Older Adults as Adaptive Decision Makers: Evidence From the Iowa Gambling Task.

Older adults process emotional information differently than younger adults and may demonstrate less of a negativity bias on cognitive tasks. The Iowa Gambling Task designed by A. Bechara, H. Damasio, D. Tranel, and A. R. Damasio (1997) has been used to examine the integration of emotion and cognition in a risky-choice decision task and may give insight into differences in the decision-making strategies in younger and older adults. Eighty-eight younger adults (18-34 years) and 67 older adults (65-88 years) completed the Iowa Gambling Task. Using a theoretical decomposition of the task designed by J. R. Busemeyer and J. C. Stout (2002), the authors found that both groups were successful at solving the task but used very different strategies that reflected each group's strength. For younger adults, that strength was learning and memory. For older adults, that strength was an accurate representation of wins and losses (valence). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is my model any good: differentially private regression diagnostics

Linear and logistic regression are popular statistical techniques for analyzing multi-variate data. Typically, analysts do not simply posit a particular form of the regression model, estimate its parameters, and use the results for inference or prediction. Instead, they first use a variety of diagnostic techniques to assess how well the model fits the relationships in the data and how well it can be expected to predict outcomes for out-of-sample records, revising the model as necessary to improve fit and predictive power. In this article, we develop \(\epsilon \)-differentially private diagnostics tools for regression, beginning to fill a gap in privacy-preserving data analysis. Specifically, we create differentially private versions of residual plots for linear regression and of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves as well as binned residual plot for logistic regression. The residual plot and binned residual plot help determine whether or not the data satisfy the assumptions underlying the regression model, and the ROC curve is used to assess the predictive power of the logistic regression model. These diagnostics improve the usefulness of algorithms for computing differentially private regression output, which alone does not allow analysts to assess the quality of the posited model. Our empirical studies show that these algorithms can be effective tools for allowing users to evaluate the quality of their models.     

Aspirin Inhibits the Inflammatory Response of Protease-Activated Receptor 1 in Pregnancy Neutrophils: Implications for Treating Women with Preeclampsia

Neutrophils expressing cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) extensively infiltrate maternal blood vessels in preeclampsia, associated with vascular inflammation. Because pregnancy neutrophils also express protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR-1, F2R thrombin receptor), which they do not in non-pregnant subjects, they can be activated by proteases. We tested the hypothesis that aspirin at a dose sufficient to inhibit COX-2 would reduce inflammatory responses in preeclampsia neutrophils. Neutrophils were isolated from normal pregnant and preeclamptic women at approximately 30 weeks’ gestation. Normal pregnancy neutrophils were treated with elastase, a protease elevated in preeclampsia, or elastase plus aspirin to inhibit COX-2, or elastase plus pinane thromboxane, a biologically active structural analog of thromboxane and a thromboxane synthase inhibitor. Preeclamptic pregnancy neutrophils were treated with the same doses of aspirin or pinane thromboxane. Confocal microscopy with immunofluorescence staining was used to determine the cellular localization of the p65 subunit of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and media concentrations of thromboxane were measured to evaluate the inflammatory response. In untreated neutrophils of normal pregnant women, p65 was localized to the cytosol. Upon stimulation with elastase, p65 translocated from the cytosol to the nucleus coincident with increased thromboxane production. When neutrophils were co-treated with aspirin or pinane thromboxane, elastase was not able to cause nuclear translocation of p65 or increase thromboxane. In untreated neutrophils of preeclamptic women, the p65 subunit was present in the nucleus and thromboxane production was elevated, but when preeclamptic neutrophils were treated with aspirin or pinane thromboxane, p65 was cleared from the nucleus and returned to the cytosol along with decreased thromboxane production. These findings suggest that COX-2 is a downstream mediator of PAR-1 and demonstrate that PAR-1- mediated inflammation can be inhibited by aspirin. Given the extensive and ubiquitous expression of PAR-1 and COX-2 in preeclamptic women, consideration should be given to treating women with preeclampsia using a dose of aspirin sufficient to inhibit COX-2.     

Temporal discounting of rewards in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ) often show decision-making deficits in everyday circumstances. A failure to appropriately weigh immediate versus future consequences of choices may contribute to these deficits. We used the delay discounting task in individuals with BD or SZ to investigate their temporal decision making. Twenty-two individuals with BD, 21 individuals with SZ, and 30 healthy individuals completed the delay discounting task along with neuropsychological measures of working memory and cognitive function. Both BD and SZ groups discounted delayed rewards more steeply than did the healthy group even after controlling for current substance use, age, gender, and employment. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that discounting rate was associated with both diagnostic group and working memory or intelligence scores. In each group, working memory or intelligence scores negatively correlated with discounting rate. The results suggest that (a) both BD and SZ groups value smaller, immediate rewards more than larger, delayed rewards compared with the healthy group and (b) working memory or intelligence is related to temporal decision making in individuals with BD or SZ as well as in healthy individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?

A review of Garfield??s journal impact factor and its specific implementation as the Thomson Reuters impact factor reveals several weaknesses in this commonly-used indicator of journal standing. Key limitations include the mismatch between citing and cited documents, the deceptive display of three decimals that belies the real precision, and the absence of confidence intervals. These are minor issues that are easily amended and should be corrected, but more substantive improvements are needed. There are indications that the scientific community seeks and needs better certification of journal procedures to improve the quality of published science. Comprehensive certification of editorial and review procedures could help ensure adequate procedures to detect duplicate and fraudulent submissions.     

The Food System

Shelley Jordon describes her artwork as celebrating “the power and the beauty of domestic spaces and objects…culled from daily life.” Food is among the most basic of daily human needs, yet what is most basic often gets overlooked. Alpenrose, her image of a breakfast table, brings this human need to the fore, as authors Ka-meshwari Pothukucki and Jerome L. Kaufman argue that food systems need a place among the concerns of planners.

The artist, who is an associate professor of art at Oregon State University, resides in Portland, Oregon. Her works can be found in galleries and private collections throughout the West Coast.

Planning lays claim to being comprehensive, future-oriented, and public-interest driven, and of wanting to enhance the livability of communities. It is concerned with community systems—such as land use, housing, transportation, the environment, and the econ-omy—and their interconnections. The food system, however, is notable by its absence from most planning practice, research, and education. We present evidence for the limited presence of the food system in planning's list of concerns by scanning leading journals, texts, and classic writings, and by reporting on a survey of 22 U.S. city planning agencies. We analyze this low level of attention and discuss reasons and ideas for planning involvement to strengthen community food systems.¹     

Antivirulence Isoquinolone Mannosides: Optimization of the Biaryl Aglycone for FimH Lectin Binding Affinity and Efficacy in the Treatment of Chronic UTI

Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) employ the mannose‐binding adhesin FimH to colonize the bladder epithelium during urinary tract infection (UTI). Previously reported FimH antagonists exhibit good potency and efficacy, but low bioavailability and a short half‐life in vivo. In a rational design strategy, we obtained an X‐ray structure of lead mannosides and then designed mannosides with improved drug‐like properties. We show that cyclizing the carboxamide onto the biphenyl B‐ring aglycone of biphenyl mannosides into a fused heterocyclic ring, generates new biaryl mannosides such as isoquinolone 22 (2‐methyl‐4‐(1‐oxo‐1,2‐dihydroisoquinolin‐7‐yl)phenyl α‐d ‐mannopyranoside) with enhanced potency and in vivo efficacy resulting from increased oral bioavailability. N‐Substitution of the isoquinolone aglycone with various functionalities produced a new potent subseries of FimH antagonists. All analogues of the subseries have higher FimH binding affinity than unsubstituted lead 22 , as determined by thermal shift differential scanning fluorimetry assay. Mannosides with pyridyl substitution on the isoquinolone group inhibit bacteria‐mediated hemagglutination and prevent biofilm formation by UPEC with single‐digit nanomolar potency, which is unprecedented for any FimH antagonists or any other antivirulence compounds reported to date.     

A New Strategy to Preserve and Assess Oxygen Consumption in Murine Tissues

Mitochondrial dysfunctions are implicated in several pathologies, such as metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological diseases, as well as in cancer and aging. These metabolic alterations are usually assessed in human or murine samples by mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymatic assays, by measuring the oxygen consumption of intact mitochondria isolated from tissues, or from cells obtained after physical or enzymatic disruption of the tissues. However, these methodologies do not maintain tissue multicellular organization and cell-cell interactions, known to influence mitochondrial metabolism. Here, we develop an optimal model to measure mitochondrial oxygen consumption in heart and lung tissue samples using the XF24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer (Seahorse) and discuss the advantages and limitations of this technological approach. Our results demonstrate that tissue organization, as well as mitochondrial ultrastructure and respiratory function, are preserved in heart and lung tissues freshly processed or after overnight conservation at 4 °C. Using this method, we confirmed the repeatedly reported obesity-associated mitochondrial dysfunction in the heart and extended it to the lungs. We set up and validated a new strategy to optimally assess mitochondrial function in murine tissues. As such, this method is of great potential interest for monitoring mitochondrial function in cohort samples.