Archive
The gap in life expectancy from preventable physical illness in psychiatric patients in Western Australia: retrospective analysis of population based registers
Source: British Medical Journal
Objective
To examine the mortality experience of psychiatric patients in Western Australia compared with the general population.
Design
Population based study.
Setting
Western Australia, 1985-2005.
Participants
Psychiatric patients (292 585) registered with mental health services in Western Australia.
Main outcome measures
Trends in life expectancy for psychiatric patients compared with the Western Australian population and causes of excess mortality, including physical health conditions and unnatural causes of death.
Results
When using active prevalence of disorder (contact with services in previous five years), the life expectancy gap increased from 13.5 to 15.9 years for males and from 10.4 to 12.0 years for females between 1985 and 2005. Additionally, 77.7% of excess deaths were attributed to physical health conditions, including cardiovascular disease (29.9%) and cancer (13.5%). Suicide was the cause of 13.9% of excess deaths.
Conclusions
Despite knowledge about excess mortality in people with mental illness, the gap in their life expectancy compared with the general population has widened since 1985. With most excess deaths being due to physical health conditions, public efforts should be directed towards improving physical health to reduce mortality in people with mental illness, in addition to ongoing efforts to prevent suicide.
See also: Premature death among people with mental illness (editorial)
The evolution of creationism
Source: GSA Today (Geological Society of America)
For centuries, natural philosophers, their scientific successors, and theologians alike sought to explain the physical and natural world. The now common cultural narrative of perpetual conflict between science and religion simplifies the arguments and struggles of the past and overlooks cross-pollination between those who embraced faith and reason as the keys to understanding earth history. When geologists unequivocally dismissed the idea of a global flood and recognized Earth’s antiquity, many conservative theologians acknowledged that there was more to the past than literally spelled out in Genesis, the opening chapter of the Bible. But some Christians—those we now call creationists—rejected this perspective and chose to see geology as a threat to their faith. In so doing, they abandoned faith in reason and cast off a long-standing theological tradition that rocks don’t lie.
Incidence of Childhood and Adolescent Melanoma in the United States: 1973–2009
Incidence of Childhood and Adolescent Melanoma in the United States: 1973–2009
Source: Pediatrics
OBJECTIVE:
Childhood and adolescent melanoma is rare but has been increasing. To gain insight into possible reasons underlying this observation, we analyzed trends in melanoma incidence diagnosed between the ages of 0 and 19 years among US whites by gender, stage, age at diagnosis, and primary site. We also investigated incidence trends by UV-B exposure levels.
METHODS:
By using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program data (1973–2009), we calculated age-adjusted incidence rates (IRs), annual percent changes, and 95% confidence intervals for each category of interest. Incidence trends were also evaluated by using joinpoint and local regression models. SEER registries were categorized with respect to low or high UV-B radiation exposure.
RESULTS:
From 1973 through 2009, 1230 children of white race were diagnosed with malignant melanoma. Overall, pediatric melanoma increased by an average of 2% per year (95% confidence interval, 1.4%–2.7%). Girls, 15- to 19-year-olds, and individuals with low UV-B exposure had significantly higher IRs than boys, younger children, and those living in SEER registries categorized as high UV-B. Over the study period, boys experienced increased IRs for melanoma on the face and trunk, and females on the lower limbs and hip. The only decreased incidence trend we observed was among 15- to 19-year-olds in the high UV-B exposure group from 1985 through 2009. Local regression curves indicated similar patterns.
CONCLUSIONS:
These results may help elucidate possible risk factors for adolescent melanoma, but additional individual-level studies will be necessary to determine the reasons for increasing incidence trends.
Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature
Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature
Source: Environmental Research Letters
We analyze the evolution of the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, examining 11 944 climate abstracts from 1991–2011 matching the topics ‘global climate change’ or ‘global warming’. We find that 66.4% of abstracts expressed no position on AGW, 32.6% endorsed AGW, 0.7% rejected AGW and 0.3% were uncertain about the cause of global warming. Among abstracts expressing a position on AGW, 97.1% endorsed the consensus position that humans are causing global warming. In a second phase of this study, we invited authors to rate their own papers. Compared to abstract ratings, a smaller percentage of self-rated papers expressed no position on AGW (35.5%). Among self-rated papers expressing a position on AGW, 97.2% endorsed the consensus. For both abstract ratings and authors’ self-ratings, the percentage of endorsements among papers expressing a position on AGW marginally increased over time. Our analysis indicates that the number of papers rejecting the consensus on AGW is a vanishingly small proportion of the published research.
Safety of antidepressants in adults aged under 65: protocol for a cohort study using a large primary care database.
Source: BMC Psychiatry
Background
Antidepressants are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in primary care in England and their use is increasing. This is largely due to longer durations of treatment of depression. Observational studies have shown some differences in adverse outcomes associated with different antidepressant drugs but relatively little is known about their relative safety particularly with long term use. The primary aim of this study is to determine the relative and absolute risks of pre-defined adverse events comparing different classes of antidepressant drugs in adults aged under 65 years and diagnosed with depression.
Methods/design
The study will identify a cohort of patients with a first recorded diagnosis of depression between 1/1/2000 and 31/07/2011, and made between the ages of 20 to 64 years using a large primary care database (QResearch). Patients will be followed up until 1/08/2012. Details of all prescriptions for antidepressants in patients in the cohort will be extracted, including the date of each prescription, the type of antidepressant drug, the dose and total quantity prescribed. Prospectively recorded data will be used to ascertain information on adverse outcomes that occurred during follow-up and after entry into the cohort. These are: all-cause mortality, suicide, attempted suicide/self-harm, sudden death, antidepressant overdose/poisoning, myocardial infarction, stroke/transient ischaemic attack, cardiac arrhythmia, epilepsy/seizures, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, falls, fractures, adverse drug reactions and motor vehicle crashes. Cox proportional hazard models will be used to estimate the association of the outcomes with class of antidepressant drug adjusting for potential confounding variables. The analyses will also examine associations by duration and dose and with the most frequently prescribed individual antidepressant drugs. Self-controlled case series analyses will be used to estimate the relative incidence of the outcomes of interest for defined time periods of antidepressant use.
Discussion
The results of this study will help to establish the relative safety and balance of risks for different antidepressant drugs in people aged under 65.
Typology of persons with severe mental disorders
Typology of persons with severe mental disorders
Source: BMC Psychiatry
Background
Persons with severe mental disorders (PSMD) form a highly heterogeneous group. Identifying subgroups sharing similar PSMD profiles may help to develop treatment plans and appropriate services for their needs. This study seeks to establish a PSMD typology by looking at individual characteristics and the amount and adequacy of help received.
Methods
The study recruited a sample of 352 persons located in south-western Montreal (Quebec, Canada). Cluster analysis was used to create a PSMD typology.
Results
Analysis yielded five clusters: 1. highly functional older women with mood disorders, receiving little help from services; 2. middle-aged men with diverse mental disorders and alcohol abuse, receiving insufficient and inadequate help; 3. middle-aged women with serious needs, mood and personality disorders and suicidal tendencies, living in autonomous apartments, and receiving ample but inadequate help; 4. highly educated younger men with schizophrenia, living in autonomous apartments, and receiving adequate help; and 5. older poorly educated men with schizophrenia, living in supervised apartments, with ample help perceived as adequate. Marked differences were found between men and women, between users diagnosed with schizophrenia and others, and between persons living in supervised or autonomous apartments.
Conclusion
Our study highlights the existence of parallel subgroups among PSMD related to their socio-demographic status, clinical needs and service-use profiles, which could be used to focus more appropriate interventions. For mental health service planning, it demonstrates the relevance of focusing on individuals showing critical needs who are affected by multiple mental disorders (especially when associated with alcohol abuse), and often find help received as less adequate.
The 4 Percent Rule is Not Safe in a Low-Yield World
The 4 Percent Rule is Not Safe in a Low-Yield World
Source: Social Science Research Network
The safety of a 4% initial withdrawal strategy depends on asset return assumptions. Using historical averages to guide simulations for failure rates for retirees spending an inflation-adjusted 4% of retirement date assets over 30 years results in an estimated failure rate of about 6%. This modest projected failure rate rises sharply if real returns decline. As of January 2013, intermediate-term real interest rates are about 4% less than their historical average. Calibrating bond returns to the January 2013 real yields offered on 5-year TIPS, while maintaining the historical equity premium, causes the projected failure rate for retirement account withdrawals to jump to 57%. The 4% rule cannot be treated as a safe initial withdrawal rate in today’s low interest rate environment. Some planners may wish to assume that today’s low interest rates are an aberration and that higher real interest rates will return in the medium-term horizon. Although there is little evidence to support this assumption, we estimate how a reversion to historical real yields will impact failure rates. Because of sequence of returns risk, portfolio withdrawals can cause the events in early retirement to have a disproportionate effect on the sustainability of an income strategy. We simulate failure rates if today’s bond rates return to their historical average after either 5 or 10 years and find that failure rates are much higher (18% and 32%, respectively for a 50% stock allocation) than many retirees may be willing to accept. The success of the 4% rule in the U.S. may be an historical anomaly, and clients may wish to consider their retirement income strategies more broadly than relying solely on systematic withdrawals from a volatile portfolio.
The Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Heat Risk-Related Land Cover in Relation to Residential Segregation
Source: Environmental Health Perspectives
Objective: To examine the distribution of heat risk-related land cover (HRRLC) characteristics across racial/ethnic groups and degrees of residential segregation.
Methods: Block group-level tree canopy and impervious surface estimates were derived from the 2001 National Land Cover Dataset for densely populated urban areas of the United States and Puerto Rico, and linked to demographic characteristics from the 2000 Census. Racial/ethnic groups in a given block group were considered to live in HRRLC if at least half their population experienced the absence of tree canopy and at least half of the ground covered by impervious surface (roofs, driveways, sidewalks, roads). Residential segregation was characterized for metropolitan areas in the United States and Puerto Rico using the multigroup dissimilarity index.
Results: After adjusting for ecoregion and precipitation, and holding segregation level constant, non-Hispanic blacks were 52% more likely (95% confidence interval (CI): 37% to 69%), non-Hispanic Asians 32% more likely (95% CI: 18% to 47%), and Hispanics 21% more likely (95% CI: 8% to 35%) to live in HRRLC conditions compared to non-Hispanic whites. Within each racial/ethnic group, HRRLC conditions increased with increasing degrees of metropolitan area-level segregation. Further adjustment for home ownership and poverty did not substantially alter these results, but adjustment for population density and metropolitan area population attenuated the segregation effects, suggesting a mediating or confounding role.
Conclusions: Land cover was associated with segregation within each racial/ethnic group, which may be partially explained by the concentration of racial/ethnic minorities into densely populated neighborhoods within larger, more segregated cities. In anticipation of greater frequency and duration of extreme heat events, climate change adaptation strategies, such as planting trees in urban areas, should explicitly incorporate an environmental justice framework that addresses racial/ethnic disparities in HRRLC.
See: Racial minorities live on the front lines of heat risk, study finds (EurekAlert!)
Screening for and Treatment of Suicide Risk Relevant to Primary Care: A Systematic Review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Source: Annals of Internet Medicine
Background:
In 2009, suicide accounted for 36 897 deaths in the United States.
Purpose:
To review the accuracy of screening instruments and the efficacy and safety of screening for and treatment of suicide risk in populations and settings relevant to primary care.
Data Sources:
Citations from MEDLINE, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and CINAHL (2002 to 17 July 2012); gray literature; and a surveillance search of MEDLINE for additional screening trials (July to December 2012).
Study Selection:
Fair- or good-quality English-language studies that assessed the accuracy of screening instruments in primary care or similar populations and trials of suicide prevention interventions in primary or mental health care settings.
Data Extraction:
One investigator abstracted data; a second checked the abstraction. Two investigators rated study quality.
Data Synthesis:
Evidence was insufficient to determine the benefits of screening in primary care populations; very limited evidence identified no serious harms. Minimal evidence suggested that screening tools can identify some adults at increased risk for suicide in primary care, but accuracy was lower in studies of older adults. Minimal evidence limited to high-risk populations suggested poor performance of screening instruments in adolescents. Trial evidence showed that psychotherapy reduced suicide attempts in high-risk adults but not adolescents. Most trials were insufficiently powered to detect effects on deaths.
Limitation:
Treatment evidence was derived from high-risk rather than screen-detected populations. Evidence relevant to adolescents, older adults, and racial or ethnic minorities was limited.
Conclusion:
Primary care–feasible screening tools might help to identify some adults at increased risk for suicide but have limited ability to detect suicide risk in adolescents. Psychotherapy may reduce suicide attempts in some high-risk adults, but effective interventions for high-risk adolescents are not yet proven.
Primary Funding Source:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
In a Divorce or Dissolution Who Gets the Pension Rights: Domestic Relations Law and Retirement Plans
In a Divorce or Dissolution Who Gets the Pension Rights: Domestic Relations Law and Retirement Plans
Source: Pepperdine Law Review
When a marriage begins, it is made in heaven and will last "forever." However, when a marriage is legally over there is the rough sundering of dreams and hopes for the future and the need to sort out amongst the former life companions what is legally the property of each. This article will explore the evolving legal process which divides the property rights acquired during marriage in a retirement plan which was, intended to act as a shield against deprivation of the marriage partners in their mutually shared old age.
Helmet legislation and admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries in Canadian provinces and territories: interrupted time series analysis
Source: British Medical Journal
Objective
To investigate the association between helmet legislation and admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries among young people and adults in Canada.Design
Interrupted time series analysis using data from the National Trauma Registry Minimum Data Set.Setting
Canadian provinces and territories; between 1994 and 2003, six of 10 provinces implemented helmet legislation.
Participants
All admissions (n=66 716) to acute care hospitals in Canada owing to cycling related injury between 1994 and 2008.Main outcome measure
Rate of admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries before and after the implementation of provincial helmet legislation.Results
Between 1994 and 2008, 66 716 hospital admissions were for cycling related injuries in Canada. Between 1994 and 2003, the rate of head injuries among young people decreased by 54.0% (95% confidence interval 48.2% to 59.8%) in provinces with helmet legislation compared with 33.1% (23.3% to 42.9%) in provinces and territories without legislation. Among adults, the rate of head injuries decreased by 26.0% (16.0% to 36.3%) in provinces with legislation but remained constant in provinces and territories without legislation. After taking baseline trends into consideration, however, we were unable to detect an independent effect of legislation on the rate of hospital admissions for cycling related head injuries.Conclusions
Reductions in the rates of admissions to hospital for cycling related head injuries were greater in provinces with helmet legislation, but injury rates were already decreasing before the implementation of legislation and the rate of decline was not appreciably altered on introduction of legislation. While helmets reduce the risk of head injuries and we encourage their use, in the Canadian context of existing safety campaigns, improvements to the cycling infrastructure, and the passive uptake of helmets, the incremental contribution of provincial helmet legislation to reduce hospital admissions for head injuries seems to have been minimal.
See: Benefit of Cycle Helmet Laws to Reduce Head Injuries Still Uncertain (Science Daily)
Roxarsone, Inorganic Arsenic, and Other Arsenic Species in Chicken: A U.S.-Based Market Basket Sample
Source: Environmental Health Perspectives
Background: Arsenic-based drugs are permitted in poultry production. Inorganic arsenic (iAs) causes cancer and maybe other adverse health outcomes. The contribution of chicken consumption to iAs intake, however, is unknown.
Objectives: To characterize arsenic species profile in chicken meat and estimate bladder and lung cancer risk associated with consuming chicken produced with arsenic-based drugs.
Methods: Conventional, conventional antibiotic-free, and organic chicken samples were collected from grocery stores in ten US metropolitan areas from December 2010 to June 2011. 116 raw and 142 cooked samples were tested for total arsenic, and 78 samples ≥10µg/kg dry weight underwent speciation.
Results: Total arsenic geometric mean (GM) in cooked chicken meat samples was 3.0 µg/kg (95% CI: 2.5, 3.6). Among 78 cooked samples that were speciated, iAs concentrations were higher in conventional samples (GM = 1.8 µg/kg; 95% CI: 1.4, 2.3) than antibiotic-free (GM = 0.7 µg/kg; 95% CI: 0.5, 1.0) or organic (GM = 0.6 µg/kg; 95% CI: 0.5, 0.8) samples. Roxarsone was detected in 20 of 40 conventional samples, one of 13 antibiotic-free samples, and none of the 25 organic samples. iAs concentrations in roxarsone-positive samples (GM = 2.3 µg/kg; 95% CI: 1.7, 3.1) were significantly higher than in roxarsone-negative samples (GM = 0.8 µg/kg; 95% CI: 0.7, 1.0). Cooking increased iAs and decreased roxarsone concentrations. Compared to organic chicken consumers, we estimated that conventional chicken consumers would ingest an additional 0.11µg/day iAs (in an 82g serving). Assuming lifetime exposure and a proposed cancer slope factor of 25.7 (mg kgBW-1 day-1)-1, this could result in 3.7 extra lifetime bladder and lung cancer cases per 100,000 exposed-persons.
Conclusions: Conventional chicken meat had higher iAs concentrations than conventional antibiotic-free and organic chicken meat samples. Cessation of arsenical drug use could reduce exposure and the burden of arsenic-related disease in chicken consumers.
How Business Fares in the Supreme Court
How Business Fares in the Supreme Court (PDF)
Source: Minnesota Law Review
The Article is organized as follows. Part I describes the databases we use to study the Court’s business decisions. Part II uses these databases to study the pattern over time of the Court’s pro- and anti-business decisions, the ideological implications of the pattern, and, related to ideology, the correlation between coding decisions as conservative or liberal and coding them as business wins or business loses. Part III analyzes the voting behavior of the individual Justices, as distinct from the Court’s actual decisions. We rank the Justices in terms of how favorable or unfavorable they are toward business, and relate each Justice’s leaning for or against business to his preappointment ideology, the lower-court decision in the cases the Justice voted on, the federal government’s participation in the case, and the filing of amicus curiae briefs for or against business. The conclusion summarizes our findings.
More Is More or More Is Less? Parental Financial Investments during College
More Is More or More Is Less? Parental Financial Investments during College
Source: American Sociological Review
Evidence shows that parental financial investments increase college attendance, but we know little about how these investments shape postsecondary achievement. Two theoretical frameworks suggest diametric conclusions. Some studies operate from a more-is-more perspective in which children use calculated parental allocations to make academic progress. In contrast, a more-is-less perspective, rooted in a different model of rational behavior, suggests that parental investments create a disincentive for student achievement. I adjudicate between these frameworks, using data from nationally representative postsecondary datasets to determine what effect financial parental investments have on student GPA and degree completion. The findings suggest seemingly contradictory processes. Parental aid decreases student GPA, but it increases the odds of graduating—net of explanatory variables and accounting for alternative funding. Rather than strategically using resources in accordance with parental goals, or maximizing on their ability to avoid academic work, students are satisficing: they meet the criteria for adequacy on multiple fronts, rather than optimizing their chances for a particular outcome. As a result, students with parental funding often perform well enough to stay in school but dial down their academic efforts. I conclude by highlighting the importance of life stage and institutional context for parental investment.
‘Globesization’: ecological evidence on the relationship between fast food outlets and obesity among 26 advanced economies
‘Globesization’: ecological evidence on the relationship between fast food outlets and obesity among 26 advanced economies
Source: Critical Public Health
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the density of fast food restaurants and the prevalence of obesity by gender across affluent nations. Data on Subway’s restaurants per 100,000 people and proportions of men and women aged 15 years or older with a body mass index higher or equal than 30 kg/m2 were obtained for 26 of 34 advanced economies. Countries with the highest density of Subway restaurants such as the USA (7.52 per 100,000) and Canada (7.43 per 100,000) also tend to have a higher prevalence of obesity in both men (31.3% and 23.2%, respectively) and women (33.2% and 22.9%, respectively). On the other hand, countries with a relatively low density of Subway restaurants such as Japan (0.13 per 100,000) and Norway (0.19 per 100,000) had a lower prevalence of obesity in both men (2.9% and 6.4%, respectively) and women (3.3% and 5.9%, respectively). Unadjusted linear regression models showed a significant correlation between the density of Subway’s outlets and the prevalence of adult obesity (β = 0.46; p = 0.02 in men and β = 0.48; p = 0.013 in women). When the data were weighted by population size, the associations became substantially stronger in both men and women (β = 0.85; p = 0.0001 and β = 0.84; p = 0.0001, respectively). Covariate adjustment did not reduce the size of the associations. Our study raises serious concerns about the diffusion of fast food outlets worldwide and calls for coordinated political actions to address what we term ‘globesization’, the ongoing globalization of the obesity epidemic.
The Great Recession and Its Implications for Community Policing
The Great Recession and Its Implications for Community Policing
Source: Georgia State University Law Review
During the last twenty years, community policing has been the dominant approach to local law enforcement. Community policing is based, in part, on the broken windows theory of public safety. The broken windows theory suggests a link between low-level crime and violent crime — that is, if minor offenses are allowed to pervade a community, they will lead to a proliferation of crime and, ultimately, a community plagued by violent crime. To maintain a perception of community orderliness, many local governments adopted “order maintenance” laws — such as panhandling ordinances and anti-homeless statutes. This emphasis on cracking down on such low-level offenses brought with it an increase in the needs and costs of policing, prosecutions, jails, social services, and other related resources.
When the economy was flourishing, local governments were able to pay for the time- and resource-intensive broken windows approach to community policing. The Great Recession, however, has forced localities to think critically about whether they can sustain these practices given budget cuts. This Article analyzes the effects that the downturn in the economy has had on public safety budgets and the changes that many local governments have made, and are continuing to make, to adjust to decreasing revenue and resources. This Article will also explore proposed changes to the current criminal justice and social service systems that seek cost-effective approaches to deliver the same level of public safety to which communities are accustomed. In particular, this Article will assess and evaluate evidence-based decision-making — an emerging trend in some criminal justice systems — as part of an evolving trend driven by the effects of the Great Recession, but also stemming out of community policing. Finally, this Article will use Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, as an example of an evidence-based decision-making approach and explain how it can fulfill the public safety goals of the broken windows theory of community policing while creating a framework that provides for “smart” decision-making that accounts for the financial realities that most cities face.
The effect of physicians’ body weight on patient attitudes: implications for physician selection, trust and ad herence to medical advice
Source: International Journal of Obesity
Background:
Research has documented negative stigma by health providers toward overweight and obese patients, but it is unknown whether physicians themselves are vulnerable to weight bias from patients.
Purpose:
This study assessed public perceptions of normal weight, overweight or obese physicians to identify how physicians’ body weight affects patients’ selection, trust and willingness to follow the medical advice of providers.
Methods:
An online sample of 358 adults were randomly assigned to one of three survey conditions in which they completed a questionnaire assessing their perceptions of physicians who were described as normal weight, overweight or obese. Participants also completed a measure of explicit weight bias (Fat Phobia Scale) to determine whether antifat attitudes are associated with weight-related perceptions of physicians.
Results:
Respondents reported more mistrust of physicians who are overweight or obese, were less inclined to follow their medical advice, and were more likely to change providers if the physician was perceived to be overweight or obese, compared to normal-weight physicians who elicited significantly more favorable reactions. These weight biases remained present regardless of participants’ own body weight. Inspection of interaction effects revealed opposing effects of weight bias between the obese/overweight and normal-weight physician conditions. Stronger weight bias led to higher trust, more compassion, more inclination to follow advice, and less inclination to change doctors when the physician was presented as normal weight. In contrast, stronger weight bias led to less trust, less compassion, less inclination to follow advice and higher inclination to change doctors when the physician was presented as obese.
Conclusions:
This study suggests that providers perceived to be overweight or obese may be vulnerable to biased attitudes from patients, and that providers’ excess weight may negatively affect patients’ perceptions of their credibility, level of trust and inclination to follow medical advice.
Different Types of Laughter Modulate Connectivity within Distinct Parts of the Laughter Perception Network
Different Types of Laughter Modulate Connectivity within Distinct Parts of the Laughter Perception Network
Source: PLoS ONE
Laughter is an ancient signal of social communication among humans and non-human primates. Laughter types with complex social functions (e.g., taunt and joy) presumably evolved from the unequivocal and reflex-like social bonding signal of tickling laughter already present in non-human primates. Here, we investigated the modulations of cerebral connectivity associated with different laughter types as well as the effects of attention shifts between implicit and explicit processing of social information conveyed by laughter using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Complex social laughter types and tickling laughter were found to modulate connectivity in two distinguishable but partially overlapping parts of the laughter perception network irrespective of task instructions. Connectivity changes, presumably related to the higher acoustic complexity of tickling laughter, occurred between areas in the prefrontal cortex and the auditory association cortex, potentially reflecting higher demands on acoustic analysis associated with increased information load on auditory attention, working memory, evaluation and response selection processes. In contrast, the higher degree of socio-relational information in complex social laughter types was linked to increases of connectivity between auditory association cortices, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and brain areas associated with mentalizing as well as areas in the visual associative cortex. These modulations might reflect automatic analysis of acoustic features, attention direction to informative aspects of the laughter signal and the retention of those in working memory during evaluation processes. These processes may be associated with visual imagery supporting the formation of inferences on the intentions of our social counterparts. Here, the right dorsolateral precentral cortex appears as a network node potentially linking the functions of auditory and visual associative sensory cortices with those of the mentalizing-associated anterior mediofrontal cortex during the decoding of social information in laughter.
See: Laughter perception networks in brain different for mocking, joyful or ticklish laughter (EurekAlert!)
A Multi-Platform Draft de novo Genome Assembly and Comparative Analysis for the Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao)
Source: PLoS ONE
This Whole Genome Shotgun project has been deposited at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession AMXX00000000 (SMACv1.0, unscaffolded genome assembly). The version described in this paper is the first version (AMXX01000000). The scaffolded assembly (SMACv1.1) has been deposited at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the accession AOUJ00000000, and is also the first version (AOUJ01000000). Strong biological interest in traits such as the acquisition and utilization of speech, cognitive abilities, and longevity catalyzed the utilization of two next-generation sequencing platforms to provide the first-draft de novo genome assembly for the large, new world parrot Ara macao (Scarlet Macaw). Despite the challenges associated with genome assembly for an outbred avian species, including 951,507 high-quality putative single nucleotide polymorphisms, the final genome assembly (>1.035 Gb) includes more than 997 Mb of unambiguous sequence data (excluding N’s). Cytogenetic analyses including ZooFISH revealed complex rearrangements associated with two scarlet macaw macrochromosomes (AMA6, AMA7), which supports the hypothesis that translocations, fusions, and intragenomic rearrangements are key factors associated with karyotype evolution among parrots. In silico annotation of the scarlet macaw genome provided robust evidence for 14,405 nuclear gene annotation models, their predicted transcripts and proteins, and a complete mitochondrial genome. Comparative analyses involving the scarlet macaw, chicken, and zebra finch genomes revealed high levels of nucleotide-based conservation as well as evidence for overall genome stability among the three highly divergent species. Application of a new whole-genome analysis of divergence involving all three species yielded prioritized candidate genes and noncoding regions for parrot traits of interest (i.e., speech, intelligence, longevity) which were independently supported by the results of previous human GWAS studies. We also observed evidence for genes and noncoding loci that displayed extreme conservation across the three avian lineages, thereby reflecting their likely biological and developmental importance among birds.
Waiting to Vote in 2012
Waiting to Vote in 2012
Source: Journal of Law and Politics, Forthcoming (via SSRN)
This article provides an empirical grounding into the patterns of long lines, focusing on the 2012 presidential election and utilizing a unique public opinion survey. I show that two-thirds of voters in 2012 waited less than 10 minutes to vote, and that only 3% of voters waited longer than an hour. I show that there was considerable variation in line length, as a function of geography and race. Consistent with news reports, Florida’s voters waited the longest to vote in 2012, nearly 40 minutes on average, while Vermont’s voters waited less than two minutes. Urban voters waited longer than rural voters, early voters waited longer than Election Day voters, and African American and Hispanic voters waited longer than whites.
I also show that lines were nothing new in 2012. The states whose residents waited the longest to vote in 2012 also waited the longest in 2008. This fact cautions against blaming long wait times in the most recent presidential election primarily on factors specific to 2012.
