the morning for most plant functional types (PFTs), with less water stress, yet with higher, compensating, CO2 concentration. Conversely, evapotranspiration (ET) is larger in the afternoon, with higher atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and a tendency for decreased stomatal opening, in response to daytime boundary layer warming and drying. The higher ET reduces the afternoon increase of the leaf-scale VPD compared to the atmospheric VPD. A GPP decomposition analysis suggests that changes in light use efficiency (LUE) are the main factor explaining the difference in GPP between the morning and afternoon. Additionally, simulations from an ecosystem conductance model show that plant responses to VPD are higher and interactions with the atmosphere are stronger in the afternoon. Both evaluations of LUE and responses to VPD along a soil-plant-atmosphere continuum model suggest a systematic drop in leaf water potential in the afternoon affecting ecosystem stress responses. Accordingly, the hysteresis effects ultimately result in daytime variations in ET and GPP, through changes in ecosystem conductance coupled to the atmosphere.
Lost in the cacophony surrounding the debate about high drug prices is the fundamental principle that pharmaceutical innovation will not occur without the prospect of outsized returns enabled through ...market exclusivity. Biopharmaceutical patents are currently under siege, subject to challenge both in inter partes review ("IPR") proceedings and in Hatch-Waxman actions. These twin assaults threaten to eliminate the incentives necessary for biotechnological innovation-particularly for discoveries made upstream in the innovation pipeline-thus imperiling the development of new drug therapies. But a fascinating solution has emerged: invoking tribal immunity to shield pharmaceutical patents from IPR before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB"). This serves two critically important objectives: promoting tribal self-sufficiency, and encouraging investment in life-saving and life-improving new drugs. Contractual partnerships between Native American tribes and pharmaceutical companies not only provide the tribes with a steady stream of royalty revenue, but also insulate biopharmaceutical patents from challenge in IPR proceedings through the invocation of long-established principles of tribal sovereign immunity. This Note is the first piece of scholarship to comprehensively analyze, and advocate for, the right to invoke tribal sovereign immunity in IPR proceedings.
Multimodal exploration of objects during toy play is important for a child's development and is suggested to be abnormal in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to either atypical ...attention or atypical action. However, little is known about how children with ASD coordinate their visual attention and manual actions during toy play. The current study aims to understand if and in what ways children with ASD generate exploratory behaviors to toys in natural, unconstrained contexts by utilizing head-mounted eye tracking to quantify moment-by-moment attention. We found no differences in how 24- to 48-mo children with and without ASD distribute their visual attention, generate manual action, or coordinate their visual and manual behaviors during toy play with a parent. Our findings suggest an intact ability and willingness of children with ASD to explore toys and suggest that context is important when studying child behavior.
Objective. To determine the extent to which pharmacy faculty engaged in remote work during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and, secondarily, to characterize pharmacy faculty and ...administrator perceptions of remote work.
Methods. A 28-question online survey was sent to 6548 members of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). Questions centered on the extent of remote work and perceptions of its impact on productivity, effectiveness, and work-life balance. Focus groups were held to provide additional insight, and data were analyzed statistically.
Results. In total, 6322 AACP members met inclusion criteria, of whom 1293 responded to the survey (21% response rate). At least one faculty member responded from 139 schools (99% response rate), and at least one administrator responded from 126 schools (89% response rate). During the pandemic, 97% of faculty were permitted to work remotely, 94% of whom did so at least some of the time. Most faculty indicated no change or an improvement in productivity (85%) and effectiveness (80%). Similarly, most administrators indicated no change or an increase in their unit’s productivity (81%) and effectiveness (85%). More than half of respondents indicated better work-life balance while working remotely.
Conclusion. Nearly all respondents were permitted to work remotely at least some of the time during the pandemic. Considering that most faculty and administrators believe productivity and effectiveness were not compromised and that there appear to be benefits to work-life balance, schools of pharmacy in the United States should consider permitting faculty to work remotely some of the time as we navigate the pandemic and thereafter.
Abstract
Objectives
Theory of mind—the ability to infer others’ mental states—declines over the life span, potentially due to cognitive decline. However, it is unclear whether deficits emerge because ...older adults use the same strategies as young adults, albeit less effectively, or use different or no strategies. The current study compared the similarity of older adults’ theory of mind errors to young adults’ and a random model.
Methods
One hundred twenty older adults (MAge = 74.68 years; 64 female) and 111 young adults (MAge = 19.1; 61 female) completed a novel theory of mind task (clips from an episode of the sitcom The Office®), and a standard measure of cognitive function (Logical Memory II). Monte Carlo resampling estimated the likelihood that older adults’ error patterns were more similar to young adults’ or a random distribution.
Results
Age deficits emerged on the theory of mind task. Poorer performance was associated with less similarity to young adults’ response patterns. Overall, older adults’ response patterns were ~2.7 million times more likely to match young adults’ than a random model. Critically, one fourth of older adults’ errors were more similar to the random distribution. Poorer memory ability contributed to this relationship.
Discussion
Age deficits in theory of mind performance may be driven by a subset of older adults and be related to disparities in strategy use. A certain amount of cognitive ability may be necessary for older adults to engage similar strategies to young adults’ during theory of mind.
SM is a patient with complete bilateral amygdala lesions who fails to fixate the eyes in faces and is consequently impaired in recognizing fear (Adolphs et al., 2005). Here we first replicated ...earlier findings in SM of reduced gaze to the eyes when seen in whole faces. Examination of the time course of fixations revealed that SM's reduced eye contact is particular pronounced in the first fixation to the face, and less abnormal in subsequent fixations. In a second set of experiments, we used a gaze-contingent presentation of faces with real time eye tracking, wherein only a small region of the face is made visible at the center of gaze. In essence, viewers explore the face by moving a small searchlight over the face with their gaze. Under such viewing conditions, SM's fixations to eye region of faces became entirely normalized. We suggest that this effect arises from the absence of bottom-up effects due to the facial features, allowing gaze location to be driven entirely by top-down control. Together with SM's failure to fixate the eyes in whole faces primarily at the very first saccade, the findings suggest that the saliency of the eyes normally attract our gaze in an amygdala-dependent manner. Impaired eye gaze is also a prominent feature of several psychiatric illnesses in which the amygdala has been hypothesized to be dysfunctional, and our findings and experimental manipulation may hold promise for interventions in such populations, including autism and fragile X syndrome.
Connectome fingerprinting—a method that uses many thousands of functional connections in aggregate to identify individuals—holds promise for individualized neuroimaging. A better characterization of ...the features underlying successful fingerprinting performance—how many and which functional connections are necessary and/or sufficient for high accuracy—will further inform our understanding of uniqueness in brain functioning. Thus, here we examine the limits of high-accuracy individual identification from functional connectomes. Using ∼3,300 scans from the Human Connectome Project in a split-half design and an independent replication sample, we find that a remarkably small “thin slice” of the connectome—as few as 40 out of 64,620 functional connections—was sufficient to uniquely identify individuals. Yet, we find that no specific connections or even specific networks were necessary for identification, as even small random samples of the connectome were sufficient. These results have important conceptual and practical implications for the manifestation and detection of uniqueness in the brain.
Patterns of functional connectivity are so distinct between different people that they can be used to predict individual identity with high accuracy. Here, we show that a strikingly small fraction of the functional connectome is actually needed to predict individual identity (as few as 40 functional connections from 64,620). We further show that although certain functional connections may be most informative, even small fractions of the connectome selected at random can be used to identify individuals, and that no specific connections or even networks are actually necessary. The results indicate that uniquely identifying signatures of brain functioning are widely distributed throughout the brain and can be detected in a much more compact manner than previously appreciated.
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