311 Matching Annotations
  1. Oct 2023
    1. e

      Visual representations of auditory-driven visual percepts observed by participants as per their descriptions/drawings. Depictions are consistent with Kluver form constants.

    2. d

      Proportion of trials in which participants observed visual percepts for louder (70 dB) and softer (60 dB) beep trials for experiment 2. Auditory-driven visual percepts were significantly more likely to occur following a loud sound than following a soft sound (**).

    3. c

      Proportion of trials in which participants observed visual percepts as spatially aligned, spatially misaligned, or spatially undefined with the location of the sound for experiment 2. Auditory percepts were significantly more likely to occur at the spatial location of the sound (***).

    4. Consistent with these reports,we found no differences in the frequency of these percepts between the first and second half of the experiment (Z = 0.085, p = .932,r = 0.013).
    5. We additionally examined whether the frequency of these experiences varied throughout the experiment to clarify additionalelements of this phenomenon.
    6. Participants demonstrated a significantly higher frequency of visual percepts onbeep trials (Z = 1.992, p = .046, r = 0.307; Fig. 1A), consistent with our suggestion that startling tones presented in the context ofmild visual deprivation can lead to auditory-visual percepts.
    7. b

      Proportion of trials in which participants observed visual percepts for trials that involved a beep and trials that did not involve a beep for experiment 2. Participants demonstrated significantly more visual percepts in response to beep trials than in response to non-beep trials (***).

    8. a

      Proportion of trials in which participants observed visual percepts for trials that involved a beep and trials that did not involve a beep for experiment 1. Participants demonstrated significantly more visual percepts in response to beep trials than in response to non-beep trials (*).

    9. Fig. 1.

      Experiments 1 and 2 results.

  2. Sep 2023
    1. Characteristic path length (CPL)

      Broadly refers to how efficiently information is transferred within a neural network of the brain. Important for measuring and analyzing brain connectivity patterns.

    2. transitivity

      Broadly refers to how interconnected or organized a neural network of the brain is. Important for understanding the structure and function of neural networks.

    3. PLV

      Phase-locking value. A statistical measure of the extent to which oscillatory activity in different brain networks is synchronized, for the purpose of determining how interconnected those brain networks are.

    4. Figure 2.

      Characteristic path length (CPL) and transitivity of consciousness and nonconsciousness based on phase-locking values.

    5. Table 1.

      TMS-induced and TMS-evoked spectral power in frontal and parietal regions did not significantly differ between consciousness and nonconsciousness in any bands.

    6. Figure 1.

      Phase-locking value was significantly higher for states of nonconsciousness than for states of consciousness in the delta and theta bands. It was also significantly higher for states of consciousness than for states of nonconsciousness in the alpha and beta bands.

  3. Aug 2023
    1. What if, early in the morning on Election Day in 2016, Mark Zuckerberg had used Facebook to broadcast “go-out-and-vote” reminders just to supporters of Hillary Clinton? Extrapolating from Facebook’s own published data, that might have given Mrs. Clinton a boost of 450,000 votes or more, with no one but Mr. Zuckerberg and a few cronies knowing about the manipulation.
      • for: Hiliary Clinton could have won, voting, democracy, voting - social media, democracy - social media, election - social media, facebook - election, 2016 US elections, 2016 Trump election, 2016 US election, 2016 US election - different results, 2016 election - social media
      • interesting fact
        • If Facebook had sent a "Go out and vote" message on election day of 2016 election, Clinton may have had a boost of 450,000 additional votes
          • and the outcome of the election might have been different
  4. Jul 2023
  5. Feb 2023
    1. Table 3

      The first table depicts mean percentages for participants' descriptions of "what [was] going on inside of [them]" that triggered them to return to substance use after a drug-free period of one month or longer. The most common responses were "lonely, bored" (31%) and "craved, wanted to use" (31%).

      The second table depicts mean percentages for participants' descriptions of "what happened in the outside world (social situation, event)" that triggered them to return to substance use after a drug free period of one month or longer. The most common responses were "temptations" (28%) and "stress/responsibilities" (28%).

    2. Table 2

      The first table depicts mean percentages for participants' stated reasons as to why they stopped using drugs. The most common reason participants gave for no longer using was "wanted a better life/tired of drugs" (54%).

      The second table depicts mean percentages for participants' stated methods for stopping drug use. The most commonly cited methods by participants were "12-step/self-help groups" (45%), "treatment" (34%), and "cold turkey/willpower" (30%).

    3. Table 1

      The first table depicts mean percentages for each substance (alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, tranquilizers, other pills, or other drugs) participants mentioned (first mention or any mention) when asked the question "at the time when you first started, what did you use?" Most used substances, regardless of whether first mentioned or mentioned at all, were alcohol and marijuana.

      The second table depicts mean percentages for the most commonly cited reasons (wanted to fit in with peers, family member/caretaker used, emotional/mental issues, fun/experiment/curiosity, problems at home or school, traumatic, stressful event, wanted to drink/use) participants started using by diagnosis (total, schizophrenia, bipolar, or depression). Overall, the highest percentage of participants said they started using to fit in with peers.

    1. Table 3

      Table depicting means (with standard deviations) of proband relatives (full siblings, half siblings, and parents) with various substance use problems (any problem, substance use disorder, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, crime, death, or somatic disease). Also depicts univariate (crude) analyses of the odds ratios (with CIs) for these substance related problems overall, in the presence of a proband with ASD alone, in the presence of a proband with ASD and comorbid ADHD, in the presence of a proband with ASD and comorbid ID, and in the presence of a proband with ASD and comorbid ADHD and ID. Many of the univariate analyses of the odds ratios were statistically significant, meaning that many substance-related problems are significantly likely to occur in relatives of probands with ASD and other comorbid disorders.

    2. Table 2

      Table depicting univariate (crude) and multivariate (adjusted for parental age, region of birth, education, and family income) analyses of the odds ratios (with CIs) for various substance use related problems in the presence of ASD comorbid with other conditions (none, ADHD, ID, and ADHD and ID). Univariate and multivariate analyses of the odds ratios were statistically significant for many substance-related problems in the presence ASD by itself, ASD comorbid with ID, and ASD comorbid with ADHD And ID, and for all substance-related problems in the presence of ASD comorbid with ADHD. This means that substance related problems are equally and significantly likely to co-occur in individuals with ASD alone, ASD comorbid with ID, and ASD comorbid with ADHD. They are also more and significantly likely to co occur in individuals in individuals with comorbid ASD and ADHD.

    3. Table 1

      Table depicting the means (with standard deviations) of patients (ASD and non-ASD) with various substance related problems (any problem, substance use disorder, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, crime, somatic disease, or death). Also depicts univariate (crude) and multivariate (adjusted for parental age, region of birth, education, and family income) analyses of the odds ratios (with CIs) for these substance related problems in the presence of ASD. Almost all of the univariate and multivariate analyses of the odds ratios were statistically significant, meaning that almost all of the substance related problems are significantly likely to co-occur with ASD.

    Tags

    Annotators

  6. Dec 2022
  7. Nov 2022
    1. BAX has been shown to translocate to lysosomes where it is suggested to trigger LMP and cell death under different pathophysiological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, oxidative stress, and autophagic cell death (35–37). To assess BAX translocation to the lysosomal membrane and its colocalization with RECS1, we detected active BAX using the 6A7 conformational antibody. Analysis of RECS1 (using the Flag antibody) and the distribution of the lysosomal protein LAMP-2 in MEFs indicated that under basal conditions (no RECS1), BAX remained mainly cytosolic (fig. S4H). However, BAX colocalized with RECS1 in LAMP-2–positive vesicles following RECS1 induction (Fig. 3, E to G). After CQ treatment, BAX was redistributed into large LAMP-2–positive vesicles, an effect that was dependent on RECS1 expression (Fig. 3E). Active BAX was present preferentially in Flag-RECS1–positive lysosomes in cells treated with CQ (Fig. 3, F and G). Together, these results suggest that RECS1 induces cell death through LMP in response to lysosomal stress, correlating with the translocation of BAX to lysosomes

      Overexpression of RECS1 in CQ-stressed cells causes LMP and translocation of BAX to the lysosome, which induces cell death. BAX is a proapoptotic protein.

  8. Sep 2022
    1. The process involved in creating something is at least as important as the outcome. The process needs to embody the values that need to embody the result.

      A process has its own value, is its own intervention. Esp in complex enviro where outcomes are unplannable, rather are observed and then attenuated or amplified. [[Waarde van proces versus uitkomst 20031208161249]] If a result does not embody the values of the process, or the process does not hold the values intended in the result it demeans both.

  9. Aug 2022
    1. This analysisrevealed the predicted three-way interaction, b 5 0.80, F(1, 126)5 6.10, p < .02.

      Replicated the finding that minority group individuals with high race-based rejection anxiety having friendships with majority-group peers increased university satisfaction. Additionally, minority group individuals with high race-based rejection anxiety are overall less satisfied with the university than minority group individuals with low race-based rejection anxiety.

    2. The model for university satisfaction revealed a significant in-teraction between number of majority-group friends and RS-race, b 5 0.46, F(1, 34) 5 7.19, p 5 .01.

      Minority group individuals with high race-based rejection anxiety having friendships with majority-group peers decreased dissatisfaction at their university.

    3. The analysis for belonging revealed a significant main effect ofRS-race, b 5 0.25, F(1, 34) 5 6.17, p < .02.

      minority group individuals with high race-based rejection anxiety having friendships with majority-group peers decreased lack of belonging.

  10. Apr 2022
    1. Jason Abaluck. (2021, November 1). It is sad. @DrJBhattarcharya is the worst example I have personally seen of someone who was previously a scholar but who now engages in repeated misrepresentation of scientific results to serve a partisan agenda. [Tweet]. @Jabaluck. https://twitter.com/Jabaluck/status/1455312783789240320

  11. Mar 2022
    1. Such results suggest that the act of gesturing doesn’t just help communicatespatial concepts to others; it also helps the gesturer herself understand theconcepts more fully. Indeed, without gesture as an aid, students may fail tounderstand spatial ideas at all

      Could the pedagogy of using gestures to understand "strike and dip" in geology also be applied to using the right hand rule in better understanding electricity and magnetism? Would research on this idea show similar results as in geology? This could be an interesting way of testing this result in another area.

    1. Here, we show that youth whoexperienced prior institutionalization, but not comparison youth, recruit the hippocampus during aversive learning. Amongyouth who experienced prior institutionalization, individual differences in aversive learning were associated with worse currentanxiety. However, connectivity between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex prospectively predicted significant improve-ments in anxiety 2 years following scanning for previously institutionalized youth.

      .

  12. Feb 2022
  13. sakai.washjeff.edu sakai.washjeff.edu
    1. Among the recreation treatments, fast cy-cling caused the beetles to fly off the trails 25 times,which was significantly more (p = 0.014) than slowcycling (15 times) and hiking (14 times). Effects of

      Result Statistics

    2. All recreation treatments (hiking, slow cycling, and fastcycling) caused the beetles to fly off the trail significantlymore than no recreation

      Resuults

    3. Fast cycling caused thebeetles to fly off the trail more often and to fly farther than slow cycling or hiking. Slow cycling and hikingdid not differ in their effect on the number of times and distance the beetles flew off the trail. Recreationists’knowledge of the beetle led to increased stated compliance with regulations, and this stated compliance islikely to have tangible conservation outcomes for the beetle.

      Summary of results

  14. Jan 2022
    1. 83.2%

      Quite impressive results imo, SOTA!

    2. high accuracy of at least 95% on their test sets.

      Ah nice!

  15. Sep 2021
    1. After ablation, we observed a 95% reduction in time spent exploring the open arm of the EPM and a 57% increase in duration of the immobility time in the FST

      These findings validate the effectiveness of TH-IR ablation by 6-OHDA, as a decrease in time spent in the open arm of the EPM is associated with increased anxiety, and an increase in immobility time in the FST is associated with a depressed state. These results are not surprising as it is expected that a halt in the synthesis of dopamine (the feel-good transmitter) would increase anxiety and depression.

    2. Long-day exposure produced the opposite effects

      For rats, nocturnal mammals, increased photoperiod exposure is a stressor. Consequently, in both the EPM and FST, rats exhibit more depressive/anxious behaviors following long photoperiod exposure. In the EPM test, these rats spend less time in the open arm, and in the FST, they give up swimming and become almost immobile much sooner than the control group. For the short-day exposure group, the rats have more open arm activity, and in the FST persevere for longer, indicating reduced anxiety relative to the control group.

    3. Assays of CRF in the CSF and corticosterone in the plasma confirmed this to be the case (Fig. 4D).

      Panel D of Figure 4 shows that CSF levels of CRF and plasma levels of corticosterone significantly decrease following short photoperiod exposure. In panel B, short photoperiod exposure results in elevated coexpression of D2R and SST2/4R. These findings support the hypothesis that increased coexpression of D2R and SST2/4R has inhibitory effects on CRF neurons of the third ventricle.

    4. These results demonstrate that transmitter respecification is not achieved by translation from preexisting transcripts and involves de novo induction of TH or SST mRNA

      The experimenters' measurements of mRNA expression are used to determine whether transmitter respecification is resulting from new transcription or preexisting transcription. If transmitter respecification is resulting from preexisting transcripts, TH and SST mRNA would already be present in the cytosol and only following exposure to a certain photoperiod condition, translational machinery would translate that existing mRNA. Thus, if the source is preexisting mRNA, then we should not observe TH and SST mRNA counts follow numbers of TH and SST neurons, and instead mRNA levels should be unchanged. The fact that the experimenters are observing that mRNA levels follow TH and SST neuron count demonstrates that the photoperiod exposure condition is inducing de novo transcription, rather than direct translation of preexisting transcripts.

    5. Newly expressing TH-IR neurons induced through short-day photoperiod exposure coexpressed additional dopaminergic markers (3), VMAT2 (fig. S6), and the dopamine transporter, DAT (fig. S7).

      Because one role of VMAT2 is to package dopamine from the cytosol into synaptic vesicles for their release from the neuron, VMAT2 serves as a marker for the presence of dopamine. In addition to VMAT2 expression, the expression of the dopamine transporter, DAT, was also observed. Altogether, these findings serve as evidence that the newly expressed TH-IR neurons, induced by short-day photoperiod exposure, are indeed synthesizing dopamine.

    6. The number of intracellular SST-IR storage vesicles depended on photoperiod light-cycle duration

      Panel D is consistent with the findings in Panel B and Panel C, which also demonstrate an increase in SST expression following increase day exposure.

    7. The 43% increase and 96% decrease in TH-IR/SST-IR coexpression after short- and long-day exposure, in contrast to the balanced photoperiod, suggest that TH-IR and SST-IR neurons are recruited from a reserve pool of cells (23) that are switching transmitters

      In response to the photoperiod exposure condition, the circuit activity changes such that the neurons of the reserve pool are switching transmitters. The researchers believe that the TH-IR and SST-IR neurons are coming from this reserve pool of cells based on their finding that short-day exposure led to an increase in the recruitment of TH-IR neurons and diminishment of SST-IR neurons, while long-day exposure had the opposite effect.

    8. Double immunofluorescence revealed that different photoperiods changed the balance of dopamine and SST coexpression in neurons in the PaVN and PeVN

      The experimenters performed immunostaining for both dopamine and SST expression. Panel B depicts immunofluorescence of these transmitters in the PaVN. The first of the three images depicts the results from long day exposure; under this condition, there is an abundance of red representing an increase of SST expression and very little green indicating that there is a decrease in dopamine expression. Under short day exposure (third image), the opposite is true.

    9. TH expression did not differ from controls exposed to the 12L:12D photoperiod for 2 weeks

      Finding that the TH-IR neuron counts are reversible upon application of opposite photoperiod treatment is further evidence that sensory stimuli can induce neuroplastic changes in the already mature brain.

    10. No significant BrdU labeling was detected in the LPO, PaVN, or PeVN

      BrdU labeling did not result in significant amounts of active poliferating cells; this is an initial indication that inverse SST and dopamine expression is not due to neurogenesis.

    11. Week-long exposure to each of the different photoperiods failed to produce changes in numbers of TH-IR neurons in an adjacent nucleus, A13 (Fig. 1E and fig. S2B), which does not receive retinal input via the SCN

      In order for the dopamine alterations to be induced by changes in light exposure duration, the dopaminergic neurons must be able to receive retinal input, as is the case with the dopaminergic neurons in the hypothalmic nuclei, innervated by the retino-hypothalmic projection. If the neurotransmitter respecificaiton is indeed due to the photoperiod treatment, dopamine production at an adjacent dopamine source, which does not receive retinal input via the SCN, should be unaffected.

    12. Circadian fluctuations do not account for changes produced by different photoperiods.

      Within the three photoperiods, 19L:5D, 5L:19D, and 12L:12D, the number of TH-IR neurons are similar. Because there is a consensus within each photoperiod, this is indicating that circadian fluctuations are not contributing to neurotransmitter respecificaiton.

    13. FFN511 generated fluorescent signals in hypothalamic slices from brains of animals exposed to each of the three photoperiods. Fluorescence decreased upon KCl depolarization

      In panel C, before KCl depolarization, there is observable fluorescent signals from FFN511, indicating dopamine uptake. Upon KCl depolarization, the fluorescence is diminished; this is indicative of dopamine release. The results of panel C are consistent with panel A and B in that during the long day light condition (19 hours light, 5 hours darkness), the fluorescence signal is the lowest, which means less dopamine being taken up.

    14. Dopamine is colocalized with TH in the PaVN after exposure to each of the photoperiods. n = 5 animals for each photoperiod.

      Panel B: The fact that in all three photoperiod conditions, dopamine is colocalized with TH validates the use of TH as a marker of dopamine synthesis.

    15. Natural stimulation of other sensory modalities may cause changes in transmitter expression that regulate different behaviors.

      The researchers found that neurotransmitters are not actually fixed upon maturation, but are, in actuality, dynamic and can be affected by sensory stimuli such as longer or shorter photoperiods. Changes in transmitter expression result in behavioral changes as well. Thus, follow up research can explore what other sensory stimuli can change transmitter expression and also examine the corresponding behaviors that are regulated by those transmitters.

    16. Induction of newly dopaminergic neurons through exposure to the short-day photoperiod rescued the behavioral consequences of lesions.

      Shortening the length of daylight the rats are exposed to induced the formation of new dopaminergic neurons and thereby restored the rats' previous (normal) behaviors, i.e., the rats no longer displayed anxious and depressed behaviors.

    17. Pharmacological blockade or ablation of these dopaminergic neurons led to anxious and depressed behavior, phenocopying performance after exposure to the long-day photoperiod

      Using drugs to prevent dopamine production resulted in anxious and depressed behaviors by the rats; these same behaviors were also observed following extended day length exposure.

    18. Changes in postsynaptic dopamine receptor expression matched changes in presynaptic dopamine, whereas somatostatin receptor expression remained constant.

      When more of the neurotransmitter dopamine is produced, there is also an increase in the postsynaptic dopamine receptor. Likewise, when less dopamine is produced, it follows that there is a decreased expression of dopamine receptors. However, for somatostatin, this was not the case. Regardless of whether somatostatin production is increased or decreased, the somatostatin receptor expression is unchanged.

    1. The initial interviews and many of the second in- terviews were taped and transcribed. Later interviews were treated differently - we took notes during the interview and then wrote, immediately afterward, to the b

      Produced texts - verbatim or from memory. No transcription, rather, playback of tapes to listen for major and common themes.

    Tags

    Annotators

  16. Aug 2021
    1. We found that populations of interneurons in the adult rat hypothalamus switched between dopamine and somatostatin expression in response to exposure to short- and long-day photoperiods.

      Altering the amount of time that a rat is exposed to light in a day leads to changes in the type of neurotransmitters being expressed by a set interneurons located in the hypothalamus. When the rat's daily light exposure is restricted to a shorter time frame, those interneurons favor dopamine expression. In contrast, longer daily periods of light exposure results in those same interneurons favoring somatostatin expression.

  17. Jul 2021
  18. Jun 2021
  19. May 2021
  20. Apr 2021
    1. Bleuler defined schizophrenia with his four ‘A’s’, referring to the blunted Affect (diminished emotional response to stimuli); loosening of Associations (by which he meant a disordered pattern of thought, inferring a cognitive deficit), Ambivalence (an apparent inability to make decisions, again suggesting a deficit of the integration and processing of incident and retrieved information) and Autism (a loss of awareness of external events, and a preoccupation with the self and one’s own thoughts)

      I stumbled upon this accidentally. I was going to add to my prediction that schizophrenia might be related to autism, but now that I've found this I need to publish my draft.


      Edit: Here was the prediction I wrote. Copied unmodified, ensuring transparency.

      March 28, 6:15pm Prediction: Some cases of schizophrenia are being misdiagnosed as autism. I recently took a Coursera.org course on schizophrenia. The negative symptoms look similar to some autism symptoms.

      Before I look it up, there are a few other predictions I should make. Do I think schizophrenia and autism will be linked? If there’s cross-diagnosis, will this link be artificial or real? Last time I looked, people with aspergers had (more or less) normal sleep EEGs. In contrast, schizophrenia is associated with disrupted sleep spindles. I already know that schizophrenia and bipolar are genetically linked, but I don’t know what the bipolar sleep EEG looks like. That is to say, I don’t know if the lack of sleep abnormality in autism is evidence against a link to schizophrenia. All in all, I predict that there will be a real link (for example, genetic), but I have a low confidence in this prediction. The reason is that I expect there is little EEG sleep changes in bipolar, implying that there is a supra-mechanism causing all these effects; somewhat like metabolic syndrome, the same cause may manifest in different ways.

    1. Using this data, a large international team was able to pinpoint 114 specific loci – locations in the human genome – that contribute to risk of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and four genome regions that contribute to differences in the biology of the two disorders.

      This is exactly what I expected. In fact, I would have been extremely surprised if this weren't the case. I just google "schizophrenia bipolar genes" expecting this result.

      I had the thought a few minutes ago, and google it right away. This means that I wasn't able to write it down as a prediction. Nonetheless, I think this points in favor of my prediction abilities. My confidence was inordinately high (i.e. on the order of 90%) even before collecting any evidence. Compare that to other high confidence beliefs (e.g. CFS is caused partly by blood volume), for which I have confidence on the order of 95%, but I have good evidence for that belief. Thus, this instance provides data that my confidence meter is reliable. I'll continue to make an effort to write down predictions ahead of time (to eliminate publication bias).

      There are several reasons I suspected this would be the case. Firstly, personal subjective experience; that's what gave me the first inkling. Secondly, the connection of mania with long periods of sleeplessness. If the sleep deprivation causes the mania, then bipolar may be a sleep disorder. This is backed up by the sleep deprivation therapy for depression. Additionally, the connection of depression to sleep disturbance implies that sleep may also be causal in low mood. Furthermore, given that schizophrenia is associated with disrupted sleep spindles, it follows that the two sleep disorders, namely schizophrenia and bipolar, may be closely related genetically (via sleep regulating genes). Moreover, I knew that schizophrenia and bipolar were two of the most heritable psychological conditions; given that both are highly genetic and both involve sleep, it follows that they would likely be closely linked. Finally, I know mania can be associated with delusions, so there are several symptom crossovers. All in all, it is highly surprising that I have not seen this discussed before. Neither documentaries on schizophrenia nor documentaries on manic depression/bipolar have mentioned a link. Nor have studies I've read (admittedly few on this particular topic) mentioned anything of the sort. I shall have to look through the literature to see if this idea has been around for long.

  21. Mar 2021
    1. Inevitably, most of these new entrants get wiped out over a decade or two and their market share goes down into the single digits (often zero). The end result is that the market often resembles one of two possible situations:
    1. (A) Optical image of the undeformed device (left) and the FEA model for simulation (right). Optical images and max principal strain contours of the multifunctional wearable electronics being uniaxially stretched by 60% along vertical direction (B), along horizontal direction (C), and being biaxially stretched by 30% (D). (E) ECG data of the same device under different deformation modes. Photo credit: Chuanqian Shi, University of Colorado, Boulder.

      (A) Model of the device without any stress/strain (left) and Finite element analysis model of the wearable device, not deformed (right). The model to the right exhibits the components inside the device. (B-C) The model shown being stretched 60%, vertically and horizontally respectively, show the maximum strain of the chip being 0.01%. This is much less than the normal failure strain for silicon (1%). (D) This figure shows the FMEA model being stretched 30% vertically and horizontally. The maximum strain in the chip components is below 0.004%. (E) Figure shows sensing performance of device when being stretched using an ECG. No significant effects from the mechanical stretching where evident in the results.

  22. Feb 2021
    1. (A) Schematic illustration of the fabrication processes of the multifunctional wearable electronics. (B) Motion tracking performance with the multifunctional device worn on the wrist. (C) Indoor and outdoor body temperatures acquired using the wearable electronics mounted on the forehead (top) and comparison of measured indoor body temperatures when the wearable electronics is mounted at different locations (bottom). (D) Acoustic data acquired using the wearable electronics mounted on the neck. (E) ECG data acquired using the wearable electronics when the participant is at rest (top), and after exercising for 13 s (middle) and 34 s (bottom). Photo credit: Chuanqian Shi, University of Colorado, Boulder.

      (A) Step-by-step process of each layer of the device to allow multiple functionalities and wearability. (B) Amplitude vs. Time graph of sensor worn on the wrist to measure motion when walking, running, jumping. (C) Thermal sensor can read forehead, abdomen, and hand temperature on skin when indoor and outdoor over time. (D) The acoustic sensor is placed on the neck to measure the amplitude (vibration) characteristics of the vocal chords to serve as a human-machine interface. (E) The electrocardiogram sensor measures heart activity while resting, after exercising for 13 seconds and then after 34 seconds. The heart rate resulted in 72, 96, and 114 per minute, respectively.

    2. (A) Schematic illustration of a multifunctional wearable electronic system mounted on the hand, which integrates ECG, acoustic, motion, and temperature sensing capabilities. (B) Exploded view of the multifunctional wearable electronics. (C) Optical images of the multifunctional device being crumpled on the skin, bended, twisted, and stretched. (D) Schematic illustration of the dynamic covalent thermoset polyimine: polymerization and depolymerization and bond exchange reaction induced bond breaking and reforming. (E) Schematic illustration of self-healing and recycling of the multifunctional wearable electronics.

      The sensing components of the device being worn on the hand are ECG, acoustic, motion, and temperature sensors. It incorporates an electrocardiogram to measure heart activity using amplifiers and resistors to calculate the voltage versus time using electrodes placed on the skin. Assembling the sensors with EGaIn alloy to connect the sensor electronics and polyimine films allows the device to possess its’ flexibility and stretchability. Using polyimine allows for the breaking and reforming of bonds to allow self-healing, and polymerization and depolymerization to recycle the product.

  23. Jan 2021
    1. We observed that for genes subject to XCI, a general increase in methylation on the Xi occurs at gene promoters. In comparison, genes escaping XCI show higher levels of methylation within gene bodies on both the Xa and Xi, but reduced promoter methylation only on the Xi.

      They found that there were higher levels of DNA methylation in the promoters of genes that underwent XCI on the Xi. Escapee genes, by contrast, have less promoter methylation on Xiin their promoters o the Xi, but an increase in methylation within gene bodies.

  24. Dec 2020
    1. The overall picture emerging from these studies indicates that UG is indeed opera- tive in child L2 grammars. However, it is not fully clear whether knowledge of UG is available to child L2 learners directly or through the mediation of the LI. The findings thus far suggest that we cannot entirely rule out the influence of the LI in child L2 acquis

      In the conclusion, there is basically more confirmation of the idea that young children are innately tuned to any language that they hear, but not many findings that indicate if the L1 plays a major role in something like this.

  25. Nov 2020
  26. Oct 2020
    1. Weber notes that according to any economic theory that posited man as a rational profit-maximizer, raising the piece-work rate should increase labor productivity. But in fact, in many traditional peasant communities, raising the piece-work rate actually had the opposite effect of lowering labor productivity: at the higher rate, a peasant accustomed to earning two and one-half marks per day found he could earn the same amount by working less, and did so because he valued leisure more than income. The choices of leisure over income, or of the militaristic life of the Spartan hoplite over the wealth of the Athenian trader, or even the ascetic life of the early capitalist entrepreneur over that of a traditional leisured aristocrat, cannot possibly be explained by the impersonal working of material forces,

      Science could learn something from this. Science is too far focused on the idealized positive outcomes that it isn't paying attention to the negative outcomes and using that to better define its outline or overall shape. We need to define a scientific opportunity cost and apply it to the negative side of research to better understand and define what we're searching for.

      Of course, how can we define a new scientific method (or amend/extend it) to better take into account negative results--particularly in an age when so many results aren't even reproducible?

  27. Sep 2020
    1. The impact of global warming on population health is a growing concern. Solar energy workers often work in very hot weather; where OSHA supports that there exist some hazards attempting to the health and safety of the workforce. Among the heat-related effects defined as a consequence of exposures to hot environments are, dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and death. In order to ensure the safety of the solar workforce, the present study aims to provide with relevant information that could contribute to the development or improvement of safety procedures.The research paper briefly outlines the relation between sunny environments, heat load, heat-related occupational and safety, natural hazards, and climate change conditions. Followed by the description of the assessment method and safety limits. The assessment of levels of heat stress was based on a

      direct relation of results to health (not necessarily worker productivity however)

  28. Aug 2020
    1. The results suggest that at best, our combination of leaderboards, badges, and competition mechanics do not improve educationaloutcomes and at worst can harm motivation, satisfaction, and empowerment. Further, in decreasing intrinsic motivation, it can affectstudents'final exam scores.

      lowering intrinsic motivation can be harmful to course outcomes.

    2. The results show that course type directly affects intrinsic motivation (apath), where those in the gamified group have lower intrinsic motivation scores,a¼.30, 95% CI [.60,.01], and that higher intrinsicmotivation leads to higher scores on thefinal exam regardless of condition,b¼4.59; 95% CI [.41, 8.77]. However, there is no direct effect forcondition onfinal exam score when holding intrinsic motivation constant,c¼2.15; 95% CI [3.20, 7.50]. Despite a lack of evidence for adirect effect, it is still possible that course type affectsfinal exam scores indirectly via intrinsic motivation.

      intrinsic motivation is tied to course performance. But course type is not significant when intrinsic motivation is held constant.

    3. The interaction effect was significant,F(1.71,110.82)¼5.60,p¼.007, partialh2¼.08.Participants did not differ at Time 1, Time 2, or Time 3 in learner empowerment for the control group. For the leaderboard group, learnerempowerment dropped significantly at Time 2. At Time 3, it remained unchanged, though was no longer significantly lower than the controlcondition.H5was partially supported

      learner empowerment didn't really change from end to beginning.

    4. Although participants did not differ at Time 1, at Time 2 motivation for the control group escalated significantly and wasmaintained at Time 3. For the leaderboard group, motivation dropped significantly at Time 2. At Time 3, it remained unchanged and was stillsignificantly lower than the control condition.H2was supported.

      those participating in the gamified course decreased in intrinsic motivation and maintained this decrease over time

    5. predicted that over time, effort in the gamified course would be lower than the non-gamified course. The Mauchly's test was notsignificant. Video game use was not a significant covariate. Time was a significant factor,F(2,132)¼28.92,p<.001, partialh2¼.31. For bothconditions, effort increased significantly at each time point. Condition was not a significant factor,F(1, 66)¼.10,p¼.75, partialh2<.01. Theinteraction effect was not significant,F(2, 132)¼1.36,p¼.27, partialh2¼.02.H4was not supported.

      effort increased for both groups, but there was no difference between the two,

    6. Students in the gamified condition were not significantly different from those in the control group atTime 1 or Time 2, though they scored marginally significantly higher than the control group on social comparison at Time 3,F(1, 70)¼3.62,p¼.06, partialh2¼.05. Thus,H1was partially supported.
    7. The effect of course typeon students'final exam scores was mediated by students' levels of intrinsic motivation, with students inthe gamified course showing less motivation and lowerfinal exam scores than the non-gamified class.This suggests that some care should be taken when applying certain gamification mechanics to educa-tional settings

      Gamification might work against intrinsic motivation

  29. Jul 2020
    1. Results indicated that condition significantlypredicted number of uses generated,F(4, 235)¼16.62,p<.001,partialh2¼.220. Pairwise comparisons revealed that the leader-board condition (M¼37.52) significantly outperformed the do-your-best (M¼23.84) and easy goal conditions (M¼22.10),

      interesting that the difficult condition pushed people the same as the leaderboard.

  30. Jun 2020
    1. pattern of conflict modulation during one correct response is 489 orthogonal to the pattern during another correct response

      i.e. it is not a 'general boosting' effect -> only on average the activity of neurons can still increase, but it is all about upregulating the relevant neurons for this correct response

    2. higher when Ericksen conflict was present (Figure 2A)

      Yeah, in single neurons you can show the detection of general conflict this way, and it was not partitionable into different responses...

    3. with Ericksen conflict than it was for trials without Ericksen

      what about simon?

      This does mean: Conflict increases representation shifting response toward correct action!

    4. AUC

      This axis has more predictive power when there is conflict than when there is no conflict (task is already so easy that the information is not needed, or at least a lot less?)

    5. amplification hypothesis, conversely, does not predict a unified conflict 341 detection axis in the population. Instead, it makes a prediction that is exactly contrary to 342 the epiphenomenal view: that conflict should shift population activity along task-variable 343 coding dimensions, but in the opposite direction. That is, conflict is predicted to amplify 344 task-relevant neural responses

      conflict means more control will be exterted. Heavier representation of whatever info it is that dACC encodes that 'pushes' for the correct action. This function of dACC would be in line with the context layer!?

    6. At the population level, then, the epiphenomenon hypothesis330 predicts that conflict should decrease the amount of information about the correct response 331 and shift neuronal population activity down along the axis in firing rate space that encodes 332 this response

      Because less % of neurons 'fighting' for the correct response are active, at least in total.

    7. Neurons that were tuned for a specific correct response were 298 often tuned to prefer the same Simon/Ericksen distractor response

      DLPFC is tuned to action-outcomes? -> in single neurons!

    8. neurons did not encode the distractor response

      So on trials with a unique distractor response, that action-outcome was not represented at all? It's interesting but then where does the actual conflict take place?

    9. significant 270 proportion of neurons were selective for the correct response

      So desired action-outcome is represented. I think that was already known about dACC.

    10. Furthermore, the population of cells whose responses were significantly 244 affected by Eriksen conflict was almost entirely non-overlapping with the population 245 significantly affected by Simon conflict (specifically, only one cell was significantly 246 modulated by both)

      Really separate representations for different aspects of the current task-set?

    11. additive model was a better fit to the data than other, more 205 flexible models

      So separate statistical significance testing shows effect for Eriksen, not for Simon, but regression model shows through model comparison that it's best to ascribe to them the same effect...

    12. (n=15/145) neurons had significantly different firing rates between Simon and no-196 (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted March 15, 2020. . https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.14.991745doi: bioRxiv preprint

      No significant main effect but more single cells had a significant effect...? -> also directionality is not all positive, some positive some negative

    13. A small number of individual 187 neurons also had different activity levels on Eriksen conflict and no conflict trials (8.2%, 188 n=12/145 neurons, within-cell t-test)

      Note the difference between 'averaged over all neurons' (first report) or 'within one specific neuron' (this report)

    14. activity was higher on Ericksen conflict 185 trials than on no conflict trials

      for Eriksen flankers there is a main effect of conflict (vs no-conflict). Simon was not statistically significant. Was it mainly a power issue?

    15. 4917.0 (1) 5826.5 (1)*

      Additive model is the winner in single cell firing rates -> coding simply for the notion of conflict? cf. the population coding from dimensionality reduction!

    16. Subtracting this expectation from the observed pattern 723 of activity left the residual activity that could not be explained by the linear co-activation 724 of task and distractor conditions

      So this is what to analyze: If this still covaries with conflict in some way it means we go beyond epiphenomenal?

  31. May 2020
  32. Apr 2020
  33. Feb 2020
    1. Someone who took the afternoon off shouldn't feel like they did something wrong. You don't have to defend how you spend your day. We trust team members to do the right thing instead of having rigid rules. Do not incite competition by proclaiming how many hours you worked yesterday. If you are working too many hours talk to your manager to discuss solutions.
    1. Hence, predator behaviour may aim to maximize foraging success based on both prey behaviour and the physiological processes that can influence behaviour of prey (i.e. metabolic rates).

      The original hypothesis that shark behavior would be solely tied to their own temperature (most active when warm and resting when cool, or some other binary relationship) is revised in light of the more nuanced pattern that the researchers observed in the data.

      Here, the authors present a new hypothesis that also includes the temperature and behavior of prey, pointing out that the sharks may be most active when the temperature gap between predator and prey is the largest due to their differences in thermal inertia. When the shark is cooling, the fish upon which it preys will have cooled down even more, reducing their ability to escape from the still relatively warm shark.

  34. Nov 2019
    1. To avoid the pursuit of unproductive paths, we report here what has not worked in our hands, as well as our progress developing a method to screen the most efficient electroporation parameters for optimal DNA delivery into Prochlorococcus cells

      negative results

  35. Sep 2019
    1. Results

      Results == Findings.

      I am aware that this section contains some statistical technique you did not learn in the course. Try to read the authors' descriptions, nonetheless, and see if you can make sense out of it. If the authors did their job, you should be able to understand their findings even if you might not appreciate the intricacies of their methodological choices.

      Please identify and highlight the key findings of this research.

  36. Apr 2019
  37. Mar 2019
    1. From this data, it can be concluded that cholesterol concentration in the diet group was statistically significantly higher than the exercise group (U = 110, p = .014). Depending on the size of your groups, SPSS Statistics will produce both exact and asymptotic statistical significance levels. Understanding which one to use is explained in our enhanced guide.

      Phrasing results for the Mann-Whitney U-test.

    1. This is one of many discussions of Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation. More of the page is taken up with decoration and graphics than needs to be the case but this page is included in this list because it offers a printable guide and because the hierarchy of the four levels is clearly shown. The text itself is printed in black on a white background and it is presented as a bulleted list (the bullets are not organized as well as they could be). Nonetheless it is a usable presentation of this model. rating 3/5

  38. Dec 2018
    1. larger fish have greater thermal inertia and increased cardiac capacity

      Thermal inertia is the ability of a body or object to maintain its temperature when ambient temperature changes. Larger objects have higher thermal inertia, so larger fish lose heat more slowly than smaller fish. Larger fish also have larger hearts, which can pump more blood.

    2. The largest size-based differences in energy intake were also observed in October (Fig. 6 and table S3), indicating that thermal niche expansion in this endothermic species results in high energetic reward.

      The increased temperature range allowed the tuna to forage and obtain energy more efficiently.

    3. Lower energy intake was observed during late summer (August and September), when bluefin tuna are moving up through the Southern California Bight (28° to 32°N).

      Lower energy intake during migrations.

  39. Nov 2018
    1. SurveyMonkey

      SurveyMonkey is a FREE survey platform that allows for the collection of responses from targeted individuals that can be easily collected and used to create reports and quantify results. SurveyMonkey can be delivered via email, mobile, chat, web and social media. The platform is easy to use and can be used as an add on for large CRMs such as Salesforce. There are over 100 templates and the ability to develop customized templates to suit your needs. www.surveymonkey.com

      RATING: 5/5 (rating based upon a score system 1 to 5, 1= lowest 5=highest in terms of content, veracity, easiness of use etc.)

  40. Aug 2018
    1. The patterns for Q. kelloggii are more complex.
      1. Still fewer teeth in warmer climates.
      2. Larger leaves in warmer climates.
      3. Correlations are stronger with elevation.
      4. No correlation of leaf traits to MAP
    2. There are many significant correlations in A. rubrum between MAT and leaf physiognomy
      1. Colder climates more teeth, larger teeth.
      2. Colder leaves are larger.
      3. MAP and leaf physiogony are weakly correlated.
  41. Jun 2018
  42. Mar 2018
    1. Con-servative strategies (15) serve individual careerswell but are less effective for science as a whole.Such strategies are amplified by the file drawerproblem (16): Negative results, at odds withestablished hypotheses, are rarely published,leadingto a systemic bias in published researchand the canonization of weak and sometimesfalse facts (17). More risky hypotheses may havebeen tested by generations of scientists, but onlythose successful enough to result in publicationsare known to us.

      cc @Lepou

  43. Dec 2017
    1. Table 1

      mtDNA CO1 is a gene found within the mitochondria, it is used to measure the genetic difference between organisms. A higher mean indicates a larger difference between two organisms, which is indicative of being a different species. (JP)

    2. Fig. 2

      In general, this graph illustrates that as genetic distance between species increases (this is measured by Nei's D) then mtDNA divergence increases as well. Overall, compatibility between two different organisms will be less if they have high mtDNA divergence and a high Nei's D value. (JP)

    3. All the shrimps we studied are shallow water, fully marine forms with planktonic larvae.

      Main subjects studied. Planktonic larva is significant in this study because larva shrimp would migrate to different regions of the Isthmus of Panama which may be a significant contributor to speciation events ~J.D.A. (+ JP)

    4. 4.4 to 6.1 (P5-CS), 4.0 to 6.3 (P6-C6), and 6.8 to 9.1 (P7-C7) Ma

      mtDNA traced pairs back to million years ago. ~J.D.A.

    5. Even the least divergent pairs show substantial reproductive isolation

      Species so closely related showed two differ clutches. Isolation could've been geographical, though nothing that could completely cut them off from each other since they are similar. If anything, this could infer that they could've been selective in mating, or aggressive in behavior to even mate, thus preventing creation of offspring between them. ~J.D.A

    6. The null hypothesis, that isolation was simultaneous but rates of divergence are highly variable, is incompatible with the observed pattern because metabolic enzymes, mtDNA, and mate recognition share no mechanistic basis that would cause their divergence rates to be automatically associated.

      Basically, the null is rejected because it contradicts the observed data. The null states that isolation occurred around at the same time, but the observed data shows divergence indicators such as metabolic enzymes, mtDNA, and mate recognition, all of which are not associated at a single mechanistic basis required for concurrent divergence. ~S.Z.

    7. However, they do show some distributional differences that could affect sensitivity to changing conditions associated with gradual rise of the isthmus.

      The physical location of the shrimp could effect the divergence associated with the gradual rise of isthmus. ~S.Z

    8. Pacific members of the most divergent pairs are found deeper in the intertidal or are rare in habitats with heavy sedimentation (25) (Fig. 2). Thus, larval avoidance (26) of shoaling waters over the rising isthmus (6, 7) may have accelerated genetic isolation of these pairs.

      The shrimp located closer to the sea floor had a slimmer chance of being pushed over the isthmus; therefore had a higher chance of isolation and divergence. ~S.Z.

    9. Our data can also be used to estimate rates of divergence in reproductive compatibility. Even the least divergent pairs show substantial reproductive isolation

      The less compatible they are the more they have diverged. ~S.Z.

    10. Likewise, there is no evidence for differences among the pairs in historical effective population sizes or generation times that can be related to divergence (20).

      The generation types (ex. F1, F2, etc.) and population size were taken into account for each shrimp pair. These factors were found to not support the phenomenon of divergence among shrimp pairs because no differences were found. ~J.D.A.

    11. Geographic isolation is thought to permit divergence and speciation by disruption of gene flow

      The physical barrier created by the Isthmus of Panama prevented the exchange of genes; therefore, allowing the organism to develop differently on wither side of the barrier or diverge. (SZ)

    1. a phosphorylation-mimicking Thr205→Glu205 (T205E) tau variant coprecipitated significantly less with PSD-95 as compared with nonmutant and T205A (A, Ala) tau (Fig. 4C and fig. S21)

      Phosphorylation at T205 inhibits complex formation.

    2. T205 phosphorylation of tau is part of an Aβ toxicity–inhibiting response.

      Phosphorylation at T205 on tau limits Amyloid beta toxicity.

    3. p38γ regulated PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes, likely at the level of PSD-95/tau interaction

      From Fig. 3 the authors conclude that p38y reduces PSD-95/tau/Fyn complex formation by affecting PSD-95/Fyn interactions.

    4. PTZ transiently increased PSD-95/tau/Fyn complex formation in p38γ+/+ animals; this effect was even more noticeable in p38γ−/− mice

      p38y was shown to inhibit the formation of complexes, but the addition of PTZ lowers the protective function of p38y.

    5. PSD-95/tau/Fyn interaction was reduced in transgenic mice with neuronal expression of p38γCA

      The interactions that are required to form the complexes are reduced in mice with an active form of p38y, demonstrating that p38y may prevent complex formation.

    6. PSD-95 copurified more tau and Fyn from p38γ−/− versus p38γ+/+ brains, and even more from APP23.p38γ−/− compared with APP23.p38γ+/+ and p38γ−/− brains

      An immunoprecipitation for PSD-95 was ran. The proteins that were associated with PSD-95 complexes also precipitated due being in a complex with PSD-95. The results show that tau and Fyn were contributing more to the PSD-95 complexes when p38y was not present.

    7. PSD-95/tau/Fyn interaction was enhanced in Alz17.p38γ−/− animals versus Alz17.p38γ+/+ mice

      Results show that more PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes were in the brains of p38𝛾-/- vs. p38𝛾+/+. This shows that PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes are associated Amyloid-beta induced excitotoxicity

    8. when compared to tau−/−.p38γ+/+mice, tau−/−.p38γ−/− animals showed similar protection from PTZ-induced seizures

      p38y only protects agianst PTZ-induce siezures only when tau is present. A difference between p38y being present and p38 being absent is only seen in mice that have tau.

    9. These data also showed that, compared with APP23 mice, APP23.p38γ−/− animals had aggravated memory deficits that persisted with aging

      APP23.p38y+/+ mice survived longer and had performed better in water maze than APP23.p38y-/- mice. Also shown in the results is that APP23.p38y+/+.tau-/- vs. APP23.p38y-/-tau-/- mice, are statistically the same, suggesting that the protective effect of p38 comes from phosphorylating tau.

    10. The exacerbating effects of p38γ loss on reduced survival, memory deficits, and neuronal network dysfunction of APP23 mice were virtually abolished in APP23.p38γ−/−.tau−/− mice

      The APP23 deficits improved when tau was not present in mice.

    11.  p38γ−/− mice showed no deficits and had normal motor function

      The lack of p38y kinase did not negatively affect the movement and motor function of the mice.

    12. Aβ pathology was comparable in the brains of APP23.p38γ−/− and APP23.p38γ+/+ mice (fig. S6), but p38γ deletion aggravated premature mortality and memory deficits of APP23 mice

      APP23 mice that had p38y and did not have p38y displayed similar traits, but the deficits in mice that did not possess p38y kinase were worse.

    13. Surprisingly, only p38γ depletion (p38γ−/−), but not systemic p38β, p38δ, or neuronal p38α (p38αΔneu) knockout, changed PTZ-induced seizures

      The only knockout mouse that displayed a change associated with PTZ-seizures was p38y. Because p38y was the only one that influenced the results, it is the focus of all the experiments.

    14. Finally, we found that tau-dependent Aβ toxicity was modulated by site-specific tau phosphorylation, which inhibited postsynaptic PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes, revealing an Aβ toxicity–limiting role of p38γ in AD that is distinct and opposite to the effects of p38α and p38β (11, 13, 14).

      The authors state, contrary to popular belief, that tau can play a protective role in limiting amyloid beta toxicity by interacting with p38γ. By phosphorylating specific sites tau can increase neuron survival and improve memory loss.

    15. PTZ-induced seizures are reduced in tau−/− mice (8, 9). Adeno-associated virus (AAV)–mediated expression of WT and T205A neurons, but not T205E tau or green fluorescent protein (GFP), in the forebrains of tau−/− mice enhanced PTZ-induced seizures (Fig. 4D and fig. S25).

      The data shows that the tau-/-.AAV tauWT and tau-/-.AAV tauT205A were the most susceptible to seizures and had the most severe seizures out of the four genotypes.

    16. Hence, phosphorylation of tau at T205 should similarly mitigate neurotoxicity. Aβ caused cell death in WT and T205A neurons but significantly less in T205E tau-expressing neurons (fig. S23). Similarly, neurons expressing p38γ and, more so, p38γCA were significantly more resistant to Aβ-induced cell death than controls (fig. S24).

      The results from previous experiments showed that neurons survived at higher rates when they had T205E and p38γ.

    17. Pan-p38 inhibition stopped p38γ/p38γCA-induced disruption of PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes

      If p38y is completely inhibited, the complexes are stable.

    18. Hence, p38γ regulated PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes via phosphorylating tau at T205.

      The results of this experiment showed that p38γ helped to disrupt the PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes through phosphorylation of T205.

    19. Increasing p38γ levels compromised PSD-95/tau/Fyn interaction in cells, and expression of a constitutively active p38γ variant (p38γCA) completely abolished this interaction

      p38y was shown to prevent the interactions required to form the complexes associated.

    20. Similarly, pT205 was markedly reduced in APP23.p38γ−/− animals compared with APP23.p38γ+/+ mice (Fig. 4B)

      The results of the previous experiment showed that APP23p38𝛾-/- mice had decreased T205 phosphorylation compared to the APP23p38𝛾+/+, which had T205 phosphorylation.

    21. no PSD-95/tau/Fyn complexes were isolated from tau−/− and tau−/−.p38γ−/− brains

      Demonstrates that the complexes will not form if unless tau is present.

    22. In summary, the levels of active p38γ kinase and tau phosphorylation at T205 determined susceptibility to excitotoxicity and Aβ toxicity.
    23. the effects of p38γ on excitotoxicity and Aβ toxicity were tau-dependent.

      The protective qualities of p38y are dependent on tau being present. If tau is not present, amyloid-beta toxicity effects the cells the same, even if p38y is present.

    24. increasing tau levels in p38γ−/− mice [brought about by crossing with nonmutant tau-expressing Alz17 mice (23)] significantly enhanced PTZ-induced seizures in Alz17.p38γ−/− mice

      Mice that had higher levels of tau were more susceptible to seizures.

    25. In summary, p38γ depletion exacerbated excitotoxicity, neuronal circuit synchronicity, mortality, and memory deficits in APP23 mice, without changes in Aβ pathology.

      Overall, every deficit associated with APP23 was made worse when p38y was not present.

    26. Electroencephalography showed enhanced spontaneous epileptiform activity and interictal hypersynchronous discharges in APP23.p38γ−/− compared with APP23.p38γ+/+ mice

      From the results, the researchers can infer that the presence of p38𝛾 kinase has a protective ability that lessens the amount of seizure trains that occur due to Aβ density bodies

    27. Compared with APP23.p38γ+/+ mice, APP23.p38γ−/− animals had increased sensitivity to PTZ-induced seizures

      From the results conducted in the experiment, specifically the Fig. 1 G-J, mice that did not possess p38y were more sensitive to seizures

    28. only p38γ localized to postsynapses and limited excitotoxicity.

      The only knockout mouse that was shown to cause a change in PTZ-induced seizures was p38𝛾. p38𝛾 was also the only kinase that was shown to localize in postsynapses between neurons.

    1. The data do not support the competing hypothesis that reef shark relative abundance was primarily driven by environmental variation between sites.

      The data did not support this particular hypothesis because there was very little variation between the sites to begin with. The BRUV's were positioned in locations that did not vary in high arrays therefore a correlation between the abundance and environmental variation as not conclusive. -Sindy

    2. The second prediction of our main hypothesis is that the relative abundance of Caribbean reef sharks is higher in reserves than similar fished reefs. The factor “marine reserve” was the most important predictor of shark presence or absence on BRUVs in the GLM, which is consistent with this prediction.

      This indicates that their second prediction was also correct and they again failed to reject the null hypothesis meaning that there was a correlation between population density of sharks and a marine reserve. -Sindy

    3. Sharks often exhibit an ontogenetic expansion of home range size [45] and we would expect a positive correlation between MLD and shark size if this is true for Caribbean reef sharks.

      MLD is mixed layer depth, they expect a correlation between MLD and shark size because shark size normally correlates to its age and thus its experience. So the older and more experience a shark is, the more likely to go into ocean parameters with a mix of density or temperature etc than a smaller or younger shark. -Sindy

    4. Transmitters are also more likely to be detected in the fore-reef because seafloor relief is low relative to water depth, whereas receivers in the lagoon are partially blocked by emergent patch reefs.

      The complication arises in the fact that the transmitters may have a hard time ensuring accuracy due to the enviroment in which they are in. For example, in the fore-reef, the see level is too shallow so it may be spotted and cause the shark to drift away from it. And in the lagoons, not many sharks may approach either simply for the reason that the transmitters are being blocked by the reef. It is a complication related to placement of the transmitters and its unforeseen consequences. -Sindy

    5. We tested the hypothesis that Caribbean reef sharks are to benefit from the local respite from fishing occurring within marine reserves by examining two of its key predictions. The first prediction is that Caribbean reef sharks exhibit high site-fidelity to reserve areas. Acoustic monitoring showed that most individuals exhibit a high degree of site-fidelity at GRMR.

      This shows that the authors predictions were correct and thus fail to reject his null hypothesis. -Sindy

    1. EGLN1 was identified by both,

      After running the XP-EHH and iHS testing EGLN1 was determined to be a gene that was undergoing local positive selection. Meaning that the gene was currently providing an adaptive advantage to the person who had it, and was increasing in occurrence in that population.

    2. It is plausible that the diminished Hb levels found in Tibetans offset complications associated with sustained high Hb levels (for instance, hyperviscosity) seen in non-Tibetans exposed to high-altitude conditions (10, 11). Alternatively, decreased Hb levels could be a side effect of other phenotypes that are the actual targets of natural selection.

      Overall, the decreased hemoglobin levels seen in the Tibetan highlanders may be the result of variants in PPARA and EGLN1 haplotypes. However, the decreased hemoglobin levels could a side effect of a currently unknown phenotype, which may be the actual target of natural selection.

  44. Nov 2017
    1. mimicking site-specific tau phosphorylation alleviated Aβ-induced neuronal death and offered protection from excitotoxicity.

      The site that is phosphorylated by p38y was found to be important for reducing effects of AD. Demonstrates that the function of p38y is important, and the mere presence of p38y in the cell is not protective, it has to be functional.

    2. depletion of p38γ exacerbated neuronal circuit aberrations, cognitive deficits, and premature lethality in a mouse model of AD, whereas increasing the activity of p38γ abolished these deficits

      The research found that the presence of p38y reduced the effects of AD in the mouse model.

    1. first, the sex-determining proteins studied in the present work evolve at constant rates, as suggested by global molecular clock tests (Table 1).

      From Table 1, the following sex-determining proteins display InL, InL(clock), and the p-value. These factors display the final calculations. From what the author first concluded, the InL(clock) values show that there is in fact a constant rate with which the proteins evolve. It is tested by the likelihood ratio tests based off the models of evolution defined. -Melanie

    1. The high levels of genetic differentiation detected within C. jimenezii raise questions whether these two populations can be treated as different varieties/subspecies within this taxon or if indeed they may represent two different species.

      In this study, the researchers found some questions as to whether the two species of C. jimenezii could be grouped with the same taxa.

      Upon meeting with the author, it was stated that the molecular tools used, found a large amount of differentiation. This was not what the authors hoped and in turn was concluded that they were to remain in separate taxa.

      RA

    2. Therefore we recommend not translocating material between these two populations for genetic conservation or ecological restoration programs until the taxonomy of this species within Coccothrinax is further studied.

      Genetic conservation of this population is important due to the few individuals left in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

      Upon meeting with the author, the difficulty of finding the purebred species was discussed as were the methods.

      RA

    3. The taxonomic uncertainties between the two populations of C. jimenezii have important implications for reintroduction programs. These two sites of C. jimenezii represent two clear management units for conservation, and the population genetic data suggest that we cannot rule out that they are two distinct taxa.

      The authors concluded based off of the molecular data, that the two species of C. jimenezii could not be identified as two different taxa.

      RA

    4. We have not been able to find data regarding the environmental history in these two populations since the 15th century. However, there is agreement among conservation biologists that since the arrival of the Europeans to this island there has been habitat fragmentation and deforestation linked to rapid expansion of urban and rural activities (Sambrook et al., 1999; Alscher, 2011; Foxx, 2012). Palms have long-life cycles; therefore, the detrimental consequences of genetic drift on genetic diversity can take a long period of time to manifest because of their long generation time and the presence of overlapping cohorts (Duminil et al., 2009).

      Since the extinction of C. jimenezii is of primary concern, the authors grab resources from other works to help solidify this concept. It is clear that the conservation of this species is vital to this study.

      RA

    1. The answers to fundamental questions about the origins of animal life and the evolution of their diverse phenotypes may be held in the genomes of distinct invertebrate phyla.

      The conclusion explains why they investigated what standards an invertebrate must reach to be tested for a successful genome sequencing. The researchers also add that geneticists could choose another option than searching an organism that meets their criteria. This option is sequencing organisms and modeling them for another organism. This would allow the geneticist to understand the other organism by having an idea of how the genome functions.

      The researchers also state a challenge faced by the science community is understanding the data they collect from the genome sequence, apart from also gathering the sequences. They state the research they do will help advance knowledge about invertebrate genomes by providing the necessary tools to investigate the sequences. (NAJ)