WorldWideScience

Sample records for sleeping beauty plays

  1. Dormitory of Physical and Engineering Sciences: Sleeping Beauties May Be Sleeping Innovations

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Raan, Anthony F. J.

    2015-01-01

    A ‘Sleeping Beauty in Science’ is a publication that goes unnoticed (‘sleeps’) for a long time and then, almost suddenly, attracts a lot of attention (‘is awakened by a prince’). The aim of this paper is to present a general methodology to investigate (1) important properties of Sleeping Beauties such as the time-dependent distribution, author characteristics, journals and fields, and (2) the cognitive environment of Sleeping Beauties. We are particularly interested to find out to what extent Sleeping Beauties are application-oriented and thus are potential Sleeping Innovations. In this study we focus primarily on physics (including materials science and astrophysics) and present first results for chemistry and for engineering & computer science. We find that more than half of the SBs are application-oriented. To study the cognitive environments of Sleeping Beauties we develop a new approach in which the cognitive environment of the SBs is analyzed, based on the mapping of Sleeping Beauties using their citation links and conceptual relations, particularly co-citation mapping. In this way we investigate the research themes in which the SBs are ‘used’ and possible causes of why the premature work in the SBs becomes topical, i.e., the trigger of the awakening of the SBs. This approach is tested with a blue skies SB and an application-oriented SB. We think that the mapping procedures discussed in this paper are not only important for bibliometric analyses. They also provide researchers with useful, interactive tools to discover both relevant older work as well as new developments, for instance in themes related to Sleeping Beauties that are also Sleeping Innovations. PMID:26469987

  2. When Sleeping Beauty First Awakes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Atkinson, David; Peijnenburg, Jeanne

    Ever since its introduction, the Sleeping Beauty Problem has been fought over by the halfers against the thirders. We distinguish three interpretations of the original problem as described in Adam Elga's seminal paper on the subject. Elga's intended interpretation leads to the position of the

  3. Sleeping beauties in pediatrics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Završnik, Jernej; Kokol, Peter

    2016-10-01

    Sleeping beauties (SBs) in science have been known for few decades; however, it seems that only recently have they become popular. An SB is a publication that "sleeps" for a long time and then almost suddenly awakes and becomes highly cited. SBs present interesting findings in science. Pediatrics research literature has not yet been analyzed for their presence, and 5 pediatrics SBs were discovered in this research. Their prevalence was approximately 0.011%. Some environments or periods are more "SB fertile" than others: 3 of 5 SBs were published in the journal Pediatrics, 4 originated from the United States, and 4 were published in the period from 1992 to 1993. No institutions or authors published more than 1 SB.

  4. Pig transgenesis by Sleeping Beauty DNA transposition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Jannik E.; Li, Juan; Kragh, Peter M.

    2011-01-01

    disease models. In this report, we present transgenic pigs created by Sleeping Beauty DNA transposition in primary porcine fibroblasts in combination with somatic cell nuclear transfer by handmade cloning. Göttingen minipigs expressing green fluorescent protein are produced by transgenesis with DNA...... plasmid DNA. Our findings illustrate critical issues related to DNA transposon-directed transgenesis, including coincidental plasmid insertion and relatively low Sleeping Beauty transposition activity in porcine fibroblasts, but also provide a platform for future development of porcine disease models......Modelling of human disease in genetically engineered pigs provides unique possibilities in biomedical research and in studies of disease intervention. Establishment of methodologies that allow efficient gene insertion by non-viral gene carriers is an important step towards development of new...

  5. Do younger Sleeping Beauties prefer a technological prince?

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Raan, Anthony F J; Winnink, Jos J

    2018-01-01

    In this paper we investigate recent Sleeping Beauties cited in patents (SB-SNPRs). We find that the increasing trend of the relative number of SBs stopped around 1998. Moreover, we find that the time lag between the publication year of the SB-SNPRs and their first citation in a patent is becoming shorter in recent years. Our observations also suggest that, on average, in the more recent years SBs are awakened increasingly earlier by a 'technological prince' rather than by a 'scientific prince'. These observations suggest that SBs with technological importance are 'discovered' earlier in an application-oriented context. Then, because of this earlier recognized technological relevance, papers may be cited also earlier in a scientific context. Thus early recognized technological relevance may 'prevent' papers to become an SB. The scientific impact of Sleeping Beauties is generally not necessarily related to the technological importance of the SBs, as far as measured with number and impact of the citing patents. The analysis of the occurrence of inventor-author relations as well as the citation years of inventor-author patents suggest that the scientific awakening of Sleeping Beauties only rarely occurs by inventor-author self-citation.

  6. Béatrice Laurent (ed.), Sleeping Beauties in Victorian Britain, Cultural, Literary and Artistic Explorations of a Myth

    OpenAIRE

    Lambert-Charbonnier, Martine

    2015-01-01

    Sleeping Beauties in Victorian Britain is a remarkable collection of articles which uses the interdisciplinary approach to examine a whole network of correspondences between the arts, literature and science, thus conjuring up a new powerful picture of Victorian culture and its tensions over the last three decades of the 19th century. In her article “The Strange Case of the Victorian Sleeping Maid”, Béatrice Laurent, who edited the collection, describes the motif of the Sleeping Beauty as “a c...

  7. The geography of sleeping beauties in patenting: a country-level analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wuestman, M.L.; Frenken, K.; Hoekman, J.; Mas Tur, E.M.

    2016-01-01

    This study explores sleeping beauties, i.e. breakthrough inventions that experienced delayed recognition, by means of patent data. References in a patent signal the state of the art on which the patent is based, and they can limit the property rights established by its claims. A patent that is cited

  8. Comparison of lentiviral and sleeping beauty mediated αβ T cell receptor gene transfer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne-Christine Field

    Full Text Available Transfer of tumour antigen-specific receptors to T cells requires efficient delivery and integration of transgenes, and currently most clinical studies are using gamma retroviral or lentiviral systems. Whilst important proof-of-principle data has been generated for both chimeric antigen receptors and αβ T cell receptors, the current platforms are costly, time-consuming and relatively inflexible. Alternative, more cost-effective, Sleeping Beauty transposon-based plasmid systems could offer a pathway to accelerated clinical testing of a more diverse repertoire of recombinant high affinity T cell receptors. Nucleofection of hyperactive SB100X transposase-mediated stable transposition of an optimised murine-human chimeric T cell receptor specific for Wilm's tumour antigen from a Sleeping Beauty transposon plasmid. Whilst transfer efficiency was lower than that mediated by lentiviral transduction, cells could be readily enriched and expanded, and mediated effective target cells lysis in vitro and in vivo. Integration sites of transposed TCR genes in primary T cells were almost randomly distributed, contrasting the predilection of lentiviral vectors for transcriptionally active sites. The results support exploitation of the Sleeping Beauty plasmid based system as a flexible and adaptable platform for accelerated, early-phase assessment of T cell receptor gene therapies.

  9. Germline transgenesis in rodents by pronuclear microinjection of Sleeping Beauty transposons

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Ivics, Z.; Mátés, L.; Yau, T. Y.; Landa, Vladimír; Zídek, Václav; Bashir, S.; Hoffmann, O. I.; Hiripi, L.; Garrels, W.; Kues, W. A.; Bösze, Z.; Geurts, A.; Pravenec, Michal; Rülicke, T.; Izsvák, Z.

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 9, č. 4 (2014), s. 773-793 ISSN 1754-2189 R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) TA02010013; GA MŠk(CZ) LH12061; GA MŠk(CZ) LL1204 Institutional support: RVO:67985823 Keywords : mouse * rat * transgenesis * Sleeping Beauty * protocol Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 9.673, year: 2014

  10. Choosing Beauty

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Friederich, Simon

    2017-01-01

    Reasoning that takes into account self-locating evidence in apparently plausible ways sometimes yields the startling conclusion that rational credences are such as if agents had bizarre causal powers. The present paper introduces a novel version of the Sleeping Beauty problem-Choosing Beauty-for

  11. Stable, Nonviral Expression of Mutated Tumor Neoantigen-specific T-cell Receptors Using the Sleeping Beauty Transposon/Transposase System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deniger, Drew C; Pasetto, Anna; Tran, Eric; Parkhurst, Maria R; Cohen, Cyrille J; Robbins, Paul F; Cooper, Laurence JN; Rosenberg, Steven A

    2016-01-01

    Neoantigens unique to each patient's tumor can be recognized by autologous T cells through their T-cell receptor (TCR) but the low frequency and/or terminal differentiation of mutation-specific T cells in tumors can limit their utility as adoptive T-cell therapies. Transfer of TCR genes into younger T cells from peripheral blood with a high proliferative potential could obviate this problem. We generated a rapid, cost-effective strategy to genetically engineer cancer patient T cells with TCRs using the clinical Sleeping Beauty transposon/transposase system. Patient-specific TCRs reactive against HLA-A*0201-restriced neoantigens AHNAKS2580F or ERBB2H473Y or the HLA-DQB*0601-restricted neoantigen ERBB2IPE805G were assembled with murine constant chains and cloned into Sleeping Beauty transposons. Patient peripheral blood lymphocytes were coelectroporated with SB11 transposase and Sleeping Beauty transposon, and transposed T cells were enriched by sorting on murine TCRβ (mTCRβ) expression. Rapid expansion of mTCRβ+ T cells with irradiated allogeneic peripheral blood lymphocytes feeders, OKT3, interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-15, and IL-21 resulted in a preponderance of effector (CD27−CD45RA−) and less-differentiated (CD27+CD45RA+) T cells. Transposed T cells specifically mounted a polyfunctional response against cognate mutated neoantigens and tumor cell lines. Thus, Sleeping Beauty transposition of mutation-specific TCRs can facilitate the use of personalized T-cell therapy targeting unique neoantigens. PMID:26945006

  12. Involvement of a bifunctional, paired-like DNA-binding domain and a transpositional enhancer in Sleeping Beauty transposition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Izsvák, Zsuzsanna; Khare, Dheeraj; Behlke, Joachim; Heinemann, Udo; Plasterk, Ronald H; Ivics, Zoltán

    2002-09-13

    Sleeping Beauty (SB) is the most active Tc1/mariner-like transposon in vertebrate species. Each of the terminal inverted repeats (IRs) of SB contains two transposase-binding sites (DRs). This feature, termed the IR/DR structure, is conserved in a group of Tc1-like transposons. The DNA-binding region of SB transposase, similar to the paired domain of Pax proteins, consists of two helix-turn-helix subdomains (PAI + RED = PAIRED). The N-terminal PAI subdomain was found to play a dominant role in contacting the DRs. Transposase was able to bind to mutant sites retaining the 3' part of the DRs; thus, primary DNA binding is not sufficient to determine the specificity of the transposition reaction. The PAI subdomain was also found to bind to a transpositional enhancer-like sequence within the left IR of SB, and to mediate protein-protein interactions between transposase subunits. A tetrameric form of the transposase was detected in solution, consistent with an interaction between the IR/DR structure and a transposase tetramer. We propose a model in which the transpositional enhancer and the PAI subdomain stabilize complexes formed by a transposase tetramer bound at the IR/DR. These interactions may result in enhanced stability of synaptic complexes, which might explain the efficient transposition of Sleeping Beauty in vertebrate cells.

  13. Phase I trials using Sleeping Beauty to generate CD19-specific CAR T cells

    OpenAIRE

    Kebriaei, Partow; Singh, Harjeet; Huls, M. Helen; Figliola, Matthew J.; Bassett, Roland; Olivares, Simon; Jena, Bipulendu; Dawson, Margaret J.; Kumaresan, Pappanaicken R.; Su, Shihuang; Maiti, Sourindra; Dai, Jianliang; Moriarity, Branden; Forget, Marie-Andrée; Senyukov, Vladimir

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND. T cells expressing antigen-specific chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) improve outcomes for CD19-expressing B cell malignancies. We evaluated a human application of T cells that were genetically modified using the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon/transposase system to express a CD19-specific CAR.

  14. Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Español Text Size Email Print Share Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play Page Content ​What are the 2 most important things to remember about safe sleep practices? Healthy babies are safest when sleeping on ...

  15. Gene Therapy with the Sleeping Beauty Transposon System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kebriaei, Partow; Izsvák, Zsuzsanna; Narayanavari, Suneel A; Singh, Harjeet; Ivics, Zoltán

    2017-11-01

    The widespread clinical implementation of gene therapy requires the ability to stably integrate genetic information through gene transfer vectors in a safe, effective, and economical manner. The latest generation of Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon vectors fulfills these requirements, and may overcome limitations associated with viral gene transfer vectors and transient nonviral gene delivery approaches that are prevalent in ongoing clinical trials. The SB system enables high-level stable gene transfer and sustained transgene expression in multiple primary human somatic cell types, thereby representing a highly attractive gene transfer strategy for clinical use. Here, we review the most important aspects of using SB for gene therapy, including vectorization as well as genomic integration features. We also illustrate the path to successful clinical implementation by highlighting the application of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells in cancer immunotherapy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. The effect of presleep video-game playing on adolescent sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weaver, Edward; Gradisar, Michael; Dohnt, Hayley; Lovato, Nicole; Douglas, Paul

    2010-04-15

    Video-game use before bedtime has been linked with poor sleep outcomes for adolescents; however, experimental evidence to support this link is sparse. The present study investigated the capacity of presleep video-game playing to extend sleep latency and reduce subjective feelings of sleepiness in adolescents. The arousing psychophysiologic mechanisms involved and the impact of presleep video-game playing on sleep architecture were also explored. Thirteen male adolescent "evening types" (mean age = 16.6 years, SD = 1.1) participated in a counterbalanced, within-subjects design with experimental (active video gaming) and control (passive DVD watching) conditions. The experiment was conducted in the Flinders University Sleep Research Laboratory. Relative to the control condition, presleep video-game playing increased sleep-onset latency (Z= 2.45, p= .01) and reduced subjective sleepiness (Z = 2.36, p = .02)-but only slightly. Video gaming was related to changes in cognitive alertness (as measured by a power: p 0.05). Contrary to previous findings, sleep architecture was unaffected (both rapid eye movement and slow wave sleep: p > 0.05). Results suggest the direct effect of presleep video-game playing on adolescent sleep may be more modest than previously thought, suggesting that surveys linking stimulating presleep activities to poor sleep need substantiating with empirical evidence.

  17. The role of sleep in aesthetic perception and empathy: A mediation analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peretti, Sara; Tempesta, Daniela; Socci, Valentina; Pino, Maria C; Mazza, Monica; Valenti, Marco; De Gennaro, Luigi; Di Dio, Cinzia; Marchetti, Antonella; Ferrara, Michele

    2018-02-06

    The ability to experience aesthetics plays a fundamental role in human social interactions, as well as the capacity to feel empathy. Some studies have shown that beauty perception shares part of the neural network underlying emotional and empathic abilities, which are also known to affect sleep quality and duration. In this study, we evaluated for the first time the effects of sleep on the relation between aesthetic perception and empathic abilities in healthy subjects using a mediation analysis approach. One-hundred and twenty-six subjects participated in this study. One-hundred and one subjects slept at home (Sleep Group). The remaining 25 subjects were tested as controls after 1 night of sleep deprivation to assess the effects of lack of sleep on aesthetic perception and empathy (Sleep-Deprived Group). All participants underwent one testing session in which they performed a battery of empathy tests and an aesthetic perception task (Golden Beauty). The results showed that sleep duration mediates the relationship between empathy and aesthetic perception in the sleep group. The mediation effect of sleep was more evident on the emotional empathy measures. Conversely, in the sleep deprivation group the lack of correlations among empathy, aesthetic perception and sleep variables did not allow to perform the mediation analysis. These results suggest that adequate sleep duration may play a significant role in improving cognitive and emotional empathic abilities as well as the capability to give accurate aesthetic judgements. © 2018 European Sleep Research Society.

  18. Is it time to awaken Sleeping Beauty? European psychiatry has been sleeping since 1980.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Leon, Jose

    2014-01-01

    The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), published in 1980, has led to a dead end, the DSM-V. Following the allegory of Sleeping Beauty, the DSM-III put European psychiatry to sleep; it now must wake up to create a 21st century psychiatric language for descriptive psychopathology and psychiatric nosology. Four topics are reviewed. First, the review of descriptive psychopathology focuses on: a) Chaslin's and Jaspers's books, and b) Schneider's transmittal of Jaspers's ideas and involvement with Kraepelin in incorporating neuroscience into psychiatric nosology. Second, US psychiatry's historic steps include: a) the pseudoscience of psychoanalysis, b) the low level of pre-DSM-III diagnostic expertise, c) the neo-Kraepelinian revolution which led to DSM-III, d) the failure to improve diagnostic skills, and e) the reprise of Kraepelin's marketing ("neuroscience will save psychiatry"). Third, the DSM-III devastated European psychiatry by destroying: a) the national textbooks which increased consistency but eliminated creative European thinking; and b) the Arbeitsgemenschaft fur Methodic und Dokumentation in der Psychiatrie, the most reasonable attempt to reach diagnostic agreement: start with symptoms/signs (first level) rather than disorders (second level). Fourth, Berrios elaborated upon Jaspers, who described psychiatry as a hybrid science and heterogeneous. Berrios affirmed that psychiatric symptoms/signs are hybrid. Some symptoms are in the "semantic space" and cannot be "explained" by neuroscience. Copyright © 2013 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

  19. Assessing Tn5 and Sleeping Beauty for transpositional transgenesis by cytoplasmic injection into bovine and ovine zygotes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bevacqua, R. J.; Fernandez-Martin, R.; Canel, N. G.; Gibbons, A.; Texeira, D.; Lange, F.; Vans Landschoot, G.; Savy, V.; Briski, O.; Hiriart, M. I.; Grueso, E.; Ivics, Z.; Taboga, O.; Kues, W. A.; Ferraris, S.

    2017-01-01

    Transgenic domestic animals represent an alternative to bioreactors for large-scale production of biopharmaceuticals and could also provide more accurate biomedical models than rodents. However, their generation remains inefficient. Recently, DNA transposons allowed improved transgenesis efficiencies in mice and pigs. In this work, Tn5 and Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon systems were evaluated for transgenesis by simple cytoplasmic injection in livestock zygotes. In the case of Tn5, the transposome complex of transposon nucleic acid and Tn5 protein was injected. In the case of SB, the supercoiled plasmids encoding a transposon and the SB transposase were co-injected. In vitro produced bovine zygotes were used to establish the cytoplasmic injection conditions. The in vitro cultured blastocysts were evaluated for reporter gene expression and genotyped. Subsequently, both transposon systems were injected in seasonally available ovine zygotes, employing transposons carrying the recombinant human factor IX driven by the beta-lactoglobulin promoter. The Tn5 approach did not result in transgenic lambs. In contrast, the Sleeping Beauty injection resulted in 2 lambs (29%) carrying the transgene. Both animals exhibited cellular mosaicism of the transgene. The extraembryonic tissues (placenta or umbilical cord) of three additional animals were also transgenic. These results show that transpositional transgenesis by cytoplasmic injection of SB transposon components can be applied for the production of transgenic lambs of pharmaceutical interest. PMID:28301581

  20. Insertional engineering of chromosomes with Sleeping Beauty transposition: an overview.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grabundzija, Ivana; Izsvák, Zsuzsanna; Ivics, Zoltán

    2011-01-01

    Novel genetic tools and mutagenesis strategies based on the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposable element are currently under development with a vision to link primary DNA sequence information to gene functions in vertebrate models. By virtue of its inherent capacity to insert into DNA, the SB transposon can be developed into powerful tools for chromosomal manipulations. Mutagenesis screens based on SB have numerous advantages including high throughput and easy identification of mutated alleles. Forward genetic approaches based on insertional mutagenesis by engineered SB transposons have the advantage of providing insight into genetic networks and pathways based on phenotype. Indeed, the SB transposon has become a highly instrumental tool to induce tumors in experimental animals in a tissue-specific -manner with the aim of uncovering the genetic basis of diverse cancers. Here, we describe a battery of mutagenic cassettes that can be applied in conjunction with SB transposon vectors to mutagenize genes, and highlight versatile experimental strategies for the generation of engineered chromosomes for loss-of-function as well as gain-of-function mutagenesis for functional gene annotation in vertebrate models.

  1. Efficient Sleeping Beauty DNA Transposition From DNA Minicircles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nynne Sharma

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available DNA transposon-based vectors have emerged as new potential delivery tools in therapeutic gene transfer. Such vectors are now showing promise in hematopoietic stem cells and primary human T cells, and clinical trials with transposon-engineered cells are on the way. However, the use of plasmid DNA as a carrier of the vector raises safety concerns due to the undesirable administration of bacterial sequences. To optimize vectors based on the Sleeping Beauty (SB DNA transposon for clinical use, we examine here SB transposition from DNA minicircles (MCs devoid of the bacterial plasmid backbone. Potent DNA transposition, directed by the hyperactive SB100X transposase, is demonstrated from MC donors, and the stable transfection rate is significantly enhanced by expressing the SB100X transposase from MCs. The stable transfection rate is inversely related to the size of circular donor, suggesting that a MC-based SB transposition system benefits primarily from an increased cellular uptake and/or enhanced expression which can be observed with DNA MCs. DNA transposon and transposase MCs are easily produced, are favorable in size, do not carry irrelevant DNA, and are robust substrates for DNA transposition. In accordance, DNA MCs should become a standard source of DNA transposons not only in therapeutic settings but also in the daily use of the SB system.

  2. Beauty Or Health? A Personal View

    OpenAIRE

    Riji, Haliza Mohd

    2006-01-01

    This paper deals with the question of beauty and health in women. It discusses changing definitions of beauty as a result of influences from the entertainment, beauty and health product industries. Advertisements are seen to be major players in defining beauty through promotion of cosmetic, skin, hair and slimming products. Concerns relating to beauty become inculcated in girls through the process of socialisation as they mature into womanhood. The media plays a significant role in portraying...

  3. Integration profile and safety of an adenovirus hybrid-vector utilizing hyperactive sleeping beauty transposase for somatic integration.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenli Zhang

    Full Text Available We recently developed adenovirus/transposase hybrid-vectors utilizing the previously described hyperactive Sleeping Beauty (SB transposase HSB5 for somatic integration and we could show stabilized transgene expression in mice and a canine model for hemophilia B. However, the safety profile of these hybrid-vectors with respect to vector dose and genotoxicity remains to be investigated. Herein, we evaluated this hybrid-vector system in C57Bl/6 mice with escalating vector dose settings. We found that in all mice which received the hyperactive SB transposase, transgene expression levels were stabilized in a dose-dependent manner and that the highest vector dose was accompanied by fatalities in mice. To analyze potential genotoxic side-effects due to somatic integration into host chromosomes, we performed a genome-wide integration site analysis using linker-mediated PCR (LM-PCR and linear amplification-mediated PCR (LAM-PCR. Analysis of genomic DNA samples obtained from HSB5 treated female and male mice revealed a total of 1327 unique transposition events. Overall the chromosomal distribution pattern was close-to-random and we observed a random integration profile with respect to integration into gene and non-gene areas. Notably, when using the LM-PCR protocol, 27 extra-chromosomal integration events were identified, most likely caused by transposon excision and subsequent transposition into the delivered adenoviral vector genome. In total, this study provides a careful evaluation of the safety profile of adenovirus/Sleeping Beauty transposase hybrid-vectors. The obtained information will be useful when designing future preclinical studies utilizing hybrid-vectors in small and large animal models.

  4. Derivation and characterization of sleeping beauty transposon-mediated porcine induced pluripotent stem cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kues, Wilfried A.; Herrmann, Doris; Barg-Kues, Brigitte

    2013-01-01

    the nonviral Sleeping Beauty transposon system to deliver the reprogramming factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and cMyc. Successful reprogramming to a pluripotent state was indicated by changes in cell morphology and reactivation of the Oct4-EGFP reporter. The transposon-reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem (i......PS) cells showed long-term proliferation in vitro over >40 passages, expressed transcription factors typical of embryonic stem cells, including OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, REX1, ESRRB, DPPA5, and UTF1 and surface markers of pluripotency, including SSEA-1 and TRA-1-60. In vitro differentiation resulted in derivatives......The domestic pig is an important large animal model for preclinical testing of novel cell therapies. Recently, we produced pluripotency reporter pigs in which the Oct4 promoter drives expression of the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). Here, we reprogrammed Oct4-EGFP fibroblasts employing...

  5. Exploring an Unknown Territory: "Sleeping Beauties" in the Nursing Research Literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokol, Peter; Blažun Vošner, Helena; Vermeulen, Joeri

    Sleeping Beauties (SBs) are publications that are scarcely cited in the years immediately following publication but then suddenly become highly cited later. Such publications have unique citation patterns and can reveal important developments in the field in which they appear. No holistic analysis of nursing SBs has been done yet. The aim of this study was to identify and analyze the SB phenomenon in the nursing research literature. The corpus for the nursing SB identification was harvested from the Web of Science Core Collection (Thomas Reuters) for the period 1934-2015. Citation histories of 212,239 publications were screened. From those, 3,209 publications with more than 100 citations were selected for analysis. We used our own software and applied the van Raan (2004) and Baumgartner (2010) criteria for SBs-a 5-year sleeping period with at most 10 citations during that time, an average of at least five citations per year after the first 10 years, with at least 100 citations in total. The knowledge context for SBs was determined using citing papers. All citing papers were analyzed with the help of VOSviewer software. Nine publications were identified as SBs (prevalence of 0.004%). The length of sleep duration ranged from 5 to 10 years (M = 6.8, SD = 2.0), depth of sleep ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 citations (M = 0.6, SD = 0.2), and awake intensity ranged from 6.4 to 15.0 citations (M = 11.0, SD = 3.8). The average number of citations to SBs was 229. Most nursing SBs were produced in the United States (n = 8) from top institutions in journals with high-impact factors. Nursing SBs covered topics including resilience, sampling in qualitative research, metasynthesis, postoperative pain in children, dementia rating scales, care of patients with Alzheimer's disease, nursing theory related to fatigue mechanisms in cancer patients, and family participation during resuscitation. Nursing SBs were cited by authors from a large number of institutions and countries; the number of

  6. Beauty Or Health? A Personal View.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riji, Haliza Mohd

    2006-01-01

    This paper deals with the question of beauty and health in women. It discusses changing definitions of beauty as a result of influences from the entertainment, beauty and health product industries. Advertisements are seen to be major players in defining beauty through promotion of cosmetic, skin, hair and slimming products. Concerns relating to beauty become inculcated in girls through the process of socialisation as they mature into womanhood. The media plays a significant role in portraying the meaning of beauty through its representation of women. These influences largely influence and alter women's perceptions of their body image and in trying to meet the goals of beauty as represented by the media. This may result in dissatisfaction with their body image. Advertisements can encourage women to indulge in smoking as a fashionable trend or opt for plastic surgery in attempts to acquire beauty. This paper concludes with implications of the issues relating to changing perceptions of beauty and suggests recommendations.

  7. BEAUTY OR HEALTH? A PERSONAL VIEW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haliza Mohd Riji

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with the question of beauty and health in women. It discusses changing definitions of beauty as a result of influences from the entertainment, beauty and health product industries. Advertisements are seen to be major players in defining beauty through promotion of cosmetic, skin, hair and slimming products. Concerns relating to beauty become inculcated in girls through the process of socialisation as they mature into womanhood. The media plays a significant role in portraying the meaning of beauty through its representation of women. These influences largely influence and alter women’s perceptions of their body image and in trying to meet the goals of beauty as represented by the media. This may result in dissatisfaction with their body image. Advertisements can encourage women to indulge in smoking as a fashionable trend or opt for plastic surgery in attempts to acquire beauty. This paper concludes with implications of the issues relating to changing perceptions of beauty and suggests recommendations.

  8. Induction of rat liver tumor using the Sleeping Beauty transposon and electroporation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, June-Shine; Kim, Bae-Hwan; Park, Sung Goo; Jung, Sun Young; Lee, Do Hee; Son, Woo-Chan

    2013-05-10

    The Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system has been receiving much attention as a gene transfer method of choice since it allows permanent gene expression after insertion into the host chromosome. However, low transposition frequency in higher eukaryotes limits its use in commonly-used mammalian species. Researchers have therefore attempted to modify gene delivery and expression to overcome this limitation. In mouse liver, tumor induction using SB introduced by the hydrodynamic method has been successfully accomplished. Liver tumor in rat models using SB could also be of great use; however, dose of DNA, injection volume, rate of injection and achieving back pressure limit the use of the hydrodynamics-based gene delivery. In the present study, we combined the electroporation, a relatively simple and easy gene delivery method, with the SB transposon system and as a result successfully induced tumor in rat liver by directly injecting the c-Myc, HRAS and shp53 genes. The tumor phenotype was determined as a sarcomatoid carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of induction of tumor in the rat liver using the electroporation-enhanced SB transposon system. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Remobilization of Sleeping Beauty transposons in the germline of Xenopus tropicalis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yergeau Donald A

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Sleeping Beauty (SB transposon system has been used for germline transgenesis of the diploid frog, Xenopus tropicalis. Injecting one-cell embryos with plasmid DNA harboring an SB transposon substrate together with mRNA encoding the SB transposase enzyme resulted in non-canonical integration of small-order concatemers of the transposon. Here, we demonstrate that SB transposons stably integrated into the frog genome are effective substrates for remobilization. Results Transgenic frogs that express the SB10 transposase were bred with SB transposon-harboring animals to yield double-transgenic 'hopper' frogs. Remobilization events were observed in the progeny of the hopper frogs and were verified by Southern blot analysis and cloning of the novel integrations sites. Unlike the co-injection method used to generate founder lines, transgenic remobilization resulted in canonical transposition of the SB transposons. The remobilized SB transposons frequently integrated near the site of the donor locus; approximately 80% re-integrated with 3 Mb of the donor locus, a phenomenon known as 'local hopping'. Conclusions In this study, we demonstrate that SB transposons integrated into the X. tropicalis genome are effective substrates for excision and re-integration, and that the remobilized transposons are transmitted through the germline. This is an important step in the development of large-scale transposon-mediated gene- and enhancer-trap strategies in this highly tractable developmental model system.

  10. Beauty sleep: experimental study on the perceived health and attractiveness of sleep deprived people

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Axelsson, J.; Ingre, M.; van Someren, E.J.W.; Olsson, A.; Lekander, M.

    2010-01-01

    Objective To investigate whether sleep deprived people are perceived as less healthy, less attractive, and more tired than after a normal night's sleep. Design Experimental study. Setting Sleep laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants 23 healthy, sleep deprived adults (age 18-31) who were

  11. Full-length Dysferlin Transfer by the Hyperactive Sleeping Beauty Transposase Restores Dysferlin-deficient Muscle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helena Escobar

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Dysferlin-deficient muscular dystrophy is a progressive disease characterized by muscle weakness and wasting for which there is no treatment. It is caused by mutations in DYSF, a large, multiexonic gene that forms a coding sequence of 6.2 kb. Sleeping Beauty (SB transposon is a nonviral gene transfer vector, already used in clinical trials. The hyperactive SB system consists of a transposon DNA sequence and a transposase protein, SB100X, that can integrate DNA over 10 kb into the target genome. We constructed an SB transposon-based vector to deliver full-length human DYSF cDNA into dysferlin-deficient H2K A/J myoblasts. We demonstrate proper dysferlin expression as well as highly efficient engraftment (>1,100 donor-derived fibers of the engineered myoblasts in the skeletal muscle of dysferlin- and immunodeficient B6. Cg-Dysfprmd Prkdcscid/J (Scid/BLA/J mice. Nonviral gene delivery of full-length human dysferlin into muscle cells, along with a successful and efficient transplantation into skeletal muscle are important advances towards successful gene therapy of dysferlin-deficient muscular dystrophy.

  12. Television, sleep, outdoor play and BMI in young children: the GECKO Drenthe cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sijtsma, Anna; Koller, Marjory; Sauer, Pieter J J; Corpeleijn, Eva

    2015-05-01

    In this study, we investigated the interplay between screen time, sleep duration, outdoor play, having a television in the bedroom and the number of televisions at home and their association with body mass index (BMI) in preschool children. All participants, 3-4 years of age (n = 759), were part of the Groningen expert center for kids with obesity (GECKO) Drenthe birth cohort. Weight and height were measured. Total screen time, number of televisions at home, a television in the bedroom, sleep duration and time of outdoor play were self-reported by parents in a questionnaire. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression-based path analysis was used to estimate direct and indirect effects on BMI in mediation models. A television in the bedroom or more televisions at home gave a higher screen time, which were associated with decreased sleep duration and resulted in higher BMI (indirect effect = 0.0115, 95% bootstrap interval = 0.0016; 0.0368 and indirect effect = 0.0026, 95% bootstrap interval = 0.0004; 0.0078, respectively). In contrast to the direct effect of screen time, sleep duration and a television in the bedroom on BMI, no direct effect was found for outdoor play and number or televisions at home on BMI. Short sleep duration, long screen time and a television in the bedroom were associated with the presence of overweight in preschool children.

  13. Is better beautiful or is beautiful better? Exploring the relationship between beauty and category structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanders, Megan; Davis, Tyler; Love, Bradley C

    2013-06-01

    We evaluate two competing accounts of the relationship between beauty and category structure. According to the similarity-based view, beauty arises from category structure such that central items are favored due to their increased fluency. In contrast, the theory-based view holds that people's theories of beauty shape their perceptions of categories. In the present study, subjects learned to categorize abstract paintings into meaningfully labeled categories and rated the paintings' beauty, value, and typicality. Inconsistent with the similarity-based view, beauty ratings were highly correlated across conditions despite differences in fluency and assigned category structure. Consistent with the theory-based view, beautiful paintings were treated as central members for categories expected to contain beautiful paintings (e.g., art museum pieces), but not in others (e.g., student show pieces). These results suggest that the beauty of complex, real-world stimuli is not determined by fluency within category structure but, instead, interacts with people's prior knowledge to structure categories.

  14. ON BEAUTY AND THE BEAUTIFUL IN AESTHETIC EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Borce Kostov

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available We titled our work “On Beauty and the Beautiful in Aesthetic Education” and we analyzed the category beautiful in function of better understanding the issues of aesthetic education.The basic point was the fact that the determination of the term beautiful is being different in both, time aspect and space aspect. Also, the authors involved in this matter have got different understanding on beautiful issue, on its essence, on its role in human development and on the development of the aesthetics and the aesthetic education.Therefore, within our work, there is an attempt to differ the approaches towards the category beautiful, to comment it, to compare it and finally to give our approach.

  15. Beauty Requires Thought.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brielmann, Aenne A; Pelli, Denis G

    2017-05-22

    The experience of beauty is a pleasure, but common sense and philosophy suggest that feeling beauty differs from sensuous pleasures such as eating or sex. Immanuel Kant [1, 2] claimed that experiencing beauty requires thought but that sensuous pleasure can be enjoyed without thought and cannot be beautiful. These venerable hypotheses persist in models of aesthetic processing [3-7] but have never been tested. Here, participants continuously rated the pleasure felt from a nominally beautiful or non-beautiful stimulus and then judged whether they had experienced beauty. The stimuli, which engage various senses, included seeing images, tasting candy, and touching a teddy bear. The observer reported the feelings that the stimulus evoked. The time course of pleasure, across stimuli, is well-fit by a model with one free parameter: pleasure amplitude. Pleasure amplitude increases linearly with the feeling of beauty. To test Kant's claim of a need for thought, we reduce cognitive capacity by adding a "two-back" task to distract the observer's thoughts. The distraction greatly reduces the beauty and pleasure experienced from stimuli that otherwise produce strong pleasure and spares that of less-pleasant stimuli. We also find that strong pleasure is always beautiful, whether produced reliably by beautiful stimuli or just occasionally by sensuous stimuli. In sum, we confirm Kant's claim that only the pleasure associated with feeling beauty requires thought and disprove his claim that sensuous pleasures cannot be beautiful. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  16. "Soccer": The Beautiful Game

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spires, Todd

    2008-01-01

    Soccer, or football as it is called in the rest of the world, is the most popular and fastest-growing global sport, with an estimated 240 million people regularly playing what Brazilian star Pele called "the beautiful game." Millions, worldwide, watch it on television. In 2006, the average viewership for each match of the month-long World Cup was…

  17. The sense of beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hagman, George

    2002-06-01

    This paper proposes an integrative psychoanalytic model of the sense of beauty. The following definition is used: beauty is an aspect of the experience of idealisation in which an object(s), sound(s) or concept(s) is believed to possess qualities of formal perfection. The psychoanalytic literature regarding beauty is explored in depth and fundamental similarities are stressed. The author goes on to discuss the following topics: (1) beauty as sublimation: beauty reconciles the polarisation of self and world; (2) idealisation and beauty: the love of beauty is an indication of the importance of idealisation during development; (3) beauty as an interactive process: the sense of beauty is interactive and intersubjective; (4) the aesthetic and non-aesthetic emotions: specific aesthetic emotions are experienced in response to the formal design of the beautiful object; (5) surrendering to beauty: beauty provides us with an occasion for transcendence and self-renewal; (6) beauty's restorative function: the preservation or restoration of the relationship to the good object is of utmost importance; (7) the self-integrative function of beauty: the sense of beauty can also reconcile and integrate self-states of fragmentation and depletion; (8) beauty as a defence: in psychopathology, beauty can function defensively for the expression of unconscious impulses and fantasies, or as protection against self-crisis; (9) beauty and mortality: the sense of beauty can alleviate anxiety regarding death and feelings of vulnerability. In closing the paper, the author offers a new understanding of Freud'semphasis on love of beauty as a defining trait of civilisation. For a people not to value beauty would mean that they cannot hope and cannot assert life over the inevitable and ubiquitous forces of entropy and death.

  18. Awakening sleeping beauty: production of propionic acid in Escherichia coli through the sbm operon requires the activity of a methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez-Garcia, Ricardo Axayacatl; McCubbin, Tim; Wille, Annalena; Plan, Manuel; Nielsen, Lars Keld; Marcellin, Esteban

    2017-07-17

    Propionic acid is used primarily as a food preservative with smaller applications as a chemical building block for the production of many products including fabrics, cosmetics, drugs, and plastics. Biological production using propionibacteria would be competitive against chemical production through hydrocarboxylation of ethylene if native producers could be engineered to reach near-theoretical yield and good productivity. Unfortunately, engineering propionibacteria has proven very challenging. It has been suggested that activation of the sleeping beauty operon in Escherichia coli is sufficient to achieve propionic acid production. Optimising E. coli production should be much easier than engineering propionibacteria if tolerance issues can be addressed. Propionic acid is produced in E. coli via the sleeping beauty mutase operon under anaerobic conditions in rich medium via amino acid degradation. We observed that the sbm operon enhances amino acids degradation to propionic acid and allows E. coli to degrade isoleucine. However, we show here that the operon lacks an epimerase reaction that enables propionic acid production in minimal medium containing glucose as the sole carbon source. Production from glucose can be restored by engineering the system with a methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase from Propionibacterium acidipropionici (0.23 ± 0.02 mM). 1-Propanol production was also detected from the promiscuous activity of the native alcohol dehydrogenase (AdhE). We also show that aerobic conditions are favourable for propionic acid production. Finally, we increase titre 65 times using a combination of promoter engineering and process optimisation. The native sbm operon encodes an incomplete pathway. Production of propionic acid from glucose as sole carbon source is possible when the pathway is complemented with a methylmalonyl-CoA epimerase. Although propionic acid via the restored succinate dissimilation pathway is considered a fermentative process, the engineered pathway

  19. Suicidal autointegration of sleeping beauty and piggyBac transposons in eukaryotic cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongming Wang

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Transposons are discrete segments of DNA that have the distinctive ability to move and replicate within genomes across the tree of life. 'Cut and paste' DNA transposition involves excision from a donor locus and reintegration into a new locus in the genome. We studied molecular events following the excision steps of two eukaryotic DNA transposons, Sleeping Beauty (SB and piggyBac (PB that are widely used for genome manipulation in vertebrate species. SB originates from fish and PB from insects; thus, by introducing these transposons to human cells we aimed to monitor the process of establishing a transposon-host relationship in a naïve cellular environment. Similarly to retroviruses, neither SB nor PB is capable of self-avoidance because a significant portion of the excised transposons integrated back into its own genome in a suicidal process called autointegration. Barrier-to-autointegration factor (BANF1, a cellular co-factor of certain retroviruses, inhibited transposon autointegration, and was detected in higher-order protein complexes containing the SB transposase. Increasing size sensitized transposition for autointegration, consistent with elevated vulnerability of larger transposons. Both SB and PB were affected similarly by the size of the transposon in three different assays: excision, autointegration and productive transposition. Prior to reintegration, SB is completely separated from the donor molecule and followed an unbiased autointegration pattern, not associated with local hopping. Self-disruptive autointegration occurred at similar frequency for both transposons, while aberrant, pseudo-transposition events were more frequently observed for PB.

  20. Trait- and pre-sleep-state-dependent arousal in insomnia disorders: what role may sleep reactivity and sleep-related metacognitions play? A pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palagini, Laura; Mauri, Mauro; Dell'Osso, Liliana; Riemann, Dieter; Drake, Christopher L

    2016-09-01

    Research into the cause of chronic insomnia has identified hyperarousal as a key factor, which is likely to have both trait and state components. Sleep-related cognition, metacognition, and sleep reactivity also play an important role in insomnia. Our aim was to investigate how these insomnia-related constructs are associated with trait predisposition and pre-sleep arousal in subjects with an insomnia disorder. Fifty-three individuals with insomnia disorder (according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (F = 33; 52 + 10)) and 30 healthy controls (F = 18; 51.8 + 12 years) were evaluated with a set of questionnaires, including the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST), Metacognition Questionnaire - Insomnia (MCQI), Arousal Predisposition Scale (APS), and Pre-sleep Arousal Scale (PSAS). Statistical analyses included multiple regression to elucidate the independent determinants of APS and PSAS. Participants with insomnia presented higher FIRST, MCQI, APS, PSAS scores (p-values insomnia, APS and cognitive PSAS were best determined by MCQI (respectively, B = 0.09, p = 0.001, B = 0.08, p = 0.02), somatic PSAS by cognitive arousal (PSAS B = 0.35, p = 0.004) CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that in insomnia disorders, trait predisposition toward hyperarousal and pre-sleep-cognitive-state-dependent arousal may be closely related to sleep-related metacognitive processes. Sleep-related metacognitive processes may be associated with trait hyperarousal within the framework of a mutual relationship, and could, in turn, modulate cognitive pre-sleep-state arousal. A broad range of cognitive and metacognitive processes should be considered when dealing with subjects with insomnia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Experience Playing a Musical Instrument and Overnight Sleep Enhance Performance on a Sequential Typing Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Matthew A; Nguyen, Nam; Stickgold, Robert

    2016-01-01

    The smooth, coordinated fine motor movements required to play a musical instrument are not only highly valued in our society; they also predict academic success in areas that generalize beyond the motor domain, including reading and math readiness, and verbal abilities. Interestingly, motor skills that overlap with those required to play a musical instrument (e.g., sequential finger tapping) markedly improve (get faster) over a night of sleep, but not after a day spent awake. Here we studied whether individuals who play musical instruments that require fine finger motor skill are better able to learn and consolidate a simple motor skill task compared to those who do not play an instrument, and whether sleep-specific motor skill benefits interact with those imparted by musical experience. We used the motor sequence task (MST), which taps into a core skill learned and used by musicians, namely, the repetition of learned sequences of key presses. Not surprisingly, we found that musicians were faster than non-musicians throughout the learning session, typing more correct sequences per 30-sec trial. In the 12hrs that followed learning we found that sleep and musical experience both led to greater improvement in performance. Surprisingly, musicians retested after a day of wake performed slightly better than non-musicians who had slept between training and retest, suggesting that musicians have the capacity to consolidate a motor skill across waking hours, while non-musicians appear to lack this capacity. These findings suggest that the musically trained brain is optimized for motor skill consolidation across both wake and sleep, and that sleep may simply promote a more effective use of this machinery. In sum, there may be something special about musicians, perhaps a neurophysiological advantage, that leads to both the expected-greater motor speed at learning-and the surprising-greater motor skill improvement over time.

  2. Experience Playing a Musical Instrument and Overnight Sleep Enhance Performance on a Sequential Typing Task.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew A Tucker

    Full Text Available The smooth, coordinated fine motor movements required to play a musical instrument are not only highly valued in our society; they also predict academic success in areas that generalize beyond the motor domain, including reading and math readiness, and verbal abilities. Interestingly, motor skills that overlap with those required to play a musical instrument (e.g., sequential finger tapping markedly improve (get faster over a night of sleep, but not after a day spent awake. Here we studied whether individuals who play musical instruments that require fine finger motor skill are better able to learn and consolidate a simple motor skill task compared to those who do not play an instrument, and whether sleep-specific motor skill benefits interact with those imparted by musical experience. We used the motor sequence task (MST, which taps into a core skill learned and used by musicians, namely, the repetition of learned sequences of key presses. Not surprisingly, we found that musicians were faster than non-musicians throughout the learning session, typing more correct sequences per 30-sec trial. In the 12hrs that followed learning we found that sleep and musical experience both led to greater improvement in performance. Surprisingly, musicians retested after a day of wake performed slightly better than non-musicians who had slept between training and retest, suggesting that musicians have the capacity to consolidate a motor skill across waking hours, while non-musicians appear to lack this capacity. These findings suggest that the musically trained brain is optimized for motor skill consolidation across both wake and sleep, and that sleep may simply promote a more effective use of this machinery. In sum, there may be something special about musicians, perhaps a neurophysiological advantage, that leads to both the expected-greater motor speed at learning-and the surprising-greater motor skill improvement over time.

  3. Is moral beauty different from facial beauty? Evidence from an fMRI study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tingting; Mo, Ce; Tan, Li Hai; Cant, Jonathan S.; Zhong, Luojin; Cupchik, Gerald

    2015-01-01

    Is moral beauty different from facial beauty? Two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments were performed to answer this question. Experiment 1 investigated the network of moral aesthetic judgments and facial aesthetic judgments. Participants performed aesthetic judgments and gender judgments on both faces and scenes containing moral acts. The conjunction analysis of the contrasts ‘facial aesthetic judgment > facial gender judgment’ and ‘scene moral aesthetic judgment > scene gender judgment’ identified the common involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), inferior temporal gyrus and medial superior frontal gyrus, suggesting that both types of aesthetic judgments are based on the orchestration of perceptual, emotional and cognitive components. Experiment 2 examined the network of facial beauty and moral beauty during implicit perception. Participants performed a non-aesthetic judgment task on both faces (beautiful vs common) and scenes (containing morally beautiful vs neutral information). We observed that facial beauty (beautiful faces > common faces) involved both the cortical reward region OFC and the subcortical reward region putamen, whereas moral beauty (moral beauty scenes > moral neutral scenes) only involved the OFC. Moreover, compared with facial beauty, moral beauty spanned a larger-scale cortical network, indicating more advanced and complex cerebral representations characterizing moral beauty. PMID:25298010

  4. A Beautiful Spin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ji Xiangdong

    2003-01-01

    Spin is a beautiful concept that plays an ever important role in modern physics. In this talk, I start with a discussion of the origin of spin, and then turn to three themes in which spin has been crucial in subatomic physics: a lab to explore physics beyond the standard model, a tool to measure physical observables that are hard to obtain otherwise, a probe to unravel nonperturbative QCD. I conclude with some remarks on a world without spin

  5. Value and Payment in Sleep Medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wickwire, Emerson M; Verma, Tilak

    2018-05-15

    Value, like beauty, exists in the eye of the beholder. This article places the value of clinical sleep medicine services in historical context and presents a vision for the value-based sleep of the future. First, the history of value and payment in sleep medicine is reviewed from the early days of the field, to innovative disruption, to the widespread adoption of home sleep apnea testing. Next, the importance of economic perspective is discussed, with emphasis on cost containment and cost-shifting between payers, employers, providers, and patients. Specific recommendations are made for sleep medicine providers and the field at large to maximize the perceived value of sleep. Finally, alternate payment models and value-based care are presented, with an eye toward the future for clinical service providers as well as integrated health delivery networks. © 2018 American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

  6. Is moral beauty different from facial beauty? Evidence from an fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Tingting; Mo, Lei; Mo, Ce; Tan, Li Hai; Cant, Jonathan S; Zhong, Luojin; Cupchik, Gerald

    2015-06-01

    Is moral beauty different from facial beauty? Two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments were performed to answer this question. Experiment 1 investigated the network of moral aesthetic judgments and facial aesthetic judgments. Participants performed aesthetic judgments and gender judgments on both faces and scenes containing moral acts. The conjunction analysis of the contrasts 'facial aesthetic judgment > facial gender judgment' and 'scene moral aesthetic judgment > scene gender judgment' identified the common involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), inferior temporal gyrus and medial superior frontal gyrus, suggesting that both types of aesthetic judgments are based on the orchestration of perceptual, emotional and cognitive components. Experiment 2 examined the network of facial beauty and moral beauty during implicit perception. Participants performed a non-aesthetic judgment task on both faces (beautiful vs common) and scenes (containing morally beautiful vs neutral information). We observed that facial beauty (beautiful faces > common faces) involved both the cortical reward region OFC and the subcortical reward region putamen, whereas moral beauty (moral beauty scenes > moral neutral scenes) only involved the OFC. Moreover, compared with facial beauty, moral beauty spanned a larger-scale cortical network, indicating more advanced and complex cerebral representations characterizing moral beauty. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. Long-Term PEDF Release in Rat Iris and Retinal Epithelial Cells after Sleeping Beauty Transposon-Mediated Gene Delivery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Garcia-Garcia

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF is a potent antiangiogenic, neurotrophic, and neuroprotective molecule that is the endogenous inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF in the retina. An ex vivo gene therapy approach based on transgenic overexpression of PEDF in the eye is assumed to rebalance the angiogenic-antiangiogenic milieu of the retina, resulting in growth regression of choroidal blood vessels, the hallmark of neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Here, we show that rat pigment epithelial cells can be efficiently transfected with the PEDF-expressing non-viral hyperactive Sleeping Beauty transposon system delivered in a form free of antibiotic resistance marker miniplasmids. The engineered retinal and iris pigment epithelium cells secrete high (141 ± 13 and 222 ± 14 ng PEDF levels in 72 hr in vitro. In vivo studies showed cell survival and insert expression during at least 4 months. Transplantation of the engineered cells to the subretinal space of a rat model of choroidal neovascularization reduces almost 50% of the development of new vessels.

  8. Germline transgenic pigs by Sleeping Beauty transposition in porcine zygotes and targeted integration in the pig genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wiebke Garrels

    Full Text Available Genetic engineering can expand the utility of pigs for modeling human diseases, and for developing advanced therapeutic approaches. However, the inefficient production of transgenic pigs represents a technological bottleneck. Here, we assessed the hyperactive Sleeping Beauty (SB100X transposon system for enzyme-catalyzed transgene integration into the embryonic porcine genome. The components of the transposon vector system were microinjected as circular plasmids into the cytoplasm of porcine zygotes, resulting in high frequencies of transgenic fetuses and piglets. The transgenic animals showed normal development and persistent reporter gene expression for >12 months. Molecular hallmarks of transposition were confirmed by analysis of 25 genomic insertion sites. We demonstrate germ-line transmission, segregation of individual transposons, and continued, copy number-dependent transgene expression in F1-offspring. In addition, we demonstrate target-selected gene insertion into transposon-tagged genomic loci by Cre-loxP-based cassette exchange in somatic cells followed by nuclear transfer. Transposase-catalyzed transgenesis in a large mammalian species expands the arsenal of transgenic technologies for use in domestic animals and will facilitate the development of large animal models for human diseases.

  9. The beauty and the beast inside: the american beauty--does cosmetic surgery help?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lijtmaer, Ruth

    2010-01-01

    American society's feminine ideal has consistently emphasized youth as beauty and getting old as ugly. Feeling unattractive produces several intrapsychic conflicts leading to depression and anxiety. Summary of the literature on beauty and aging, beauty and culture, and theories of physical beauty will be presented. With a clinical example of a female patient, the writer investigates the conscious and unconscious fantasies, conflicts, and sense of self inside and outside that impelled a physically beautiful female patient to bring her own body closer to her perception of idealized beauty with the aid of plastic surgery.

  10. THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD IN PLATO’S TIMAEUS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O’Meara, Dominic

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In the Timaeus Plato describes the world as the ‘most beautiful’ (kallistos, 29a5 of generated things. Perhaps indeed this is the first systematic description of the beauty of the world. It is, at any rate, one of the most influential statements of the theme. The Stoics were deeply convinced by it and later, in the third century A.D., at a time when contempt and hate for the world were propagated by Gnostic movements, Plotinus, interpreting the Timaeus, would write magnificent passages on the beauty and value of the world. But what does Plato mean by the ‘beauty’ of the world? What makes the world beautiful? In this paper these questions are approached first (1 by a brief discussion of the distinction which Plato appears to make in the Timaeus between beauty and the good. In one passage (Tim. 87c ‘measure’ seems to relate to this distinction. It is suitable then (2 to look at a section of another late work of Plato, the Philebus, where the themes of beauty, goodness and measure may be compared in more detail. The theme of measure then takes us back (3 to the Timaeus, in order to examine the role played by measure, in particular mathematical measure, in constituting the beauty of the world. I discuss in detail the way in which mathematical structures make for the beauty of soul and body in the living whole that is the world.

  11. Beauty production at CDF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shears, Tara

    2008-01-01

    A review of recent measurements of beauty production, based on proton antiproton collision data at √s = 1.96 TeV and using the CDF detector, is given. Previous measurements of beauty (b) quark production at the Tevatron, carried out at centre-of-mass energies √s = 1.8 TeV, have shown discrepancies when compared to Next to Leading Order (NLO) predictions [1]. Improved predictions and experimental procedures have reduced this discrepancy [2]. Improved parton density functions, better fragmentation functions and more complete theoretical calculations have improved theoretical accuracy. Experimentally, measurements of beauty production at √s = 1.96 TeV are now presented in terms of b hadrons or B mesons, to avoid problems unfolding back to the quark level. In this review [3] measurements of inclusive beauty (where one beauty jet or hadron is reconstructed in the event), and beauty + X (where X can be a boson or another beauty jet or hadron), production will be presented: inclusive beauty jet cross-section; semi and fully reconstructed B meson cross-section; beauty dijet cross-section; semi-reconstructed B B meson cross-section; Z boson + beauty jet cross-section. More information concerning other measurements of heavy quark production can be found elsewhere [4

  12. Phosphorylation of CaMKII in the rat dorsal raphe nucleus plays an important role in sleep-wake regulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Su-Ying; Li, Sheng-Jie; Cui, Xiang-Yu; Zhang, Xue-Qiong; Yu, Bin; Sheng, Zhao-Fu; Huang, Yuan-Li; Cao, Qing; Xu, Ya-Ping; Lin, Zhi-Ge; Yang, Guang; Song, Jin-Zhi; Ding, Hui; Wang, Zi-Jun; Zhang, Yong-He

    2016-02-01

    The Ca(2+) modulation in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) plays an important role in sleep-wake regulation. Calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) is an important signal-transducing molecule that is activated by Ca(2+) . This study investigated the effects of intracellular Ca(2+) /CaMKII signaling in the DRN on sleep-wake states in rats. Maximum and minimum CaMKII phosphorylation was detected at Zeitgeber time 21 (ZT 21; wakefulness state) and ZT 3 (sleep state), respectively, across the light-dark rhythm in the DRN in rats. Six-hour sleep deprivation significantly reduced CaMKII phosphorylation in the DRN. Microinjection of the CAMKII activation inhibitor KN-93 (5 or 10 nmol) into the DRN suppressed wakefulness and enhanced rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) and non-REM sleep (NREMS). Application of a high dose of KN-93 (10 nmol) increased slow-wave sleep (SWS) time, SWS bouts, the mean duration of SWS, the percentage of SWS relative to total sleep, and delta power density during NREMS. Microinjection of CaCl2 (50 nmol) in the DRN increased CaMKII phosphorylation and decreased NREMS, SWS, and REMS. KN-93 abolished the inhibitory effects of CaCl2 on NREMS, SWS, and REMS. These data indicate a novel wake-promoting and sleep-suppressing role for the Ca(2+) /CaMKII signaling pathway in DRN neurons. We propose that the intracellular Ca(2+) /CaMKII signaling in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) plays wake-promoting and sleep-suppressing role in rats. Intra-DRN application of KN-93 (CaMKII activation inhibitor) suppressed wakefulness and enhanced rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) and non-REMS (NREMS). Intra-DRN application of CaCl2 attenuated REMS and NREMS. We think these findings should provide a novel cellular and molecular mechanism of sleep-wake regulation. © 2015 International Society for Neurochemistry.

  13. Neural substrates of embodied natural beauty and social endowed beauty: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; He, Xianyou; Lai, Siyan; Wan, Juan; Lai, Shuxian; Zhao, Xueru; Li, Darong

    2017-08-02

    What are the neural mechanisms underlying beauty based on objective parameters and beauty based on subjective social construction? This study scanned participants with fMRI while they performed aesthetic judgments on concrete pictographs and abstract oracle bone scripts. Behavioral results showed both pictographs and oracle bone scripts were judged to be more beautiful when they referred to beautiful objects and positive social meanings, respectively. Imaging results revealed regions associated with perceptual, cognitive, emotional and reward processing were commonly activated both in beautiful judgments of pictographs and oracle bone scripts. Moreover, stronger activations of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and motor-related areas were found in beautiful judgments of pictographs, whereas beautiful judgments of oracle bone scripts were associated with putamen activity, implying stronger aesthetic experience and embodied approaching for beauty were elicited by the pictographs. In contrast, only visual processing areas were activated in the judgments of ugly pictographs and negative oracle bone scripts. Results provide evidence that the sense of beauty is triggered by two processes: one based on the objective parameters of stimuli (embodied natural beauty) and the other based on the subjective social construction (social endowed beauty).

  14. Sleeping Beauty-baculovirus hybrid vectors for long-term gene expression in the eye.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turunen, Tytteli Anni Kaarina; Laakkonen, Johanna Päivikki; Alasaarela, Laura; Airenne, Kari Juhani; Ylä-Herttuala, Seppo

    2014-01-01

    A baculovirus vector is capable of efficiently transducing many nondiving and diving cell types. However, the potential of baculovirus is restricted for many gene delivery applications as a result of the transient gene expression that it mediates. The plasmid-based Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system integrates transgenes into target cell genome efficiently with a genomic integration pattern that is generally considered safer than the integration of many other integrating vectors; yet efficient delivery of therapeutic genes into cells of target tissues in vivo is a major challenge for nonviral gene therapy. In the present study, SB was introduced into baculovirus to obtain novel hybrid vectors that would combine the best features of the two vector systems (i.e. effective gene delivery and efficient integration into the genome), thus circumventing the major limitations of these vectors. We constructed and optimized SB-baculovirus hybrid vectors that bear either SB100x transposase or SB transposon in the forward or reverse orientations with respect to the viral backbone The functionality of the novel hybrid vectors was investigated in cell cultures and in a proof-of-concept study in the mouse eye. The hybrid vectors showed high and sustained transgene expression that remained stable and demonstrated no signs of decline during the 2 months follow-up in vitro. These results were verified in the mouse eye where persistent transgene expression was detected two months after intravitreal injection. Our results confirm that (i) SB-baculovirus hybrid vectors mediate long-term gene expression in vitro and in vivo, and (ii) the hybrid vectors are potential new tools for the treatment of ocular diseases. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  15. Play Matters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sicart (Vila), Miguel Angel

    ? In Play Matters, Miguel Sicart argues that to play is to be in the world; playing is a form of understanding what surrounds us and a way of engaging with others. Play goes beyond games; it is a mode of being human. We play games, but we also play with toys, on playgrounds, with technologies and design......, but not necessarily fun. Play can be dangerous, addictive, and destructive. Along the way, Sicart considers playfulness, the capacity to use play outside the context of play; toys, the materialization of play--instruments but also play pals; playgrounds, play spaces that enable all kinds of play; beauty...

  16. Stress and strategic decision-making in the beauty contest game.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leder, Johannes; Häusser, Jan Alexander; Mojzisch, Andreas

    2013-09-01

    Often, economic decisions do not only depend on one's own preferences, but also on the choices of others and therefore require strategizing (i.e., thinking about what others might think). In experimental economics, this has been modeled by the beauty contest game. Another typical feature of economic decisions is that they are often carried out under stress. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to examine the influence of stress on decision-making in the beauty contest game. Participants were randomly assigned to either the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups (TSST-G) or a placebo version of the TSST-G (control condition). Then, participants played four rounds of a standard beauty contest game. As a biomarker of stress, salivary cortisol was measured. As predicted, participants under stress chose higher numbers in the beauty contest game than non-stressed participants, indicating less strategizing. This effect was mediated by the stress-induced increase in cortisol. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Beautiful economic features of public landscaping in city beautiful

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emilson Caputo Delfino Silva

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available City beautiful was a movement of great reach and inspiration, which apparently, was initiated in Chicago in 1893 during the World’s Columbian Exposition. The movement’s premises were artistic, architectural, social, political and economic. Among the artistic and architectural aspects of the city beautiful movement, the provision of high quality public landscaping was of paramount importance. As for the economic rationale behind the movement, we encounter the thinking that a beautiful city should increase its residents’ enjoyment of the city’s attributes and hence attachment to the city, raise real estate values as well as expand city business, with larger sales of city goods and services to local and touristic customers. This paper examines the economic rationale behind the city beautiful movement. We consider a “regional” economy consisting of two adjacent cities, which are identical in many of its attributes, such as the sizes of their populations. We build a general equilibrium model for the agents (consumers and producers in this economy and demonstrate that the economic rationale behind the city beautiful movement is sound. Each city’s wealth and welfare are proportional to its quality level and a city’s quality level is proportional to the city’s public landscaping quality.

  18. Sleep in Othello

    OpenAIRE

    Dimsdale, Joel E.

    2009-01-01

    Some of our best descriptions of sleep disorders come from literature. While Shakespeare is well known for his references to insomnia and sleep walking, his works also demonstrate a keen awareness of many other sleep disorders. This paper examines sleep themes in Shakespeare's play Othello. The play indicates Shakespeare's astute eye for sleep deprivation, sexual parasomnias, and effects of stress and drugs on sleep.

  19. Sleep in Othello

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimsdale, Joel E.

    2009-01-01

    Some of our best descriptions of sleep disorders come from literature. While Shakespeare is well known for his references to insomnia and sleep walking, his works also demonstrate a keen awareness of many other sleep disorders. This paper examines sleep themes in Shakespeare's play Othello. The play indicates Shakespeare's astute eye for sleep deprivation, sexual parasomnias, and effects of stress and drugs on sleep. Citation: Dimsdale JE. Sleep in Othello. J Clin Sleep Med 2009;5(3):280-281. PMID:19960651

  20. [Beauty and esthetics: juridical approach].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Béry, Alain; Delprat, Laurent

    2014-03-01

    Although beauty is increasingly becoming a right mostly as it relates to objects, people are now beginning to make a new demand - the right to personal beauty: the right to live in and surrounded by beauty and the right to be beautiful. © EDP Sciences, SFODF, 2014.

  1. Wide Awake and Ready to Move: 20 Years of Non-Viral Therapeutic Genome Engineering with the Sleeping Beauty Transposon System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hodge, Russ; Narayanavari, Suneel A; Izsvák, Zsuzsanna; Ivics, Zoltán

    2017-10-01

    Gene therapies will only become a widespread tool in the clinical treatment of human diseases with the advent of gene transfer vectors that integrate genetic information stably, safely, effectively, and economically. Two decades after the discovery of the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon, it has been transformed into a vector system that is fulfilling these requirements. SB may well overcome some of the limitations associated with viral gene transfer vectors and transient non-viral gene delivery approaches that are being used in the majority of ongoing clinical trials. The SB system has achieved a high level of stable gene transfer and sustained transgene expression in multiple primary human somatic cell types, representing crucial steps that may permit its clinical use in the near future. This article reviews the most important aspects of SB as a tool for gene therapy, including aspects of its vectorization and genomic integration. As an illustration, the clinical development of the SB system toward gene therapy of age-related macular degeneration and cancer immunotherapy is highlighted.

  2. Beauty as Fit: A Metaphor in Mathematics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raman, Manya; Öhman, Lars-Daniel

    2013-01-01

    Beauty, which plays a central role in the practice of mathematics (Sinclair 2002), is almost absent in discussions of school mathematics (Dreyfus and Eisenberg 1986). This is problematic, because students will decide whether or not to continue their studies in mathematics without having an accurate picture of what the subject is about. In order to…

  3. Perceiving beauty in all women: Psychometric evaluation of the Broad Conceptualization of Beauty Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tylka, Tracy L; Iannantuono, Amy C

    2016-06-01

    Women's ability to broadly conceptualize beauty (i.e., perceive many looks, appearances, body sizes/shapes, and inner characteristics as beautiful) has been identified as a facet of positive body image in qualitative research. A scale is needed to be able to assess this construct within quantitative research. Therefore, we developed the Broad Conceptualization of Beauty Scale (BCBS), which measures the extent women define female beauty widely within external and internal characteristics, and examined its psychometric properties among four community samples totaling 1086 women. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a unidimensional structure with nine items. The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct (convergent, discriminant, and incremental) validity of its scores were upheld. Researchers and clinicians can use the BCBS alone to assess women's perceptions of female beauty, or they can use the BCBS alongside women's perceptions of self-beauty to more comprehensively explore women's ability to broadly conceptualize beauty for others and themselves. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Beauty Photoproduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turcato, M.

    2002-01-01

    Beauty photoproduction in ep collisions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA, at a center-of-mass energy of 300 GeV. Beauty quarks are tagged via their semi-leptonic decay into a muon or an electron. Events are selected by requiring the presence of two high-transverse energy jets and one high - p T lepton in the final state. The discrimination between beauty and background events is done by a fit to the p rel T variable, the transverse momentum of the lepton with respect to the jet axis. Total and differential cross sections are presented and compared to leading order Monte Carlo simulations and next-to-leading order QCD predictions. (author)

  5. Changes in sleep quantity and efficiency in professional rugby union players during home based training and match-play.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eagles, A; Mclellan, C; Hing, W; Carloss, N; Lovell, D

    2014-11-04

    Adequate sleep is paramount to athlete recovery and performance, however little is know about the typical sleep patterns of professional rugby union players during home based training and match-play in the competitive season. The aim of the present study was to monitor changes in sleep quantity and efficiency of elite male rugby union players over a twelve night period, which included training and two competitive matches. A total of ten elite male rugby union players from a selected team, participated in the study. Athletes sleep quantity and efficiency was monitored over a twelve night period using the Bodymedia sensewear units (BSU). There was a significant difference in sleep quantity (pwake over the twelve night period. Sleep efficiency is defined as a percentage score calculated by incorporating movement and physiological measures over the sleep duration as determined by the BSU. Also there was no significant difference between sleep parameters on the game nights. The findings show players have significantly (p<0.05) reduced sleep following a home game, which is of concern considering the established negative influence of sleep deprivation on cognitive and physical performance. This data may assist coaching, medical and performance staff to develop and implement team and individualised sleep monitoring regimes to optimise training and on-field performance.

  6. Neural correlates of visual aesthetics--beauty as the coalescence of stimulus and internal state.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Richard H A H; Renken, Remco; Cornelissen, Frans W

    2012-01-01

    How do external stimuli and our internal state coalesce to create the distinctive aesthetic pleasures that give vibrance to human experience? Neuroaesthetics has so far focused on the neural correlates of observing beautiful stimuli compared to neutral or ugly stimuli, or on neural correlates of judging for beauty as opposed to other judgments. Our group questioned whether this approach is sufficient. In our view, a brain region that assesses beauty should show beauty-level-dependent activation during the beauty judgment task, but not during other, unrelated tasks. We therefore performed an fMRI experiment in which subjects judged visual textures for beauty, naturalness and roughness. Our focus was on finding brain activation related to the rated beauty level of the stimuli, which would take place exclusively during the beauty judgment. An initial whole-brain analysis did not reveal such interactions, yet a number of the regions showing main effects of the judgment task or the beauty level of stimuli were selectively sensitive to beauty level during the beauty task. Of the regions that were more active during beauty judgments than roughness judgments, the frontomedian cortex and the amygdala demonstrated the hypothesized interaction effect, while the posterior cingulate cortex did not. The latter region, which only showed a task effect, may play a supporting role in beauty assessments, such as attending to one's internal state rather than the external world. Most of the regions showing interaction effects of judgment and beauty level correspond to regions that have previously been implicated in aesthetics using different stimulus classes, but based on either task or beauty effects alone. The fact that we have now shown that task-stimulus interactions are also present during the aesthetic judgment of visual textures implies that these areas form a network that is specifically devoted to aesthetic assessment, irrespective of the stimulus type.

  7. Is beauty skin deep – an approach to a beautiful face

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neerja Puri

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Everyone dreams of a beautiful and flawless face but true beauty is God given gift. Plastic surgery and various filler techniques can just highlight certain features and are just the temporary procedures. Features that further enhance the attractiveness of a beautiful face are the hair, skin, and teeth. These areas are the easiest to routinely enhance. There are many methods of facial sculpting including botulinum toxin, fillers and various other invasive plastic surgery techniques.

  8. Cycles of Beauty Culture: Ethnography of Beauty Clinics Commodification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sri Murlianti

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Skin care is not a completely new in beauty treatments. Previously there have been other types of cultural industry which also adopted the medical science, such as cosmetic and beauty salon industries. But, skin care beauty clinic successfully introduces the services of beauty treatments which are considered the healthiest. This paper is a summary of the research on how beauty clinic quickly became a part of everyday life of its consumers. The research focused on Natasha Skin Care, a most popular beauty clinic in Indonesia at the moment. According to Richard Johnson, the process of a culture industry reaches the society through a communication that in form a pattern cyclic communications. The stages in the pattern are interconnected but slipped, each stage is affecting others but are not specified in an uncertain manner; between the producer of culture industry with its consumers. This study is a multidiscipline research using three methods of interpretation namely ethnography, discourses analysis, and social hermeneutic study.Klinik kecantikan bukanlah budaya yang benar-benar baru dalam perawatan kecantikan. Sebelumnya telah ada jenis industri budaya lain yang juga mengadopsi ilmu kedokteran, seperti industri kosmetik dan salon kecantikan. Namun klinik kecantikan sukses menyandang predikat sebagai jasa perawatan kecantikan yang dianggap paling sehat. Tulisan ini merupakan rigkasan penelitian tentang bagaimana klinik kecantikan begitu cepat menjadi bagian hidup sehari–hari masyarakat konsumennya. Fokus penelitian ini adalah Natasha Skin Care, sebuah klinik kecantikan paling popular di Indonesia saat ini. Menurut Richard Johson proses sebuah industri budaya sampai pada masyarakat konsumennya melalui komunikasi yang timpang, membentuk pola komunikasi siklik, saling terhubung namun penuh dengan keterpelesetan, saling mewarnai namun tidak menentukan secara pasti antara produsen industri budaya dengan masyarakat konsumennya. Penelitian ini ditempuh

  9. Neural Correlates of Visual Aesthetics – Beauty as the Coalescence of Stimulus and Internal State

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Richard H. A. H.; Renken, Remco; Cornelissen, Frans W.

    2012-01-01

    How do external stimuli and our internal state coalesce to create the distinctive aesthetic pleasures that give vibrance to human experience? Neuroaesthetics has so far focused on the neural correlates of observing beautiful stimuli compared to neutral or ugly stimuli, or on neural correlates of judging for beauty as opposed to other judgments. Our group questioned whether this approach is sufficient. In our view, a brain region that assesses beauty should show beauty-level-dependent activation during the beauty judgment task, but not during other, unrelated tasks. We therefore performed an fMRI experiment in which subjects judged visual textures for beauty, naturalness and roughness. Our focus was on finding brain activation related to the rated beauty level of the stimuli, which would take place exclusively during the beauty judgment. An initial whole-brain analysis did not reveal such interactions, yet a number of the regions showing main effects of the judgment task or the beauty level of stimuli were selectively sensitive to beauty level during the beauty task. Of the regions that were more active during beauty judgments than roughness judgments, the frontomedian cortex and the amygdala demonstrated the hypothesized interaction effect, while the posterior cingulate cortex did not. The latter region, which only showed a task effect, may play a supporting role in beauty assessments, such as attending to one's internal state rather than the external world. Most of the regions showing interaction effects of judgment and beauty level correspond to regions that have previously been implicated in aesthetics using different stimulus classes, but based on either task or beauty effects alone. The fact that we have now shown that task-stimulus interactions are also present during the aesthetic judgment of visual textures implies that these areas form a network that is specifically devoted to aesthetic assessment, irrespective of the stimulus type. PMID:22384006

  10. "Man-some": A Review of Male Facial Aging and Beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keaney, Terrence Colin

    2017-06-01

    Gender plays a significant role in determining facial anatomy and behavior, both of which are key factors in the aging process. Understanding the pattern of male facial aging is critical when planning aesthetic treatments on men. Men develop more severe rhytides in a unique pattern, show increased periocular aging changes, and are more prone to hair loss. What also needs to be considered when planning a treatment is what makes men beautiful or "man-some". Male beauty strikes a balance between masculine and feminine facial features. A hypermasculine face can have negative associations. Men also exhibit different cosmetic concerns. Men tend to focus on three areas of the face - hairline, periocular area, and jawline. A comprehensive understanding of the male patient including anatomy, facial aging, cosmetic concerns, and beauty are needed for successful cosmetic outcomes. J Drugs Dermatol. 2017;16(6 Suppl):s91-93..

  11. The medicalization of beauty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Poli Neto

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Concern with body image and medical interventions related to physical beauty has greatly increased in the past few years. The purpose of this study is to investigate how medicine is dealing with the theme of beauty. The 2003/2004 editions of the periodicals Aesthetic Surgery Journal and Aesthetic Plastic Surgery were analyzed, in order to investigate the rationality buttressing their discourse. Three categories were prioritized for this study: definition of aesthetic plastic surgery's study object; beauty patterns guiding interventions; and understanding popular demand for aesthetic corrections. Discourse is sustained by biomedical rationality, structured around a disease theory and a dual construction between normal and pathological, with emphasis on biology. In the articles, the beauty patterns guiding therapeutic practices are anchored in biological norms defined through several anthropometric measures, which refer to abstract concepts of beauty, harmony, proportionality and symmetry. In this discourse, there are no references to patterns or to social norms of beauty; motivation for aesthetic intervention appears to be rooted in low self-esteem related to the aging process or to some bodily nonconformity. As per the meaning of 'medicalization' adopted herein, biomedical rationality appropriates variations or anomalies of physical appearance, thus allowing the theme to be dealt with in terms of health and disease, normal and pathological.

  12. Women and men integrate facial information differently in appraising the beauty of a face

    OpenAIRE

    Gill, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    Facial beauty plays a crucial role in social interactions, particularly in mating and reproduction. Therefore, the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms used for facial beauty assessment should be susceptible to different evolutionary and cultural pressures across genders and thus shape different observational appraising strategies. Using a novel approach, I evaluated the observers' subjective and unique importance given to specific facial attributes: eyes, nose, lips, and hair, and their spati...

  13. Digital Game Playing Motives among Adolescents: Relations to Parent-Child Communication, School Performance, Sleeping Habits, and Perceived Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallenius, Marjut; Rimpela, Arja; Punamaki, Raija-Leena; Lintonen, Tomi

    2008-01-01

    The aims of this research were to describe Finnish adolescents' different motives for digital game playing, and to examine relations between digital game playing and parent-child communication, school performance, sleeping habits, and perceived health. A questionnaire was used to assess a nationwide postal sample of 12-18-year-old Finns (6761…

  14. Detecting beauty baryons and heavy beauty mesons with the j/PSI trigger

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bigi, I.I.; Clavelli, L.

    1987-01-01

    The authors note that the combination of a vertex detector with a J/Psi trigger should enable one to measure the masses and lifetimes of various beauty baryons and heavy beauty mesons at the SSC or Tevatron II

  15. Association of sleep disturbances with TV and satellite watching and video games playing in 14-17 years old high school students of Qazvin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sh. Jalilolghadr

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Sleep plays an important role in health. Reduced levels of attention, learning and memory are of adverse outcomes of sleep disorders in students. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the association of sleep disturbances with watching TV and satellite and playing video games in 14-17 years old high school students of Qazvin. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in 653 high school students (14-17 years old in Qazvin that were selected by multistage cluster random sampling method (2013-2014. Data were collected through Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ and BEARS questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, T-test, ANOVA and logistic regression analysis. Findings: From 653 students, 392 (60% were female. The mean age was 15.73±0.99 years. The most prevalent sleep disturbances were waking up at night (74.4%, daytime sleepiness (69.8%, napping after school (66.6%, and nightmare (51.1%, respectively. Daytime sleepiness, nightmares, sleep after waking up, falling asleep in school, and nap after school time had significant association with watching satellite. Conclusion: With regards to the results, prevalence of sleep disorders was high in high school students of Qazvin and sleep disturbances were associated with duration of watching satellite.

  16. Free Beauty, Dependent Beauty, and Art.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stecker, Robert

    1987-01-01

    Explains the difference between free and dependent beauty. States that these distinctions, formed by Immanuel Kant, have important implications for aesthetic education. Concludes with a defense of Kant's aesthetics. (JDH)

  17. Musings about Beauty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kintsch, Walter

    2012-01-01

    In this essay, I explore how cognitive science could illuminate the concept of beauty. Two results from the extensive literature on aesthetics guide my discussion. As the term "beauty" is overextended in general usage, I choose as my starting point the notion of "perfect form." Aesthetic theorists are in reasonable agreement about the criteria for…

  18. Sleep apps: what role do they play in clinical medicine?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorenz, Christopher P; Williams, Adrian J

    2017-11-01

    Today's smartphones boast more computing power than the Apollo Guidance Computer. Given the ubiquity and popularity of smartphones, are we already carrying around miniaturized sleep labs in our pockets? There is still a lack of validation studies for consumer sleep technologies in general and apps for monitoring sleep in particular. To overcome this gap, multidisciplinary teams are needed that focus on feasibility work at the intersection of software engineering, data science and clinical sleep medicine. To date, no smartphone app for monitoring sleep through movement sensors has been successfully validated against polysomnography, despite the role and validity of actigraphy in sleep medicine having been well established. Missing separation of concerns, not methodology, poses the key limiting factor: The two essential steps in the monitoring process, data collection and scoring, are chained together inside a black box due to the closed nature of consumer devices. This leaves researchers with little room for influence nor can they access raw data. Multidisciplinary teams that wield complete power over the sleep monitoring process are sorely needed.

  19. Superconducting cavities for beauty factories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lengeler, H.

    1992-01-01

    The possibilities and merits of superconducting accelerating cavities for Beauty-factories are considered. There exist already large sc systems of size and frequency comparable to the ones needed for Beauty-factories. Their status and operation experience is discussed. A comparison of normal conducting and superconducting systems is done for two typical Beauty-factory rings

  20. Who Engages with Moral Beauty?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diessner, Rhett; Iyer, Ravi; Smith, Meghan M.; Haidt, Jonathan

    2013-01-01

    Aristotle considered moral beauty to be the "telos" of the human virtues. Displays of moral beauty have been shown to elicit the moral emotion of elevation and cause a desire to become a better person and to engage in prosocial behavior. Study 1 ("N" = 5380) shows engagement with moral beauty is related to several psychological…

  1. Beauty and cuteness in peripheral vision

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuraguchi, Kana; Ashida, Hiroshi

    2015-01-01

    Guo et al. (2011) showed that attractiveness was detectable in peripheral vision. Since there are different types of attractiveness (Rhodes, 2006), we investigated how beauty and cuteness are detected in peripheral vision with a brief presentation. Participants (n = 45) observed two Japanese female faces for 100 ms, then were asked to respond which face was more beautiful (or cuter). The results indicated that both beauty and cuteness were detectable in peripheral vision, but not in the same manner. Discrimination rates for judging beauty were invariant in peripheral and central vision, while discrimination rates for judging cuteness declined in peripheral vision as compared with central vision. This was not explained by lower resolution in peripheral vision. In addition, for male participants, it was more difficult to judge cuteness than beauty in peripheral vision, thus suggesting that gender differences can have a certain effect when judging cuteness. Therefore, central vision might be suitable for judging cuteness while judging beauty might not be affected by either central or peripheral vision. This might be related with the functional difference between beauty and cuteness. PMID:25999883

  2. "Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder"? Aspects of beauty and attractiveness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borelli, Claudia; Berneburg, Mirjam

    2010-05-01

    Discussing aesthetic issues and their management with patients is a growing area of dermatologic practice. Sometimes treatment options within one's own discipline are rapidly discussed, without a clear idea of the various aspects of the face which all combine to produce beauty and attractiveness. We review various features leading to the impression of beauty and attractiveness. Familiarity with these concepts should facilitate a broader discussion with the patient on the aspects of beauty and attractiveness beyond the borders of one's own discipline and also lead to multidisciplinary treatment options. We also examine the question how much the personality of the beholder himself is involved in the perception of attractiveness and beauty (of the person sitting opposite to him). The "ideal" face has an average profile with slightly protrusive and full lips. Attractiveness increases with average features and symmetry. Moreover, particular features such as the scheme of childlike characteristics combined with aspects of maturity and expression make a female face appear especially beautiful. Which attributes contribute to attractiveness of a man's face are controversial. Clear male signals such as a strong chin are likely not to increase attractiveness.

  3. Triggering on beauty

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duff, B.G.

    1984-01-01

    Three CERN experiments (NA19, WA75 and WA78) are discussed. The aim is to study the hadroproduction of naked ''beauty'' and, in the first two cases, to directly measure the lifetime of the beauty states. A comparison of the relative sensitivity is given and the various on-line and off-line selections which are made to attempt the extraction of a signal

  4. A twentieth-century triangle trade: selling black beauty at home and abroad, 1945–1965.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAndrew, Malia

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the careers of African American beauty culturists as they worked in the United States, Europe, and Africa between 1945 and 1965. Facing push back at home, African American beauty entrepreneurs frequently sought out international venues that were hospitable and receptive to black Americans in the years following World War II. By strategically using European sites that white Americans regarded as the birthplace of Western fashion and beauty, African American entrepreneurs in the fields of modeling, fashion design, and hair care were able to win accolades and advance their careers. In gaining support abroad, particularly in Europe, these beauty culturists capitalized on their international success to establish, legitimize, and promote their business ventures in the United States. After importing a positive reputation for themselves from Europe to the United States, African American beauty entrepreneurs then exported an image of themselves as the world's premier authorities on black beauty to people of color around the globe as they sold their products and marketed their expertise on the African continent itself. This essay demonstrates the important role that these black female beauty culturists played, both as businesspeople and as race leaders, in their generation's struggle to gain greater respect and opportunity for African Americans both at home and abroad. In doing so it places African American beauty culturists within the framework of transatlantic trade networks, the Black Freedom Movement, Pan-Africanism, and America's Cold War struggle.

  5. Introduction to beauty-hadron physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fridman, A.

    1995-03-01

    These lectures discuss methods for analyzing the decay of beauty hadrons (B mesons and beauty baryons) produced in pp interactions. At the c.m. energies around 14 TeV planned for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the B meson production rate is expected to be ca 105 larger than in an e+e- B factory. The pp collider could then offer, in principle, important advantages. However, the detection of beauty hadrons produced in a pp collider will be a task of great complexity. In particular, the triggering difficulties of events in a large background will be one of the major problems. Therefore, it would be useful to discuss the various aspects that can be investigated in beauty physics arising from pp interactions. It is first described the general features of the formalisms of B mixing and search for CP violation in the meson decays. Then the specific problems appearing for beauty hadrons produced in pN interactions are considered. Some comparison between investigations which could be carried out with B factories and pp colliders are also mentioned, although this is not the main concern of these lectures. Finally it is also presented some elements of beauty baryon decays which can only be studied efficiently by means of pN interaction

  6. Introduction to beauty-hadron physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fridman, A. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Trieste (Italy)

    1995-03-01

    These lectures discuss methods for analyzing the decay of beauty hadrons (B mesons and beauty baryons) produced in pp interactions. At the c.m. energies around 14 TeV planned for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the B meson production rate is expected to be ca 105 larger than in an e+e- B factory. The pp collider could then offer, in principle, important advantages. However, the detection of beauty hadrons produced in a pp collider will be a task of great complexity. In particular, the triggering difficulties of events in a large background will be one of the major problems. Therefore, it would be useful to discuss the various aspects that can be investigated in beauty physics arising from pp interactions. It is first described the general features of the formalisms of B mixing and search for CP violation in the meson decays. Then the specific problems appearing for beauty hadrons produced in pN interactions are considered. Some comparison between investigations which could be carried out with B factories and pp colliders are also mentioned, although this is not the main concern of these lectures. Finally it is also presented some elements of beauty baryon decays which can only be studied efficiently by means of pN interaction.

  7. Sleeping Beauty transposon mutagenesis identifies genes that cooperate with mutant Smad4 in gastric cancer development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeda, Haruna; Rust, Alistair G; Ward, Jerrold M; Yew, Christopher Chin Kuan; Jenkins, Nancy A; Copeland, Neal G

    2016-04-05

    Mutations in SMAD4 predispose to the development of gastrointestinal cancer, which is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths. To identify genes driving gastric cancer (GC) development, we performed a Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon mutagenesis screen in the stomach of Smad4(+/-) mutant mice. This screen identified 59 candidate GC trunk drivers and a much larger number of candidate GC progression genes. Strikingly, 22 SB-identified trunk drivers are known or candidate cancer genes, whereas four SB-identified trunk drivers, including PTEN, SMAD4, RNF43, and NF1, are known human GC trunk drivers. Similar to human GC, pathway analyses identified WNT, TGF-β, and PI3K-PTEN signaling, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, adherens junctions, and RNA degradation in addition to genes involved in chromatin modification and organization as highly deregulated pathways in GC. Comparative oncogenomic filtering of the complete list of SB-identified genes showed that they are highly enriched for genes mutated in human GC and identified many candidate human GC genes. Finally, by comparing our complete list of SB-identified genes against the list of mutated genes identified in five large-scale human GC sequencing studies, we identified LDL receptor-related protein 1B (LRP1B) as a previously unidentified human candidate GC tumor suppressor gene. In LRP1B, 129 mutations were found in 462 human GC samples sequenced, and LRP1B is one of the top 10 most deleted genes identified in a panel of 3,312 human cancers. SB mutagenesis has, thus, helped to catalog the cooperative molecular mechanisms driving SMAD4-induced GC growth and discover genes with potential clinical importance in human GC.

  8. Word encoding during sleep is suggested by correlations between word-evoked up-states and post-sleep semantic priming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon eRuch

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available To test whether humans can encode words during sleep we played everyday words to men while they were napping and assessed priming from sleep-played words following waking. Words were presented during non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep. Priming was assessed using a semantic and a perceptual priming test. These tests measured differences in the processing of words that had been or had not been played during sleep. Synonyms to sleep-played words were the targets in the semantic priming test that tapped the meaning of sleep-played words. All men responded to sleep-played words by producing up-states in their electroencephalogram. Up-states are NREM sleep-specific phases of briefly increased neuronal excitability. The word-evoked up-states might have promoted word processing during sleep. Yet, the mean performance in the priming tests administered following sleep was at chance level, which suggests that participants as a group failed to show priming following sleep. However, performance in the two priming tests was positively correlated to each other and to the magnitude of the word-evoked up-states. Hence, the larger a participant’s word-evoked up-states, the larger his perceptual and semantic priming. Those participants who scored high on all variables must have encoded words during sleep. We conclude that some humans are able to encode words during sleep, but more research is needed to pin down the factors that modulate this ability.

  9. The Sleeping Cerebellum

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Canto, Cathrin B; Onuki, Yoshiyuki; Bruinsma, Bastiaan; van der Werf, Ysbrand D; De Zeeuw, Chris I

    2017-01-01

    We sleep almost one-third of our lives and sleep plays an important role in critical brain functions like memory formation and consolidation. The role of sleep in cerebellar processing, however, constitutes an enigma in the field of neuroscience; we know little about cerebellar sleep-physiology,

  10. Introducing 'beauty and health'

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Edmonds, A.; van der Geest, S.

    2009-01-01

    The authors discuss the concepts ‘beauty’ and ‘health’ and their ambiguous relationship. The quest for beauty is perceived both as an enhancement of health and well-being and as a health risk. The article is an introduction to a collection of six anthropological essays on beauty and health.

  11. Diffractive beauty production at the LHC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eggert, K.; Morsch, A.

    1994-01-01

    Using the framework of Pomeron exchange to describe diffractive pp collisions at the LHC we discuss beauty production in those events. The cross sections for beauty production at different diffractive masses and the topology for the beauty particles and the underlying event are given. When triggering on large diffractive masses, the beauty system is boosted into the Pomeron hemisphere opposite the underlying event, which tends to follow the excited proton direction. This may offer some advantages for the acceptance of beauty and its reconstruction in forward spectrometers. For the identification of diffractive events at the LHC collider, we present a scheme to measure the momentum loss of forward protons in the range 2x10 -3 < Δp/p <0.1. This momentum loss can be determined with a precision of about 10%. ((orig.))

  12. Conditional gene expression in the mouse using a Sleeping Beauty gene-trap transposon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hackett Perry B

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Insertional mutagenesis techniques with transposable elements have been popular among geneticists studying model organisms from E. coli to Drosophila and, more recently, the mouse. One such element is the Sleeping Beauty (SB transposon that has been shown in several studies to be an effective insertional mutagen in the mouse germline. SB transposon vector studies have employed different functional elements and reporter molecules to disrupt and report the expression of endogenous mouse genes. We sought to generate a transposon system that would be capable of reporting the expression pattern of a mouse gene while allowing for conditional expression of a gene of interest in a tissue- or temporal-specific pattern. Results Here we report the systematic development and testing of a transposon-based gene-trap system incorporating the doxycycline-repressible Tet-Off (tTA system that is capable of activating the expression of genes under control of a Tet response element (TRE promoter. We demonstrate that the gene trap system is fully functional in vitro by introducing the "gene-trap tTA" vector into human cells by transposition and identifying clones that activate expression of a TRE-luciferase transgene in a doxycycline-dependent manner. In transgenic mice, we mobilize gene-trap tTA vectors, discover parameters that can affect germline mobilization rates, and identify candidate gene insertions to demonstrate the in vivo functionality of the vector system. We further demonstrate that the gene-trap can act as a reporter of endogenous gene expression and it can be coupled with bioluminescent imaging to identify genes with tissue-specific expression patterns. Conclusion Akin to the GAL4/UAS system used in the fly, we have made progress developing a tool for mutating and revealing the expression of mouse genes by generating the tTA transactivator in the presence of a secondary TRE-regulated reporter molecule. A vector like the gene

  13. Social relationships play a role in sleep status in Chinese undergraduate students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Yulian; Ding, Zheyuan; Fei, Ying; Jin, Wen; Liu, Hui; Chen, Zexin; Zheng, Shuangshuang; Wang, Lijuan; Wang, Zhaopin; Zhang, Shanchun; Yu, Yunxian

    2014-12-15

    The purpose of this study was to examine whether social relationships were associated with sleep status in Chinese undergraduate students. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in November 2012 at Huzhou Teachers College, China. The questionnaire involved demographic characteristics, personal lifestyle habits, social relationships and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The associations between social relationships and sleep status were analyzed by using regression models after adjustment for potential factors. Poor sleep quality was prevalent among Chinese undergraduate students. Men tended to have better sleep than women. Lower social stress, better management of stress and good social support were correlated with better sleep status, and stress or support from friends, family and classmates were all related with sleep variables. While only weak associations between number of friends and sleep were detected. The results were consistent in men and women. Educators and instructors should be aware of the importance of social relationships as well as healthy sleep in undergraduates. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Beauty at a glance: The feeling of beauty and the amplitude of pleasure are independent of stimulus duration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brielmann, Aenne A; Vale, Lauren; Pelli, Denis G

    2017-12-01

    Over time, how does beauty develop and decay? Common sense suggests that beauty is intensely felt only after prolonged experience of the object. Here, we present one of various stimuli for a variable duration (1-30 s), measure the observers' pleasure over time, and, finally, ask whether they felt beauty. On each trial, participants (N = 21) either see an image that they had chosen as "movingly beautiful," see an image with prerated valence, or suck a candy. During the stimulus and a further 60 s, participants rate pleasure continuously using a custom touchscreen web app, EmotionTracker.com. After each trial, participants judge whether they felt beauty. Across all stimulus kinds, durations, and beauty responses, the dynamic pleasure rating has a stereotypical time course that is well fit by a one-parameter model with a brief exponential onset (roughly 2.5 s), a sustained plateau during stimulus presentation, and a long exponential decay (roughly 70 s). Across conditions, only the plateau amplitude varies. Beauty and pleasure amplitude are nearly independent of stimulus duration. The final beauty rating is positively correlated with pleasure amplitude (r = 0.60), and nearly independent of duration (r = 0.10). Beauty's independence from duration is unlike Bentham's 18th-century notion of value (utility), which he supposed to depend on the product of pleasure amplitude and duration. Participants report having felt pleasure as strongly after a mere 1 s stimulus as after longer durations, up to 30 s. Thus, we find that amplitude of pleasure is independent of stimulus duration.

  15. Beauty, Identity and Consumption: A Malay Muslim Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    French, Juliana Angeline

    2017-01-01

    This thesis takes an interactionist perspective in understanding beauty. Beauty starts on the global stage with international beauty pageants, models on runways, magazines, music and entertainment that travel the global circuit and subsequently exert influence over beauty discourses in individual nation states. At the local nation state, beauty discourses are formed as a result of the nation’s own socio-historical past which then intersect with global discourses and are ofte...

  16. Beauty in the Breakdown

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brisco, Nicole

    2008-01-01

    Most human beings look at erosion as the destruction of a surface, but artists can see that erosion often creates indefinable beauty. Where do you see beauty in the breakdown? In this article, the author presents an innovative lesson that would allow students to observe both human and physical nature. In this activity students will create a work…

  17. The experience of beauty derived from sorrow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishizu, Tomohiro; Zeki, Semir

    2017-08-01

    We studied the neural mechanisms that are engaged during the experience of beauty derived from sorrow and from joy, two experiences that share a common denominator (beauty) but are linked to opposite emotional valences. Twenty subjects viewed and rerated, in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, 120 images which each had classified into the following four categories: beautiful and sad; beautiful and joyful; neutral; ugly. The medial orbito-frontal cortex (mOFC) was active during the experience of both types of beauty. Otherwise, the two experiences engaged different parts of the brain: joyful beauty engaged areas linked to positive emotions while sorrowful beauty engaged areas linked to negative experiences. Separate regions of the cerebellum were engaged during experience of the two conditions. A functional connectivity analysis indicated that the activity within the mOFC was modulated by the supplementary motor area/middle cingulate cortex, known to be engaged during empathetic experiences provoked by other peoples' sadness. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4185-4200, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  18. The neural correlates of beauty comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kedia, Gayannée; Mussweiler, Thomas; Mullins, Paul; Linden, David E J

    2014-05-01

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. How attractive someone is perceived to be depends on the individual or cultural standards to which this person is compared. But although comparisons play a central role in the way people judge the appearance of others, the brain processes underlying attractiveness comparisons remain unknown. In the present experiment, we tested the hypothesis that attractiveness comparisons rely on the same cognitive and neural mechanisms as comparisons of simple nonsocial magnitudes such as size. We recorded brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants compared the beauty or height of two women or two dogs. Our data support the hypothesis of a common process underlying these different types of comparisons. First, we demonstrate that the distance effect characteristic of nonsocial comparisons also holds for attractiveness comparisons. Behavioral results indicated, for all our comparisons, longer response times for near than far distances. Second, the neural correlates of these distance effects overlapped in a frontoparietal network known for its involvement in processing simple nonsocial quantities. These results provide evidence for overlapping processes in the comparison of physical attractiveness and nonsocial magnitudes.

  19. Global facial beauty: approaching a unified aesthetic ideal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sands, Noah B; Adamson, Peter A

    2014-04-01

    Recognition of facial beauty is both inborn and learned through social discourses and exposures. Demographic shifts across the globe, in addition to cross-cultural interactions that typify 21st century globalization in virtually all industries, comprise major active evolutionary forces that reshape our individual notions of facial beauty. This article highlights the changing perceptions of beauty, while defining and distinguishing natural beauty and artificial beauty. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  20. Returns to beauty over the life course

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jæger, Mads Meier

    ’ facial attractiveness as well as data on SES, marital, and health outcomes from their mid-20s to their mid-60s. I find that beauty has lasting positive returns for women since more beautiful women have higher SES throughout their working life, have a higher probability of being married at age 25......, and marry high-SES husbands. I find no effects of beauty on health and, in general, no returns to beauty for men....

  1. Sublime Views and Beautiful Explanations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barry, Daved; Meisiek, Stefan; Hatch, Mary Jo

    To create a generative theory that provides beautiful explanations and sublime views requires both a crafts and an art approach to scientific theorizing. The search for generativity leads scholars to perform various theorizing moves between the confines of simple, yet eloquent beauty...

  2. The environmental injustice of beauty: framing chemical exposures from beauty products as a health disparities concern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zota, Ami R; Shamasunder, Bhavna

    2017-10-01

    The obstetrics-gynecology community has issued a call to action to prevent toxic environmental chemical exposures and their threats to healthy human reproduction. Recent committee opinions recognize that vulnerable and underserved women may be impacted disproportionately by environmental chemical exposures and recommend that reproductive health professionals champion policies that secure environmental justice. Beauty product use is an understudied source of environmental chemical exposures. Beauty products can include reproductive and developmental toxicants such as phthalates and heavy metals; however, disclosure requirements are limited and inconsistent. Compared with white women, women of color have higher levels of beauty product-related environmental chemicals in their bodies, independent of socioeconomic status. Even small exposures to toxic chemicals during critical periods of development (such as pregnancy) can trigger adverse health consequences (such as impacts on fertility and pregnancy, neurodevelopment, and cancer). In this commentary, we seek to highlight the connections between environmental justice and beauty product-related chemical exposures. We describe racial/ethnic differences in beauty product use (such as skin lighteners, hair straighteners, and feminine hygiene products) and the potential chemical exposures and health risks that are associated with these products. We also discuss how targeted advertising can take advantage of mainstream beauty norms to influence the use of these products. Reproductive health professionals can use this information to advance environmental justice by being prepared to counsel patients who have questions about toxic environmental exposures from beauty care products and other sources. Researchers and healthcare providers can also promote health-protective policies such as improved ingredient testing and disclosure for the beauty product industry. Future clinical and public health research should consider beauty

  3. Somatic mutagenesis with a Sleeping Beauty transposon system leads to solid tumor formation in zebrafish.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maura McGrail

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Large-scale sequencing of human cancer genomes and mouse transposon-induced tumors has identified a vast number of genes mutated in different cancers. One of the outstanding challenges in this field is to determine which genes, when mutated, contribute to cellular transformation and tumor progression. To identify new and conserved genes that drive tumorigenesis we have developed a novel cancer model in a distantly related vertebrate species, the zebrafish, Danio rerio. The Sleeping Beauty (SB T2/Onc transposon system was adapted for somatic mutagenesis in zebrafish. The carp ß-actin promoter was cloned into T2/Onc to create T2/OncZ. Two transgenic zebrafish lines that contain large concatemers of T2/OncZ were isolated by injection of linear DNA into the zebrafish embryo. The T2/OncZ transposons were mobilized throughout the zebrafish genome from the transgene array by injecting SB11 transposase RNA at the 1-cell stage. Alternatively, the T2/OncZ zebrafish were crossed to a transgenic line that constitutively expresses SB11 transposase. T2/OncZ transposon integration sites were cloned by ligation-mediated PCR and sequenced on a Genome Analyzer II. Between 700-6800 unique integration events in individual fish were mapped to the zebrafish genome. The data show that introduction of transposase by transgene expression or RNA injection results in an even distribution of transposon re-integration events across the zebrafish genome. SB11 mRNA injection resulted in neoplasms in 10% of adult fish at ∼10 months of age. T2/OncZ-induced zebrafish tumors contain many mutated genes in common with human and mouse cancer genes. These analyses validate our mutagenesis approach and provide additional support for the involvement of these genes in human cancers. The zebrafish T2/OncZ cancer model will be useful for identifying novel and conserved genetic drivers of human cancers.

  4. A Place for Beauty in Art Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watts, Robert

    2018-01-01

    For the past 100 years beauty has been marginalised in Western art and regarded as a problematic notion in a range of cultural contexts. Art educators tend to associate experiences of beauty with passive appreciation rather than active engagement, while researchers of children's understanding of art characterise references to beauty as evidence of…

  5. ''Beauty of Wholeness and Beauty of Partiality.'' New Terms Defining the Concept of Beauty in Architecture in Terms of Sustainability and Computer Aided Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farid, Ayman A.; Zaghloul, Weaam M.; Dewidar, Khaled M.

    2014-01-01

    The great shift in sustainability and computer aided design in the field of architecture caused a remarkable change in the architecture philosophy, new aspects of beauty and aesthetic values are being introduced, and traditional definitions for beauty cannot fully cover this aspects, which causes a gap between; new architecture works criticism and…

  6. Toward a brain-based theory of beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishizu, Tomohiro; Zeki, Semir

    2011-01-01

    We wanted to learn whether activity in the same area(s) of the brain correlate with the experience of beauty derived from different sources. 21 subjects took part in a brain-scanning experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Prior to the experiment, they viewed pictures of paintings and listened to musical excerpts, both of which they rated on a scale of 1-9, with 9 being the most beautiful. This allowed us to select three sets of stimuli--beautiful, indifferent and ugly--which subjects viewed and heard in the scanner, and rated at the end of each presentation. The results of a conjunction analysis of brain activity showed that, of the several areas that were active with each type of stimulus, only one cortical area, located in the medial orbito-frontal cortex (mOFC), was active during the experience of musical and visual beauty, with the activity produced by the experience of beauty derived from either source overlapping almost completely within it. The strength of activation in this part of the mOFC was proportional to the strength of the declared intensity of the experience of beauty. We conclude that, as far as activity in the brain is concerned, there is a faculty of beauty that is not dependent on the modality through which it is conveyed but which can be activated by at least two sources--musical and visual--and probably by other sources as well. This has led us to formulate a brain-based theory of beauty.

  7. The Connection between Beauty and Morality in Kant's aesthetics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali salmani

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract At first glance it seems that Kant distinguishes beauty from morality because while analyzing the matter of beauty according to quality, he explicitly separates pleasure of beauty from pleasure of agreeable and pleasure of good; and believes that the pleasure of the beauty is neither to satisfy our physical desires nor to achieve a moral purpose. On the other hand, Kant speaks of a connection between beauty and morality in some sections of his critique of judgment. This essay intends to study the mentioned sections and clarifies how one can distinguish beauty from morality and simultaneously believes in the connection between beauty and morality. Following this, we are going to discuss why Kant deems such a connection necessary. Examining this matter, we will find out that morality and aesthetics can be indirectly related to each other. Kant's most major concern with regard to the connection between beauty and morality is the connection between feelings and foredoom.

  8. The Beauty of Brand Loyalty : – a case study of how marketers view Millennials' brand loyalty in the beauty industry

    OpenAIRE

    Kulle, Julia; Hellsten, Julia

    2017-01-01

    The generation of Millennials is becoming a very important segment in today's beauty market, because of their large size, purchasing power and engagement on social media. The Millennial consumers are heavy buyers of beauty products, but heavy buyers are not always loyal to the beauty brands. The concept of what is considered beautiful constantly changes, and there is an aspect of trendiness to the use of cosmetic products. Brands launch new products on a regular basis to follow fashion and be...

  9. Beauty and Hope: A Moral Beauty Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diessner, Rhett; Rust, Teri; Solom, Rebecca C.; Frost, Nellie; Parsons, Lucas

    2006-01-01

    Pedagogical intervention regarding engagement with natural, artistic and moral beauty can lead to an increase in trait hope. In a quasi-experimental design with college students the intervention group showed significantly higher gain scores on trait hope than did the comparison group; the effect size was moderate. The experimental group also…

  10. The world can look better: enhancing beauty experience with brain stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cattaneo, Zaira; Lega, Carlotta; Flexas, Albert; Nadal, Marcos; Munar, Enric; Cela-Conde, Camilo J

    2014-11-01

    Aesthetic appreciation is part of our everyday life: it is a subjective judgment we make when looking at a painting, a landscape, or--in fact--at another person. Neuroimaging and electrophysiological evidence suggests that the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a critical role in aesthetic judgments. Here, we show that the experience of beauty can be artificially enhanced with brain stimulation. Specifically, we show that aesthetic appreciation of representational paintings and photographs can be increased by applying anodal (excitatory) transcranial direct current stimulation on the left DLPFC. Our results thus show that beauty is in the brain of the beholder, and offer a novel view on the neural networks underlying aesthetic appreciation. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  11. Post-human body and beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russo, Maria Teresa; Di Stefano, Nicola

    2014-01-01

    The article calls into question the very possibility of a post-human aesthetics, starting from the following premise: rather than post-human, it is more correct to speak of post-natural, indicating by this expression a reality produced through a new type of evolution, which does not simply change human nature, but de-natures it, radically transforming it into an artefact. This post-nature which aspires to be perfect, immortal, invulnerable, is entirely devoid of beauty. In fact, while there may be an aesthetic of the artificial and of the artefact if it is in relation to objects, there is, however, no aesthetic of the post-human body. This is because is configured as a non-body and does not have the characteristics for what is commonly intended as beauty (harmony between matter and form, a reflection of inner life, uniqueness). Also in this case, it is more correct to speak of post-beauty, which in its properties appears to be the mirror image of beauty and ultimately, represents its complete dissolution.

  12. Why Landscape Beauty Matters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angelika Krebs

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available This philosophical paper explores the aesthetic argument for landscape conservation. The main claim is that the experience of beautiful landscapes is an essential part of the good human life. Beautiful landscapes make us feel at home in the world. Their great and irreplaceable value lies therein. To establish this claim, the concepts of landscape and “Stimmung” are clarified. It is shown how “Stimmung” (in the sense of mood is infused into landscape (as atmosphere and how we respond to it aesthetically. We respond by resonating or feeling at home. The paper ends by indicating how art can help us to better appreciate landscape beauty. This is done by way of an example from contemporary nature poetry, Michael Donhauser’s Variationen in Prosa, which begins with “Und was da war, es nahm uns an” (“And what was there accepted us”.

  13. Development of Brain EEG Connectivity across Early Childhood: Does Sleep Play a Role?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monique K. LeBourgeois

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Sleep has beneficial effects on brain function and learning, which are reflected in plastic changes in the cortex. Early childhood is a time of rapid maturation in fundamental skills—e.g., language, cognitive control, working memory—that are predictive of future functioning. Little is currently known about the interactions between sleep and brain maturation during this developmental period. We propose coherent electroencephalogram (EEG activity during sleep may provide unique insight into maturational processes of functional brain connectivity. Longitudinal sleep EEG assessments were performed in eight healthy subjects at ages 2, 3 and 5 years. Sleep EEG coherence increased across development in a region- and frequency-specific manner. Moreover, although connectivity primarily decreased intra-hemispherically across a night of sleep, an inter-hemispheric overnight increase occurred in the frequency range of slow waves (0.8–2 Hz, theta (4.8–7.8 Hz and sleep spindles (10–14 Hz, with connectivity changes of up to 20% across a night of sleep. These findings indicate sleep EEG coherence reflects processes of brain maturation—i.e., programmed unfolding of neuronal networks—and moreover, sleep-related alterations of brain connectivity during the sensitive maturational window of early childhood.

  14. The Sleeping Cerebellum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canto, Cathrin B; Onuki, Yoshiyuki; Bruinsma, Bastiaan; van der Werf, Ysbrand D; De Zeeuw, Chris I

    2017-05-01

    We sleep almost one-third of our lives and sleep plays an important role in critical brain functions like memory formation and consolidation. The role of sleep in cerebellar processing, however, constitutes an enigma in the field of neuroscience; we know little about cerebellar sleep-physiology, cerebro-cerebellar interactions during sleep, or the contributions of sleep to cerebellum-dependent memory consolidation. Likewise, we do not understand why cerebellar malfunction can lead to changes in the sleep-wake cycle and sleep disorders. In this review, we evaluate how sleep and cerebellar processing may influence one another and highlight which scientific routes and technical approaches could be taken to uncover the mechanisms underlying these interactions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Collider phenomenology of light strange-beauty squarks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheung, Kingman; Hou Weizshu

    2004-01-01

    Strong mixing between right-handed strange and beauty squarks is a possible solution to the CP violation discrepancy in B→φK S decay as recently suggested by the Belle data. In this scenario, thanks to the strong mixing one of the strange-beauty squarks can be as light as 200 GeV, even though the generic supersymmetry scale is at TeV. In this work, we study the production of this light right-handed strange-beauty squark at hadronic colliders and discuss the detection in various decay scenarios. Detection prospect at the Tevatron run II is good for the strange-beauty squark mass up to about 300 GeV

  16. Beauty production at HERA using the ZEUS experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yaguees, A

    2008-01-01

    Beauty quark production in ep collisions is being studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The latest measurements of beauty production in deep inelastic scattering and photoproduction regime are presented. The first measurement exploits the potential of the ZEUS microvertex detector to identify beauty in photoproduction dijet events with a muon in the final state. The second is based on statistical methods to determine the fraction of beauty in photoproduction dijet events with an electron in the final state. Finally, the first measurement by ZEUS of the beauty contribution to the proton structure function, F 2 bb, in deep inelastic scattering is presented. The three measurements are compared with QCD predictions as well as with previous results. All the results presented here are preliminary

  17. Beauty in abstract paintings: Perceptual contrast and statistical properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Birgit eMallon

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we combined the behavioral and objective approach in the field of empirical aesthetics. First, we studied the perception of beauty by investigating shifts in evaluation on perceived beauty of abstract artworks (Experiment 1. Because the participants showed heterogeneous individual preferences for the paintings, we divided them into seven clusters for the test. The experiment revealed a clear pattern of perceptual contrast. The perceived beauty of abstract paintings increased after exposure to paintings that were rated as less beautiful, and it decreased after exposure to paintings that were rated as more beautiful. Next, we searched for correlations of beauty ratings and perceptual contrast with statistical properties of abstract artworks (Experiment 2. The participants showed significant preferences for certain image properties. These preferences differed between the clusters of participants. Strikingly, next to color measures like hue, saturation, value and lightness, the recently described PHOG self-similarity value seems to be a predictor for aesthetic appreciation of abstract artworks. We speculate that the shift in evaluation in Experiment 1 was, at least in part, based on low-level adaptation to some of the statistical image properties analyzed in Experiment 2. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the perception of beauty in abstract artworks is altered after exposure to beautiful or non-beautiful images and correlates with particular image properties, especially color measures and self-similarity.

  18. Beauty, body size and wages: Evidence from a unique data set.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oreffice, Sonia; Quintana-Domeque, Climent

    2016-09-01

    We analyze how attractiveness rated at the start of the interview in the German General Social Survey is related to weight, height, and body mass index (BMI), separately by gender and accounting for interviewers' characteristics or fixed effects. We show that height, weight, and BMI all strongly contribute to male and female attractiveness when attractiveness is rated by opposite-sex interviewers, and that anthropometric characteristics are irrelevant to male interviewers when assessing male attractiveness. We also estimate whether, controlling for beauty, body size measures are related to hourly wages. We find that anthropometric attributes play a significant role in wage regressions in addition to attractiveness, showing that body size cannot be dismissed as a simple component of beauty. Our findings are robust to controlling for health status and accounting for selection into working. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Open beauty production at the CERN SPS collider

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Redelberger, T.

    1988-01-01

    We report here evidence for open beauty production through the observation of high transverse momentum dimuons and single muons. From the dimuon data the beauty quark production cross section has been measured to σ(panti p→banti b; p Tb >5 GeV, vertical strokeη b vertical stroke T beauty production. (orig.)

  20. Beauty and simplicity: the power of fine art and moral teaching on education in seventeenth-century Holland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dekker, J J H

    2009-04-01

    Seventeenth century Dutch genre painting played a major role in the promotion of the pursuit of family and educational virtues. Packing moralistic messages in fine paintings was considered as a very effective moralistic communication policy in a culture in which sending such moralising paintings and drawings on education and domestic virtues, so contributing to the reconciliation of the existing tensions, or, in the words of Simon Schama, embarrassment between beauty and the promoted virtues of frugality and simplicity. A broad middle class created its own private surrounding in which morality and enjoying the beauty of moralising on the family and parenting went together, as is made clear by the analysis of a series of representative images. Dutch parents, moralists, and painters knew the power of beauty in moralising on the family.

  1. A beautiful question finding nature’s deep design

    CERN Document Server

    Wilczek, Frank

    2015-01-01

    Artists as well as scientists throughout human history have pondered this “beautiful question.” With Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek as your guide, embark on a voyage of related discoveries, from Plato and Pythagoras up to the present. Wilczek’s groundbreaking work in quantum physics was inspired by his intuition to look for a deeper order of beauty in nature. In fact, every major advance in his career came from this intuition: to assume that the universe embodies beautiful forms, forms whose hallmarks are symmetry—harmony, balance, proportion—and economy. There are other meanings of “beauty,” but this is the deep logic of the universe—and it is no accident that it is also at the heart of what we find aesthetically pleasing and inspiring. Wilczek is hardly alone among great scientists in charting his course using beauty as his compass. As he reveals in A Beautiful Question, this has been the heart of scientific pursuit from Pythagoras, the ancient Greek who was the first to argue that “all thi...

  2. Introduction to Beautiful Soup

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeri Wieringa

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Beautiful Soup is a Python library for getting data out of HTML, XML, and other markup languages. Say you’ve found some webpages that display data relevant to your research, such as date or address information, but that do not provide any way of downloading the data directly. Beautiful Soup helps you pull particular content from a webpage, remove the HTML markup, and save the information. It is a tool for web scraping that helps you clean up and parse the documents you have pulled down from the web.

  3. Introduction to Beautiful Soup

    OpenAIRE

    Jeri Wieringa

    2012-01-01

    Beautiful Soup is a Python library for getting data out of HTML, XML, and other markup languages. Say you’ve found some webpages that display data relevant to your research, such as date or address information, but that do not provide any way of downloading the data directly. Beautiful Soup helps you pull particular content from a webpage, remove the HTML markup, and save the information. It is a tool for web scraping that helps you clean up and parse the documents you have pulled down from t...

  4. Measurement of beauty quark mass at HERA and impact on Higgs production in association with beauty quarks at LHC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gizhko, Andrii

    2016-06-01

    Three different, but related topics are the subject of this thesis, performed in the context of the ZEUS and CMS groups at DESY. The first measurement of the MS beauty-quark mass m b (m b ) at an electron-proton collider is presented. The measurement is based on a QCD analysis of beauty production cross sections in deep inelastic (DIS) ep scattering measured by ZEUS at HERA, together with inclusive DIS HERA data, using Next-to-Leading-Order QCD predictions. The measured value of the running beauty-quark mass in the MS scheme was found to be m b (m b )=4.07±0.14 (fit) +0.01 -0.07 (mod.) +0.05 -0.00 (param.) +0.08 -0.05 ( theo.) GeV, which is in good agreement with the world average Particle Data Group value and previous measurements at electron-positron colliders. It is also found to be consistent with the expected running of m b (μ). A first measurement of the charm-quark mass m c (μ) running in the MS scheme is presented. The measurement is based on a QCD analysis of the published H1 and ZEUS combination of charm cross section measurements in DIS ep scattering at HERA, together with inclusive DIS HERA data, using Next-to-Leading-Order QCD predictions. The running charm-quark mass m c (μ) was measured at different scales μ and is presented in a charm-quark mass running plot with a comparison to the world average Particle Data Group m c (m c ) evolved to higher scales. The running is found to be consistent with the expectations from QCD. The uncertainties of the theoretical predictions for Higgs production in association with beauty-quarks originating from the beauty-quark mass were studied and reduced for massive and massless QCD calculations. The beauty-quark mass measurement m b (m b ) was used to decrease the variation of the beauty-quark mass to 0.17 GeV. It was shown that the uncertainty from the beauty-quark mass m b (m b ) in the case of massive calculations for Hb anti b production at LHC can be reduced to 2%. This makes it negligible compared to other

  5. Measurement of beauty quark mass at HERA and impact on Higgs production in association with beauty quarks at LHC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gizhko, Andrii

    2016-06-15

    Three different, but related topics are the subject of this thesis, performed in the context of the ZEUS and CMS groups at DESY. The first measurement of the MS beauty-quark mass m{sub b}(m{sub b}) at an electron-proton collider is presented. The measurement is based on a QCD analysis of beauty production cross sections in deep inelastic (DIS) ep scattering measured by ZEUS at HERA, together with inclusive DIS HERA data, using Next-to-Leading-Order QCD predictions. The measured value of the running beauty-quark mass in the MS scheme was found to be m{sub b}(m{sub b})=4.07±0.14 (fit){sup +0.01}{sub -0.07}(mod.){sup +0.05}{sub -0.00}(param.){sup +0.08}{sub -0.05}( theo.) GeV, which is in good agreement with the world average Particle Data Group value and previous measurements at electron-positron colliders. It is also found to be consistent with the expected running of m{sub b}(μ). A first measurement of the charm-quark mass m{sub c}(μ) running in the MS scheme is presented. The measurement is based on a QCD analysis of the published H1 and ZEUS combination of charm cross section measurements in DIS ep scattering at HERA, together with inclusive DIS HERA data, using Next-to-Leading-Order QCD predictions. The running charm-quark mass m{sub c}(μ) was measured at different scales μ and is presented in a charm-quark mass running plot with a comparison to the world average Particle Data Group m{sub c}(m{sub c}) evolved to higher scales. The running is found to be consistent with the expectations from QCD. The uncertainties of the theoretical predictions for Higgs production in association with beauty-quarks originating from the beauty-quark mass were studied and reduced for massive and massless QCD calculations. The beauty-quark mass measurement m{sub b}(m{sub b}) was used to decrease the variation of the beauty-quark mass to 0.17 GeV. It was shown that the uncertainty from the beauty-quark mass m{sub b}(m{sub b}) in the case of massive calculations for Hb anti b

  6. Sleep and cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deak, Maryann C; Stickgold, Robert

    2010-07-01

    Sleep is a complex physiologic state, the importance of which has long been recognized. Lack of sleep is detrimental to humans and animals. Over the past decade, an important link between sleep and cognitive processing has been established. Sleep plays an important role in consolidation of different types of memory and contributes to insightful, inferential thinking. While the mechanism by which memories are processed in sleep remains unknown, several experimental models have been proposed. This article explores the link between sleep and cognition by reviewing (1) the effects of sleep deprivation on cognition, (2) the influence of sleep on consolidation of declarative and non-declarative memory, and (3) some proposed models of how sleep facilitates memory consolidation in sleep. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Beauty in abstract paintings: perceptual contrast and statistical properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mallon, Birgit; Redies, Christoph; Hayn-Leichsenring, Gregor U.

    2014-01-01

    In this study, we combined the behavioral and objective approach in the field of empirical aesthetics. First, we studied the perception of beauty by investigating shifts in evaluation on perceived beauty of abstract artworks (Experiment 1). Because the participants showed heterogeneous individual preferences for the paintings, we divided them into seven clusters for the test. The experiment revealed a clear pattern of perceptual contrast. The perceived beauty of abstract paintings increased after exposure to paintings that were rated as less beautiful, and it decreased after exposure to paintings that were rated as more beautiful. Next, we searched for correlations of beauty ratings and perceptual contrast with statistical properties of abstract artworks (Experiment 2). The participants showed significant preferences for particular image properties. These preferences differed between the clusters of participants. Strikingly, next to color measures like hue, saturation, value and lightness, the recently described Pyramid of Histograms of Orientation Gradients (PHOG) self-similarity value seems to be a predictor for aesthetic appreciation of abstract artworks. We speculate that the shift in evaluation in Experiment 1 was, at least in part, based on low-level adaptation to some of the statistical image properties analyzed in Experiment 2. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the perception of beauty in abstract artworks is altered after exposure to beautiful or non-beautiful images and correlates with particular image properties, especially color measures and self-similarity. PMID:24711791

  8. Escaping Beauty through moral narratives

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sloth, Erik

    2010-01-01

    This study investigate through ethnographic studies the shared cultural meanings expressed about human beauty. How is sense making about the notion of beauty constructed, verballized and negotiated in a group of young females between 24 and 26 years old. Furthermore the study discuss and elaborat...... on the concept of a postpostmodern condition, with the Brand Dove as an example of a Brand acting as a Citizen-Artist (Holt 2002)....

  9. Rare beauty and charm decays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blake, T.

    2016-01-01

    Rare beauty and charm decays can provide powerful probes of physics beyond the Standard Model. These proceedings summarise the latest measurements of rare beauty and charm decays from the LHCb experiment at the end of Run 1 of the LHC. Whilst the majority of the measurements are consistent with SM predictions, small differences are seen in the rate and angular distribution of b → sℓ"+ℓ"− decay processes.

  10. Combining universal beauty and cultural context in a unifying model of visual aesthetic experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redies, Christoph

    2015-01-01

    In this work, I propose a model of visual aesthetic experience that combines formalist and contextual aspects of aesthetics. The model distinguishes between two modes of processing. First, perceptual processing is based on the intrinsic form of an artwork, which may or may not be beautiful. If it is beautiful, a beauty-responsive mechanism is activated in the brain. This bottom-up mechanism is universal amongst humans; it is widespread in the visual brain and responsive across visual modalities. Second, cognitive processing is based on contextual information, such as the depicted content, the intentions of the artist or the circumstances of the presentation of the artwork. Cognitive processing is partially top-down and varies between individuals according to their cultural experience. Processing in the two channels is parallel and largely independent. In the general case, an aesthetic experience is induced if processing in both channels is favorable, i.e., if there is resonance in the perceptual processing channel ("aesthetics of perception"), and successful mastering in the cognitive processing channel ("aesthetics of cognition"). I speculate that this combinatorial mechanism has evolved to mediate social bonding between members of a (cultural) group of people. Primary emotions can be elicited via both channels and modulate the degree of the aesthetic experience. Two special cases are discussed. First, in a subset of (post-)modern art, beauty no longer plays a prominent role. Second, in some forms of abstract art, beautiful form can be enjoyed with minimal cognitive processing. The model is applied to examples of Western art. Finally, implications of the model are discussed. In summary, the proposed model resolves the seeming contradiction between formalist perceptual approaches to aesthetic experience, which are based on the intrinsic beauty of artworks, and contextual approaches, which account for highly individual and culturally dependent aspects of aesthetics.

  11. Combining universal beauty and cultural context in a unifying model of visual aesthetic experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redies, Christoph

    2015-01-01

    In this work, I propose a model of visual aesthetic experience that combines formalist and contextual aspects of aesthetics. The model distinguishes between two modes of processing. First, perceptual processing is based on the intrinsic form of an artwork, which may or may not be beautiful. If it is beautiful, a beauty-responsive mechanism is activated in the brain. This bottom–up mechanism is universal amongst humans; it is widespread in the visual brain and responsive across visual modalities. Second, cognitive processing is based on contextual information, such as the depicted content, the intentions of the artist or the circumstances of the presentation of the artwork. Cognitive processing is partially top–down and varies between individuals according to their cultural experience. Processing in the two channels is parallel and largely independent. In the general case, an aesthetic experience is induced if processing in both channels is favorable, i.e., if there is resonance in the perceptual processing channel (“aesthetics of perception”), and successful mastering in the cognitive processing channel (“aesthetics of cognition”). I speculate that this combinatorial mechanism has evolved to mediate social bonding between members of a (cultural) group of people. Primary emotions can be elicited via both channels and modulate the degree of the aesthetic experience. Two special cases are discussed. First, in a subset of (post-)modern art, beauty no longer plays a prominent role. Second, in some forms of abstract art, beautiful form can be enjoyed with minimal cognitive processing. The model is applied to examples of Western art. Finally, implications of the model are discussed. In summary, the proposed model resolves the seeming contradiction between formalist perceptual approaches to aesthetic experience, which are based on the intrinsic beauty of artworks, and contextual approaches, which account for highly individual and culturally dependent aspects of

  12. Two beautiful new particles

    CERN Multimedia

    Antonella Del Rosso

    2012-01-01

    In beautiful agreement with the Standard Model, two new excited states (see below) of the Λb beauty particle have just been observed by the LHCb Collaboration. Similarly to protons and neutrons, Λb is composed of three quarks. In the Λb’s case, these are up, down and… beauty.   Although discovering new particles is increasingly looking like a routine exercise for the LHC experiments (see previous features), it is far from being an obvious performance, particularly when the mass of the particles is high. Created in the high-energy proton-proton collisions produced by the LHC, these new excited states of the Λb particle have been found to have a mass of, respectively, 5912 MeV/c2 and 5920 MeV/c2. In other words, they are over five times heavier than the proton or the neutron. Physicists only declare a discovery when data significantly show the relevant signal. In order to do that, they often have to analyse large samples of data. To ...

  13. Integration of Oncogenes via Sleeping Beauty as a Mouse Model of HPV16+ Oral Tumors and Immunologic Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yi-Hsin; Yang, Ming-Chieh; Tseng, Ssu-Hsueh; Jiang, Rosie; Yang, Andrew; Farmer, Emily; Peng, Shiwen; Henkle, Talia; Chang, Yung-Nien; Hung, Chien-Fu; Wu, T-C

    2018-01-23

    Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) is the etiologic factor for cervical cancer and a subset of oropharyngeal cancers. Although several prophylactic HPV vaccines are available, no effective therapeutic strategies to control active HPV diseases exist. Tumor implantation models are traditionally used to study HPV-associated buccal tumors. However, they fail to address precancerous phases of disease progression and display tumor microenvironments distinct from those observed in patients. Previously, K14-E6/E7 transgenic mouse models have been used to generate spontaneous tumors. However, the rate of tumor formation is inconsistent, and the host often develops immune tolerance to the viral oncoproteins. We developed a preclinical, spontaneous, HPV16 + buccal tumor model using submucosal injection of oncogenic plasmids expressing HPV16-E6/E7, NRas G12V , luciferase, and sleeping beauty (SB) transposase, followed by electroporation in the buccal mucosa. We evaluated responses to immunization with a pNGVL4a-CRT/E7(detox) therapeutic HPV DNA vaccine and tumor cell migration to distant locations. Mice transfected with plasmids encoding HPV16-E6/E7, NRas G12V , luciferase, and SB transposase developed tumors within 3 weeks. We also found transient anti-CD3 administration is required to generate tumors in immunocompetent mice. Bioluminescence signals from luciferase correlated strongly with tumor growth, and tumors expressed HPV16-associated markers. We showed that pNGVL4a-CRT/E7(detox) administration resulted in antitumor immunity in tumor-bearing mice. Lastly, we demonstrated that the generated tumor could migrate to tumor-draining lymph nodes. Our model provides an efficient method to induce spontaneous HPV + tumor formation, which can be used to identify effective therapeutic interventions, analyze tumor migration, and conduct tumor biology research. Cancer Immunol Res; 6(3); 1-15. ©2018 AACR. ©2018 American Association for Cancer Research.

  14. Bathing in Reeking Wounds: The Liberal Arts, Beauty, and War

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stimpson, Catharine R.

    2014-01-01

    A historic dialectic exists between the beautiful and the bestial. The bestial destroys the beautiful, but in a bloody miracle, the beautiful emerges from the womb of the bestial, the "terrible beauty" of which the poet W. B. Yeats wrote. The liberal arts, so often thought to dwell in a remote ivory tower, embody this dialectic. Wars and…

  15. Natural Tendency towards Beauty in Humans: Evidence from Binocular Rivalry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mo, Ce; Xia, Tiansheng; Qin, Kaixin; Mo, Lei

    2016-01-01

    Although human preference for beauty is common and compelling in daily life, it remains unknown whether such preference is essentially subserved by social cognitive demands or natural tendency towards beauty encoded in the human mind intrinsically. Here we demonstrate experimentally that humans automatically exhibit preference for visual and moral beauty without explicit cognitive efforts. Using a binocular rivalry paradigm, we identified enhanced gender-independent perceptual dominance for physically attractive persons, and the results suggested universal preference for visual beauty based on perceivable forms. Moreover, we also identified perceptual dominance enhancement for characters associated with virtuous descriptions after controlling for facial attractiveness and vigilance-related attention effects, which suggested a similar implicit preference for moral beauty conveyed in prosocial behaviours. Our findings show that behavioural preference for beauty is driven by an inherent natural tendency towards beauty in humans rather than explicit social cognitive processes.

  16. Performing Beauty in Participatory Art and Culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heinrich, Falk

    This book investigates the notion of beauty in participatory art, an interdisciplinary form that necessitates the audience’s agential participation and that is often seen in interactive art and technology-driven media installations. After considering established theories of beauty, for example...

  17. Manufacture of clinical-grade CD19-specific T cells stably expressing chimeric antigen receptor using Sleeping Beauty system and artificial antigen presenting cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harjeet Singh

    Full Text Available Adoptive transfer of T cells expressing a CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR is being evaluated in multiple clinical trials. Our current approach to adoptive immunotherapy is based on a second generation CAR (designated CD19RCD28 that signals through a CD28 and CD3-ζ endodomain. T cells are electroporated with DNA plasmids from the Sleeping Beauty (SB transposon/transposase system to express this CAR. Stable integrants of genetically modified T cells can then be retrieved when co-cultured with designer artificial antigen presenting cells (aAPC in the presence of interleukin (IL-2 and 21. Here, we reveal how the platform technologies of SB-mediated transposition and CAR-dependent propagation on aAPC were adapted for human application. Indeed, we have initiated clinical trials in patients with high-risk B-lineage malignancies undergoing autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT. We describe the process to manufacture clinical grade CD19-specific T cells derived from healthy donors. Three validation runs were completed in compliance with current good manufacturing practice for Phase I/II trials demonstrating that by 28 days of co-culture on γ-irradiated aAPC ∼10(10 T cells were produced of which >95% expressed CAR. These genetically modified and propagated T cells met all quality control testing and release criteria in support of infusion.

  18. STRANGERS IN THE SAME COUNTRY: THE COMPLEXITY OF SISTERLY SOLIDARITY IN CATHERINE FILLOUX’S THE BEAUTY INSIDE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eda DEDEBAŞ DÜNDAR

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Through the depiction of a sisterly solidarity and the priority of our responsibility for the other, French-American playwright Catherine Filloux’s play The Beauty Inside makes its audience bear witness not only to the tragedy of honor killings in Turkey but also to an amity that flourishes between a Westernized lawyer Devrim and a rape survivor Yalova introducing a form of familial bond that stems from our shared ethical space. With the help of its unique characters and stress on compassion, The Beauty Inside exemplifies an outstanding play that enhances the publicity of the theatre genre itself. This paper argues that through its rendering of two noteworthy characters from two conflicting sub-cultures of Turkey and their attempts to acknowledge their responsibility for the other, the play portrays a complex sisterhood that justifies the uplifting impact of face-to-face interaction and proposes a novel approach to humanitarianism in human rights theatre. Moreover, it accentuates travel, both as a physical expedition and a mental exploration, in its attempt to encounter the other and “the non-intentionality of consciousness” – to quote from Emmanuel Levinas. Divided in two major sections, this paper first discusses the theoretical perspectives surrounding travel theory and the concept of witnessing vulnerability and atrocities by referring to human rights theorists as well as Levinas’s concept of “face-to-face interaction” and then includes a close reading of The Beauty Inside as a distinguished play that aptly utilizes the theatre genre to serve a dual function: to publicize violations and to deliver an eye-opening alternative to our fear of the other by curtailing the proximity to the vulnerable.

  19. Detection of Sleeping Beauty transposition in the genome of host cells by non-radioactive Southern blot analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aravalli, Rajagopal N., E-mail: aravalli@umn.edu [Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, MMC 292, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Park, Chang W. [Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, MMC 36, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Steer, Clifford J., E-mail: steer001@umn.edu [Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, MMC 36, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States); Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)

    2016-08-26

    The Sleeping Beauty transposon (SB-Tn) system is being used widely as a DNA vector for the delivery of therapeutic transgenes, as well as a tool for the insertional mutagenesis in animal models. In order to accurately assess the insertional potential and properties related to the integration of SB it is essential to determine the copy number of SB-Tn in the host genome. Recently developed SB100X transposase has demonstrated an integration rate that was much higher than the original SB10 and that of other versions of hyperactive SB transposases, such as HSB3 or HSB17. In this study, we have constructed a series of SB vectors carrying either a DsRed or a human β-globin transgene that was encompassed by cHS4 insulator elements, and containing the SB100X transposase gene outside the SB-Tn unit within the same vector in cis configuration. These SB-Tn constructs were introduced into the K-562 erythroid cell line, and their presence in the genomes of host cells was analyzed by Southern blot analysis using non-radioactive probes. Many copies of SB-Tn insertions were detected in host cells regardless of transgene sequences or the presence of cHS4 insulator elements. Interestingly, the size difference of 2.4 kb between insulated SB and non-insulated controls did not reflect the proportional difference in copy numbers of inserted SB-Tns. We then attempted methylation-sensitive Southern blots to assess the potential influence of cHS4 insulator elements on the epigenetic modification of SB-Tn. Our results indicated that SB100X was able to integrate at multiple sites with the number of SB-Tn copies larger than 6 kb in size. In addition, the non-radioactive Southern blot protocols developed here will be useful to detect integrated SB-Tn copies in any mammalian cell type.

  20. Detection of Sleeping Beauty transposition in the genome of host cells by non-radioactive Southern blot analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aravalli, Rajagopal N.; Park, Chang W.; Steer, Clifford J.

    2016-01-01

    The Sleeping Beauty transposon (SB-Tn) system is being used widely as a DNA vector for the delivery of therapeutic transgenes, as well as a tool for the insertional mutagenesis in animal models. In order to accurately assess the insertional potential and properties related to the integration of SB it is essential to determine the copy number of SB-Tn in the host genome. Recently developed SB100X transposase has demonstrated an integration rate that was much higher than the original SB10 and that of other versions of hyperactive SB transposases, such as HSB3 or HSB17. In this study, we have constructed a series of SB vectors carrying either a DsRed or a human β-globin transgene that was encompassed by cHS4 insulator elements, and containing the SB100X transposase gene outside the SB-Tn unit within the same vector in cis configuration. These SB-Tn constructs were introduced into the K-562 erythroid cell line, and their presence in the genomes of host cells was analyzed by Southern blot analysis using non-radioactive probes. Many copies of SB-Tn insertions were detected in host cells regardless of transgene sequences or the presence of cHS4 insulator elements. Interestingly, the size difference of 2.4 kb between insulated SB and non-insulated controls did not reflect the proportional difference in copy numbers of inserted SB-Tns. We then attempted methylation-sensitive Southern blots to assess the potential influence of cHS4 insulator elements on the epigenetic modification of SB-Tn. Our results indicated that SB100X was able to integrate at multiple sites with the number of SB-Tn copies larger than 6 kb in size. In addition, the non-radioactive Southern blot protocols developed here will be useful to detect integrated SB-Tn copies in any mammalian cell type.

  1. The role of sleep and sleep disorders in the development, diagnosis, and management of neurocognitive disorders.

    OpenAIRE

    Michelle A Miller

    2015-01-01

    It is becoming increasingly apparent that sleep plays an important role in the maintenance, disease prevention, repair and restoration of both mind and body. The sleep and wake cycles are controlled by the pacemaker activity of the superchiasmic nucleus in the hypothalamus but can be disrupted by diseases of the nervous system causing disordered sleep. A lack of sleep has been associated with an increase in all–cause mortality. Likewise, sleep disturbances and sleep disorders may disrupt neu...

  2. Beauty: neglected, but alive and kicking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redies, Christoph

    2014-11-01

    This article is a commentary on 'Ten years of a model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments: The aesthetic episode - developments and challenges in empirical aesthetics' (Leder & Nadal, 2014, this issue). It focuses on the importance of beauty in aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments. Beauty is considered as a formal inherent property of visual stimuli that has the potential to elicit visual pleasure by direct sensory stimulation. It is argued that any comprehensive model of aesthetic experience must account fully for cognitive aspects of aesthetics (cultural, conceptual, psychological, and individual factors) as well as intrinsic properties of beautiful visual stimuli and how they relate to basic mechanisms of visual perception, which are universal among humans. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  3. Sleep disorders in systemic lupus erythematosus. Does vitamin D play a role?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gholamrezaei, A; Bonakdar, Z Sayed; Mirbagher, L; Hosseini, N

    2014-09-01

    Sleep disorders are common among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with unclear underlying mechanisms. We assessed the role of vitamin D in sleep quality of patients with SLE. A retrospective study was conducted on women with SLE for whom the following data were available at the same time; sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)), disease activity, cumulative disease damage, psychological state (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)), and serum vitamin D level. Bivariate and regression analyses were computed to find contributors of sleep quality. In total, 63 women were studied. Serum vitamin D level was correlated with physical activity (r=0.310, p=0.015), season of assessment (r=-0.302, p=0.016), the PSQI global score (r=-0.262, p=0.043), anxiety score (r=-0.298, p=0.021), and non-significantly with depression score (r=-0.218, p=0.094). Including all variables into a linear regression model, vitamin D level was independently associated with the global PSQI score (beta=-0.364, p=0.042). Association of vitamin D level with psychological state disappeared after controlling for season of assessment (beta=-0.248, p=0.154). We found a role for vitamin D in sleep quality of SLE patients. Further studies are warranted to confirm these results and to find possible mechanisms of action. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  4. Literary aesthetics: beauty, the brain, and Mrs. Dalloway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hogan, Patrick Colm

    2013-01-01

    Empirical research indicates that beauty is in part a matter of prototype approximation. Some research suggests that unanticipated pattern recognition is important as well. This essay begins by briefly outlining an account of beauty based on these factors. It goes on to consider complications. Minor complications include the partial incompatibility of these accounts and the importance of differentiating judgments of beauty from aesthetic response. More serious issues include the relative neglect of literature in neurologically-based discussions of beauty, which tend to focus on music or visual art. There is also a relative neglect of emotion, beyond the reward system. Finally, there is the almost complete absence of the sublime. After considering these problems broadly, the essay turns to Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, examining its treatment of beauty and sublimity. The aim of this section is not merely to illuminate Woolf's novel by reference to neuroscientific research. It is equally, perhaps more fully, to expand our neuroscientifically grounded account of aesthetic response by drawing on Woolf's novel. In Mrs. Dalloway, there are gestures toward prototypes and patterns in beauty. But the key features are clearly emotional. Specifically, the emotions at issue in feelings of beauty and sublimity appear to be primarily attachment, on the one hand, and a profound sense of isolation, on the other. Woolf's novel also points us toward other features of aesthetic experience, crucially including the emotion-sharing that is a key function of the production and circulation of art. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Overview of smartphone applications for sleep analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ong, Adrian A; Gillespie, M Boyd

    2016-03-01

    To review and assess the current selection of sleep analysis smartphone applications (apps) available for download. The iOS and Google Play mobile app store were searched for sleep analysis apps targeted for consumer use. Alarm clock, sleep-aid, snoring and sleep-talking recorder, fitness tracker apps, and apps geared towards health professionals were excluded. App information and features were obtained from in-store descriptions, and the app developer website. A total of 51 unique sleep apps in both iOS and Google Play stores were included. The apps were rated 3.8/5 in both stores, and had an average price of $1.12 in the iOS store and $0.58 in the Google Play store. >65% of sleep apps report on sleep structure, including duration, time awake, and time in light/deep sleep, while reporting of REM was limited. The availability of extra features was variable, ranging from 4% to 73% of apps. There are a variety of sleep analysis apps with a range of functionality. The apps with the most reviews from the each store are featured. Many apps provide data on sleep structure; however the algorithms are not validated by scientific literature or studies. Since patients may inquire about their sleep habits from these apps, it is necessary for physicians to be aware of the most common apps and the features offered and their limitations in order to properly counsel patients.

  6. Brain correlates of aesthetic judgment of beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobsen, Thomas; Schubotz, Ricarda I; Höfel, Lea; Cramon, D Yves V

    2006-01-01

    Functional MRI was used to investigate the neural correlates of aesthetic judgments of beauty of geometrical shapes. Participants performed evaluative aesthetic judgments (beautiful or not?) and descriptive symmetry judgments (symmetric or not?) on the same stimulus material. Symmetry was employed because aesthetic judgments are known to be often guided by criteria of symmetry. Novel, abstract graphic patterns were presented to minimize influences of attitudes or memory-related processes and to test effects of stimulus symmetry and complexity. Behavioral results confirmed the influence of stimulus symmetry and complexity on aesthetic judgments. Direct contrasts showed specific activations for aesthetic judgments in the frontomedian cortex (BA 9/10), bilateral prefrontal BA 45/47, and posterior cingulate, left temporal pole, and the temporoparietal junction. In contrast, symmetry judgments elicited specific activations in parietal and premotor areas subserving spatial processing. Interestingly, beautiful judgments enhanced BOLD signals not only in the frontomedian cortex, but also in the left intraparietal sulcus of the symmetry network. Moreover, stimulus complexity caused differential effects for each of the two judgment types. Findings indicate aesthetic judgments of beauty to rely on a network partially overlapping with that underlying evaluative judgments on social and moral cues and substantiate the significance of symmetry and complexity for our judgment of beauty.

  7. Astrocytic modulation of sleep homeostasis and cognitive consequences of sleep loss.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halassa, Michael M; Florian, Cedrick; Fellin, Tommaso; Munoz, James R; Lee, So-Young; Abel, Ted; Haydon, Philip G; Frank, Marcos G

    2009-01-29

    Astrocytes modulate neuronal activity by releasing chemical transmitters via a process termed gliotransmission. The role of this process in the control of behavior is unknown. Since one outcome of SNARE-dependent gliotransmission is the regulation of extracellular adenosine and because adenosine promotes sleep, we genetically inhibited the release of gliotransmitters and asked if astrocytes play an unsuspected role in sleep regulation. Inhibiting gliotransmission attenuated the accumulation of sleep pressure, assessed by measuring the slow wave activity of the EEG during NREM sleep, and prevented cognitive deficits associated with sleep loss. Since the sleep-suppressing effects of the A1 receptor antagonist CPT were prevented following inhibition of gliotransmission and because intracerebroventricular delivery of CPT to wild-type mice mimicked the transgenic phenotype, we conclude that astrocytes modulate the accumulation of sleep pressure and its cognitive consequences through a pathway involving A1 receptors.

  8. Charm and beauty decays in the ALEPH experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boucrot, J.

    1992-05-01

    Results of the ALEPH experiment at LEP are presented on charm and beauty decays, from data taken in 1990 and 1991. Several exclusive channels of charm and beauty mesons are seen. Evidence is given for the production of beauty baryons from correlations between a high Pt lepton and a Λ 0 or a Λ c baryon. Finally, first evidence is given for the production of the strange B meson, from Ds-lepton correlations. (author) 7 refs., 7 figs

  9. Charm and beauty decays in the ALEPH experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boucrot, J.

    1992-01-01

    Results of the ALEPH experiment at LEP are presented on charm and beauty decays, from data taken in 1990 and 1991. Several exclusive channels of charm and beauty mesons are seen. Evidence is given for the production of beauty baryons from correlations between a high Pt lepton and a Λ 0 or a Λ c baryon. Finally, first evidence is given for the production of the strange B meson, from Ds-lepton correlations. (author) 7 refs.; 7 figs

  10. Overview of smartphone applications for sleep analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian A. Ong

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To review and assess the current selection of sleep analysis smartphone applications (apps available for download. Methods: The iOS and Google Play mobile app store were searched for sleep analysis apps targeted for consumer use. Alarm clock, sleep-aid, snoring and sleep-talking recorder, fitness tracker apps, and apps geared towards health professionals were excluded. App information and features were obtained from in-store descriptions, and the app developer website. Results: A total of 51 unique sleep apps in both iOS and Google Play stores were included. The apps were rated 3.8/5 in both stores, and had an average price of $1.12 in the iOS store and $0.58 in the Google Play store. >65% of sleep apps report on sleep structure, including duration, time awake, and time in light/deep sleep, while reporting of REM was limited. The availability of extra features was variable, ranging from 4% to 73% of apps. Conclusions: There are a variety of sleep analysis apps with a range of functionality. The apps with the most reviews from the each store are featured. Many apps provide data on sleep structure; however the algorithms are not validated by scientific literature or studies. Since patients may inquire about their sleep habits from these apps, it is necessary for physicians to be aware of the most common apps and the features offered and their limitations in order to properly counsel patients. Keywords: Mobile applications, Smartphone, Apps, Sleep monitor, Actigraphy

  11. Beauty photoproduction using decays into muons at HERA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samson, U.

    2008-05-15

    Inclusive cross-sections for the production of open beauty in ep collisions at HERA are measured. The data were recorded with the ZEUS detector between 1996 and 2000. The measurements are restricted to photoproduction processes, i.e. collision events with small four-momentum transfer squared, Q{sup 2}{approx}0. Two jets with transverse momentum p{sub T}>7(6) GeV and pseudo-rapidities vertical stroke {eta} vertical stroke <2.5 are required. The flavour is tagged by the identification of muons from semi-leptonic decays of the beauty quark. The variable used to discriminate between beauty and background is the transverse momentum of the muon with respect to the jet axis. The fraction of beauty is determined by a fit of Monte Carlo templates to the data. Cross-sections have been measured as a function of the muon and jet variables as well as a function of dijet correlation variables. Dijet correlations in beauty production have been measured for the first time in ZEUS and are found in agreement with QCD NLO predictions. (orig.)

  12. Beauty photoproduction using decays into muons at HERA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samson, U.

    2008-05-01

    Inclusive cross-sections for the production of open beauty in ep collisions at HERA are measured. The data were recorded with the ZEUS detector between 1996 and 2000. The measurements are restricted to photoproduction processes, i.e. collision events with small four-momentum transfer squared, Q 2 ∼0. Two jets with transverse momentum p T >7(6) GeV and pseudo-rapidities vertical stroke η vertical stroke <2.5 are required. The flavour is tagged by the identification of muons from semi-leptonic decays of the beauty quark. The variable used to discriminate between beauty and background is the transverse momentum of the muon with respect to the jet axis. The fraction of beauty is determined by a fit of Monte Carlo templates to the data. Cross-sections have been measured as a function of the muon and jet variables as well as a function of dijet correlation variables. Dijet correlations in beauty production have been measured for the first time in ZEUS and are found in agreement with QCD NLO predictions. (orig.)

  13. Achieving Sound Beauty in Chinese Translations of English Songs

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    陶薪平

    2017-01-01

    Song is a kind of combination of language and music. Song achieves its aesthetic information and arouses feeling with its own sentiments and aesthetic effect. However, various kinds of present problems lead to much loss of beauty. Besides, the theoretical works concerning this area is much meager. Translation of English songs into Chinese has been studied from functional equivalence theory or the functionalism. The present thesis offers a new perspective―beauty in sound from Xu Yuanchong's"three beauties principle", aiming to seek possible ways to represent beauty in translation practice, and some typical examples are compared and analyzed.

  14. Sleep: A Health Imperative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luyster, Faith S.; Strollo, Patrick J.; Zee, Phyllis C.; Walsh, James K.

    2012-01-01

    Chronic sleep deficiency, defined as a state of inadequate or mistimed sleep, is a growing and underappreciated determinant of health status. Sleep deprivation contributes to a number of molecular, immune, and neural changes that play a role in disease development, independent of primary sleep disorders. These changes in biological processes in response to chronic sleep deficiency may serve as etiological factors for the development and exacerbation of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and, ultimately, a shortened lifespan. Sleep deprivation also results in significant impairments in cognitive and motor performance which increase the risk of motor vehicle crashes and work-related injuries and fatal accidents. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society have developed this statement to communicate to national health stakeholders the current knowledge which ties sufficient sleep and circadian alignment in adults to health. Citation: Luyster FS; Strollo PJ; Zee PC; Walsh JK. Sleep: a health imperative. SLEEP 2012;35(6):727-734. PMID:22654183

  15. The experience of mathematical beauty and its neural correlates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeki, Semir; Romaya, John Paul; Benincasa, Dionigi M. T.; Atiyah, Michael F.

    2014-01-01

    Many have written of the experience of mathematical beauty as being comparable to that derived from the greatest art. This makes it interesting to learn whether the experience of beauty derived from such a highly intellectual and abstract source as mathematics correlates with activity in the same part of the emotional brain as that derived from more sensory, perceptually based, sources. To determine this, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to image the activity in the brains of 15 mathematicians when they viewed mathematical formulae which they had individually rated as beautiful, indifferent or ugly. Results showed that the experience of mathematical beauty correlates parametrically with activity in the same part of the emotional brain, namely field A1 of the medial orbito-frontal cortex (mOFC), as the experience of beauty derived from other sources. PMID:24592230

  16. Theoretical Framework and Model Design for Beautiful Countryside Construction in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ZHENG Xiang-qun

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In the context of China today, the process of beautiful countryside construction mainly imitates the patterns of‘urbanization’construction. However, this approach leads to the loss of countryside characteristics and the separation of agricultural culture. Therefore, it's urgent to carry out research of the theoretical framework and model design for beautiful countryside construction. In this paper, based on the analysis of the beautiful countryside construction connotation, the basic theory of beautiful countryside construction was summarized in three aspects: rural complex ecosystem model, multi-functionality of rural model and sustainable development evaluation model. The basic idea of the beautiful countryside construction mode was studied. The design method of beautiful countryside construction mode was proposed in three levels: planning, scheming and evaluating. The research results might offer scientific reference for improving the scientific and operational nature of beautiful countryside construction.

  17. ISLAMIC BEAUTY: Socio-Semiotic Analysis of Facial Foam and Body Lotion Advertisement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susi Herti Afriani

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper attempts to answer how Islamic Women define the concept of beauty in Ponds advertisement white beauty facial foam and body lotion on television. This study uses a socio-semiotic approach described through three aspects of social context, namely field, tenor, and mode. It argues that Ponds’ definition of a beauty only refers to physical standards, that is, women who have white skin and use both Ponds White Beauty Facial Foam and Foam Body Lotion. Further, television through Ponds advertising is considered as a commercial institution that supports the main idea of capitalism. However, Islamic women consider beautiful physically and spiritually. It suggests that the beautiful women are those who obey and surrender to Allah SWT. In short, Islamic women do not agree with the meaning of beauty resulted from Ponds White Beauty Facial Foam and Ponds Body Lotion advertisement. Rather, beauty consists of both body and, more importantly, soul.

  18. Hadroproduction characteristics of charm and beauty

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reucroft, S.

    1987-01-01

    In this article the authors review the present status of their knowledge on the hadroproduction characteristics of charm and beauty. During a brief description of the properties of all charm and beauty particles reportedly observed in hadron-hadron experiments they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the various experimental techniques. In particular they emphasise the quantitative problems associated with nuclear target experiments and show the progress that is being made in understanding the A-dependence problem. Focussing on charm cross sections the authors see that the data are becoming sufficiently good to give us a reliable and coherent picture which provides a serious test of the QCD fusion model. This same fusion model is then used with existing beauty cross section determinations to make some extrapolations. Finally, a few remaining puzzles and curiosities are underlined

  19. Sex hormones play a role in vulnerability to sleep loss on emotion processing tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K.A. Lustig

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The central aim of this study was to investigate hormones as a predictor of individual vulnerability or resiliency on emotion processing tasks following one night of sleep restriction. The restriction group was instructed to sleep 3 a.m.–7 a.m. (13 men, 13 women in follicular phase, 10 women in luteal phase of menstrual cycle, and a control group slept 11 p.m.–7 a.m. (12 men, 12 follicular women, 12 luteal women. Sleep from home was verified with actigraphy. Saliva samples were collected on the evening prior to restriction, and in the morning and afternoon following restriction, to measure testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone. In the laboratory, event-related potentials (ERPs were recorded during presentation of images and faces to index neural processing of emotional stimuli. Compared to controls, sleep-restricted participants had a larger amplitude Late Positive Potential (LPP ERP to positive vs neutral images, reflecting greater motivated attention towards positive stimuli. Sleep-restricted participants were also less accurate categorizing sad faces and exhibited a larger N170 to sad faces, reflecting greater neural reactivity. Sleep-restricted luteal women were less accurate categorizing all images compared to control luteal women, and progesterone was related to several outcomes. Morning testosterone in men was lower in the sleep-restricted group compared to controls; lower testosterone was associated with lower accuracy to positive images, a greater difference between positive vs neutral LPP amplitude, and lower accuracy to sad and fearful faces. In summary, women higher in progesterone and men lower in testosterone were more vulnerable to the effects of sleep restriction on emotion processing tasks. This study highlights a role for sex and sex hormones in understanding individual differences in vulnerability to sleep loss. Keywords: Sleep restriction, Emotion processing, Testosterone, Progesterone, Estradiol

  20. Walking in Beauty: An American Indian Perspective on Social Justice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eason, Evan Allen; Robbins, Rockey

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to introduce "walking in beauty," an American Indian spiritual perspective related to social justice that emphasizes beauty, harmony, connectedness/unity of experience, and imagination. Walking in beauty includes 3 processes: embodiment, creativity, and appreciation of the sublime. Recommendations are offered for…

  1. Sleep: important considerations for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grandner, Michael A; Alfonso-Miller, Pamela; Fernandez-Mendoza, Julio; Shetty, Safal; Shenoy, Sundeep; Combs, Daniel

    2016-09-01

    Sleep plays many roles in maintenance of cardiovascular health. This review summarizes the literature across several areas of sleep and sleep disorders in relation to cardiometabolic disease risk factors. Insufficient sleep duration is prevalent in the population and is associated with weight gain and obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mortality. Insomnia is also highly present and represents an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, especially when accompanied by short sleep duration. Sleep apnea is a well-characterized risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and cardiovascular mortality. Other issues are relevant as well. For example, sleep disorders in pediatric populations may convey cardiovascular risks. Also, sleep may play an important role in cardiovascular health disparities. Sleep and sleep disorders are implicated in cardiometabolic disease risk. This review addresses these and other issues, concluding with recommendations for research and clinical practice.

  2. Brains versus beauty in the knowledge economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard Ford

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: It is a widely held belief that attractive people generally experience an easier life and that the door to success is opened by perfect bone structure and a sparkling smile. However, attractiveness might play a far lesser role in individual’s achieving their objectives than has previously been thought. Is it possible that an individual’s qualifications may have a greater influence on the perceptions of managers who assess the suitability of a candidate of a knowledge worker? Research purpose: The study sets out to examine the relative predictive power of physical attractiveness and qualifications in the decision to hire a knowledge worker. Motivation for the study: The research was motivated by a desire to explore the presence of bias in the decision-making process when seemingly rational individuals are exposed to factors such as physical attractiveness of a job candidate and then faced with a decision on whether to hire them. Research design, approach and method: A two-phased experimental design was applied to investigate the existence and strength of the beauty premium amongst a group of managers who were provided with fictitious resumes coupled with photographs of the applicants. These managers were requested to make a hiring decision based on the information supplied. Main findings: Although results confirm the existence of a beauty premium, it was relatively weak. It indicated that qualifications have a greater influence on a manager’s perception of the suitability of a candidate to fill a position of a knowledge worker. Practical or managerial implications: The research draws attention to the possibility of bias in selection decisions and proposes ways in which such potential bias can be limited. Contribution: This study contributes to knowledge concerning the existence or otherwise of a so-called beauty premium, with particular reference to its impact in the knowledge economy.

  3. Oppressive Beliefs at Play: Associations among Beauty Ideals and Practices and Individual Differences in Sexism, Objectification of Others, and Media Exposure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swami, Viren; Coles, Rebecca; Wilson, Emma; Salem, Natalie; Wyrozumska, Karolina; Furnham, Adrian

    2010-01-01

    In recent years, beauty ideals and practices have been explained almost exclusively using evolutionary psychological frameworks, to the exclusion of more proximate factors such as psychosocial and individual psychological variables. To overcome this limitation, we examined the associations among sexist beliefs, objectification of others, media…

  4. [Sleep disorders in epilepsy].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotova, O V; Akarachkova, E S

    2014-01-01

    The review of the literature on sleep disorders in epilepsy over the last two decades is presented. Paroxysmal phenomena of epileptic origin, nonepileptic paroxysms, antiepileptic drugs, polypragmasia and comorbid depression may affect sleep in epilepsy.Shortening of sleep time may cause seizures, hallucinations and depression because sleep plays an important role in the regulation of excitatory and inhibitory processes in the brain both in healthy people and in patients with epilepsy. According to the literature data, drugs (short treatment courses of hypnotics) or nonpharmacological methods should be used for treatment insomnia inpatients with epilepsy.

  5. Sublimity and beauty: A view from nursing aesthetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siles-González, José; Solano-Ruiz, Carmen

    2016-03-01

    Several authors have focused on the aesthetics of nursing care from diverse perspectives; however, there are few studies about the sublime and the beautiful in nursing. To identify beautiful and sublime moments in the context of the aesthetics of nursing care. A theoretical reflection has been contemplated about sublime and beautiful values in the context of the aesthetics of nursing care from the cultural history perspective. For that purpose, a revision of this issue has been completed. The terms 'beautiful' and 'sublime' have been analysed to identify the characteristics of both in the context of nursing care. We have followed all ethical requirements regarding the sources, conducting research and authorship. There is no conflict of interest in this paper. With aesthetic knowledge, the nurse expresses the artistic nature of nursing care by appreciating the act of caring for individuals. The sublime is a complex phenomenon, since apparently contrary feelings are interwoven. Nursing care is an art with an anthropological object-subject on which the 'artist' applies their prior knowledge and skills. Feelings and emotions that develop during the clinical nursing practice - especially at times sublime and beautiful, aesthetic - constitute experiences which are professionally significant. © The Author(s) 2015.

  6. Surrounded by Beauty: Arts of Native America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002

    Native American languages have no equivalent for the word "art." Yet the objects Native Americans have used and still use suggest that they are a highly spiritual people who create objects of extraordinary beauty. In Native American thought, there is no distinction between what is beautiful or functional, and what is sacred or secular.…

  7. Hadronic couplings of open beauty states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ram, S.N.; Singh, C.P.

    1982-08-01

    Strong interaction coupling parameters of particles with beauty quantum number are obtained using dispersion sum rules in various forms, e.g. current algebra sum rules, superconvergence sum rules and finite energy sum rules etc. These sum rules lead to a set of algebraic relations among masses and coupling constants. We compare the hadronic couplings of beautiful particles as obtained from various techniques and discuss their implications on the hadronic production of these states. (author)

  8. Beauty matters: social preferences in a three-person ultimatum game.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Qingguo; Hu, Yue

    2015-01-01

    Preference for beauty is human nature, as previous behavior studies have supported the notion of "beauty premium" in which attractive people were more easily to get promoted and receive higher salaries. In the present study, 29 males were recruited to participate in a three-person ultimatum game (UG) including a proposer, a responder and a powerless third player. Each subject, playing as the responder, had to decide whether to accept an offer from the allocator both for himself and a female third person. We aimed to elucidate how the facial attractiveness of the female subject affected the male subjects' fairness and decision-making in social exchanges. Frontal feedback-related negativity (FRN) in response to four offers in an attractive-face condition revealed no significant differences between offers; however, when the companion was an unattractive female, an "unfair/fair" offer, which assigned a lower share to the responder and a fair share to the third player, elicited the largest FRN. Furthermore, when the third player was offered the smallest amount ("fair/unfair" offer), a larger FRN was generated in an attractive-face condition than unattractive-face condition. In the "unfair/fair" offer condition in which subjects received a smaller allocation than the third person, the beauty of their female counterparts attenuated subjects' aversion to inequality, resulting in a less negative FRN in the frontal region and an increased acceptance ratio. However, the influence of the third player's facial attractiveness only affected the early evaluation stage: late P300 was found to be immune to the "beauty premium". Under the two face conditions, P300 was smallest following an "unfair/fair" offer, whereas the amplitudes in the other three offer conditions exhibited no significant differences. In addition, the differentiated neural features of processing facial attractiveness were also determined and indexed by four event-related potentials (ERP) components: N170, frontal

  9. Formation and suppression of acoustic memories during human sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrillon, Thomas; Pressnitzer, Daniel; Léger, Damien; Kouider, Sid

    2017-08-08

    Sleep and memory are deeply related, but the nature of the neuroplastic processes induced by sleep remains unclear. Here, we report that memory traces can be both formed or suppressed during sleep, depending on sleep phase. We played samples of acoustic noise to sleeping human listeners. Repeated exposure to a novel noise during Rapid Eye Movements (REM) or light non-REM (NREM) sleep leads to improvements in behavioral performance upon awakening. Strikingly, the same exposure during deep NREM sleep leads to impaired performance upon awakening. Electroencephalographic markers of learning extracted during sleep confirm a dissociation between sleep facilitating memory formation (light NREM and REM sleep) and sleep suppressing learning (deep NREM sleep). We can trace these neural changes back to transient sleep events, such as spindles for memory facilitation and slow waves for suppression. Thus, highly selective memory processes are active during human sleep, with intertwined episodes of facilitative and suppressive plasticity.Though memory and sleep are related, it is still unclear whether new memories can be formed during sleep. Here, authors show that people could learn new sounds during REM or light non-REM sleep, but that learning was suppressed when sounds were played during deep NREM sleep.

  10. Sleep and Your Preschooler

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... minutes beforehand. Keep consistent playtimes and mealtimes. Avoid stimulants, such as caffeine, near bedtime. Make the bedroom quiet, cozy, and perfect for sleeping. Use the bed only for sleeping — not for playing or watching TV. Limit food and drink before bedtime. Allow your child to ...

  11. Self-relevant beauty evaluation: Evidence from an event-related potentials study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, Fanchang; Zhang, Yan; Tian, Yuan; Fan, Cuiying; Zhou, Zongkui

    2015-03-01

    This study examines the electrophysiological correlates of beauty evaluation when participants performed the self-reference task. About 13 (7 men, 6 women) undergraduates participated in the experiment using event-related potentials. Results showed that the response to self-relevant information was faster compared to other-relevant information and no significant differences for self-relevant relative to mother-relevant information were observed. Both physical and interior beauty words for self-relevant information showed an enhanced late positive component as compared to other-relevant information. Physical beauty for self-relevant information yielded a larger late positive component in contrast to mother-relevant information but not for interior beauty. This study indicates that beauty is specific to the person who judges it though an individual and one's mother may hold similar views of interior beauty.

  12. Fixed target beauty physics from Tevatron to SSC (E771)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lau, K.

    1992-01-01

    The E771 beauty experiment at Fermilab is described. The Super Fixed Target Beauty Facility (SFT) proposal to perform fixed target beauty physics at the SSC is a natural evolution. The unique features of SFT include crystal channeling extraction from the SSC main ring, which allows the experiment to operate concurrently with the collider experiments. The slow extraction rate (≅2x10 8 protons/s) does not limit the lifetime of the stored beams. The proposed beauty spectrometer and its capability in CP violation studies are described. (author) 19 refs.; 2 figs.; 2 tabs

  13. Measurement of beauty and charm production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA and measurement of the beauty-quark mass

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abramowicz, H.; Abt, I.; Adamczyk, L.

    2014-05-01

    The production of beauty and charm quarks in ep interactions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA for exchanged four-momentum squared 5 2 2 using an integrated luminosity of 354 pb -1 . The beauty and charm content in events with at least one jet have been extracted using the invariant mass of charged tracks associated with secondary vertices and the decay-length significance of these vertices. Differential cross sections as a function of Q 2 , Bjorken x, jet transverse energy and pseudorapidity were measured and compared with next-to-leading-order QCD calculations. The beauty and charm contributions to the proton structure functions were extracted from the double-differential cross section as a function of x and Q 2 . The running beauty-quark mass, m b at the scale m b , was determined from a QCD fit at next-to-leading order to HERA data for the first time and found to be m b (m b )=4.07±0.14(fit) +0.01 -0.07 (mod.) +0.05 -0.00 (param.) +0.08 -0.05 (theo) GeV.

  14. Beyond self-selection in video game play: an experimental examination of the consequences of massively multiplayer online role-playing game play.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smyth, Joshua M

    2007-10-01

    There is burgeoning interest in the study of video games. Existing work is limited by the use of correlational designs and is thus unable to make causal inferences or remove self-selection biases from observed results. The recent development of online, socially integrated video games (massively multiplayer online role-playing games [MMORPGs]) has created a new experience for gamers. This randomized, longitudinal study examined the effects of being assigned to play different video game types on game usage, health, well-being, sleep, socializing, and academics. One hundred 18- to 20-year-old participants (73% male; 68% Caucasian) were randomly assigned to play arcade, console, solo computer, or MMORPG games for 1 month. The MMORPG group differed significantly from other groups after 1 month, reporting more hours spent playing, worse health, worse sleep quality, and greater interference in "real-life" socializing and academic work. In contrast, this group also reported greater enjoyment in playing, greater interest in continuing to play, and greater acquisition of new friendships. MMORPGs represent a different gaming experience with different consequences than other types of video games and appear to pose both unique risks and benefits from their use.

  15. Charm, Beauty and Top at HERA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Behnke, O.; Geiser, A.; Lisovyi, M.

    2015-06-01

    Results on open charm and beauty production and on the search for top production in high-energy electron-proton collisions at HERA are reviewed. This includes a discussion of relevant theoretical aspects, a summary of the available measurements and measurement techniques, and their impact on improved understanding of QCD and its parameters, such as parton density functions and charm- and beauty-quark masses. The impact of these results on measurements at the LHC and elsewhere is also addressed.

  16. Insomnia disorder: when sleep plays coy, aloof and disdainful ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Intermittent or acute insomnia is common and may sometimes require short term treatment with approved hypnotic agents. A diagnosis of insomnia disorder, however, indicates that poor night-time sleep is chronic and is accompanied by significant impairment of daytime functioning. Although insomnia disorder often co ...

  17. Sleep enhances memory consolidation in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashworth, Anna; Hill, Catherine M; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette; Dimitriou, Dagmara

    2014-06-01

    Sleep is an active state that plays an important role in the consolidation of memory. It has been found to enhance explicit memories in both adults and children. However, in contrast to adults, children do not always show a sleep-related improvement in implicit learning. The majority of research on sleep-dependent memory consolidation focuses on adults; hence, the current study examined sleep-related effects on two tasks in children. Thirty-three typically developing children aged 6-12 years took part in the study. Actigraphy was used to monitor sleep. Sleep-dependent memory consolidation was assessed using a novel non-word learning task and the Tower of Hanoi cognitive puzzle, which involves discovering an underlying rule to aid completion. Children were trained on the two tasks and retested following approximately equal retention intervals of both wake and sleep. After sleep, children showed significant improvements in performance of 14% on the non-word learning task and 25% on the Tower of Hanoi task, but no significant change in score following the wake retention interval. Improved performance on the Tower of Hanoi may have been due to children consolidating explicit aspects of the task, for example rule-learning or memory of previous sequences; thus, we propose that sleep is necessary for consolidation of explicit memory in children. Sleep quality and duration were not related to children's task performance. If such experimental sleep-related learning enhancement is generalizable to everyday life, then it is clear that sleep plays a vital role in children's educational attainment. © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.

  18. The beauty of God in the numerical order

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bai, Jenny

    2017-01-01

    This present thesis interprets the beauty of God in Augustine’s historical situation and aims to argue that approached from a Pythagorean musical-cosmology, Augustine explains the beauty of God as an unchangeable numerical/harmonic order immanently pervading the realms of nature, logic and ethics.

  19. Online Responses to a Multilingual Super Bowl Ad: Is "America the Beautiful" by Any Other Language Still America, the Beautiful?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Brooke Y.

    2016-01-01

    On 2 February 2014, an advertisement entitled "It's Beautiful" debuted during Super Bowl XLVIII, which was watched by 111.5 million people in the USA. The Coca-Cola advertisement portrayed people of various ethnicities and was accompanied by "America the Beautiful" sung in nine languages. Using critical discourse analysis, I…

  20. Functions and Mechanisms of Sleep

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark R. Zielinski

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Sleep is a complex physiological process that is regulated globally, regionally, and locally by both cellular and molecular mechanisms. It occurs to some extent in all animals, although sleep expression in lower animals may be co-extensive with rest. Sleep regulation plays an intrinsic part in many behavioral and physiological functions. Currently, all researchers agree there is no single physiological role sleep serves. Nevertheless, it is quite evident that sleep is essential for many vital functions including development, energy conservation, brain waste clearance, modulation of immune responses, cognition, performance, vigilance, disease, and psychological state. This review details the physiological processes involved in sleep regulation and the possible functions that sleep may serve. This description of the brain circuitry, cell types, and molecules involved in sleep regulation is intended to further the reader’s understanding of the functions of sleep.

  1. Viewers Motivations for Watching Beauty Videos on You Tube

    OpenAIRE

    Jiroušková, Dominika

    2016-01-01

    The diploma thesis focuses on motivations for watching beauty videos on YouTube. The aim is to clarify why viewers watch amateur videos that communicate topics related to physical appearance. Assuming the audience as an active actor of media communication the thesis is based on uses and gratification theory. Viewers watch beauty videos consciously to meet their individual needs. Based on an analysis of eleven interviews with regular viewers of beauty videos this thesis reveals five categories...

  2. Gangnam-Style Plastic Surgery: The Science of Westernized Beauty in South Korea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leem, So Yeon

    2017-10-01

    New beauty ideals and particular types of plastic surgery beauty have emerged in South Korea from the early twenty-first century. By defining Gangnam-style plastic surgery as a hybrid of old Westernized beauty ideals and a new science of beauty with variations and contradictions, I intend to twist the simplistic understanding of non-Western plastic surgery as an effort to resemble the white westerner's body. I also draw political implications from a case of monstrous Gangnam-style beauty made by excessive plastic surgery.

  3. Review of charm and beauty lifetimes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheung, Harry W. K.

    1999-01-01

    A review of the latest experimental results on charm and beauty particle lifetimes is presented together with a brief summary of measurement methods used for beauty particle lifetime measurements. There have been significant updates to the D s + /D 0 , B + /B d 0 and Λ b 0 /B d 0 lifetime ratios which have some theoretical implications. However more precise measurements are still needed before one can make conclusive statements about the theory used to calculate the particle lifetimes

  4. Hyperons, charm and beauty hadrons: Conclusion and outlook

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernabeu, Jose

    2001-01-01

    In this concluding talk, the advances in the Flavour Problem studies are discussed, following the structure of the presentations in the Conference. The subjects touched are organized as follows: Baryons, K-physics, Charm and Beauty production, Charm and Beauty decays, B-Mixing and CP-Violation, Heavy Quarkonium

  5. Leo Tolstoy's theory of sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vein, Alla A

    2008-03-01

    Throughout his life, Leo Tolstoy was fascinated by the phenomena of sleep and dreams. He composed a series of observations and judgements that were brought together under "my theory of sleep". Tolstoy was constantly preoccupied with the basic principles of "the theory". It is hard to name a work by him where a description of sleep and/or a dream does not play a vital role in the unfolding of the plot. They testify to Tolstoy's interest in the mechanism of sleep and in the processes of falling asleep and waking up. Tolstoy viewed sleep as a specific state of consciousness, and he subsequently linked the concept of sleep with the concept of death. For him sleep and awakening were experiences emblematic of life and death.

  6. Bedtime activities, sleep environment, and sleep/wake patterns of Japanese elementary school children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oka, Yasunori; Suzuki, Shuhei; Inoue, Yuich

    2008-01-01

    Bedtime activities, sleep environment, and their impact on sleep/wake patterns were assessed in 509 elementary school children (6-12 years of age; 252 males and 257 females). Television viewing, playing video games, and surfing the Internet had negative impact on sleep/wake parameters. Moreover, presence of a television set or video game in the child's bedroom increased their activity before bedtime. Time to return home later than 8 p.m. from after-school activity also had a negative impact on sleep/wake patterns. Health care practitioners should be aware of the potential negative impact of television, video games, and the Internet before bedtime, and also the possibility that late after-school activity can disturb sleep/wake patterns.

  7. Evolutionary Effect on the Embodied Beauty of Landscape Architectures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; Tang, Xiaoxiang; He, Xianyou; Chen, Guangyao

    2018-01-01

    According to the framework of evolutionary aesthetics, a sense of beauty is related to environmental adaptation and plasticity of human beings, which has adaptive value and biological foundations. Prior studies have demonstrated that organisms derive benefits from the landscape. In this study, we investigated whether the benefits of landscape might elicit a stronger sense of beauty and what the nature of this sense of beauty is. In two experiments, when viewing classical landscape and nonlandscape architectures photographs, participants rated the aesthetic scores (Experiment 1) and had a two-alternative forced choice aesthetic judgment by pressing the reaction button located near to (15 cm) or far from (45 cm) the presenting stimuli (Experiment 2). The results showed that reaction of aesthetic ratings for classical landscape architectures was faster than those of classical nonlandscape architectures. Furthermore, only the reaction of beautiful judgment of classical landscape architecture photograph was significantly faster when the reaction button was in the near position to the presenting photograph than those in the position of far away from the presenting photograph. This finding suggests a facilitated effect for the aesthetic perception of classical landscape architectures due to their corresponding components including water and green plants with strong evolutionary implications. Furthermore, this sense of beauty for classical landscape architectures might be the embodied approach to beauty based on the viewpoint of evolutionary aesthetics and embodied cognition.

  8. Sleep-Dependent Consolidation of Statistical Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Durrant, Simon J.; Taylor, Charlotte; Cairney, Scott; Lewis, Penelope A.

    2011-01-01

    The importance of sleep for memory consolidation has been firmly established over the past decade. Recent work has extended this by suggesting that sleep is also critical for the integration of disparate fragments of information into a unified schema, and for the abstraction of underlying rules. The question of which aspects of sleep play a…

  9. Beautiful mesons from QCD spectral sum rules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Narison, S.

    1991-01-01

    We discuss the beautiful meson from the point of view of the QCD spectral sum rules (QSSR). The bottom quark mass and the mixed light quark-gluon condensates are determined quite accurately. The decay constant f B is estimated and we present some arguments supporting this result. The decay constants and the masses of the other members of the beautiful meson family are predicted. (orig.)

  10. Measurement of beauty production from dimuon events at HERA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    Beauty production in events containing two muons in the final state has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 114 pb -1 . A low transverse-momentum threshold for muon identification, in combination with the large rapidity coverage of the ZEUS muon system, gives access to almost the full phase space for beauty production. The total cross section for beauty production in ep collisions at (s) 1/2 = 318 GeV has been measured to be σ tot (ep → b b-bar X) = 13.9 ± 1.5(stat.) +4.0 -4.3 (syst.) nb. Differential cross sections and a measurement of b b-bar correlations are also obtained, and compared to other beauty cross-section measurements, Monte Carlo models and next-to-leading-order QCD predictions.

  11. THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF SLEEP AND WAKEFULNESS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Michael D.; Kilduff, Thomas S.

    2015-01-01

    SYNOPSIS Since the discovery of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep in the late 1950s, identification of the neural circuitry underlying wakefulness, sleep onset and the alternation between REM and non-REM (NREM) sleep has been an active area of investigation. Synchronization and desynchronization of cortical activity as detected in the electroencephalogram (EEG) is due to a corticothalamocortical loop, intrinsic cortical oscillators, monoaminergic and cholinergic afferent input to the thalamus, and the basal forebrain cholinergic input directly to the cortex. The monoaminergic and cholinergic systems are largely wake-promoting; the brainstem cholinergic nuclei are also involved in REM sleep regulation. These wake-promoting systems receive excitatory input from the hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin system. Sleep-promoting nuclei are GABAergic in nature and found in the preoptic area, brainstem and lateral hypothalamus. Although the pons is critical for the expression of REM sleep, recent research has suggested that melanin-concentrating hormone/GABAergic cells in the lateral hypothalamus "gate" REM sleep. The temporal distribution of sleep and wakefulness is due to interaction between the circadian system and the sleep homeostatic system. Although the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei contain the circadian pacemaker, the neural circuitry underlying the sleep homeostat is less clear. Prolonged wakefulness results in the accumulation of extracellular adenosine, possibly from glial sources, which is an important feedback molecule for the sleep homeostatic system. Cortical neuronal nitric oxide (nNOS) neurons may also play a role in propagating slow waves through the cortex in NREM sleep. Several neuropeptides and other neurochemicals likely play important roles in sleep/wake control. Although the control of sleep and wakefulness seemingly involves multiple redundant systems, each of these systems provides a vulnerability that can result in sleep/wake dysfunction that may

  12. Beauty in use

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Overbeeke, C.J.; Wensveen, S.A.G.

    2004-01-01

    Comments on an article by Marc Hassenzahl (see record 2005-00463-002). The main merit of the article is that offers a guiding research model for empirical studies on beauty in the field of human computer interaction (HCI) and he presents it eloquently. From a product design point of view a few

  13. Astrocytic Modulation of Sleep Homeostasis and Cognitive Consequences of Sleep Loss

    OpenAIRE

    Halassa, Michael M.; Florian, Cedrick; Fellin, Tommaso; Munoz, James R.; Lee, So-Young; Abel, Ted; Haydon, Philip G.; Frank, Marcos G.

    2009-01-01

    Astrocytes modulate neuronal activity by releasing chemical transmitters via a process termed gliotransmission. The role of this process in the control of behavior is unknown. Since one outcome of SNARE-dependent gliotransmission is the regulation of extracellular adenosine and because adenosine promotes sleep, we genetically inhibited the release of gliotransmitters and asked if astrocytes play an unsuspected role in sleep regulation. Inhibiting gliotransmission attenuated the accumulation o...

  14. Fixed Target Beauty Physics Experimental Programs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garbincius, P.H.

    1987-11-01

    The current and near term future fixed target physics efforts in observing particles with open beauty are reviewed. This includes a compilation of the non-observation upper limits and the observation of both upsilon and b-states. A short discussion of the theoretical predictions for the hadro-produced beauty pairs is included. The major part of this review is devoted to the techniques and tricks employed, a survey of the current and proposed experiments. A personal summary of the experimental prospects concludes this report. 28 refs., 26 figs

  15. Measurement of beauty production from dimuon events at HERA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S. [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL (United States)] (and others)

    2008-09-15

    Beauty production in events containing two muons in the final state has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 114 pb{sup -1}. A low transverse-momentum threshold for muon identification, in combination with the large rapidity coverage of the ZEUS muon system, gives access to almost the full phase space for beauty production. The total cross section for beauty production in ep collisions at {radical}(s) = 318 GeV has been measured to be {sigma}{sub tot}(ep {yields} b anti bX) = 13.9 {+-} 1.5(stat.){sub -4.3}{sup +4.0}(syst.) nb. Differential cross sections and a measurement of b anti b correlations are also obtained, and compared to other beauty cross-section measurements, Monte Carlo models and next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. (orig.)

  16. The perilipin homologue, lipid storage droplet 2, regulates sleep homeostasis and prevents learning impairments following sleep loss.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew S Thimgan

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Extended periods of waking result in physiological impairments in humans, rats, and flies. Sleep homeostasis, the increase in sleep observed following sleep loss, is believed to counter the negative effects of prolonged waking by restoring vital biological processes that are degraded during sleep deprivation. Sleep homeostasis, as with other behaviors, is influenced by both genes and environment. We report here that during periods of starvation, flies remain spontaneously awake but, in contrast to sleep deprivation, do not accrue any of the negative consequences of prolonged waking. Specifically, the homeostatic response and learning impairments that are a characteristic of sleep loss are not observed following prolonged waking induced by starvation. Recently, two genes, brummer (bmm and Lipid storage droplet 2 (Lsd2, have been shown to modulate the response to starvation. bmm mutants have excess fat and are resistant to starvation, whereas Lsd2 mutants are lean and sensitive to starvation. Thus, we hypothesized that bmm and Lsd2 may play a role in sleep regulation. Indeed, bmm mutant flies display a large homeostatic response following sleep deprivation. In contrast, Lsd2 mutant flies, which phenocopy aspects of starvation as measured by low triglyceride stores, do not exhibit a homeostatic response following sleep loss. Importantly, Lsd2 mutant flies are not learning impaired after sleep deprivation. These results provide the first genetic evidence, to our knowledge, that lipid metabolism plays an important role in regulating the homeostatic response and can protect against neuronal impairments induced by prolonged waking.

  17. Charm and beauty measurements at Fermilab fixed target

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mishra, C.S.

    1993-10-01

    Eighteen months after a successful run of the Fermilab fixed target program, interesting results from several experiments are available. This is the first time that more than one Fermilab fixed target experiment has reported the observation of beauty mesons. In this paper we review recent results from charm and beauty fixed target experiments at Fermilab

  18. Face Attractiveness versus Artistic Beauty in Art Portraits: A Behavioral Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katharina Schulz

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available From art portraits, the observer may derive at least two different hedonic values: The attractiveness of the depicted person and the artistic beauty of the image that relates to the way of presentation. We argue that attractiveness is a property that is predominantly driven by perceptual processes, while the perception of artistic beauty is based predominantly on cognitive processing. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two behavioral experiments. In a gist study (Experiment 1, we showed that ratings on attractiveness were higher after short-term presentation (50 ms than after long-term presentation (3000 ms, while the opposite pattern was found for artistic beauty. In an experiment on perceptual contrast (Experiment 2, we showed that the perceptual contrast effect was stronger for attractiveness than for artistic beauty. These results are compatible with our hypothesis that appreciation of artistic beauty is cognitively modulated at least in part, while processing of attractiveness is predominantly driven perceptually. This dichotomy between cognitive and perceptual processing of different kinds of beauty suggests the participation of different neuronal mechanisms.

  19. Face Attractiveness versus Artistic Beauty in Art Portraits: A Behavioral Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schulz, Katharina; Hayn-Leichsenring, Gregor U

    2017-01-01

    From art portraits, the observer may derive at least two different hedonic values: The attractiveness of the depicted person and the artistic beauty of the image that relates to the way of presentation. We argue that attractiveness is a property that is predominantly driven by perceptual processes, while the perception of artistic beauty is based predominantly on cognitive processing. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two behavioral experiments. In a gist study (Experiment 1), we showed that ratings on attractiveness were higher after short-term presentation (50 ms) than after long-term presentation (3000 ms), while the opposite pattern was found for artistic beauty . In an experiment on perceptual contrast (Experiment 2), we showed that the perceptual contrast effect was stronger for attractiveness than for artistic beauty. These results are compatible with our hypothesis that appreciation of artistic beauty is cognitively modulated at least in part, while processing of attractiveness is predominantly driven perceptually. This dichotomy between cognitive and perceptual processing of different kinds of beauty suggests the participation of different neuronal mechanisms.

  20. Charm and beauty measurements at Fermilab fixed target

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mishra, C.S.

    1993-01-01

    Eighteen months after a successful run of the Fermilab fixed target program, interesting results from several experiments are available. This is the first time that more than one Fermilab fixed target experiment has reported the observation of beauty mesons. In this paper the author reviews recent results from charm and beauty fixed target experiments at Fermilab

  1. ATLAS Potential for Beauty Physics Measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smizanska, M.

    2001-01-01

    The main focus of ATLAS b physics has traditionally been on the standard model. In the last few years also the aspects of new physics in B-decays has been addressed. Another new field of studies started recently is a beauty production. We give an overview of the older as well as more recent results. After an introduction outlining selected trigger and detector performance characteristics, we explain methods and goals of CP violation measurements in decay channels of B d 0 meson, physics of B s 0 system and of rare decays. Finally, the ATLAS program for beauty production measurements is presented. (author)

  2. Can We Model the Scenic Beauty of an Alpine Landscape?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erich Tasser

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available During the last decade, agriculture has lost its importance in many European mountain regions and tourism, which benefits from attractive landscapes, has become a major source of income. Changes in landscape patterns and elements might affect scenic beauty and therefore the socio-economic welfare of a region. Our study aimed at modeling scenic beauty by quantifying the influence of landscape elements and patterns in relationship to distance. Focusing on Alpine landscapes in South and North Tyrol, we used a photographic questionnaire showing different landscape compositions. As mountain landscapes offer long vistas, we related scenic beauty to different distance zones. Our results indicate that the near zone contributes by 64% to the valuation of scenic beauty, the middle zone by 22%, and the far zone by 14%. In contrast to artificial elements, naturalness and diversity increased scenic beauty. Significant differences between different social groups (origin, age, gender, cultural background occurred only between the local population and tourists regarding great landscape changes. Changes towards more homogenous landscapes were perceived negatively, thus political decision makers should support the conservation of the cultural landscape.

  3. How aging affects sleep-dependent memory consolidation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caroline eHarand

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Sleep plays multiple functions among which energy conservation or recuperative processes. Besides, growing evidence indicate that sleep plays also a major role in memory consolidation, a process by which recently acquired and labile memory traces are progressively strengthened into more permanent and/or enhanced forms. Indeed, memories are not stored as they were initially encoded but rather undergo a gradual reorganization process, which is favoured by the neurochemical environment and the electrophysiological activity observed during sleep. Two putative, probably not exclusive, models (hippocampo-neocortical dialogue and synaptic homeostasis hypothesis have been proposed to explain the beneficial effect of sleep on memory processes. It is worth noting that all data gathered until now emerged from studies conducted in young subjects. The investigation of the relationships between sleep and memory in older adults has sparked off little interest until recently. Though, aging is characterized by memory impairment, changes in sleep architecture, as well as brain and neurochemical alterations. All these elements suggest that sleep-dependent memory consolidation may be impaired or occurs differently in older adults.Here, we give an overview of the mechanisms governing sleep-dependent memory consolidation, and the crucial points of this complex process that may dysfunction and result in impaired memory consolidation in aging.

  4. Neurobiological linkage between stress and sleep

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanford, Larry D.; Wellman, Laurie L.

    2012-10-01

    Stress can have a significant negative impact on health and stress-induced alterations in sleep are implicated in both human sleep disorders and in psychiatric disorders in which sleep is affected. We have demonstrated that the amygdala, a region critical for regulating emotion, is a key modulator of sleep. Our current research is focused on understanding how the amygdala and stressful emotion affect sleep and on the role sleep plays in recovery from stress. We have implemented animal models to examine the how stress and stress-related memories impact sleep. Experiencing uncontrollable stress and reminders of uncontrollable stress can produce significant reductions in sleep, in particular rapid eye movement sleep. We are using these models to explore the neurobiology linking stress-related emotion and sleep. This research is relevant for sleep disorders such as insomnia and into mental disorders in which sleep is affected such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is typically characterized by a prominent sleep disturbance in the aftermath of exposure to a psychologically traumatic event.

  5. Sleep Behavior and Examination Results of Medical Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shapiro, Colin Michael; And Others

    1980-01-01

    Although it has been suggested that sleep, and particularly REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, plays an important role in information processing, this study found no relationship between any aspect of sleep, in particular time of arousal during the week and on weekends, and academic performance. (MLW)

  6. An attempt to observe directly beauty particles in nuclear emulsions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albanese, J.P.; Arnold, R.; Matteuzzi, C.; Musset, P.; Piuz, F.; Poulard, G.; Price, M.J.; Ramello, L.; Sletten, H.; Allasia, D.; Bisi, V.; Gamba, D.; Marzari-Chiesa, A.; Riccati, L.; Romero, A.; Armenise, N.; Calicchio, M.; Erriquez, O.; Lavopa, P.; Maggi, G.; Muciaccia, M.T.; Natali, S.; Nuzzo, S.; Romano, F.; Ruggieri, F.; Baroni, G.; Di Ciaccio, L.; Di Liberto, S.; Manfredini, A.; Meddi, F.; Petrera, S.; Romano, G.; Rosa, G.; Santonico, R.; Sebastiani, F.; Barth, M.; Bertrand, D.; Bertrand-Coremans, G.; Roosen, R.; Sacton, J.; Schorochoff, G.; Wickens, J.; Breslin, A.C.; Montwill, A.; O'Connor, A.; Davis, D.G.; Davis, D.H.; Downes, J.K.; Duff, B.G.; Esten, M.J.; Gjerpe, I.; Heymann, F.F.; Imrie, D.C.; Lush, G.J.; Tovee, D.N.; Hazama, M.; Isokane, Y.; Tsuneoka, Y.; Maeda, Y.; Tasaka, S.

    1983-01-01

    An attempt at the direct observation of the cascade decay of beauty particles, produced by π - of 350 GeV/c leading to 3 muons or 4 muons in the final state, has been made in an emulsion/counter hybrid experiment at CERN. Under the assumption that the lifetime of beauty particles is of the order of 10 - 13 s the non-observation of any candidates provides an upper limit for beauty production of approx.=90 nb at the 90% confidence level. (orig.)

  7. Overview of smartphone applications for sleep analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Ong, Adrian A.; Gillespie, M. Boyd

    2016-01-01

    Objective: To review and assess the current selection of sleep analysis smartphone applications (apps) available for download. Methods: The iOS and Google Play mobile app store were searched for sleep analysis apps targeted for consumer use. Alarm clock, sleep-aid, snoring and sleep-talking recorder, fitness tracker apps, and apps geared towards health professionals were excluded. App information and features were obtained from in-store descriptions, and the app developer website. Results: A ...

  8. Sleep to implement an intention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diekelmann, Susanne; Wilhelm, Ines; Wagner, Ullrich; Born, Jan

    2013-01-01

    Sleep supports the consolidation of new memories. However, this effect has mainly been shown for memories of past events. Here we investigated the role of sleep for the implementation of intentions for the future. Subjects were instructed on a plan that had to be executed after a delay of 2 days. After plan instruction, subjects were either allowed to sleep or stayed awake for one night (Exp. 1) or had a 3-h sleep period either during the early night (SWS-rich sleep) or late night (REM-rich sleep; Exp. 2). In both experiments, retesting took place 2 days later after one recovery night. Sleep laboratory. A total of 56 healthy young adults participated in the study. N/A. All of the subjects who were allowed to sleep after plan instruction executed the intention 2 days later, whereas only 61% of wake subjects did so (P = 0.004; Exp. 1). Also after early SWS-rich sleep all of the subjects remembered to execute the intention, but only 55% did so after late REM-rich sleep (P = 0.015; Exp. 2). Sleep, especially SWS, plays an important role for the successful implementation of delayed intentions.

  9. Determination of Some Heavy Metals in Selected Beauty and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Several epidemiologic studies have investigated the potential carcinogenicity of human exposure to heavy metals from diverse sources but few or none was on African black and beauty soaps. Hence, this study examines the presence of some heavy metals in selected African black and beauty soaps commonly used in ...

  10. Playing a violent television game affects heart rate variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivarsson, Malena; Anderson, Martin; Akerstedt, Torbjörn; Lindblad, Frank

    2009-01-01

    To investigate how playing a violent/nonviolent television game during the evening affects sympathetic and parasympathetic reactions during and after playing as well as sleep quality during the night after playing. In total, 19 boys, 12-15 years of age, played television games on two occasions in their homes and participated once without gaming. Heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) and physical activity were measured during gaming/participating and the night to follow using a portable combined heart rate and movement sensor. A sleep diary and questionnaires about gaming experiences and session-specific experiences were filled in. Criteria for Selection of Games: Violent game involves/rewards direct physical violence (no handguns) against another person, and nonviolent game involves/rewards no violence; same game design ('third-person game'); conducted in the same manner; no differences concerning motor activity; similar sound and light effects; no sexual content, violence against women or racial overtones. During violent (vs. nonviolent) gaming, there was significantly higher activity of the very low frequency component of the HRV and total power. During the night after playing, very low frequency, low frequency and high frequency components were significantly higher during the violent (vs. nonviolent) condition, just as total power. There were no significant differences between the three conditions (violent/nonviolent/no gaming) with respect to an index reflecting subjectively perceived sleep difficulties. Nor was there any difference between violent and nonviolent condition for any single sleep item. Violent gaming induces different autonomic responses in boys compared to nonviolent gaming--during playing and during the following night--suggesting different emotional responses. Subjectively perceived sleep quality is not influenced after a single gaming experience. Future studies should address the development of the autonomic balance after gaming over longer

  11. BEAUTY'99 Conference Summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eerola, Paula

    2000-01-01

    Investigations of B hadrons are expected to break new ground in measuring CP-violation effects. This series of BEAUTY conferences, originating from the 1993 conference in Liblice, has contributed significantly in developing ideas of CP-violation measurements using B hadrons and formulating and comparing critically the B-physics experiments. In the '99 conference in Bled we saw the ripening of the field and the first fruit emerging - Tevatron have produced beautiful B-physics results and more are expected to come with the next run, while the B-physics experiments at DESY, SLAC and KEK are starting their operation. The longer-term projects at LHC and Tevatron have taken their shape and detailed prototyping work is going on. Meanwhile, on the phenomenological side, there has been impressive theoretical progress in understanding deeper the 'standard' measurements and proposing new signatures. In this summary, I will highlight the status of the field as presented in the conference, concentrating on signatures, experiments and R and D programmes

  12. Sleep Bruxism in Respiratory Medicine Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, Pierre; Heinzer, Raphael; Lavigne, Gilles

    2016-01-01

    Sleep bruxism (SB) consists of involuntary episodic and repetitive jaw muscle activity characterized by occasional tooth grinding or jaw clenching during sleep. Prevalence decreases from 20% to 14% in childhood to 8% to 3% in adulthood. Although the causes and mechanisms of idiopathic primary SB are unknown, putative candidates include psychologic risk factors (eg, anxiety, stress due to life events, hypervigilance) and sleep physiologic reactivity (eg, sleep arousals with autonomic activity, breathing events). Although certain neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine, noradrenalin, histamine) have been proposed to play an indirect role in SB, their exact contribution to rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA) (the electromyography marker of SB) genesis remains undetermined. No specific gene is associated with SB; familial environmental influence plays a significant role. To date, no single explanation can account for the SB mechanism. Secondary SB with sleep comorbidities that should be clinically assessed are insomnia, periodic limb movements during sleep, sleep-disordered breathing (eg, apnea-hypopnea), gastroesophageal reflux disease, and neurologic disorders (eg, sleep epilepsy, rapid eye movement behavior disorder). SB is currently quantified by scoring RMMA recordings in parallel with brain, respiratory, and heart activity recordings in a sleep laboratory or home setting. RMMA confirmation with audio-video recordings is recommended for better diagnostic accuracy in the presence of neurologic conditions. Management strategies (diagnostic tests, treatment) should be tailored to the patient's phenotype and comorbidities. In the presence of sleep-disordered breathing, a mandibular advancement appliance or CPAP treatment is preferred over single occlusal splint therapy on the upper jaw. Copyright © 2016 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Impact of Acute Sleep Deprivation on Sarcasm Detection

    OpenAIRE

    Deliens, Ga?tane; Stercq, Fanny; Mary, Alison; Slama, Hichem; Cleeremans, Axel; Peigneux, Philippe; Kissine, Mikhail

    2015-01-01

    There is growing evidence that sleep plays a pivotal role on health, cognition and emotional regulation. However, the interplay between sleep and social cognition remains an uncharted research area. In particular, little is known about the impact of sleep deprivation on sarcasm detection, an ability which, once altered, may hamper everyday social interactions. The aim of this study is to determine whether sleep-deprived participants are as able as sleep-rested participants to adopt another pe...

  14. The 2014 interferometric imaging beauty contest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monnier, John D.; Berger, Jean-Philippe; Le Bouquin, Jean-Baptiste; Tuthill, Peter G.; Wittkowski, Markus; Grellmann, Rebekka; Müller, André; Renganswany, Sridhar; Hummel, Christian; Hofmann, Karl-Heinz; Schertl, Dieter; Weigelt, Gerd; Young, John; Buscher, David; Sanchez-Bermudez, Joel; Alberdi, Antxon; Schoedel, Rainer; Köhler, Rainer; Soulez, Ferréol; Thiébaut, Éric; Kluska, Jacques; Malbet, Fabien; Duvert, Gilles; Kraus, Stefan; Kloppenborg, Brian K.; Baron, Fabien; de Wit, Willem-Jan; Rivinius, Thomas; Merand, Antoine

    2014-07-01

    Here we present the results of the 6th biennial optical interferometry imaging beauty contest. Taking advantage of a unique opportunity, the red supergiant VY CMa and the Mira variable R Car were observed in the astronomical H-band with three 4-telescope configurations of the VLTI-AT array using the PIONIER instrument. The community was invited to participate in the subsequent image reconstruction and interpretation phases of the project. Ten groups submitted entries to the beauty contest, and we found reasonable consistency between images obtained from independent workers using quite different algorithms. We also found that significant differences existed between the submitted images, much greater than in past beauty contests that were all based on simulated data. A novel crowd-sourcing" method allowed consensus median images to be constructed, filtering likely artifacts and retaining real features." We definitively detect strong spots on the surfaces of both stars as well as distinct circumstellar shells of emission (likely water/CO) around R Car. In a close contest, Joel Sanchez (IAA-CSIC/Spain) was named the winner of the 2014 interferometric imaging beauty contest. This process has shown that new comers" can use publicly-available imaging software to interpret VLTI/PIONIER imaging data, as long as sufficient observations are taken to have complete uv coverage { a luxury that is often missing. We urge proposers to request adequate observing nights to collect sufficient data for imaging and for time allocation committees to recognise the importance of uv coverage for reliable interpretation of interferometric data. We believe that the result of the proposed broad international project will contribute to inspiring trust in the image reconstruction processes in optical interferometry.

  15. Lifetimes of charm and beauty hadrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellini, G.; Dornan, P.J.

    1997-01-01

    Major breakthroughs have been achieved in the determination of the lifetimes of charm and beauty hadrons. Much larger data samples than previously have become available and new experimental devices and techniques have been developed and employed. The lifetimes of all weakly decaying singly charmed hadrons have been measured, some with an accuracy of a few percent. The difference in the shortest lifetime - τ(Ω c ) - and the longest one - τ(D + ) - is given by a factor of close to ten. The experimental status of beauty lifetimes, while less complete, has still reached a new level of quality and is now better than 5% for the commoner states. New theoretical tools, based mainly on heavy quark expansions, have been developed; they incorporate as well as transcend earlier phenomenological descriptions. The observed pattern in the charm lifetime ratios is reproduced in a semi-quantitative manner as well as could be expected; as far as the beauty lifetime ratios are concerned some problems may well be emerging. The maturity level achieved in the measurements bodes quite well for future challenges where reliable and efficient tracking of the decay vertices will be crucial. (orig.)

  16. Self Representation Among Dark Skin People Concerning Discourse of Beauty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hasty Larasati

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to see how’s dark skin people perceive the color of their skin either it’s beautiful or ugly. Up until now, being beautiful categorized as those with fair skin, including Indonesian. This is important to be seen because how you represent yourself related to your identity− who you are or how do you want to be seen. Either they are confident with their skin or not, it is their way of self representation which they got from identity negotiation. But, among dark skin people there always be people who confidently represents their identity against the beauty discourse or counter-discourse. Previous literature reviews show there are two reason can cause counter-discourse: recognition and negotiation. Recognition is an act actor does to fight the mainstream discourse, meanwhile negotiation is about negotiating about what they have. My argument here is women can counter the discourse because of negotiation, they have free choice and body autonomy. Also, they have power to counter the discourse by bargaining power. This article uses qualitative research with in-depth interview towards nine female informants with spesific range of age: 16 – 24 because those ages are ages with huge internet usage. Skin tone classification for informant selection is based on Fitzpatrick skin type scale. Research findings show seven from nine informants have done counter the beauty discourse. Informants also explained how their personality or skills could be their bargaining power which made them easier to counter the beauty discourse. Beside that, informant also have done negotiate their identity from accepted the beauty discourse about desirable skin tones, into counter it. The process did not come out of the blue, but also it need both internal and external factors role. Internal factor is self-consciousness about beauty itself while external factors from family, peer or media socialization.

  17. First look at beauty and beauty-jet tagging via secondary vertexing with ALICE in p+p collisions at √S = 7 TeV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kweon, Minjung

    2011-01-01

    The heavy flavour single electron data from RHIC indicate strong coupling of heavy quarks to the medium. The LHC extends greatly the kinematic range to high transverse momentum which enables new tests of heavy quark jet dynamics. Jets containing beauty hadrons have distinctive properties from other types of jets, which enhance their clear identification. We first introduce a method to preferentially select electrons from beauty hadron decay by reconstructing secondary vertices and show the results of this approach on simulated data. A preliminary look at the heavy flavour electron analysis and the beauty analysis in p+p collisions at √S = 7 TeV is also presented. (author)

  18. Gender Differences in the Motivational Processing of Facial Beauty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levy, Boaz; Ariely, Dan; Mazar, Nina; Chi, Won; Lukas, Scott; Elman, Igor

    2008-01-01

    Gender may be involved in the motivational processing of facial beauty. This study applied a behavioral probe, known to activate brain motivational regions, to healthy heterosexual subjects. Matched samples of men and women were administered two tasks: (a) key pressing to change the viewing time of average or beautiful female or male facial…

  19. The embodiment of beauty: Evidence from viewing Chinese concrete words and pictographs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wei; He, Xianyou; Zhao, Xueru; Lai, Siyan; Lai, Shuxian; Situ, Suiyan

    2018-02-01

    How is beauty embodied? According to the viewpoint of embodied cognition, the aesthetic processing of words or pictographs has roots in their referential archetypes. Four experiments tested whether the beauty of referential archetypes was routinely activated during the explicit and implicit aesthetic evaluations of the font structures of concrete Chinese words and pictographs in congruent or incongruent font colour. Results showed font structures of simplified Chinese words and pictographs were judged to be more beautiful when they referred to beautiful archetypes; and this pattern was reversed when they referred to ugly archetypes. Moreover, judgement was facilitated when font colour was congruent for Chinese words and pictographs referred to beautiful archetypes. For those referred to ugly archetypes, judgement was inhibited in congruent font colour but facilitated in incongruent font colour, suggesting aesthetic perceptions of the font structures of Chinese words and pictographs were derived from their referential natural objects. The spontaneous generation hypothesis of beauty is proposed to account for these findings. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

  20. Hadroproduction and photoproduction of beauty and charm in fixed-target experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slaughter, J.

    1996-01-01

    The authors summarize the current experimental situation for charm and beauty production in fixed-target experiments. Particular emphasis is placed on beauty cross-sections and charm pair correlations

  1. Nap sleep spindle correlates of intelligence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ujma, Péter P; Bódizs, Róbert; Gombos, Ferenc; Stintzing, Johannes; Konrad, Boris N; Genzel, Lisa; Steiger, Axel; Dresler, Martin

    2015-11-26

    Sleep spindles are thalamocortical oscillations in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, that play an important role in sleep-related neuroplasticity and offline information processing. Several studies with full-night sleep recordings have reported a positive association between sleep spindles and fluid intelligence scores, however more recently it has been shown that only few sleep spindle measures correlate with intelligence in females, and none in males. Sleep spindle regulation underlies a circadian rhythm, however the association between spindles and intelligence has not been investigated in daytime nap sleep so far. In a sample of 86 healthy male human subjects, we investigated the correlation between fluid intelligence and sleep spindle parameters in an afternoon nap of 100 minutes. Mean sleep spindle length, amplitude and density were computed for each subject and for each derivation for both slow and fast spindles. A positive association was found between intelligence and slow spindle duration, but not any other sleep spindle parameter. As a positive correlation between intelligence and slow sleep spindle duration in full-night polysomnography has only been reported in females but not males, our results suggest that the association between intelligence and sleep spindles is more complex than previously assumed.

  2. Beauty pair production in 600 GeV/c π-emulsion interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lipton, R.

    1992-01-01

    Nine beauty pairs have been observed by the E653 experiment in 600 GeV/c π-emulsion interactions. The experiment uses a combination of nuclear emulsion and silicon vertex detectors to unambiguously reconstruct decay vertices. A muon trigger was used to select semi-muonic beauty decays for scanning. Results on production characteristics and lifetimes of beauty pairs are presented, for charged and neutral B lifetimes. (R.P.) 2 figs.; 1 tab

  3. Fulltext PDF

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    and the former are often termed 'sleeping beauties'.1,2. Among the alkaline earth metals (Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba), magnesium is exceptional; it was studied extensively by. Grignard, who established that the organomagnesium reagent plays a significant role in synthetic inorganic and organic chemistry.3,4 In recent years, the ...

  4. On Disinterestedness and Beauty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kant, Immanuel

    2005-01-01

    This article discusses disinterestedness and beauty. To apprehend a regular and appropriate building with one's cognitive faculties, be the mode of representation clear or confused, is quite a different thing from being conscious of this representation with an accompanying sensation of delight. Here the representation is referred wholly to the…

  5. The Beauty of Geometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Barbara H.

    2004-01-01

    This article describes a geometry project that used the beauty of stained-glass-window designs to teach middle school students about geometric figures and concepts. Three honors prealgebra teachers and a middle school mathematics gifted intervention specialist created a geometry project that covered the curriculum and also assessed students'…

  6. Alcohol and the sleeping brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colrain, Ian M; Nicholas, Christian L; Baker, Fiona C

    2014-01-01

    Alcohol acts as a sedative that interacts with several neurotransmitter systems important in the regulation of sleep. Acute administration of large amounts of alcohol prior to sleep leads to decreased sleep-onset latency and changes in sleep architecture early in the night, when blood alcohol levels are high, with subsequent disrupted, poor-quality sleep later in the night. Alcohol abuse and dependence are associated with chronic sleep disturbance, lower slow-wave sleep, and more rapid-eye-movement sleep than normal, that last long into periods of abstinence and may play a role in relapse. This chapter outlines the evidence for acute and chronic alcohol effects on sleep architecture and sleep electroencephalogram, evidence for tolerance with repeated administration, and possible underlying neurochemical mechanisms for alcohol's effects on sleep. Also discussed are sex differences as well as effects of alcohol on sleep homeostasis and circadian regulation. Evidence for the role of sleep disruption as a risk factor for developing alcohol dependence is discussed in the context of research conducted in adolescents. The utility of sleep-evoked potentials in the assessment of the effects of alcoholism on sleep and the brain and in abstinence-mediated recovery is also outlined. The chapter concludes with a series of questions that need to be answered to determine the role of sleep and sleep disturbance in the development and maintenance of problem drinking and the potential beneficial effects of the treatment of sleep disorders for maintenance of abstinence in alcoholism. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Quantifying the Beauty of Words: A Neurocognitive Poetics Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arthur M. Jacobs

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I would like to pave the ground for future studies in Computational Stylistics and (Neuro-Cognitive Poetics by describing procedures for predicting the subjective beauty of words. A set of eight tentative word features is computed via Quantitative Narrative Analysis (QNA and a novel metric for quantifying word beauty, the aesthetic potential is proposed. Application of machine learning algorithms fed with this QNA data shows that a classifier of the decision tree family excellently learns to split words into beautiful vs. ugly ones. The results shed light on surface and semantic features theoretically relevant for affective-aesthetic processes in literary reading and generate quantitative predictions for neuroaesthetic studies of verbal materials.

  8. Quantifying the Beauty of Words: A Neurocognitive Poetics Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Arthur M

    2017-01-01

    In this paper I would like to pave the ground for future studies in Computational Stylistics and (Neuro-)Cognitive Poetics by describing procedures for predicting the subjective beauty of words. A set of eight tentative word features is computed via Quantitative Narrative Analysis (QNA) and a novel metric for quantifying word beauty, the aesthetic potential is proposed. Application of machine learning algorithms fed with this QNA data shows that a classifier of the decision tree family excellently learns to split words into beautiful vs. ugly ones. The results shed light on surface and semantic features theoretically relevant for affective-aesthetic processes in literary reading and generate quantitative predictions for neuroaesthetic studies of verbal materials.

  9. Study of Sleep Habits and Sleep Problems Among Medical Students ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    characteristics, psychiatric illness, and some types of physical illness. ... to poor sleep qualities are significant problems among medical students in our institution. Caffeine and .... prepare for post graduation and also get to play a role (albeit a.

  10. Beautiful geometry

    CERN Document Server

    Maor, Eli

    2014-01-01

    If you've ever thought that mathematics and art don't mix, this stunning visual history of geometry will change your mind. As much a work of art as a book about mathematics, Beautiful Geometry presents more than sixty exquisite color plates illustrating a wide range of geometric patterns and theorems, accompanied by brief accounts of the fascinating history and people behind each. With artwork by Swiss artist Eugen Jost and text by acclaimed math historian Eli Maor, this unique celebration of geometry covers numerous subjects, from straightedge-and-compass constructions to intriguing configur

  11. Beauty: A Concept with Practical Implications for Teacher Researchers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winston, Joe

    2011-01-01

    Hillman's (2001) simple affirmation that "an idea of beauty is useful, functional, practical" is one this article attempts to pursue with teacher researchers in mind, based on the belief that to move from the "re"pression of beauty to its "ex"pression--or, at the very least, to its articulation--will enlighten rather than distract individuals. The…

  12. Combining Human Epigenetics and Sleep Studies in Caenorhabditis elegans: A Cross-Species Approach for Finding Conserved Genes Regulating Sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Huiyan; Zhu, Yong; Eliot, Melissa N; Knopik, Valerie S; McGeary, John E; Carskadon, Mary A; Hart, Anne C

    2017-06-01

    We aimed to test a combined approach to identify conserved genes regulating sleep and to explore the association between DNA methylation and sleep length. We identified candidate genes associated with shorter versus longer sleep duration in college students based on DNA methylation using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip arrays. Orthologous genes in Caenorhabditis elegans were identified, and we examined whether their loss of function affected C. elegans sleep. For genes whose perturbation affected C. elegans sleep, we subsequently undertook a small pilot study to re-examine DNA methylation in an independent set of human participants with shorter versus longer sleep durations. Eighty-seven out of 485,577 CpG sites had significant differential methylation in young adults with shorter versus longer sleep duration, corresponding to 52 candidate genes. We identified 34 C. elegans orthologs, including NPY/flp-18 and flp-21, which are known to affect sleep. Loss of five additional genes alters developmentally timed C. elegans sleep (B4GALT6/bre-4, DOCK180/ced-5, GNB2L1/rack-1, PTPRN2/ida-1, ZFYVE28/lst-2). For one of these genes, ZFYVE28 (also known as hLst2), the pilot replication study again found decreased DNA methylation associated with shorter sleep duration at the same two CpG sites in the first intron of ZFYVE28. Using an approach that combines human epigenetics and C. elegans sleep studies, we identified five genes that play previously unidentified roles in C. elegans sleep. We suggest sleep duration in humans may be associated with differential DNA methylation at specific sites and that the conserved genes identified here likely play roles in C. elegans sleep and in other species. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

  13. Charmed and beauty baryon in hyper central model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patel, Bhavin; Vinodkumar, P.C.; Rai, Ajay Kumar

    2006-01-01

    For the present study the hyper central description of the three-body problem has been employed for the baryons constituting one or more charm and beauty quarks. The confinement potential is assumed in the hyper central co-ordinates as hyper central coulomb plus power potential. The charm and beauty baryons under this potential has been studied for different power indices starting from 0.5 to 2.0. The methods and results are briefly described

  14. NREM sleep oscillations and brain plasticity in aging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stuart eFogel

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The human electroencephalogram (EEG during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM is characterized mainly by high-amplitude (> 75 µV, slow-frequency (< 4 Hz waves (slow waves; SW and sleep spindles (~11-15 Hz; > 0.25 s. These NREM oscillations play a crucial role in brain plasticity, and importantly, NREM sleep oscillations change considerably with aging. This review discusses the association between NREM sleep oscillations and cerebral plasticity as well as the functional impact of age-related changes on NREM sleep oscillations. We propose that age-related reduction in sleep-dependent memory consolidation may be due in part to changes in NREM sleep oscillations.

  15. Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption

    OpenAIRE

    Medic,Goran; Wille,Micheline; Hemels,Michiel

    2017-01-01

    Goran Medic,1,2 Micheline Wille,1 Michiel EH Hemels1 1Market Access, Horizon Pharma B.V., Utrecht, 2Unit of Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Abstract: Sleep plays a vital role in brain function and systemic physiology across many body systems. Problems with sleep are widely prevalent and include deficits in quantity and quality of sleep; sleep problems that impact the continuity of sleep are collectiv...

  16. Sleep spindles predict stress-related increases in sleep disturbances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thien Thanh eDang-Vu

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Background and Aim: Predisposing factors place certain individuals at higher risk for insomnia, especially in the presence of precipitating conditions such as stressful life events. Sleep spindles have been shown to play an important role in the preservation of sleep continuity. Lower spindle density might thus constitute an objective predisposing factor for sleep reactivity to stress. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the relationship between baseline sleep spindle density and the prospective change in insomnia symptoms in response to a standardized academic stressor. Methods: 12 healthy students had a polysomnography (PSG recording during a period of lower stress at the beginning of the academic semester, along with an assessment of insomnia complaints using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI. They completed a second ISI assessment at the end of the semester, a period coinciding with the week prior to final examinations and thus higher stress. Spindle density, amplitude, duration and frequency, as well as sigma power were computed from C4-O2 electroencephalography (EEG derivation during stages N2-N3 of non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM sleep, across the whole night and for each NREM sleep period. To test for the relationship between spindle density and changes in insomnia symptoms in response to academic stress, spindle measurements at baseline were correlated with changes in ISI across the academic semester.Results: Spindle density (as well as spindle amplitude and sigma power, particularly during the first NREM sleep period, negatively correlated with changes in ISI (p < 0.05. Conclusion: Lower spindle activity, especially at the beginning of the night, prospectively predicted larger increases in insomnia symptoms in response to stress. This result indicates that individual differences in sleep spindle activity contribute to the differential vulnerability to sleep disturbances in the face of precipitating factors.

  17. Mating motives are neither necessary nor sufficient to create the beauty premium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hafenbrädl, Sebastian; Dana, Jason

    2017-01-01

    Mating motives lead decision makers to favor attractive people, but this favoritism is not sufficient to create a beauty premium in competitive settings. Further, economic approaches to discrimination, when correctly characterized, could neatly accommodate the experimental and field evidence of a beauty premium. Connecting labor economics and evolutionary psychology is laudable, but mating motives do not explain the beauty premium.

  18. Signs in Architecture: Beauty in the Ordinary

    OpenAIRE

    Suzuki, Akiko

    2004-01-01

    In Japan, the basics of living are described as three main elements; clothing, food, and shelter. These elements involve simple daily activities such as changing clothes in the morning, eating lunch, and sleeping at night. It may easily become a mundane topic since they are woven into our daily routines. Nevertheless, a moment in one's day may become joyful when we reconsider and play with the ordinary. The first trace of a dwelling in Japan is a pit shelter. People dug a circular ...

  19. Sleep deprivation and daily torpor impair object recognition in Djungarian hamsters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Palchykova, S; Crestani, F; Meerlo, P; Tobler, Irene

    2006-01-01

    Sleep has been shown to play a facilitating role in memory consolidation, whereas sleep deprivation leads to performance impairment both in humans and rodents. The effects of 4-h sleep deprivation on recognition memory were investigated in the Djungarian hamster (Phodopus sungorus). Because sleep

  20. Introducing a "Balance" in The BSC Through Beauty and Love

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ari Kamayanti

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Celebrating the seventeenth anniversary of the Balanced Score Card (BSC since it was born in 1992, this paper revisits its concept as one of the landmarks in performance measurement. The BSC turns out to be ‘not so balanced’ since it lacks certain beauty and love. It hinges on accountability for certain interests when measuring performance, negating or putting other interests as minority. Thus, it fits perfectly with the aim of management accounting that puts managers and customers as priorities. The imbalances comes from secularism and overemphasis in rationalism. Sustainability that becomes the current issue nowadays would not be supported by such performance measurement. In order to insert this balance, a methodology by taking a methapor of nurturing mother is applied in this research that encompasses gentle beauty and subtle love. Gentle beauty refers to a complete harmony of beauty : irrational and the rational; this means introducing those that have been left out in the name of rationality such as religions and spiritualism. Subtle love refers to love towards God that is expressed subtly without lust to overpower. The result is a more balanced set of performance measurements that are filled with beauty and love, insyaAllah.

  1. Using deep learning to quantify the beauty of outdoor places.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seresinhe, Chanuki Illushka; Preis, Tobias; Moat, Helen Susannah

    2017-07-01

    Beautiful outdoor locations are protected by governments and have recently been shown to be associated with better health. But what makes an outdoor space beautiful? Does a beautiful outdoor location differ from an outdoor location that is simply natural? Here, we explore whether ratings of over 200 000 images of Great Britain from the online game Scenic-Or-Not , combined with hundreds of image features extracted using the Places Convolutional Neural Network, might help us understand what beautiful outdoor spaces are composed of. We discover that, as well as natural features such as 'Coast', 'Mountain' and 'Canal Natural', man-made structures such as 'Tower', 'Castle' and 'Viaduct' lead to places being considered more scenic. Importantly, while scenes containing 'Trees' tend to rate highly, places containing more bland natural green features such as 'Grass' and 'Athletic Fields' are considered less scenic. We also find that a neural network can be trained to automatically identify scenic places, and that this network highlights both natural and built locations. Our findings demonstrate how online data combined with neural networks can provide a deeper understanding of what environments we might find beautiful and offer quantitative insights for policymakers charged with design and protection of our built and natural environments.

  2. The Effect of Dogs on Human Sleep in the Home Sleep Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Salma I; Miller, Bernie W; Kosiorek, Heidi E; Parish, James M; Lyng, Philip J; Krahn, Lois E

    2017-09-01

    To objectively assess whether a dog in the bedroom or bed disturbs sleep. From August 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015, we evaluated the sleep of humans and dogs occupying the same bedroom to determine whether this arrangement was conducive to sleep. The study included 40 healthy adults without sleep disorders and their dogs (no dogs dog a validated dog accelerometer for 7 nights. The mean ± SD age of the participants (88% women) was 44±14 years and body mass index was 25±6. The mean ± SD age of the dogs was 5±3 years and weight was 15±13 kg. Mean ± SD actigraphy data showed 475±101 minutes in bed, 404±99 minutes total sleep time, 81%±7% sleep efficiency, and 71±35 minutes wake time after sleep onset. The dogs' accelerometer activity during the corresponding human sleep period was characterized as mean ± SD minutes at rest, active, and at play of 413±102, 62±43, and 2±4. The dogs had mean ± SD 85%±15% sleep efficiency. Human sleep efficiency was lower if the dog was on the bed as opposed to simply in the room (P=.003). Humans with a single dog in their bedroom maintained good sleep efficiency; however, the dog's position on/off the bed made a difference. A dog's presence in the bedroom may not be disruptive to human sleep, as was previously suspected. Copyright © 2017 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Intermittent hypoxia from obstructive sleep apnea may cause neuronal impairment and dysfunction in central nervous system: the potential roles played by microglia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Q

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Qingchan Yang,1,* Yan Wang,2,* Jing Feng,2 Jie Cao,2 Baoyuan Chen2 1Graduate School of Tianjin Medical University, 2Respiratory Department, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA is a common condition characterized by repetitive episodes of complete (apnea or partial (hypopnea obstruction of the upper airway during sleep, resulting in oxygen desaturation and arousal from sleep. Intermittent hypoxia (IH resulting from OSA may cause structural neuron damage and dysfunction in the central nervous system (CNS. Clinically, it manifests as neurocognitive and behavioral deficits with oxidative stress and inflammatory impairment as its pathophysiological basis, which are mediated by microglia at the cellular level. Microglia are dominant proinflammatory cells in the CNS. They induce CNS oxidative stress and inflammation, mainly through mitochondria, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, and the release of excitatory toxic neurotransmitters. The balance between neurotoxic versus protective and anti- versus proinflammatory microglial factors might determine the final roles of microglia after IH exposure from OSA. Microglia inflammatory impairments will continue and cascade persistently upon activation, ultimately resulting in clinically significant neuron damage and dysfunction in the CNS. In this review article, we summarize the mechanisms of structural neuron damage in the CNS and its concomitant dysfunction due to IH from OSA, and the potential roles played by microglia in this process. Keywords: intermittent hypoxia, obstructive sleep apnea, microglia, inflammation, apoptosis

  4. Sleep and Recovery in Team Sport: Current Sleep-Related Issues Facing Professional Team-Sport Athletes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fullagar, Hugh H K; Duffield, Rob; Skorski, Sabrina; Coutts, Aaron J; Julian, Ross; Meyer, Tim

    2015-11-01

    While the effects of sleep loss on performance have previously been reviewed, the effects of disturbed sleep on recovery after exercise are less reported. Specifically, the interaction between sleep and physiological and psychological recovery in team-sport athletes is not well understood. Accordingly, the aim of the current review was to examine the current evidence on the potential role sleep may play in postexercise recovery, with a tailored focus on professional team-sport athletes. Recent studies show that team-sport athletes are at high risk of poor sleep during and after competition. Although limited published data are available, these athletes also appear particularly susceptible to reductions in both sleep quality and sleep duration after night competition and periods of heavy training. However, studies examining the relationship between sleep and recovery in such situations are lacking. Indeed, further observational sleep studies in team-sport athletes are required to confirm these concerns. Naps, sleep extension, and sleep-hygiene practices appear advantageous to performance; however, future proof-of-concept studies are now required to determine the efficacy of these interventions on postexercise recovery. Moreover, more research is required to understand how sleep interacts with numerous recovery responses in team-sport environments. This is pertinent given the regularity with which these teams encounter challenging scenarios during the course of a season. Therefore, this review examines the factors that compromise sleep during a season and after competition and discusses strategies that may help improve sleep in team-sport athletes.

  5. Sleep Deficiency and Deprivation Leading to Cardiovascular Disease

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Kohansieh

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Sleep plays a vital role in an individual’s mental, emotional, and physiological well-being. Not only does sleep deficiency lead to neurological and psychological disorders, but also the literature has explored the adverse effects of sleep deficiency on the cardiovascular system. Decreased quantity and quality of sleep have been linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD risk factors, such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. We explore the literature correlating primary sleep deficiency and deprivation as a cause for cardiovascular disease and cite endothelial dysfunction as a common underlying mechanism.

  6. Sleep Sleeping Patch

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2008-01-01

    The Sleep Sleeping Patch is a new kind of external patch based on modern sleep medicine research achievements, which uses the internationally advanced transdermal therapeutic system (TTS). The Sleep Sleeping Patch transmits natural sleep inducers such as peppermint and liquorice extracts and melatonin through the skin to induce sleep. Clinical research proves that the Sleep Sleeping Patch can effectively improve insomnia and the quality of sleep. Highly effective: With the modern TTS therapy,

  7. BDNF in sleep, insomnia, and sleep deprivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitt, Karen; Holsboer-Trachsler, Edith; Eckert, Anne

    2016-01-01

    The protein brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the neurotrophin family of growth factors involved in plasticity of neurons in several brain regions. There are numerous evidence that BDNF expression is decreased by experiencing psychological stress and that, accordingly, a lack of neurotrophic support causes major depression. Furthermore, disruption in sleep homeostatic processes results in higher stress vulnerability and is often associated with stress-related mental disorders. Recently, we reported, for the first time, a relationship between BDNF and insomnia and sleep deprivation (SD). Using a biphasic stress model as explanation approach, we discuss here the hypothesis that chronic stress might induce a deregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system. In the long-term it leads to sleep disturbance and depression as well as decreased BDNF levels, whereas acute stress like SD can be used as therapeutic intervention in some insomniac or depressed patients as compensatory process to normalize BDNF levels. Indeed, partial SD (PSD) induced a fast increase in BDNF serum levels within hours after PSD which is similar to effects seen after ketamine infusion, another fast-acting antidepressant intervention, while traditional antidepressants are characterized by a major delay until treatment response as well as delayed BDNF level increase. Key messages Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of stress-related mood disorders. The interplay of stress and sleep impacts on BDNF level. Partial sleep deprivation (PSD) shows a fast action on BDNF level increase.

  8. [Esthetic nutrition: body and beauty enhancement through nutritional care].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witt, Juliana da Silveira Gonçalves Zanini; Schnider, Aline Petter

    2011-09-01

    Nowadays, there is an increasing quest for beauty and the models proposed by fashion goods and service segments, to achieve the perfect body. The standard of beauty corresponds to a thin body, without considering health aspects. The number of women who go on diets to control weight is increasing; and taking this into consideration the objective of this study is to conduct a bibliographical review and extract data on esthetics and body image to support the practice of nutritional care. Socio-cultural aspects, which motivate the quest for the perfect body, as well as body, beauty, esthetics, nutritional counseling and cognitive behavior therapy were examined in this survey. On the basis of this work, it is possible to conclude that the continuing obsession with the body may lead the person to go on diets and other drastic methods to control weight, such as surgical procedures. In this respect, nutritional care is far more than merely recommending a standard diet or giving information, as it represents providing an effective model for nutritional reeducation, prioritizing improvement in the style and quality of life. This article provides data about enhancing esthetics and beauty by means of appropriate nutrition.

  9. The Oval Female Facial Shape--A Study in Beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodman, Greg J

    2015-12-01

    Our understanding of who is beautiful seems to be innate but has been argued to conform to mathematical principles and proportions. One aspect of beauty is facial shape that is gender specific. In women, an oval facial shape is considered attractive. To study the facial shape of beautiful actors, pageant title winners, and performers across ethnicities and in different time periods and to construct an ideal oval shape based on the average of their facial shape dimensions. Twenty-one full-face photographs of purportedly beautiful female actors, performers, and pageant winners were analyzed and an oval constructed from their facial parameters. Only 3 of the 21 faces were totally symmetrical, with the most larger in the left upper and lower face. The average oval was subsequently constructed from an average bizygomatic distance (horizontal parameter) of 4.3 times their intercanthal distance (ICD) and a vertical dimension that averaged 6.3 times their ICD. This average oval could be fitted to many of the individual subjects showing a smooth flow from the forehead through temples, cheeks, jaw angle, jawline, and chin with all these facial aspects abutting the oval. Where they did not abut, treatment may have improved these subjects.

  10. Beauty in photoproduction at HERA II with the ZEUS detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boutle, Sarah

    2010-02-01

    The production of beauty quarks in ep collisions should be accurately calculable in perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) since the large mass of the b quark provides a hard scale. Therefore it is interesting to compare such predictions to results using photoproduction events where a low-virtuality photon, emitted by the incoming lepton, collides with a parton from the incoming proton. A measurement of beauty in photoproduction has been made at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 126 pb - 1. Beauty was identified in events with a muon in the final state by using the transverse momentum of the muon relative to the closest jet. Lifetime information from the silicon vertex detector was also used; the impact parameter of the muon with respect to the primary vertex was exploited to discriminate between signal and background. Cross sections for beauty production as a function of the muon and the jet variables were measured and compared to QCD predictions and to previous measurements. The data were found to be well described by the predictions from next-to-leading-order QCD. The dijet sample of beauty photoproduction events was also used to study higher-order QCD topologies. At leading order, the two jets in the event are produced back-to-back in azimuthal angle, such that Δφ jj =φ j1 -φ j2 =π. Additional soft radiation causes small azimuthal decorrelations, whilst Δφ jj significantly lower than π is evidence of additional hard radiation. In this thesis, the cross section versus Δφ jj for beauty photoproduction and the comparison to NLO QCD predictions and Monte Carlo models are presented. (orig.)

  11. Sleep Deprivation and the Epigenome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaine, Marie E; Chatterjee, Snehajyoti; Abel, Ted

    2018-01-01

    Sleep deprivation disrupts the lives of millions of people every day and has a profound impact on the molecular biology of the brain. These effects begin as changes within a neuron, at the DNA and RNA level, and result in alterations in neuronal plasticity and dysregulation of many cognitive functions including learning and memory. The epigenome plays a critical role in regulating gene expression in the context of memory storage. In this review article, we begin by describing the effects of epigenetic alterations on the regulation of gene expression, focusing on the most common epigenetic mechanisms: (i) DNA methylation; (ii) histone modifications; and (iii) non-coding RNAs. We then discuss evidence suggesting that sleep loss impacts the epigenome and that these epigenetic alterations might mediate the changes in cognition seen following disruption of sleep. The link between sleep and the epigenome is only beginning to be elucidated, but clear evidence exists that epigenetic alterations occur following sleep deprivation. In the future, these changes to the epigenome could be utilized as biomarkers of sleep loss or as therapeutic targets for sleep-related disorders.

  12. Computers, pattern, chaos and beauty

    CERN Document Server

    Pickover, Clifford A

    1980-01-01

    Combining fractal theory with computer art, this book introduces a creative use of computers. It describes graphic methods for detecting patterns in complicated data and illustrates simple techniques for visualizing chaotic behavior. ""Beautiful."" - Martin Gardner, Scientific American. Over 275 illustrations, 29 in color.

  13. Betel Nut Beauty in Taiwan: Chinese Tourists- Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Shwu-Huey Wang; Hsiu-Yuan Wang

    2013-01-01

    Tourists- eyes will often be attracted by the unique phenomenon of the roadsides: betel nut beauties (pronounced as binlang xishi in Mandarin), if they drive on the roads of Taiwan. Sitting in the neon-lit glass stalls with attractive dress on the roadsides, betel nut beauties usually sell betel nuts to the passing truckers or car drivers with much of their efforts. Moreover, in order to attract peoples- eyesight and increase the sales volume, the young girls are in skimp...

  14. Beauty and charm production in fixed target experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kidonakis, Nikolaos; Vogt, Ramona

    2004-01-01

    We present calculations of NNLO threshold corrections for beauty and charm production in π - p and pp interactions at fixed-target experiments. Recent calculations for heavy quark hadroproduction have included next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) soft-gluon corrections [1] to the double differential cross section from threshold resummation techniques [2]. These corrections are important for near-threshold beauty and charm production at fixed-target experiments, including HERA-B and some of the current and future heavy ion experiments

  15. SPA (Solus per Aqua) service industry: An entrepeneurship opportunity to beauty education department

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marwiyah, Apriyani, Delta

    2018-03-01

    Beauty industry grows vastly in the scope of regional, national, or international. Beauty industry includes Spa service. It becomes one of the choices where the urban citizen can use it to release their stress and relax their mind. This business grows as the development of technology. Spa industry should be able to provide the best service for physical and mental therapy, it will make the user of the service can be freed from their business and stress in the respective time to be healthies, more beautiful, and able to do their activity maximally. Spa treatment consists of hair creambath, facial treatment, manicure-pedicure, scrub treatment, foot spa, aromatherapy, and body treatment with traditional cosmetics which are easy to get in Indonesia. Beauty education is one of the programs in Home Economics Department of Engineering Faculty of UNNES. This program was established to produce graduates in beauty fields as Vocational High School teachers with bachelor (S1) qualification. The graduates suppose to be excellent, professional, skillful, and care to the environment, culture, and social condition around them. It prepares them as teachers of beauty (in formal and non- formal education). Besides, it also prepared them to have professional competence in production fields of beauty service with adaptive, creative, and innovative which can be entrepreneurs who are able to create job vacancies for others. Beauty education used KKNI- based curriculum, which is oriented to Industry and Working Fields with UNNES' Conservation basis. It provided the students a chance to practive their knowledge in working internship program, study field trip, and teaching practice program. The industry of Spa service provides a big chance to become an entrepreneur, create a working field, and help the government reduce unemployment number, whether from beauty education graduates or from vocational high school students

  16. The effects of atmospheric optical conditions on perceived scenic beauty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latimer, Douglas A.; Hogo, Henry; Daniel, Terry C.

    This paper describes the results from the first year of a currently on-going study, the objective of which is to investigate the relationships between atmospheric optical conditions and human perceptions of scenic beauty. Color photographs and atmospheric optical measurements, using telephotometers and nephelometers, were taken in the western U.S.A. (Grand Canyon National Park and Mt. Lemmon near Tucson, Arizona) and in the eastern United States (Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah national parks). Over 1300 individual observers rated color slides for either visual air quality or scenic beauty using a 10-point rating scale. Ratings were transformed to indices using standard psychophysical techniques. Relationships between these perceptual indices and physical parameters characteristic of the given landscape represented in the color slides were investigated using scatter plots, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression. Physical parameters included visual range, horizon sky chromaticity and luminance, solar zenith and scattering angles, and cloud conditions. Results show that observers' ratings of visual air quality and scenic beauty are sensitive to visual range, sky color, and scattering angle. However, in some of the areas investigated, scenic beauty ratings were not affected by changes in visual range. The sensitivity of the scenic beauty of a vista to changes in the extinction coefficient may be useful for establishing visibility goals and priorities.

  17. Direct observation of the decay of beauty particles into charm particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albanese, J.P.; Alpe, V.; Aoki, S.; Arnold, R.; Baroni, G.; Barth, M.; Bartley, J.H.; Bertrand, D.; Bertrand-Coremans, G.; Bisi, V.; Breslin, A.C.; Carboni, G.; Chesi, E.; Chiba, K.; Cook, G.S.; Coupland, M.; Crosetti, G.; Davis, D.H.; Dell'Uomo, S.; Di Liberto, S.; Bonnelly, W.; Duff, B.G.; Esten, M.J.; Gamba, D.; Gerke, C.; Hazama, M.; Heymann, F.F.; Hoshino, K.; Imrie, D.C.; Isokane, Y.; Kazuno, M.; Kodama, Y.; Lush, G.J.; Maeda, Y.; Marzari-Chiesa, A.; Mazzoni, M.A.; Meddi, F.; Miyanishi, M.; Montwill, A.; Muciaccia, M.T.; Musset, P.; Nakamura, M.; Nakazawa, K.; Natali, S.; Niu, K.; Niwa, K.; Nuzzo, S.; Ohashi, M.; Piuz, F.; Poulard, G.; Ramello, L.; Riccati, L.; Romano, G.; Roosen, R.; Rosa, G.; Ruggieri, F.; Sato, Y.; Sasaki, H.; Sgarbi, C.; Shibuya, H.; Simone, S.; Sletten, H.; Tasaka, S.; Tesuka, I.; Tomita, Y.; Tovee, D.N.; Trent, P.; Tsuneoka, Y.; Ushida, N.; Yamakawa, O.; Yanagisawa, Y.; Aichi Women's Coll., Nisshin-Cho; Bari Univ.; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Bari; Birkbeck Coll., London; Interuniversity Inst. for High Energies, Brussels; European Organization for Nuclear Research, Geneva; University Coll., Dublin; Gifu Univ.; University Coll., London; Nagoya Univ.; Nagoya Inst. of Tech.; Rome Univ.; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Rome; Toho Univ., Funabashi, Chiba; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Turin; Turin Univ.; Utsunomiya Univ.; Yokohama National Univ.

    1985-01-01

    The associated production of a pair of beauty particles B - and anti B 0 by a 350 GeV π - interaction has been observed in an emulsion target inserted in an array of silicon microstrip detectors. Both beauty particles decay into charm particles, both of which are also observed to decay in the emulsion. Two negative muons were identified and their momenta measured in a large muon spectrometer. One muon has a psub(T) of 1.9 GeV/c and is associated with a beauty particle decay. The other, with a psub(T) of 0.45 GeV/c is associated with a charm particle decay. The flight times of the two beauty particles are respectively (0.8+-0.1).10 -13 s and (5sub(-1) +2 ).10 -13 s. Alternative interpretations of this event have negligible probability. (orig.)

  18. Parasite resistance and the adaptive significance of sleep

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barton Robert A

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sleep is a biological enigma. Despite occupying much of an animal's life, and having been scrutinized by numerous experimental studies, there is still no consensus on its function. Similarly, no hypothesis has yet explained why species have evolved such marked variation in their sleep requirements (from 3 to 20 hours a day in mammals. One intriguing but untested idea is that sleep has evolved by playing an important role in protecting animals from parasitic infection. This theory stems, in part, from clinical observations of intimate physiological links between sleep and the immune system. Here, we test this hypothesis by conducting comparative analyses of mammalian sleep, immune system parameters, and parasitism. Results We found that evolutionary increases in mammalian sleep durations are strongly associated with an enhancement of immune defences as measured by the number of immune cells circulating in peripheral blood. This appeared to be a generalized relationship that could be independently detected in 4 of the 5 immune cell types and in both of the main sleep phases. Importantly, no comparable relationships occur in related physiological systems that do not serve an immune function. Consistent with an influence of sleep on immune investment, mammalian species that sleep for longer periods also had substantially reduced levels of parasitic infection. Conclusion These relationships suggest that parasite resistance has played an important role in the evolution of mammalian sleep. Species that have evolved longer sleep durations appear to be able to increase investment in their immune systems and be better protected from parasites. These results are neither predicted nor explained by conventional theories of sleep evolution, and suggest that sleep has a much wider role in disease resistance than is currently appreciated.

  19. Presence, Mourning, and Beauty: Elements of Analytic Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markman, Henry C

    2017-12-01

    Analyst and patient occasionally arrive at moments of heightened meaning and aliveness. These moments can be transformative and lead to psychic change in the patient. They give life and arouse hope, and feel "real" in a new way, though often entailing emotional turbulence. Specific internal work must be done by the analyst to allow for and foster these experiences. This involves a kind of mourning process in the analyst that allows for "presence" and "availability" as described by Gabriel Marcel, and for the "at-one-ment" described by Bion. These transforming moments can be viewed in an aesthetic realm, along the lines of Keats's "Beauty is truth, truth beauty." This embodies the analytic value of emotional truth. These moments are shared and their emergence is an intersubjective creation. Clinical illustrations show how the internal work of mourning by the analyst through directed introspection allows for presence and availability, and then for shared moments of beauty with the patient.

  20. Ontological-epistemological views of the beautiful Byzantine aesthetics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vilić Nataša

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper approaches the ontological-epistemology aspects of the beauty of Byzantine art. Byzantine aesthetics and Byzantine art are unjustly neglected in the history of aesthetic thought. Christian aestheticians have an ambivalent attitude towards art. Because, Byzantine painting represents reality show based on the Christians view, where absolutizs a new dimension of spirituality and aesthetics deriving from the ontological-epistemological positions. The phenomenon of beauty in Byzantine art is primarily deposited in epistemological components, where everything is directed to the knowledge of the truth. In Byzantine art beauty has, above all, spiritual character; it does not have a classical aesthetic dimension, but primarily because the ontological character is recognized as one of the innumerable divine energies and of phenomena. The Byzantine painter makes an effort to realize the creative transformation of matter into a unique experience community and relationship with God, who volatility of the world beyond the ontological light that is converted from non-being into being.

  1. Sleep deprivation: a mind-body approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguirre, Claudia C

    2016-11-01

    The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances in our understanding of the impact sleep disturbances have on our health, with particular focus on the brain. The present review considers the influence of sleep disturbance on the neurovascular unit; the role of sleep disturbance in neurodegenerative diseases; and relevant strategies of neuro-immuno-endocrine interactions that likely contribute to the restorative power of sleep. Given the latest discoveries about the brain's waste clearance system and its relationship to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, this review gives a brief overview on the molecular mechanisms behind sleep loss-related impairments. Recent evidence indicates that sleep plays a vital role in neuro-immuno-endocrine homeostasis. Sleep loss has been linked to elevated risks for cognitive and mood disorders, underscored by impaired synaptic transmission. The glymphatic system has been shown to be modulated by sleep and implicated in neurodegenerative disorders. Interactions between sleep quality, the immune system, and neurodegenerative disease are complex and a challenge to distil. These interactions are frequently bidirectional, because of sleep's characterization as an early symptom and as a potential factor contributing to the development and progression of mood and cognitive disorders. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

  2. Predicting beauty: fractal dimension and visual complexity in art.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forsythe, A; Nadal, M; Sheehy, N; Cela-Conde, C J; Sawey, M

    2011-02-01

    Visual complexity has been known to be a significant predictor of preference for artistic works for some time. The first study reported here examines the extent to which perceived visual complexity in art can be successfully predicted using automated measures of complexity. Contrary to previous findings the most successful predictor of visual complexity was Gif compression. The second study examined the extent to which fractal dimension could account for judgments of perceived beauty. The fractal dimension measure accounts for more of the variance in judgments of perceived beauty in visual art than measures of visual complexity alone, particularly for abstract and natural images. Results also suggest that when colour is removed from an artistic image observers are unable to make meaningful judgments as to its beauty. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

  3. Euler's pioneering equation the most beautiful theorem in mathematics

    CERN Document Server

    Wilson, Robin

    2018-01-01

    In 1988 The Mathematical Intelligencer, a quarterly mathematics journal, carried out a poll to find the most beautiful theorem in mathematics. Twenty-four theorems were listed and readers were invited to award each a 'score for beauty'. While there were many worthy competitors, the winner was 'Euler's equation'. In 2004 Physics World carried out a similar poll of 'greatest equations', and found that among physicists Euler's mathematical result came second only to Maxwell's equations. The Stanford mathematician Keith Devlin reflected the feelings of many in describing it as "like a Shakespearian sonnet that captures the very essence of love, or a painting which brings out the beauty of the human form that is far more than just skin deep, Euler's equation reaches down into the very depths of existence."

  4. Small is beautiful

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schumacher, E.F.

    1973-01-01

    The author feels that ''an almost universal idolatry of gigantism'' has caused the urgent crisis of today's society. The book expresses his philosophy of the beauty of thinking in less grandiose terms. He offers some smaller-scale yet highly feasible solutions to many of the problems created by bigness--the environmental crisis, the energy shortage, the dehumanization of industrial workers, the flight from rural areas, and the decay of cities. (MCW)

  5. Measurement of charm and beauty photoproduction at HERA using Dμ correlations

    Science.gov (United States)

    H1 Collaboration; Aktas, A.; Andreev, V.; Anthonis, T.; Aplin, S.; Asmone, A.; Astvatsatourov, A.; Babaev, A.; Backovic, S.; Bähr, J.; Baghdasaryan, A.; Baranov, P.; Barrelet, E.; Bartel, W.; Baudrand, S.; Baumgartner, S.; Becker, J.; Beckingham, M.; Behnke, O.; Behrendt, O.; Belousov, A.; Berger, Ch.; Berger, N.; Bizot, J. C.; Boenig, M.-O.; Boudry, V.; Bracinik, J.; Brandt, G.; Brisson, V.; Brown, D. P.; Bruncko, D.; Büsser, F. W.; Bunyatyan, A.; Buschhorn, G.; Bystritskaya, L.; Campbell, A. J.; Caron, S.; Cassol-Brunner, F.; Cerny, K.; Cerny, V.; Chekelian, V.; Contreras, J. G.; Coughlan, J. A.; Cox, B. E.; Cozzika, G.; Cvach, J.; Dainton, J. B.; Dau, W. D.; Daum, K.; Delcourt, B.; Demirchyan, R.; de Roeck, A.; Desch, K.; de Wolf, E. A.; Diaconu, C.; Dodonov, V.; Dubak, A.; Eckerlin, G.; Efremenko, V.; Egli, S.; Eichler, R.; Eisele, F.; Ellerbrock, M.; Elsen, E.; Erdmann, W.; Essenov, S.; Falkewicz, A.; Faulkner, P. J. W.; Favart, L.; Fedotov, A.; Felst, R.; Ferencei, J.; Finke, L.; Fleischer, M.; Fleischmann, P.; Fleming, Y. H.; Flucke, G.; Fomenko, A.; Foresti, I.; Formánek, J.; Franke, G.; Frising, G.; Frisson, T.; Gabathuler, E.; Garutti, E.; Gayler, J.; Gerhards, R.; Gerlich, C.; Ghazaryan, S.; Ginzburgskaya, S.; Glazov, A.; Glushkov, I.; Goerlich, L.; Goettlich, M.; Gogitidze, N.; Gorbounov, S.; Goyon, C.; Grab, C.; Greenshaw, T.; Gregori, M.; Grindhammer, G.; Gwilliam, C.; Haidt, D.; Hajduk, L.; Haller, J.; Hansson, M.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henderson, R. C. W.; Henschel, H.; Henshaw, O.; Herrera, G.; Hildebrandt, M.; Hiller, K. H.; Hoffmann, D.; Horisberger, R.; Hovhannisyan, A.; Ibbotson, M.; Ismail, M.; Jacquet, M.; Janauschek, L.; Janssen, X.; Jemanov, V.; Jönsson, L.; Johnson, D. P.; Jung, H.; Kapichine, M.; Karlsson, M.; Katzy, J.; Keller, N.; Kenyon, I. R.; Kiesling, C.; Klein, M.; Kleinwort, C.; Klimkovich, T.; Kluge, T.; Knies, G.; Knutsson, A.; Korbel, V.; Kostka, P.; Koutouev, R.; Krastev, K.; Kretzschmar, J.; Kropivnitskaya, A.; Krüger, K.; Kückens, J.; Landon, M. P. J.; Lange, W.; Laštovička, T.; Laycock, P.; Lebedev, A.; Leißner, B.; Lendermann, V.; Levonian, S.; Lindfeld, L.; Lipka, K.; List, B.; Lobodzinska, E.; Loktionova, N.; Lopez-Fernandez, R.; Lubimov, V.; Lucaci-Timoce, A.-I.; Lueders, H.; Lüke, D.; Lux, T.; Lytkin, L.; Makankine, A.; Malden, N.; Malinovski, E.; Mangano, S.; Marage, P.; Marshall, R.; Martisikova, M.; Martyn, H.-U.; Maxfield, S. J.; Meer, D.; Mehta, A.; Meier, K.; Meyer, A. B.; Meyer, H.; Meyer, J.; Mikocki, S.; Milcewicz-Mika, I.; Milstead, D.; Mohamed, A.; Moreau, F.; Morozov, A.; Morris, J. V.; Mozer, M. U.; Müller, K.; Murín, P.; Nankov, K.; Naroska, B.; Naumann, J.; Naumann, Th.; Newman, P. R.; Niebuhr, C.; Nikiforov, A.; Nikitin, D.; Nowak, G.; Nozicka, M.; Oganezov, R.; Olivier, B.; Olsson, J. E.; Osman, S.; Ozerov, D.; Palichik, V.; Papadopoulou, T.; Pascaud, C.; Patel, G. D.; Peez, M.; Perez, E.; Perez-Astudillo, D.; Perieanu, A.; Petrukhin, A.; Pitzl, D.; Plačakytė, R.; Portheault, B.; Povh, B.; Prideaux, P.; Raicevic, N.; Reimer, P.; Rimmer, A.; Risler, C.; Rizvi, E.; Robmann, P.; Roland, B.; Roosen, R.; Rostovtsev, A.; Rurikova, Z.; Rusakov, S.; Salvaire, F.; Sankey, D. P. C.; Sauvan, E.; Schätzel, S.; Schilling, F.-P.; Schmidt, S.; Schmitt, S.; Schmitz, C.; Schoeffel, L.; Schöning, A.; Schröder, V.; Schultz-Coulon, H.-C.; Schwanenberger, C.; Sedlák, K.; Sefkow, F.; Sheviakov, I.; Shtarkov, L. N.; Sirois, Y.; Sloan, T.; Smirnov, P.; Soloviev, Y.; South, D.; Spaskov, V.; Specka, A.; Stella, B.; Stiewe, J.; Strauch, I.; Straumann, U.; Tchoulakov, V.; Thompson, G.; Thompson, P. D.; Tomasz, F.; Traynor, D.; Truöl, P.; Tsakov, I.; Tsipolitis, G.; Tsurin, I.; Turnau, J.; Tzamariudaki, E.; Urban, M.; Usik, A.; Utkin, D.; Valkár, S.; Valkárová, A.; Vallée, C.; van Mechelen, P.; van Remortel, N.; Vargas Trevino, A.; Vazdik, Y.; Veelken, C.; Vest, A.; Vinokurova, S.; Volchinski, V.; Vujicic, B.; Wacker, K.; Wagner, J.; Weber, G.; Weber, R.; Wegener, D.; Werner, C.; Werner, N.; Wessels, M.; Wessling, B.; Wigmore, C.; Winter, G.-G.; Wissing, Ch.; Wolf, R.; Wünsch, E.; Xella, S.; Yan, W.; Yeganov, V.; Žáček, J.; Zálešák, J.; Zhang, Z.; Zhelezov, A.; Zhokin, A.; Zimmermann, J.; Zohrabyan, H.; Zomer, F.

    2005-08-01

    A measurement of charm and beauty photoproduction at the electron proton collider HERA is presented based on the simultaneous detection of a D meson and a muon. The correlation between the D meson and the muon serves to separate the charm and beauty contributions and the analysis provides comparable sensitivity to both. The total and differential experimental cross sections are compared to LO and NLO QCD calculations. The measured charm cross section is in good agreement with QCD predictions including higher order effects while the beauty cross section is higher.

  6. Sleeping Beauty Transposition of Chimeric Antigen Receptors Targeting Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-Like Orphan Receptor-1 (ROR1 into Diverse Memory T-Cell Populations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Drew C Deniger

    Full Text Available T cells modified with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs targeting CD19 demonstrated clinical activity against some B-cell malignancies. However, this is often accompanied by a loss of normal CD19+ B cells and humoral immunity. Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor-1 (ROR1 is expressed on sub-populations of B-cell malignancies and solid tumors, but not by healthy B cells or normal post-partum tissues. Thus, adoptive transfer of T cells specific for ROR1 has potential to eliminate tumor cells and spare healthy tissues. To test this hypothesis, we developed CARs targeting ROR1 in order to generate T cells specific for malignant cells. Two Sleeping Beauty transposons were constructed with 2nd generation ROR1-specific CARs signaling through CD3ζ and either CD28 (designated ROR1RCD28 or CD137 (designated ROR1RCD137 and were introduced into T cells. We selected for T cells expressing CAR through co-culture with γ-irradiated activating and propagating cells (AaPC, which co-expressed ROR1 and co-stimulatory molecules. Numeric expansion over one month of co-culture on AaPC in presence of soluble interleukin (IL-2 and IL-21 occurred and resulted in a diverse memory phenotype of CAR+ T cells as measured by non-enzymatic digital array (NanoString and multi-panel flow cytometry. Such T cells produced interferon-γ and had specific cytotoxic activity against ROR1+ tumors. Moreover, such cells could eliminate ROR1+ tumor xenografts, especially T cells expressing ROR1RCD137. Clinical trials will investigate the ability of ROR1-specific CAR+ T cells to specifically eliminate tumor cells while maintaining normal B-cell repertoire.

  7. The Golden Beauty: Brain Response to Classical and Renaissance Sculptures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Dio, Cinzia; Macaluso, Emiliano; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

    2007-01-01

    Is there an objective, biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? Using fMRI technique, we addressed this question by presenting viewers, naïve to art criticism, with images of masterpieces of Classical and Renaissance sculpture. Employing proportion as the independent variable, we produced two sets of stimuli: one composed of images of original sculptures; the other of a modified version of the same images. The stimuli were presented in three conditions: observation, aesthetic judgment, and proportion judgment. In the observation condition, the viewers were required to observe the images with the same mind-set as if they were in a museum. In the other two conditions they were required to give an aesthetic or proportion judgment on the same images. Two types of analyses were carried out: one which contrasted brain response to the canonical and the modified sculptures, and one which contrasted beautiful vs. ugly sculptures as judged by each volunteer. The most striking result was that the observation of original sculptures, relative to the modified ones, produced activation of the right insula as well as of some lateral and medial cortical areas (lateral occipital gyrus, precuneus and prefrontal areas). The activation of the insula was particularly strong during the observation condition. Most interestingly, when volunteers were required to give an overt aesthetic judgment, the images judged as beautiful selectively activated the right amygdala, relative to those judged as ugly. We conclude that, in observers naïve to art criticism, the sense of beauty is mediated by two non-mutually exclusive processes: one based on a joint activation of sets of cortical neurons, triggered by parameters intrinsic to the stimuli, and the insula (objective beauty); the other based on the activation of the amygdala, driven by one's own emotional experiences (subjective beauty). PMID:18030335

  8. Beauty in photoproduction at HERA II with the ZEUS detector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boutle, Sarah

    2010-02-15

    The production of beauty quarks in ep collisions should be accurately calculable in perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) since the large mass of the b quark provides a hard scale. Therefore it is interesting to compare such predictions to results using photoproduction events where a low-virtuality photon, emitted by the incoming lepton, collides with a parton from the incoming proton. A measurement of beauty in photoproduction has been made at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 126 pb{sup -}1. Beauty was identified in events with a muon in the final state by using the transverse momentum of the muon relative to the closest jet. Lifetime information from the silicon vertex detector was also used; the impact parameter of the muon with respect to the primary vertex was exploited to discriminate between signal and background. Cross sections for beauty production as a function of the muon and the jet variables were measured and compared to QCD predictions and to previous measurements. The data were found to be well described by the predictions from next-to-leading-order QCD. The dijet sample of beauty photoproduction events was also used to study higher-order QCD topologies. At leading order, the two jets in the event are produced back-to-back in azimuthal angle, such that {delta}{phi}{sup jj}={phi}{sup j1}-{phi}{sup j2}={pi}. Additional soft radiation causes small azimuthal decorrelations, whilst {delta}{phi}{sup jj} significantly lower than {pi} is evidence of additional hard radiation. In this thesis, the cross section versus {delta}{phi}{sup jj} for beauty photoproduction and the comparison to NLO QCD predictions and Monte Carlo models are presented. (orig.)

  9. The golden beauty: brain response to classical and renaissance sculptures.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinzia Di Dio

    Full Text Available Is there an objective, biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? Using fMRI technique, we addressed this question by presenting viewers, naïve to art criticism, with images of masterpieces of Classical and Renaissance sculpture. Employing proportion as the independent variable, we produced two sets of stimuli: one composed of images of original sculptures; the other of a modified version of the same images. The stimuli were presented in three conditions: observation, aesthetic judgment, and proportion judgment. In the observation condition, the viewers were required to observe the images with the same mind-set as if they were in a museum. In the other two conditions they were required to give an aesthetic or proportion judgment on the same images. Two types of analyses were carried out: one which contrasted brain response to the canonical and the modified sculptures, and one which contrasted beautiful vs. ugly sculptures as judged by each volunteer. The most striking result was that the observation of original sculptures, relative to the modified ones, produced activation of the right insula as well as of some lateral and medial cortical areas (lateral occipital gyrus, precuneus and prefrontal areas. The activation of the insula was particularly strong during the observation condition. Most interestingly, when volunteers were required to give an overt aesthetic judgment, the images judged as beautiful selectively activated the right amygdala, relative to those judged as ugly. We conclude that, in observers naïve to art criticism, the sense of beauty is mediated by two non-mutually exclusive processes: one based on a joint activation of sets of cortical neurons, triggered by parameters intrinsic to the stimuli, and the insula (objective beauty; the other based on the activation of the amygdala, driven by one's own emotional experiences (subjective beauty.

  10. Measurement of beauty production at HERA using events with muons and jets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Behnke, Olaf

    2005-01-01

    Several new measurements of beauty production at HERA have been presented at this conference. In this talk we report about the H1 measurement using events with a muon associated to a jet. This is the first beauty analysis at HERA, where both the long lifetime and the large mass of b-flavoured hadrons are exploited to identify the beauty events, leading to an improved signal separation. Differential cross sections are measured both in photoproduction and in deep inelastic scattering. The measured data are found to be somewhat higher then perturbative QCD calculations to next-to-leading order. A significant excess is observed in certain corners of the kinematic phase space. At the end of this report new and recent beauty measurements are summarised

  11. Beauty and health: anthropological perspectives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Edmonds, A.

    2008-01-01

    This essay, written as a 'teaser' for an up-coming symposium, reflects on how human beauty can be understood from an anthropological and medical anthropological perspective. First, it considers how aesthetic and healing rationales can conflict or merge in a variety of medical technologies and health

  12. Direct observation of the decay of beauty particles into charm particles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Albanese, J P; Alpe, V; Aoki, S; Arnold, R; Baroni, G; Barth, M; Bartley, J H; Bertrand, D; Bertrand-Coremans, G; Bisi, V [Aichi Univ. of Education, Kariya (Japan); Aichi Women' s Coll, Nisshin-Cho [Japan; Bari Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Fisica; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Bari (Italy); Birkbeck Coll, London [UK; Interuniversity Inst. for High Energies, Brussels (Belgium); European Organization for Nuclear Research, Geneva (Switzerland); University Coll., Dublin (Ireland); Gifu Univ. (Japan). Faculty of Education; University Coll., London (UK); Nagoya Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Physics; Nagoya Inst. of Tech. (Japan); Rome Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Fisica; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Rome (Italy); Toho Univ., Funabashi, Chiba (Japan). Faculty of Science; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Turin (Italy); Turin Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Fisica; Utsunomiya Univ. (Japan). Faculty of Education; Yokohama National Univ. (Japan). Faculty of Education

    1985-08-08

    The associated production of a pair of beauty particles B/sup -/ and anti B/sup 0/ by a 350 GeV ..pi../sup -/ interaction has been observed in an emulsion target inserted in an array of silicon microstrip detectors. Both beauty particles decay into charm particles, both of which are also observed to decay in the emulsion. Two negative muons were identified and their momenta measured in a large muon spectrometer. One muon has a psub(T) of 1.9 GeV/c and is associated with a beauty particle decay. The other, with a psub(T) of 0.45 GeV/c is associated with a charm particle decay. The flight times of the two beauty particles are respectively (0.8 +- 0.1).10/sup -13/s and (5sub(-1)/sup +2/).10/sup -13/s. Alternative interpretations of this event have negligible probability.

  13. Charm and beauty production in experiment WA92

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barberis, D.; Gemme, C.; Malferrari, L.

    1999-01-01

    Using a sample of 1.4·10 8 triggered events, produced in π-Cu and π-W interactions at 350 GeV/c, we have studied charm and beauty production. J/ψ and ψ ' mesons are identified through their decays into muon pairs and are selected in the Feynman-x range x F >0. Inclusive J/ψ and ψ ' cross-sections and J/ψ differential cross-sections as functions of x F and p T are measured. A fit to the data for different targets gives α(J/ψ){Si,Cu,W}=0.87±0.05 (stat.)±0.04 (syst.), σ 0 (J/ψ)=(216.2±5.4 (stat.)±13.3 (syst.)) nb/nucleon and σ 0 (ψ ' )=(28.3±8.1(stat.)±11.3 (syst.)) nb/nucleon. For the study of beauty production, we have identified 26 beauty events. The estimated background in this sample is 0.6±0.6 events. From these data, assuming a linear A-dependence, we measure a beauty production cross-section integrated over all x F of 5.7 -1.1 +1.3 (stat.) -0.5 +0.6 (syst.) nb/N. Differential distributions with respect to x F and p T 2 have been determined as well as some two-particle kinematic variables. Our results are compared with previous experiments and with a next-to-leading-order QCD calculation

  14. The impact of prolonged violent video-gaming on adolescent sleep: an experimental study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Daniel L; Gradisar, Michael; Drummond, Aaron; Lovato, Nicole; Wessel, Jason; Micic, Gorica; Douglas, Paul; Delfabbro, Paul

    2013-04-01

    Video-gaming is an increasingly prevalent activity among children and adolescents that is known to influence several areas of emotional, cognitive and behavioural functioning. Currently there is insufficient experimental evidence about how extended video-game play may affect adolescents' sleep. The aim of this study was to investigate the short-term impact of adolescents' prolonged exposure to violent video-gaming on sleep. Seventeen male adolescents (mean age = 16 ± 1 years) with no current sleep difficulties played a novel, fast-paced, violent video-game (50 or 150 min) before their usual bedtime on two different testing nights in a sleep laboratory. Objective (polysomnography-measured sleep and heart rate) and subjective (single-night sleep diary) measures were obtained to assess the arousing effects of prolonged gaming. Compared with regular gaming, prolonged gaming produced decreases in objective sleep efficiency (by 7 ± 2%, falling below 85%) and total sleep time (by 27 ± 12 min) that was contributed by a near-moderate reduction in rapid eye movement sleep (Cohen's d = 0.48). Subjective sleep-onset latency significantly increased by 17 ± 8 min, and there was a moderate reduction in self-reported sleep quality after prolonged gaming (Cohen's d = 0.53). Heart rate did not differ significantly between video-gaming conditions during pre-sleep game-play or the sleep-onset phase. Results provide evidence that prolonged video-gaming may cause clinically significant disruption to adolescent sleep, even when sleep after video-gaming is initiated at normal bedtime. However, physiological arousal may not necessarily be the mechanism by which technology use affects sleep. © 2012 European Sleep Research Society.

  15. Asymmetry and Symmetry in the Beauty of Human Faces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marjan Hessamian

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available The emphasis in the published literature has mostly been on symmetry as the critical source for beauty judgment. In fact, both symmetry and asymmetry serve as highly aesthetic sources of beauty, whether the context is perceptual or conceptual. The human brain is characterized by symbolic cognition and this type of cognition facilitates a range of aesthetic reactions. For example, both art and natural scenery contain asymmetrical elements, which nevertheless render the whole effect beautiful. A further good case in point is, in fact, human faces. Normally, faces are structurally left-right symmetrical content-wise but not size-wise or function-wise. Attractiveness has often been discussed in terms of content-wise full-face symmetry. To test whether or not attractiveness can be gleaned only from the presence of left-right full-faces we tested half faces. Three separate groups of participants viewed and rated the attractiveness of 56 full-faces (women’s and men’s, their 56 vertical left hemi-faces and 56 vertical right hemi-faces. We found no statistically significant differences in the attractiveness ratings of full- and hemi-faces (whether left or right. Instead, we found a strong and significant positive correlation between the ratings of the hemi- and full-faces. These results are consistent with the view that the underpinning of human facial beauty is complex and that bilateral symmetry does not constitute a principle factor in beauty assessment. We discuss that the highly evolved human brain, compared to other animals, as well as symbolic and abstract cognition in humans enable a wide variety of aesthetic reactions.

  16. Sleep Enhances a Spatially Mediated Generalization of Learned Values

    Science.gov (United States)

    Javadi, Amir-Homayoun; Tolat, Anisha; Spiers, Hugo J.

    2015-01-01

    Sleep is thought to play an important role in memory consolidation. Here we tested whether sleep alters the subjective value associated with objects located in spatial clusters that were navigated to in a large-scale virtual town. We found that sleep enhances a generalization of the value of high-value objects to the value of locally clustered…

  17. Measurement of beauty quark mass at HERA and impact on Higgs production in association with beauty quarks at LHC

    CERN Document Server

    Gizhko, Andrii; Foster, Brian

    2016-01-01

    Three different, but related topics are the subject of this thesis, performed in the contextof the ZEUS and CMS groups at DESY. The first measurement of the MS beauty-quarkmass mb (mb ) at an electron-proton collider is presented. The measurement is based ona QCD analysis of beauty production cross sections in deep inelastic (DIS) ep scatteringmeasured by ZEUS at HERA, together with inclusive DIS HERA data, using Next-toLeading-Order QCD predictions. The measured value of the running beauty-quark massin the MS scheme was found to bemb (mb ) = 4.07 ± 0.14 (fit)+0.01 (mod.)+0.05 (param.) +0.08 (theo.) GeV, which is in good−0.07−0.00−0.05agreement with the world average Particle Data Group value and previous measurementsat electron-positron colliders. It is also found to be consistent with the expected runningof mb (µ).A first measurement of the charm-quark mass mc (µ) running in the MS scheme ispresented. The measurement is based on a QCD analysis of the published H1 and ZEUScombination of charm cr...

  18. "Sleeping Beauty Gets a Makeover": Using the Retelling of Fairytales to Create an Awareness of Hegemonic Norms and the Social Construction of Value

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brule, Nancy J.

    2008-01-01

    Media use gender imagery to define "the cultural representations of gender and embodiment of gender in symbolic language and artistic productions that reproduce and legitimate gender statuses." The heroines and heroes in fairytales present images of women being young, beautiful, passive, and helpless while men are portrayed as strong, powerful,…

  19. The realization of absolute beauty: an interpretation of the fairytale Snow White.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takenaka, Nanae

    2016-09-01

    This paper interprets the fairytale Snow White (Bruder Grimm 1857) in terms of the realization of absolute beauty. Jung's understanding that 'in myths and fairytales, as in dreams, the soul speaks about itself' (Jung 1945, para. 400), underpins such an approach. From this perspective a fantasy image is not about us, not about our unconsciousness, but is essentially about itself. The idea of absolute beauty first arises in the Queen's mind as a wish. Despite the Queen's strong desire to be named as the most beautiful person in the world, her mirror reflects that it is actually her daughter Snow White who is the fairest. Snow White might be regarded in the language of Giegerich as her internal other. Effectively they are separated into the Real that conceives the idea of absolute beauty and the Ideal that embodies it. The exchange that takes place between the two - mediated by mirror and window - generates the corpse of surpassing beauty that never decays but lies inaccessible behind the glass coffin. However the loving and penetrating gaze of the Prince, representing masculinity, succeeds in reanimating Snow White. Thus the Prince as the Other that is completely external and unknown to both the Queen and Snow White, specifically to their femininity, facilitates the realization of absolute beauty as the Ideal in the Real. © 2016, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

  20. Beauty photoproduction using decays into electrons at HERA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S. [Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL (US)] (and others)

    2008-05-15

    Photoproduction of beauty quarks in events with two jets and an electron associated with one of the jets has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 120 pb{sup -1}. The fractions of events containing b quarks, and also of events containing c quarks, were extracted from a likelihood fit using variables sensitive to electron identification as well as to semileptonic decays. Total and differential cross sections for beauty and charm production were measured and compared with next-to-leading-order QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models. (orig.)

  1. Beauty photoproduction using decays into electrons at HERA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S.

    2008-05-01

    Photoproduction of beauty quarks in events with two jets and an electron associated with one of the jets has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 120 pb -1 . The fractions of events containing b quarks, and also of events containing c quarks, were extracted from a likelihood fit using variables sensitive to electron identification as well as to semileptonic decays. Total and differential cross sections for beauty and charm production were measured and compared with next-to-leading-order QCD calculations and Monte Carlo models. (orig.)

  2. A hybrid experiment to search for beauty particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aoki, S.; Chiba, K.; Hoshino, K.; Kaway, T.; Kobayashi, M.; Kodama, K.; Miyanishi, M.; Nakamura, M.; Nakamura, Y.; Niu, K.; Niwa, K.; Ohashi, M.; Sasaki, H.; Tajima, H.; Tomita, Y.; Yamakawa, O.; Yanagisawa, Y.; Baroni, G.; Cecchetti, A.M.; Dell'Uomo, S.; De Vincenzi, M.; Di Liberto, S.; Frenkel, A.; Manfredini, A.; Marini, G.; Martellotti, G.; Mazzoni, M.A.; Meddi, F.; Nigro, A.; Penso, G.; Pistilli, P.; Sciubla, A.; Sgarbi, C.; Barth, M.; Bertrand, D.; Bertrand-Coremans, G.; Roosen, R.; Bartley, J.H.; Davis, D.H.; Duff, B.G.; Esten, M.J.; Heymann, F.F.; Imrie, D.C.; Lush, G.J.; Tovee, D.N.; Breslin, A.C.; Donnelly, W.; Montwill, A.; Coupland, M.; Trent, P.; Hazama, M.; Isokane, Y.; Tsuneoka, Y.; Kazuno, M.; Minakawa, F.; Shibuya, H.; Watanabe, S.

    1989-01-01

    We give here a detailed description of experiment WA75, which was performed at CERN to search for beauty particles. Events containing at least one muon with a high momentum transverse to the beam direction were selected; then the primary interactions and decay vertices, located in stacks of nuclear research emulsions, were examined and analysed. The various parts of the apparatus are described and the off-line analysis and search in emulsion are discussed. An estimate is made of the sensitivity of the experiment to beauty- and charmed-particle production. (orig.)

  3. Sleep in Patients with Chronic Migraine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chun-Pai; Wang, Shuu-Jiun

    2017-09-01

    The biological and pathophysiological interaction between sleep and chronic migraine (CM) remains to be fully elucidated. In this article, we provide a narrative review of the literature on sleep disturbance and CM, highlighting recent advances in sleep research and insights into mechanisms that could mediate a role of sleep disturbances in migraine chronification. We discuss the potential for cognitive-behavioral insomnia therapy (CBTi) as an intervention for CM with comorbid insomnia. Finally, we propose a model of the mechanisms underlying the interactions among sleep physiology, maladaptive migraine-coping behaviors, and coexisting factors which contribute to sleep disturbances in CM based on conceptual models used in sleep research. Insomnia is the most common sleep complaint among patients with CM. CM patients experience more frequent and severe insomnia symptoms than patients with episodic migraine (EM). It has been suggested that sleep disturbances may predispose individuals to migraine attacks, which may affect the pain-processing trigeminovascular system and thus play a role in migraine progression. Encouraging but limited evidence suggests that management of insomnia via behavioral sleep therapy may reverse CM to EM and possibly prevent migraine chronification. Migraine has a complex relationship with sleep. The use of objective sleep study such as polysomnographic microstructural sleep analysis and actigraphy could help connect sleep disturbances and processes related to CM. Future longitudinal studies should examine whether effective behavioral treatments such as CBTi can reverse migraine chronification.

  4. Sleep Deprivation and the Epigenome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie E. Gaine

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Sleep deprivation disrupts the lives of millions of people every day and has a profound impact on the molecular biology of the brain. These effects begin as changes within a neuron, at the DNA and RNA level, and result in alterations in neuronal plasticity and dysregulation of many cognitive functions including learning and memory. The epigenome plays a critical role in regulating gene expression in the context of memory storage. In this review article, we begin by describing the effects of epigenetic alterations on the regulation of gene expression, focusing on the most common epigenetic mechanisms: (i DNA methylation; (ii histone modifications; and (iii non-coding RNAs. We then discuss evidence suggesting that sleep loss impacts the epigenome and that these epigenetic alterations might mediate the changes in cognition seen following disruption of sleep. The link between sleep and the epigenome is only beginning to be elucidated, but clear evidence exists that epigenetic alterations occur following sleep deprivation. In the future, these changes to the epigenome could be utilized as biomarkers of sleep loss or as therapeutic targets for sleep-related disorders.

  5. [Relationships between sleep and addiction].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cañellas, Francesca; de Lecea, Luis

    2012-01-01

    While it is well known that there is an interaction between sleep disorders and substance abuse, it is certainly more complex than was previously thought. There is a positive relationship both between having a substance use disorder and suffering from a sleep disorder, and vice versa. The effects on sleep depend on the substance used, but it has been shown that both during use and in withdrawal periods consumers have various sleep problems, and basically more fragmented sleep. We know that sleep problems must be taken into account to prevent addiction relapses. Recent research shows that the hypocretinergic system defined by neuropeptide hypocretin / orexin (Hcrt / ox), located in the lateral hypothalamus and involved in, among other things, the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle, may play an important role in addictive behaviors. Different studies have demonstrated interactions between the hypocretinergic system, acute response to stress circuits and reward systems. We also know that selective optogenetic activation of the hypocretinergic system increases the probability of transition from sleep to wakefulness, and is sufficient for initiating an addictive compulsive behavior relapse. Hypocretinergic system activation could explain the hyperarousal associated with stress and addiction. Improved knowledge of this interaction would help us to understand better the mechanisms of addiction and find new strategies for the treatment of addictions.

  6. The Role of ATP in Sleep Regulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sachiko eChikahisa

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available One of the functions of sleep is to maintain energy balance in the brain. There are a variety of hypotheses related to how metabolic pathways interact with sleep/wake regulation. A major finding that demonstrates an interaction between sleep and metabolic homeostasis is the involvement of adenosine in sleep homeostasis. An accumulation of adenosine is supplied from ATP, which can act as an energy currency in the cell. Extracellularly, ATP can act as an activity-dependent signaling molecule, especially in regard to communication between neurons and glia, including astrocytes. Furthermore, the intracellular AMP/ATP ratio controls the activity of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK, which is a potent energy regulator and is recently reported to play a role in the regulation of sleep homeostasis. Brain ATP may support multiple functions in the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle and sleep homeostasis.

  7. Hollywood’s Terror Industry: Idealized beauty and The Bluest Eye

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E C Koch

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye (1970 examines the effects of 1940s American white cultural hegemony on her black characters: Claudia, Pauline, and Pecola. The dominant influence of white society, specifically white ideals of beauty, are perpetuated through film, and exemplified by such actresses as Shirley Temple and Greta Garbo. The terrifying nature of the Hollywood ideal is borne from its influence and ubiquity, and is highlighted by Pecola’s deranged pursuit of this impossible standard of beauty. Ultimately by attempting to realize this paradigm, blacks are disenfranchised while the ideal is recharged with the power of those who continue to pursue it. Keywords:The Bluest Eye, Racial Hegemony, Film Studies, Terror, Ideals of Beauty.

  8. Beautiful Minds—For How Long.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lori Marino

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Lori Marino reviews the new bookBeautiful Minds, which investigates the "parallel lives" of primates and cetaceans and argues that despite the evolutionary distance of these large-brained mammals, they nevertheless share a capacity for complex communication and social behavior, representing a striking example of convergence in intelligence.

  9. The Super Fixed Target beauty facility at the SSC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lau, Kwong

    1991-01-01

    The rationale for pursuing beauty physics at the SSC in a fixed target configuration is described. The increased beauty production cross section at the SSC, combined with high interaction rate capability of the proposed detector, results in 10 10-11 produced BB events per year. The long decay length of the B hadrons (≅ 10 cm) allows direct observation of B decays in the high resolution silicon microstrip vertex detector. To optimize the operation of the proposed beauty spectrometer and the SSC, parasitic extraction of attendant or artificially generated large amplitude protons using crystal channeling is proposed and explored. The large sample of fully reconstructed B events allows detailed studies of various CP violating decays with requisite statistics to confront the standard model. The CP physics potential of the proposed experiment is evaluated and compared with alternative approaches, such as symmetric e + e - B Factories and specialized hadron colliders

  10. Arousal from sleep: implications for obstructive sleep apnea pathogenesis and treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckert, Danny J; Younes, Magdy K

    2014-02-01

    Historically, brief awakenings from sleep (cortical arousals) have been assumed to be vitally important in restoring airflow and blood-gas disturbances at the end of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) breathing events. Indeed, in patients with blunted chemical drive (e.g., obesity hypoventilation syndrome) and in instances when other defensive mechanisms fail, cortical arousal likely serves an important protective role. However, recent insight into the pathogenesis of OSA indicates that a substantial proportion of respiratory events do not terminate with a cortical arousal from sleep. In many cases, cortical arousals may actually perpetuate blood-gas disturbances, breathing instability, and subsequent upper airway closure during sleep. This brief review summarizes the current understanding of the mechanisms mediating respiratory-induced cortical arousal, the physiological factors that influence the propensity for cortical arousal, and the potential dual roles that cortical arousal may play in OSA pathogenesis. Finally, the extent to which existing sedative agents decrease the propensity for cortical arousal and their potential to be therapeutically beneficial for certain OSA patients are highlighted.

  11. Competing motivational discourses for weight loss: means to ends and the nexus of beauty and health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwan, Samantha

    2009-09-01

    Western cultural discourses generally deem fat unhealthy and unattractive, providing strong motivation for body nonconformists to lose weight. Semistructured interviews with 42 overweight and obese participants illuminate how individuals understand health and beauty weight-loss motivations and the relationship between the two. Interviews indicate that health and beauty motivate because they are seen as means to various ends. Specifically, participants aspire to health to fulfill various social roles and to live long, meaningful lives. Moreover, they aspire to conventional beauty ideals hoping that aesthetic conformity will elicit benefits, both psychological and social. Interviews also illustrate an intertwining of discourses in which participants conflate beauty and health in three ways: indicating that depictions of the beauty ideal are depictions of the health ideal; using beauty indicators as health indicators; and employing beauty as a motivator for health goals. This article concludes with a discussion of the health, social, and policy implications of these findings.

  12. Health Issues on Beauty Treatment

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Alasia Datonye

    known to have adverse effects on the skin. Some of the constituents of ... of the adverse effects these cosmetic and beauty products which can only ... surgery . The situation predisposes the subjects to poor wound healing, which may invariably lead to a burst abdomen (when the intestines surge out of the failed surgical ...

  13. Proton Pump Inhibition Increases Rapid Eye Movement Sleep in the Rat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Munazah Fazal Qureshi

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Increased bodily CO2 concentration alters cellular pH as well as sleep. The proton pump, which plays an important role in the homeostatic regulation of cellular pH, therefore, may modulate sleep. We investigated the effects of the proton pump inhibitor “lansoprazole” on sleep-wakefulness. Male Wistar rats were surgically prepared for chronic polysomnographic recordings. Two different doses of lansoprazole (low: 1 mg/kg; high: 10 mg/kg were injected intraperitoneally in the same animal (n=7 and sleep-wakefulness was recorded for 6 hrs. The changes in sleep-wakefulness were compared statistically. Percent REM sleep amount in the vehicle and lansoprazole low dose groups was 9.26±1.03 and 9.09±0.54, respectively, which increased significantly in the lansoprazole high dose group by 31.75% (from vehicle and 34.21% (from low dose. Also, REM sleep episode numbers significantly increased in lansoprazole high dose group. Further, the sodium-hydrogen exchanger blocker “amiloride” (10 mg/kg; i.p. (n=5 did not alter sleep-wake architecture. Our results suggest that the proton pump plays an important role in REM sleep modulation and supports our view that REM sleep might act as a sentinel to help maintain normal CO2 level for unperturbed sleep.

  14. The Effect of Sleep on Children’s Word Retention and Generalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emma L. Axelsson

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available In the first few years of life children spend a good proportion of time sleeping as well as acquiring the meanings of hundreds of words and their related associations. There is now ample evidence of the effects of sleep on memory in adults and the number of studies demonstrating the effects of napping and nocturnal sleep in children is also mounting. In particular, sleep appears to benefit children’s memory for recently-encountered novel words. The effect of sleep on children’s generalization of novel words across multiple items, however, is less clear. Given that sleep is polyphasic in the early years, made up of multiple episodes, and children’s word learning is gradual and strengthened slowly over time, it is highly plausible that sleep is a strong candidate in supporting children’s memory for novel words. Importantly, it appears that when children sleep shortly after exposure to novel word-object pairs retention is better than if sleep is delayed, suggesting that napping plays a vital role in long-term word retention for young children. Word learning is a complex, challenging and important part of development, thus the role that sleep plays in children’s retention of novel words is worthy of attention. As such, ensuring children get sufficient good quality sleep and regular opportunities to nap may be critical for strong language acquisition.

  15. Synthesis of goodness and beauty of Petrikivsky decorative painting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. A. Harkava

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Petrykivsky decorative painting as a unique manifestation of Ukrainian national culture has been studied in the article. This painting is recognized all over the world as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in the context of its philosophical principles. Petrykivsky decorative painting by its basis — murals,  reaches Tripoli and puts the Ukrainian culture among the ancient cultures of the world. At various stages of ethnos’ existence, Ukrainian folk decorative art was an important part of the spiritual life and reflected its identity, ensuring the continuity of spiritual connection between generations. Motives of Petrykivka decorative painting describe the local flora and fauna and the local historical tradition. Folk artists get their inspiration from the mother nature, traditional for the Ukrainian people worship to Mother-land and all beautiful things, which are created by it. However, Petrykivsky decorative painting is not a direct reflection of natural motifs. World, created in paintings, is the product of the imagination of folk artist. Calocagathia (synthesis of beauty and goodness of Petrykivsky school is seen in high spiritual and moral culture of the Ukrainian people, in their pursuit to improve the space of their life, to perpetuate the generous beauty of the world by the love to beauty and goodness in all its forms using a variety of colors and patterns.

  16. The elderly female face in beauty and fashion ads: Joan Didion for Céline

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jerslev, Anne

    2018-01-01

    The point of departure for this article is an astonishment at the recent increase in elderly women in fashion and beauty ads, and the question of what value this kind of photography may attribute to the ageing body and face in a visual culture whose association between youth and beauty forms one...... of the most influential constructions of ageism in Western culture. To attempt to answer this question, the article discusses the relationship between beauty, time and the ageing face, especially in beauty and fashion ads. The 2015 spring ad campaign for the luxury fashion brand Céline, which featured...

  17. Charmed, beauty hadrons revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chabab, M.

    1998-01-01

    Applying two different versions of QCD sum-rules, we reanalyze rigourously the rich spectroscopy of mesons and baryons built from charm and beauty quarks. An improved determination of the masses and the leptonic decay constants of B c (bc-bar), B c *(bc-bar), and Λ(bcu) is presented. Our optimal results, constrained by stability criteria, are consistent in both versions and support the general pattern common to potential models predictions

  18. Measurement of Charm and Beauty Photoproduction at HERA using D* mu Correlations

    CERN Document Server

    Aktas, A.; Anthonis, T.; Aplin, S.; Asmone, A.; Astvatsatourov, A.; Babaev, A.; Backovic, S.; Bahr, J.; Baghdasaryan, A.; Baranov, P.; Barrelet, E.; Bartel, W.; Baudrand, S.; Baumgartner, S.; Becker, J.; Beckingham, M.; Behnke, O.; Behrendt, O.; Belousov, A.; Berger, Ch.; Berger, N.; Bizot, J.C.; Boenig, M.-O.; Boudry, V.; Bracinik, J.; Brandt, G.; Brisson, V.; Brown, D.P.; Bruncko, D.; Busser, F.W.; Bunyatyan, A.; Buschhorn, G.; Bystritskaya, L.; Campbell, A.J.; Caron, S.; Cassol-Brunner, F.; Cerny, K.; Cerny, V.; Chekelian, V.; Contreras, J.G.; Coughlan, J.A.; Cox, B.E.; Cozzika, G.; Cvach, J.; Dainton, J.B.; Dau, W.D.; Daum, K.; Delcourt, B.; Demirchyan, R.; De Roeck, A.; Desch, K.; De Wolf, E.A.; Diaconu, C.; Dodonov, V.; Dubak, A.; Eckerlin, Guenter; Efremenko, V.; Egli, S.; Eichler, R.; Eisele, F.; Ellerbrock, M.; Elsen, E.; Erdmann, W.; Essenov, S.; Falkewicz, A.; Faulkner, P.J.W.; Favart, L.; Fedotov, A.; Felst, R.; Ferencei, J.; Finke, L.; Fleischer, M.; Fleischmann, P.; Fleming, Y.H.; Flucke, G.; Fomenko, A.; Foresti, I.; Formanek, J.; Franke, G.; Frising, G.; Frisson, T.; Gabathuler, E.; Garutti, E.; Gayler, J.; Gerhards, R.; Gerlich, C.; Ghazaryan, Samvel; Ginzburgskaya, S.; Glazov, A.; Glushkov, I.; Goerlich, L.; Goettlich, M.; Gogitidze, N.; Gorbounov, S.; Goyon, C.; Grab, C.; Greenshaw, T.; Gregori, M.; Grindhammer, Guenter; Gwilliam, C.; Haidt, D.; Hajduk, L.; Haller, J.; Hansson, M.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henderson, R.C.W.; Henschel, H.; Henshaw, O.; Herrera, G.; Hildebrandt, M.; Hiller, K.H.; Hoffmann, D.; Horisberger, R.; Hovhannisyan, A.; Ibbotson, M.; Ismail, M.; Jacquet, M.; Janauschek, L.; Janssen, X.; Jemanov, V.; Jonsson, L.; Johnson, D.P.; Jung, H.; Kapichine, M.; Karlsson, M.; Katzy, J.; Keller, N.; Kenyon, I.R.; Kiesling, Christian M.; Klein, M.; Kleinwort, C.; Klimkovich, T.; Kluge, T.; Knies, G.; Knutsson, A.; Korbel, V.; Kostka, P.; Koutouev, R.; Krastev, K.; Kretzschmar, J.; Kropivnitskaya, A.; Kruger, K.; Kuckens, J.; Landon, M.P.J.; Lange, W.; Lastovicka, T.; Laycock, P.; Lebedev, A.; Leiner, B.; Lendermann, V.; Levonian, S.; Lindfeld, L.; Lipka, K.; List, B.; Lobodzinska, E.; Loktionova, N.; Lopez-Fernandez, R.; Lubimov, V.; Lucaci-Timoce, A.-I.; Lueders, H.; Luke, D.; Lux, T.; Lytkin, L.; Makankine, A.; Malden, N.; Malinovski, E.; Mangano, S.; Marage, P.; Marshall, R.; Martisikova, M.; Martyn, H.-U.; Maxfield, S.J.; Meer, D.; Mehta, A.; Meier, K.; Meyer, A.B.; Meyer, H.; Meyer, J.; Mikocki, S.; Milcewicz-Mika, I.; Milstead, D.; Mohamed, A.; Moreau, F.; Morozov, A.; Morris, J.V.; Mozer, Matthias Ulrich; Muller, K.; Murin, P.; Nankov, K.; Naroska, B.; Naumann, J.; Naumann, Th.; Newman, Paul R.; Niebuhr, C.; Nikiforov, A.; Nikitin, D.; Nowak, G.; Nozicka, M.; Oganezov, R.; Olivier, B.; Olsson, J.E.; Osman, S.; Ozerov, D.; Palichik, V.; Papadopoulou, T.; Pascaud, C.; Patel, G.D.; Peez, M.; Perez, E.; Perez-Astudillo, D.; Perieanu, A.; Petrukhin, A.; Pitzl, D.; Placakyte, R.; Portheault, B.; Povh, B.; Prideaux, P.; Raicevic, N.; Reimer, P.; Rimmer, A.; Risler, C.; Rizvi, E.; Robmann, P.; Roland, B.; Roosen, R.; Rostovtsev, A.; Rurikova, Z.; Rusakov, S.; Salvaire, F.; Sankey, D.P.C.; Sauvan, E.; Schatzel, S.; Schilling, F.-P.; Schmidt, S.; Schmitt, S.; Schmitz, C.; Schoeffel, L.; Schoning, A.; Schroder, V.; Schultz-Coulon, H.-C.; Schwanenberger, C.; Sedlak, K.; Sefkow, F.; Sheviakov, I.; Shtarkov, L.N.; Sirois, Y.; Sloan, T.; Smirnov, P.; Soloviev, Y.; South, D.; Spaskov, V.; Specka, Arnd E.; Stella, B.; Stiewe, J.; Strauch, I.; Straumann, U.; Tchoulakov, V.; Thompson, G.; Thompson, P.D.; Tomasz, F.; Traynor, D.; Truoel, Peter; Tsakov, I.; Tsipolitis, G.; Tsurin, I.; Turnau, J.; Tzamariudaki, E.; Urban, Marcel; Usik, A.; Utkin, D.; Valkar, S.; Valkarova, A.; Vallee, C.; Van Mechelen, P.; Van Remortel, N.; Vargas Trevino, A.; Vazdik, Y.; Veelken, C.; Vest, A.; Vinokurova, S.; Volchinski, V.; Vujicic, B.; Wacker, K.; Wagner, J.; Weber, G.; Weber, R.; Wegener, D.; Werner, C.; Werner, N.; Wessels, M.; Wessling, B.; Wigmore, C.; Winter, G.-G.; Wissing, Ch.; Wolf, R.; Wunsch, E.; Xella, S.; Yan, W.; Yeganov, V.; Zacek, J.; Zalesak, J.; Zhang, Z.; Zhelezov, A.; Zhokin, A.; Zimmermann, J.; Zohrabyan, H.; Zomer, F.

    2005-01-01

    A measurement of charm and beauty photoproduction at the electron proton collider HERA is presented based on the simultaneous detection of a D*^{\\pm} meson and a muon. The correlation between the D* meson and the muon serves to separate the charm and beauty contributions and the analysis provides comparable sensitivity to both. The total and differential experimental cross sections are compared to LO and NLO QCD calculations. The measured charm cross section is in good agreement with QCD predictions including higher order effects while the beauty cross section is higher.

  19. Beautiful Data The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions

    CERN Document Server

    Segaran, Toby

    2009-01-01

    In this insightful book, you'll learn from the best data practitioners in the field just how wide-ranging -- and beautiful -- working with data can be. Join 39 contributors as they explain how they developed simple and elegant solutions on projects ranging from the Mars lander to a Radiohead video. With Beautiful Data, you will: Explore the opportunities and challenges involved in working with the vast number of datasets made available by the WebLearn how to visualize trends in urban crime, using maps and data mashupsDiscover the challenges of designing a data processing system that works wi

  20. Sleep and academic success: mechanisms, empirical evidence, and interventional strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gruber, Reut; Wiebe, Sabrina T; Wells, Samantha Ashley; Cassoff, Jamie; Monson, Eva

    2010-12-01

    Mounting evidence indicates that sleep is beneficial for learning, memory, attention, and academic success. However, the importance of sleep in these contexts has rarely been addressed in programs aimed at optimizing academic performance. This review aims to describe the role that sleep plays in processes pertaining to academic achievement. We first describe the basic sleep processes and their role with respect to cognitive and behavioral/emotional systems important for academic performance. We next review studies conducted to assess the association between sleep and academic performance, concluding by describing interventional programs being used to optimize sleep in the context of academic success.

  1. Modeling the scenic beauty of the Highland Scenic Highway, West Virginia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishwar Dhami; Jinyang. Deng

    2010-01-01

    Finding sites with a pleasant view is important to maximize visitors' scenic satisfaction. A geographic information systems analysis of viewsheds is helpful for locating sites with maximum visibility. Viewshed analyses can also be combined with public perceptions of scenic beauty for selecting the most scenic sites. This research modeled the perceived beauty of...

  2. Sleep homeostasis, habits and habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V; Walton, Mark E; Peirson, Stuart N; Bannerman, David M

    2017-06-01

    The importance of sleep for behavioural performance during waking is long-established, but the underlying reasons and mechanisms remain elusive. Waking and sleep are associated with changes in the levels of GluA1 AMPAR subunit in synaptic membranes, while studies using genetically-modified mice have identified an important role for GluA1-dependent synaptic plasticity in a non-associative form of memory that underlies short-term habituation to recently experienced stimuli. Here we posit that sleep may play a role in dishabituation, which restores attentional capacity and maximises the readiness of the animal for learning and goal-directed behaviour during subsequent wakefulness. Furthermore we suggest that sleep disturbance may fundamentally change the nature of behaviour, making it more model-free and habitual as a result of reduced attentional capacity. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  3. Sleep health of healthcare workers in Kano, Nigeria | Kolo | Nigerian ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background: The relevance of sleep in the life of a human being cannot be overemphasized in terms of physical and mental well-being. Among several factors that can affect the sleep health of an individual occupation have been found to play a prominent role. The literature is still scanty with regard to sleep studies in our ...

  4. Stimulus-induced, sleep-bound, focal seizures: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siclari, Francesca; Nobili, Lino; Lo Russo, Giorgio; Moscato, Alessio; Buck, Alfred; Bassetti, Claudio L; Khatami, Ramin

    2011-12-01

    In nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE), seizures occur almost exclusively during NREM sleep. Why precisely these seizures are sleep-bound remains unknown. Studies of patients with nonlesional familial forms of NFLE have suggested the arousal system may play a major role in their pathogenesis. We report the case of a patient with pharmaco-resistant, probably cryptogenic form of non-familial NFLE and strictly sleep-bound seizures that could be elicited by alerting stimuli and were associated with ictal bilateral thalamic and right orbital-insular hyperperfusion on SPECT imaging. Case report. University Hospital Zurich. One patient with pharmaco-resistant epilepsy. This case shows that the arousal system plays a fundamental role also in cryptogenic non-familial forms of NFLE.

  5. [What is beauty? : Manifest for an aesthetic character medicine].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harth, W

    2017-12-01

    Aesthetic medicine has in recent decades attained a growing social significance and firm place in the medical profession image. In a short time, a variety of technical procedures and processes have been developed and applied by specialized physicians. A further leading medical discussion regarding the central question "What is beauty" is missing compared with the technologically innovative progress. Beauty is characterized by an individual and subjective pleasure. Social media and fashion trends exert a central influence on common beauty ideals and aesthetic medicine. In practice, the artificial intervention must accord to the individual personality. Therefore, the professional term Aesthetic Medicine is insufficient and should be replaced by "Aesthetic Character Medicine". The particular purpose is the aim of graceful aging and a sustained adequate result which outlasts the zeitgeist. This requires medical know how and clear aesthetic self-conception of the physician. "Aesthetic Character Medicine" can be realized in a discourse, with the 10-step plan presented in this article.

  6. Direct observation of beauty particles selected by muonic decay in emulsion

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    This experiment is a search for beauty particles produced in pairs by $\\pi$ mesons in emulsions. Beauty particles would be identified in emulsion by their characteristic cascade decay through charm particles. This sort of signature would have a completely negligible background. The experiment would have the unique feature of being able to be sensitive to lifetimes as small as those expected for beauty, i.e. $10^{-14}$s < $\\tau$ < $10^{-13}$s. \\\\ Interesting events would be selected by the identification of three muons in the final state, coming from three of the four possible semi-leptonic decays of beauty of charmed particles. Muons would be identified in a hadron absorber equipped with three x-y plane hodoscopes, and 11 x-y-z planes of MWPC. \\\\Although the final sample of events to scan would be the 3 $\\mu$-events resulting from off-line analysis, it is intended to record data for all two-muon events. \\\\ A total of 67 stacks with approximate dimensions 15 x 10 x 5 cm$^{3}$ would be aligned with ...

  7. Ethno beauty: practices of beautification among urban muslim middle-class women in Surabaya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Listyani, RH; Sadewo, FX S.; Legowo, M.

    2018-01-01

    This research examines practices of beautification by urban middle-class Muslim women using an ethnomethodology approach. Several theories are employed in this research including the theory of consumption (leisure class), sociology of body, middle-class theory and the concept of modern Islam. Results indicate that the beautiful concept according to Muslim middle-class urban women is white skin without stains, face without wrinkles, nose sharp, eyelashes and thick eyebrows and red lips. To be said to be beautiful, they took various efforts through beauty treatment, diet, fashion and dress up. In this study also revealed that their goal to self-care is pride and recognition in front of other fellow female friends and to happy partner (husband). This shows that the consumption through the body (fashions, diets, make up) and consumption around the body (beauty treatments) represent symbolic and material ways of positioning themselves within contemporary society - thus becoming ‘visible’. The implications of this research are this study is expected to contribute information and enrich the repertoire of social science especially sociology also for the development of research on body and beauty.

  8. [Study of hyperons and beauty particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    The proposed research program is to study the production and decay properties of the hyperons and the beauty hadrons at Fermilab. Since the project was approved in 1989, a lot of progress has been made. This report is a summary of the achievements

  9. Sleep and metabolic control: waking to a problem?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trenell, Michael I; Marshall, Nathaniel S; Rogers, Naomi L

    2007-01-01

    1. The aim of the present review is to outline: (i) the association between sleep and metabolism; (ii) how sleep duration influences the development of disease; and (iii) how sex differences, ageing and obesity may potentially influence the relationship between sleep, metabolic control and subsequent disease. 2. Sleep is associated with a number of endocrine changes, including a change in insulin action in healthy young individuals. Sleep duration shows a prospective U-shaped relationship with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. 3. Chronic sleep restriction is becoming more common. Experimental sleep restriction impedes daytime glucose control and increases appetite. 4. The sex hormones oestrogen and testosterone influence sleep duration and quality and may account for sex differences in the prevalence of sleep-related disorders. 5. Ageing is associated with a decreased sleep duration, decreased muscle mass and impaired insulin action. 6. Obesity impairs insulin action and is associated with the incidence and severity of obstructive sleep apnoea. 7. Sleep plays an integral role in metabolic control. Consequently, insufficient sleep may represent a modifiable risk factor for the development of Type 2 diabetes. The challenge ahead is to identify how sex differences, ageing and obesity could potentially influence the relationship between sleep and metabolism.

  10. Nennu and Shunu: gender, body politics, and the beauty economy in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jie

    2011-01-01

    This essay analyzes recent discourse on two emerging representations of women in China, "tender" women (nennu) and "ripe" women (shunu), in order to examine the relationships among gender, body politics, and consumerism. The discourse of nennu and shunu suggests that older, ripe women become younger and more tender by consuming fashions, cosmetic surgery technologies, and beauty and health care products and services because tender women represent the ideal active consumership that celebrates beauty, sexuality, and individuality. This discourse serves to enhance consumers' desire for beauty and health and to ensure the continued growth of China's beauty economy and consumer capitalism. Highlighting the role of the female body, feminine beauty, and feminine youth in developing consumerism, this discourse downplays the contributions of millions of beauty and health care providers (predominantly laid-off female workers and rural migrant women) and new forms of gender exploitation. Such an overemphasis on gender masks intensified class division. This essay suggests that women and their bodies become new terrains from which post-Mao China can draw its power and enact consumerism. Gender constitutes both an economic multiplier to boost China's consumer capitalism and a biopolitical strategy to regulate and remold women and their bodies into subjects that are identified with the state's political and economic objectives. Since consumerism has been incorporated into China's nation-building project, gender thus becomes a vital resource for both consumer capitalist development and nation building. This essay shows that both gender and the body are useful analytic categories for the study of postsocialism.

  11. BRAND AND VISUAL IDENTITY DESIGN FOR A BEAUTY SALON

    OpenAIRE

    Borhani, Maryam

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this thesis is to create a brand and a visual identity for a beauty-salon called Narsissi. Narsissi offers a relaxing environment where both men and women can get lasting beauty treatment results. For a firm being branded is unavoidable. Everything from the look of the logo to the smoothness of service communicates something to the possible customer. In today's market, to be competitive means to be in control of the brand. A huge part of a brand's effectiveness is visual. T...

  12. Sleep and cardiometabolic risk in children and adolescents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Quist, Jonas Salling; Sjödin, Anders Mikael; Chaput, Jean-Philippe

    2016-01-01

    The evidence for a link between sleep and cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents is accumulating; however, the literature has not yet been reviewed. Seventy-five studies investigating associations between sleep variables and measures of abdominal adiposity, glucose homeostasis......, blood lipids, blood pressure (BP), and inflammatory markers were included in the present review. The current evidence indicates that inadequate sleep may play a role in cardiometabolic risk at a later age for children and adolescents. Most compelling is the evidence for an association between inadequate...... sleep and abdominal adiposity, decreased insulin sensitivity as well as high BP, whereas the evidence for potential links between sleep and blood lipids as well as inflammatory markers is less convincing. It should, however, be noted that the majority of studies linking sleep with cardiometabolic...

  13. Beautiful Science: Worth a Visit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bingham, Frederick M.

    2013-01-01

    For those in the profession of teaching physics who reside in or plan to visit the Los Angeles area, I would highly recommend a trip to the Huntington Library in San Marino, specifically to a permanent exhibit entitled "Beautiful Science: Ideas that Changed the World" in the Dibner Hall of the History of Science. The exhibit contains…

  14. Quantum Beauty: Real and Ideal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilczek, F.

    2011-01-01

    Does the world embody beautiful ideas? Pythagoras and Plato intuited that it should; Newton and Maxwell demonstrated how it could. But modern physics, and especially the quantum physics at its foundation, answers with a much more resounding and definitive 'Yes' I'll bring in history and art, as well as science, to make the case.(author)

  15. What is beautiful is good because what is beautiful is desired: physical attractiveness stereotyping as projection of interpersonal goals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemay, Edward P; Clark, Margaret S; Greenberg, Aaron

    2010-03-01

    The authors posit that the attribution of desirable interpersonal qualities to physically attractive targets is a projection of interpersonal goals; people desire to form and maintain close social bonds with attractive targets and then project these motivations onto those targets. Three studies support this model. Tendencies to see attractive novel targets depicted in photographs (Study 1), attractive romantic partners (Study 2), and attractive friends (Study 3) as especially interpersonally receptive and responsive were explained by perceivers' heightened desires to bond with attractive individuals. Additional findings regarding response latencies (Study 1) also supported this model. Many instances of the "beautiful is good" effect may not reflect stereotyping as it is typically construed. Rather, they may reflect projection of heightened desires to bond with beautiful people.

  16. Disrupted sleep without sleep curtailment induces sleepiness and cognitive dysfunction via the tumor necrosis factor-α pathway

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramesh Vijay

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sleepiness and cognitive dysfunction are recognized as prominent consequences of sleep deprivation. Experimentally induced short-term sleep fragmentation, even in the absence of any reductions in total sleep duration, will lead to the emergence of excessive daytime sleepiness and cognitive impairments in humans. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α has important regulatory effects on sleep, and seems to play a role in the occurrence of excessive daytime sleepiness in children who have disrupted sleep as a result of obstructive sleep apnea, a condition associated with prominent sleep fragmentation. The aim of this study was to examine role of the TNF-α pathway after long-term sleep fragmentation in mice. Methods The effect of chronic sleep fragmentation during the sleep-predominant period on sleep architecture, sleep latency, cognitive function, behavior, and inflammatory markers was assessed in C57BL/6 J and in mice lacking the TNF-α receptor (double knockout mice. In addition, we also assessed the above parameters in C57BL/6 J mice after injection of a TNF-α neutralizing antibody. Results Mice subjected to chronic sleep fragmentation had preserved sleep duration, sleep state distribution, and cumulative delta frequency power, but also exhibited excessive sleepiness, altered cognitive abilities and mood correlates, reduced cyclic AMP response element-binding protein phosphorylation and transcriptional activity, and increased phosphodiesterase-4 expression, in the absence of AMP kinase-α phosphorylation and ATP changes. Selective increases in cortical expression of TNF-α primarily circumscribed to neurons emerged. Consequently, sleepiness and cognitive dysfunction were absent in TNF-α double receptor knockout mice subjected to sleep fragmentation, and similarly, treatment with a TNF-α neutralizing antibody abrogated sleep fragmentation-induced learning deficits and increases in sleep propensity. Conclusions Taken together

  17. GROTESQUE ENCOUNTERS: READING SHAKESPEARE’S THE MERCHANT OF VENICE ALONG THE PRINCIPLES OF THE SUBLIME, BEAUTIFUL AND GROTESQUE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathrin Bartha

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This article is an attempt to apply the basic principles of the aesthetic discourse on the sublime, beautiful and grotesque to William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Even though it is a discourse that only begins in the course of the eighteenth century, I will argue that the structure of the play parallels the model of the traditional sublime, as it deals with a subject-object binary and meditates on the relationship between the material (body and the transcendental (mind. However, the play is also rich in disruptive — or grotesque — forces that unsettle this binary structure. The parallels between the play and the aesthetic discourse could not only help our understanding of postmodern criticism and rewriting of the sublime, but the sublime can also, in turn, shed light on the reception of the play.

  18. Determination of toxic elements in beauty creams by X-ray spectrometric techniques (2001-2002)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    War-War-Myo-Aung

    2002-01-01

    This paper is carried out to examine the contents of toxic heavy metals in various kinds of beauty creams by using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Technique (EDXRF). By applying EDXRF system, it si found that most of the beauty creams contained titanium and zinc, and some of the beauty creams contained lead, bismuth, iron and mercury. Among the heavy toxic metals, mercury is the most harmful to human's health. (author)

  19. Measurement of beauty production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA using decays into electrons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shehzadi, Ramoona

    2011-01-15

    The production of beauty quarks in ep interactions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA for exchanged four-momentum squared Q{sup 2}>10 GeV{sup 2}, using an integrated luminosity of 363 pb{sup -1}. The beauty events were identified using electrons from semileptonic b decays with a transverse momentum 0.9beauty production were measured and compared with next-to-leading-order QCD calculations. The beauty contribution to the proton structure function F{sub 2} was extracted from the double-differential cross section as a function of Bjorken-x and Q{sup 2}. (orig.)

  20. The influence of sex and gonadal hormones on sleep disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orff HJ

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Henry J Orff, Charles J Meliska, L Fernando Martinez, Barbara L Parry Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA Abstract: Sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep-related breathing disorders, circadian rhythm disorders, and sleep-related movement disorders are a significant public health issue, affecting approximately 40 million people in the US each year. Sleep disturbances are observed in both men and women, though prevalence rates often differ between the sexes. In general, research suggests that women more frequently report subjective complaints of insomnia, yet show better sleep than men when evaluated on objective measures of sleep. Men are more likely to be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea than women, though rates of obstructive sleep apnea increase after menopause and may be generally underdiagnosed in women. Although circadian rhythm disorders are equally prevalent in men and women, studies find that women typically have earlier bedtimes and exhibit altered temperature and melatonin rhythms relative to men. Lastly, movement disorders appear to be more prevalent in women than men, presumably due to higher rates of anemia and increased risks associated with pregnancy in women. Although gonadal hormones would be expected to play a significant role in the development and/or exacerbation of sleep disturbances, no causal link between these factors has been clearly established. In large part, the impact of hormones on sleep disturbances is significantly confounded by factors such as psychiatric, physical, and lifestyle concerns, which may play an equal or greater role in the development and/or exacerbation of sleep disturbances than do hormonal factors. Current standard of care for persons with sleep disorders includes use of psychological, pharmacologic, and/or medical device supported interventions. Hormonal-based treatments are not typically recommended given the potential for long-term adverse health

  1. [Etiology of sleep bruxism: a review of the literature].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuccia, Antonino Marco

    2008-06-01

    Bruxism is a para-function with tooth clenching and grinding. Particularly, the sleep bruxism is a frequent phenomenon that causes cephalalgia and muscular/joint pains to the awakening, besides an increased dental abrasion and sensibility. The etiology of sleep bruxism is uncertain: while the occlusal discrepancies and the anatomy of the bony structures of the orofacial region play only a minor role, others factors, like smoking, alcohol, drugs, systemic diseases, stress, trauma and heredity, appear to have an important role in the sleep bruxism genesis. Recent polysomnographic studies, suggest that sleep bruxism episodes are part of an sleep arousal response. The sleep arousal response is a sudden change in the depth of sleep. Besides the sleep bruxism appears to be an disturbance in the dopaminergic system. Further psychological factors (like stress, anxiety) are implicated in the aetiology of sleep bruxism as well. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on the aetiology of bruxism.

  2. Automatic Sleep Spindle Detection and Genetic Influence Estimation Using Continuous Wavelet Transform

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Adamczyk, M.; Genzel, L.K.E.; Dresler, M.; Steiger, A.; Friess, E.

    2015-01-01

    Mounting evidence for the role of sleep spindles in neuroplasticity has led to an increased interest in these non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep oscillations. It has been hypothesized that fast and slow spindles might play a different role in memory processing. Here, we present a new sleep spindle

  3. Glucose Induces Slow-Wave Sleep by Exciting the Sleep-Promoting Neurons in the Ventrolateral Preoptic Nucleus: A New Link between Sleep and Metabolism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varin, Christophe; Rancillac, Armelle; Geoffroy, Hélène; Arthaud, Sébastien; Fort, Patrice; Gallopin, Thierry

    2015-07-08

    Sleep-active neurons located in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) play a crucial role in the induction and maintenance of slow-wave sleep (SWS). However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for their activation at sleep onset remain poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that a rise in extracellular glucose concentration in the VLPO can promote sleep by increasing the activity of sleep-promoting VLPO neurons. We find that infusion of a glucose concentration into the VLPO of mice promotes SWS and increases the density of c-Fos-labeled neurons selectively in the VLPO. Moreover, we show in patch-clamp recordings from brain slices that VLPO neurons exhibiting properties of sleep-promoting neurons are selectively excited by glucose within physiological range. This glucose-induced excitation implies the catabolism of glucose, leading to a closure of ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels. The extracellular glucose concentration monitors the gating of KATP channels of sleep-promoting neurons, highlighting that these neurons can adapt their excitability according to the extracellular energy status. Together, these results provide evidence that glucose may participate in the mechanisms of SWS promotion and/or consolidation. Although the brain circuitry underlying vigilance states is well described, the molecular mechanisms responsible for sleep onset remain largely unknown. Combining in vitro and in vivo experiments, we demonstrate that glucose likely contributes to sleep onset facilitation by increasing the excitability of sleep-promoting neurons in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO). We find here that these neurons integrate energetic signals such as ambient glucose directly to regulate vigilance states accordingly. Glucose-induced excitation of sleep-promoting VLPO neurons should therefore be involved in the drowsiness that one feels after a high-sugar meal. This novel mechanism regulating the activity of VLPO neurons reinforces the

  4. SLEEP AND OLFACTORY CORTICAL PLASTICITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dylan eBarnes

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available In many systems, sleep plays a vital role in memory consolidation and synaptic homeostasis. These processes together help store information of biological significance and reset synaptic circuits to facilitate acquisition of information in the future. In this review, we describe recent evidence of sleep-dependent changes in olfactory system structure and function which contribute to odor memory and perception. During slow-wave sleep, the piriform cortex becomes hypo-responsive to odor stimulation and instead displays sharp-wave activity similar to that observed within the hippocampal formation. Furthermore, the functional connectivity between the piriform cortex and other cortical and limbic regions is enhanced during slow-wave sleep compared to waking. This combination of conditions may allow odor memory consolidation to occur during a state of reduced external interference and facilitate association of odor memories with stored hedonic and contextual cues. Evidence consistent with sleep-dependent odor replay within olfactory cortical circuits is presented. These data suggest that both the strength and precision of odor memories is sleep-dependent. The work further emphasizes the critical role of synaptic plasticity and memory in not only odor memory but also basic odor perception. The work also suggests a possible link between sleep disturbances that are frequently co-morbid with a wide range of pathologies including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and depression and the known olfactory impairments associated with those disorders.

  5. Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH: role in REM sleep and depression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pablo eTorterolo

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH is a peptidergic neuromodulator synthesized by neurons of the lateral hypothalamus and incerto-hypothalamic area. MCHergic neurons project throughout the central nervous system, including areas such as the dorsal (DR and median (MR raphe nuclei, which are involved in the control of sleep and mood.Major Depression (MD is a prevalent psychiatric disease diagnosed on the basis of symptomatic criteria such as sadness or melancholia, guilt, irritability and anhedonia. A short REM sleep latency (i.e. the interval between sleep onset and the first REM sleep period, as well as an increase in the duration of REM sleep and the density of rapid-eye movements during this state, are considered important biological markers of depression. The fact that the greatest firing rate of MCHergic neurons occurs during REM sleep and that optogenetic stimulation of these neurons induces sleep, tends to indicate that MCH plays a critical role in the generation and maintenance of sleep, especially REM sleep. In addition, the acute microinjection of MCH into the DR promotes REM sleep, while immunoneutralization of this peptide within the DR decreases the time spent in this state. Moreover, microinjections of MCH into either the DR or MR promote a depressive-like behavior. In the DR, this effect is prevented by the systemic administration of antidepressant drugs (either fluoxetine or nortriptyline and blocked by the intra-DR microinjection of a specific MCH receptor antagonist. Using electrophysiological and microdialysis techniques we demonstrated also that MCH decreases the activity of serotonergic DR neurons.Therefore, there are substantive experimental data suggesting that the MCHergic system plays a role in the control of REM sleep and, in addition, in the pathophysiology of depression. Consequently, in the present report, we summarize and evaluate the current data and hypotheses related to the role of MCH in REM sleep and MD.

  6. Beauty, a road to the truth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuipers, T.A.F.

    In this article I give a naturalistic-cum-formal analysis of the relation between beauty, empirical success, and truth. The analysis is based on the one hand on a hypothetical variant of the so-called 'mere-exposure effect' which has been more or less established in experimental psychology regarding

  7. Does sleep disturbance affect the amyloid clearance mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yulug, Burak; Hanoglu, Lutfu; Kilic, Ertugrul

    2017-10-01

    Sleep is an important factor that plays a key role in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. However, it is still unclear whether poor-quality sleep may overlap with sleep disturbances in the underlying dysfunctional mechanisms of amyloid beta (Aβ) clearance metabolism. Here, we aimed to evaluate the current evidence on the role of sleep deprivation in Aβ clearance metabolism. To that end, we discuss possible mechanisms underlying the bidirectional interaction between the sleep deprivation and Aβ clearance pathways. © 2017 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2017 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

  8. Measurement of beauty production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA using decays into electrons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abramowicz, H. [Tel Aviv Univ. (Israel). School of Physics; Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Abt, I. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Adamczyk, L. [AGH-Univ. of Science and Technology, Cracow (PL). Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science] (and others)

    2011-01-15

    The production of beauty quarks in ep interactions has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA for exchanged four-momentum squared Q{sup 2}>10 GeV{sup 2}, using an integrated luminosity of 363 pb{sup -1}. The beauty events were identified using electrons from semileptonic b decays with a transverse momentum 0.9 beauty production were measured and compared with next-to-leading-order QCD calculations. The beauty contribution to the proton structure function F{sub 2} was extracted from the double-differential cross section as a function of Bjorken-x and Q{sup 2}. (orig.)

  9. Micro-arousals during nocturnal sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halász, P; Kundra, O; Rajna, P; Pál, I; Vargha, M

    1979-01-01

    In 8 young adult human subjects EEG- and polygraphic characteristics of transient shifts towards arousal (micro-arousal, MA) have been studied during sleep under five different experimental conditions in 40 night sessions. Out of the five applied experimental situations, two (psychostimulant application and sensory stimulation) resulted in a shift of the balance between the systems of sleep and arousal towards an increased activity of the arousal system, while an other condition (rebound following partial sleep deprivation) led to an opposite change to a rise in "sleep pressure". An inverse correlation has been found between the frequency of MA and the depth of sleep, a finding consistently observed in every subject and in every experimental situation. During the process of sleep periodic changes in the dispersity of MA could be seen; the number of MA-s decreased and increased according to the descending and ascending slope of the sleep cycles. During the ascending slope of cycles there was a coupling between the occurence of MA-s and the changes of phases. Increases in the level of activation and in sleep pressure did not influence the occurrence of MA-s. Increasing the tone of the arousal system in chemical way, or by means of enhancing the phasic sensory input resulted in a reduction of the difference between the number of MA on the descending and ascending slopes of cycles. During the phases of sleep, the spontaneous occurrence of MA-s went parallel with the possibility to evoke MA-s by sensory stimuli. These data show that MA is a regular phenomenon of nocturnal sleep; MA manifests itself as a result of phasic functioning of the reticular arousal system and plays a role in the organization of those periods of the sleep cycle, which tend toward arousal. It is suggested that MA-phenomenon is considered a standard measure of sleep and that it could represent an indicator of the function of the arousal system controlled by external or internal mechanisms during

  10. Sleep Quality and Academic Performance Among Medical College Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ameer Kadhim Al-Humairi

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background:Sleep plays a very important role in a human health. Poor sleep quality remains as a frequent feature of student life. Quantity and quality of sleep in addition to average sleep time are strongly linked with students’ learning abilities and academic performance. Subjects and method:The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted to assess sleep quality among medical college students – University of Babylon using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI. This study was done during April 2016. Results:Mean age of students was (20.63 ± 0.65. Majority was female. According to PSQI(60.4% of students were poor sleeper. Significant association between quality of sleep and academic performance was found in our study, (72.9% of those fail in one or more subjects have poor sleep quality. Conclusion: Poor sleep quality was regarded as an important problem among medical college students. Majority of students (60.4% was poor sleepers. Our study shows significant relation between sleep quality and academic performance among students of Babylon University –College of Medicine.

  11. Green Nanotechnology Serving the Bioeconomy: Natural Beauty Masks to Save the Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierfrancesco Morganti

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available According to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, ensuring a clean and healthy environment will provide multiple benefits to society and economy. Sustainable production, followed by appropriate management of industrial and agricultural waste, will protect and enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services. To achieve this objective, specific policies must be put in place and specific actions performed for making a low-carbon and resource-efficient economy with reduced production of petrol-derived goods. The aim of the study has been to produce effective and safe anti-age beauty masks made of non-woven tissues based on the use of chitin nanofibril (CN and nanolignin (LG, obtained from crustaceans and plant biomass, respectively. To this purpose, nanoparticles and electrospun fibres have been characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering and SEM, while the safeness and effectiveness of the obtained tissues was verified in vitro on a culture of keratinocytes and fibroblasts, and controlled in vivo by expert dermatologists on 30 volunteer photo-aged women, by subjective and objective bioengineered methods. The in vitro results have shown that the beauty masks have no toxic effects on the viability of keratinocytes and fibroblasts treated by the Dimethyl Tetrazole (MTT method, and exhibit a decreased expression of cytokines, playing a central role in the regulation of immune and inflammatory responses in premature aging and environmental assaults. The reparative and antiaging effectiveness of these innovative beauty masks have been also verified on the release of Metallo Proteinase I (MMP-1 and the increased synthesis of collagen type I, reduced in skin aging. The first preliminary in vivo results, obtained by engineering methods, have confirmed the protective and rejuvenating activity shown by the in vitro study conducted on 30 voluntary women exhibiting signs of photoaging. The raw materials used are of natural origin being also respectful of the

  12. Physical attractiveness biases in ratings of employment suitability: tracking down the "beauty is beastly" effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Stefanie K; Podratz, Kenneth E; Dipboye, Robert L; Gibbons, Ellie

    2010-01-01

    The "what is beautiful is good" heuristic suggests that physically attractive persons benefit from their attractiveness in a large range of situations, including perceptions of employment suitability. Conversely, the "beauty is beastly" effect suggests that attractiveness can be detrimental to women in certain employment contexts, although these findings have been less consistent than those for the "what is beautiful is good" effect. The current research seeks to uncover situations in which beauty might be detrimental for female applicants. In two studies, we found that attractiveness can be detrimental for women applying for masculine sex-typed jobs for which physical appearance is perceived as unimportant.

  13. The ratio of the beauty structure functions Rb=(FLb)/(F2b) at low x

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boroun, G.R.

    2014-01-01

    We study the structure functions F k b (x,Q 2 ) (k=2,L) and the reduced cross section σ r b (x,Q 2 ) for small values of Bjorken's x variable with respect to the hard (Lipatov) pomeron for the gluon distribution and provide a compact formula for the ratio R b that is useful to extract the beauty structure function from the beauty reduced cross section, in particular at DESY HERA. Also we show that the effects of the nonlinear corrections to the gluon distribution tame the behavior of the beauty structure function and the beauty reduced cross section at low x

  14. Wireless nanosensor system for diagnosis of sleep disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramasamy, Mouli; Varadan, Vijay K.

    2016-04-01

    A good night's sleep plays a vital role in physical and mental wellbeing by performing the recuperative function for the brain and the body. Notwithstanding the fact that, good sleep is an essential part of a person's life, an increasing number of people are experiencing sleep disorders and loss of sleep. According to the research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders and sleep deprivation. Although sleep disorder is a highly prevalent condition like diabetes or asthma, 80 to 90 percent of the cases remain undiagnosed. The short-term effects of sleep disorder are morning headaches, excessive daytime sleepiness, shot-term memory loss and depression, but the cumulative long-term effects result in severe health consequences like heart attacks and strokes. In addition, people suffering from sleep disorders are 7.5 times more likely to have a higher body mass index and 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes. Further, undiagnosed and untreated sleep disorders have a significant direct and indirect economic impact. The costs associated with untreated sleep disorders are far higher than the costs for adequate treatment. According to the survey, approximately 16 billion of dollars are spent on medical expenses associated with repeated doctor visits, prescriptions and medications.

  15. Beautiful Testing Leading Professionals Reveal How They Improve Software

    CERN Document Server

    Goucher, Adam

    2009-01-01

    Successful software depends as much on scrupulous testing as it does on solid architecture or elegant code. But testing is not a routine process, it's a constant exploration of methods and an evolution of good ideas. Beautiful Testing offers 23 essays from 27 leading testers and developers that illustrate the qualities and techniques that make testing an art. Through personal anecdotes, you'll learn how each of these professionals developed beautiful ways of testing a wide range of products -- valuable knowledge that you can apply to your own projects. Here's a sample of what you'll find i

  16. Sleep and Media Screens in Pediatric Ages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filipe Cerca

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Sleep plays an essential role in children’s physical, emotional and behavioral health. Understanding the sleep architecture, sleep duration requirements as well as the interference of media screens activity with sleep across pediatric ages is essential in order to provide an adequate anticipatory guidance for the children’s parents. Objectives: To review current knowledge on sleep physiology with a particular focus in sleep duration requirements across pediatric ages and on the influence of media screen activity on children and adolescent sleep. Methods: Revision of meta-analysis research studies, systematic reviews, standards of clinical orientation and original research published in Portuguese or English between 01/2000 and 08/2017 on Pubmed / Medline using the following MeSH terms: sleep; sleep requirements; sleep physiology; media screen; child and neurodevelopment. Development: Sleep architecture and sleep duration requirements undergo constant change with age. Despite interindividual differences, optimal sleep duration intervals as well as nap times, which constitute an essential component of children’s sleep, should be followed. Along children’s age progression, other parameters need to be considered in order to maintain optimal sleep quality. The restriction of media screen use at bedtime assumes special relevance, as there is growing evidence pointing towards an association between shortened sleep time and the misuse of screen devices. Adolescents represent a particularly vulnerable population to media screens effects. Importantly, screen overuse and media content may be responsible for higher propensity for obesity, risky behavior, depression, impaired academic performance, decreased social skills and attention difficulties. Conclusion: Anticipatory guidance for parents addressing sleep optimization and media exposure should be routinely provided as a part of health follow-up. Physicians should be capacitated to

  17. Evidence-Based Design Features Improve Sleep Quality Among Psychiatric Inpatients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pyrke, Ryan J L; McKinnon, Margaret C; McNeely, Heather E; Ahern, Catherine; Langstaff, Karen L; Bieling, Peter J

    2017-10-01

    The primary aim of the present study was to compare sleep characteristics pre- and post-move into a state-of-the-art mental health facility, which offered private sleeping quarters. Significant evidence points toward sleep disruption among psychiatric inpatients. It is unclear, however, how environmental factors (e.g., dorm-style rooms) impact sleep quality in this population. To assess sleep quality, a novel objective technology, actigraphy, was used before and after a facility move. Subjective daily interviews were also administered, along with the Horne-Ostberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Actigraphy revealed significant improvements in objective sleep quality following the facility move. Interestingly, subjective report of sleep quality did not correlate with the objective measures. Circadian sleep type appeared to play a role in influencing subjective attitudes toward sleep quality. Built environment has a significant effect on the sleep quality of psychiatric inpatients. Given well-documented disruptions in sleep quality present among psychiatric patients undergoing hospitalization, design elements like single patient bedrooms are highly desirable.

  18. PA01.75. Hidden beauty concepts in ayurveda w.r.t agada tantra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalyanimath, Gurusiddeshwar J.; Sharanesh, T.; Ashwinikumar; Anita, M.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Beauty is not in the face; Beauty is a light in the heart. In our Ayurveda it is stated that Physical, Mental and Spiritual beauty as a combined unit projects the cosmetic sense of Ayurveda (Ch.Su 1/41). According to Ayurveda healthy skin is the result of overall condition of individuals and prescribes numerous skin care treatments that need to be pursued at every stage of life. Ayurveda determines beauty by Prakruti(body constitution), Sara (structural predominance), Samhanana (compactness of body), Twak (skin complexion), Pramana (measurement) and Dirghayu lakshana (symptom of long life). Ayurveda cosmetology started with garbhini paricharya, Dinacharya, Ratricharya and Ritucharya with practice of medicinal herbs and minerals. In day-to-day life, knowingly or unknowingly we exposing lots of chemicals /toxins to our body, those spoiling our natural beauty silently, this same concept is explained in Agada tantra under concept of Dhooshivisha (Su.Ka 2/33) and Garaviasha. Method: 1. Literature review of concept related to cosmetology in relation to Agada Tantra.2. Analysis and Interpretation of mode of action of Agada yoga's in relieving the symptoms of Twak vikaras. Result: 1. Specific Agada yogas like Bilwadi Agada , Dhooshivishari Agada, Moorvadi choorna, Paarantyadi Keram shows best preventive and curative action in twak vikaras.2. Some of the Agadas like Moorvadi choona (A.hrudaya) lepas have enhansess the internal and external beauty. Conclusion: Agada tantra is not only a branch of Ayurveda it deals with management of acute and chronic diseases but also a added benefit of being used for cosmetology.

  19. Cluster headache and sleep, is there a connection?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barløse, Mads; Jennum, P; Knudsen, S

    2012-01-01

    : There is evidence in favour of an association between episodic cluster headache and REM sleep whereas no such relation to chronic cluster headache has been reported. Particular features in the microstructure of sleep and arousal mechanisms could play a role in the pathogenesis of cluster headache. Reports indicate......PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Sleep and the chronobiological disease cluster headache are believed to be interconnected. Despite efforts, the precise nature of the relationship remains obscured. A better understanding of this relation may lead to more effective therapeutic regimes for patients suffering from...... this debilitating disease. This review aims to evaluate the existing literature on the subject of cluster headache and sleep. LATEST FINDINGS: Several previous studies describe an association between episodic cluster headache and distinct macrostructural sleep phases. This association was not confirmed in a recent...

  20. Essential roles of GABA transporter-1 in controlling rapid eye movement sleep and in increased slow wave activity after sleep deprivation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin-Hong Xu

    Full Text Available GABA is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system that has been strongly implicated in the regulation of sleep. GABA transporter subtype 1 (GAT1 constructs high affinity reuptake sites for GABA and regulates GABAergic transmission in the brain. However, the role of GAT1 in sleep-wake regulation remains elusive. In the current study, we characterized the spontaneous sleep-wake cycle and responses to sleep deprivation in GAT1 knock-out (KO mice. GAT1 KO mice exhibited dominant theta-activity and a remarkable reduction of EEG power in low frequencies across all vigilance stages. Under baseline conditions, spontaneous rapid eye movement (REM sleep of KO mice was elevated both during the light and dark periods, and non-REM (NREM sleep was reduced during the light period only. KO mice also showed more state transitions from NREM to REM sleep and from REM sleep to wakefulness, as well as more number of REM and NREM sleep bouts than WT mice. During the dark period, KO mice exhibited more REM sleep bouts only. Six hours of sleep deprivation induced rebound increases in NREM and REM sleep in both genotypes. However, slow wave activity, the intensity component of NREM sleep was briefly elevated in WT mice but remained completely unchanged in KO mice, compared with their respective baselines. These results indicate that GAT1 plays a critical role in the regulation of REM sleep and homeostasis of NREM sleep.

  1. Measruement of beauty production in DIS and F2bantib extraction at ZEUS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abramowicz, H.; Abt, I.; Adamczyk, L.

    2010-04-01

    Beauty production in deep inelastic scattering with events in which a muon and a jet are observed in the final state has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 114 pb -1 . The fraction of events with beauty quarks in the data was determined using the distribution of the transverse momentum of the muon relative to the jet. The cross section for beauty production was measured in the kinematic range of photon virtuality, Q 2 >2 GeV 2 , and inelasticity, 0.05 2 was extracted and is compared to theoretical predictions. (orig.)

  2. Shaping the Female Student: An Analysis of Swedish Beauty School Recruitment Texts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bredlöv, Eleonor

    2016-01-01

    This study focuses on the recruitment of adults to the beauty industry in Sweden. It is concerned with a move in (beauty) education away from state and towards private provision in a wider context where education is becoming more heavily marketised. Drawing on a poststructural approach inspired by the work of Foucault and feminist theory, the…

  3. Daily self-disclosure and sleep in couples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Heidi S; Slatcher, Richard B; Reynolds, Bridget M; Repetti, Rena L; Robles, Theodore F

    2014-08-01

    An emerging literature provides evidence for the association between romantic relationship quality and sleep, an important factor in health and well-being. However, we still know very little about the specific relationship processes that affect sleep behavior. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine how self-disclosure, an important relational process linked to intimacy, relationship satisfaction, and health, is associated with sleep behavior. As part of a larger study of family processes, wives (n = 46) and husbands (n = 38) from 46 cohabiting families completed 56 days of daily diaries. Spouses completed evening diaries assessing daily self-disclosure, relationship satisfaction, and mood and morning diaries assessing the prior night's sleep. Multilevel modeling was used to explore the effects of both daily variation in and average levels across the 56 days of self-disclosure on sleep. Daily variation in self-disclosure predicted sleep outcomes for wives, but not for husbands. On days when wives self-disclosed more to their spouses than their average level, their subjective sleep quality and sleep efficiency that night improved. Furthermore, daily self-disclosure buffered the effect of high negative mood on sleep latency for wives, but not husbands. In contrast, higher average levels of self-disclosure predicted less waking during the night for husbands, but not for wives. The association between self-disclosure and sleep is one mechanism by which daily relationship functioning may influence health and well-being. Gender may play a role in how self-disclosure is associated with sleep.

  4. FMRFamide signaling promotes stress-induced sleep in Drosophila.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenz, Olivia; Xiong, Jianmei; Nelson, Matthew D; Raizen, David M; Williams, Julie A

    2015-07-01

    Enhanced sleep in response to cellular stress is a conserved adaptive behavior across multiple species, but the mechanism of this process is poorly understood. Drosophila melanogaster increases sleep following exposure to septic or aseptic injury, and Caenorhabditis elegans displays sleep-like quiescence following exposure to high temperatures that stress cells. We show here that, similar to C. elegans, Drosophila responds to heat stress with an increase in sleep. In contrast to Drosophila infection-induced sleep, heat-induced sleep is not sensitive to the time-of-day of the heat pulse. Moreover, the sleep response to heat stress does not require Relish, the NFκB transcription factor that is necessary for infection-induced sleep, indicating that sleep is induced by multiple mechanisms from different stress modalities. We identify a sleep-regulating role for a signaling pathway involving FMRFamide neuropeptides and their receptor FR. Animals mutant for either FMRFamide or for the FMRFamide receptor (FR) have a reduced recovery sleep in response to heat stress. FR mutants, in addition, show reduced sleep responses following infection with Serratia marcescens, and succumb to infection at a faster rate than wild-type controls. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that FMRFamide and its receptor promote an adaptive increase in sleep following stress. Because an FMRFamide-like neuropeptide plays a similar role in C. elegans, we propose that FRMFamide neuropeptide signaling is an ancient regulator of recovery sleep which occurs in response to cellular stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Daily rhythms of the sleep-wake cycle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Waterhouse Jim

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The amount and timing of sleep and sleep architecture (sleep stages are determined by several factors, important among which are the environment, circadian rhythms and time awake. Separating the roles played by these factors requires specific protocols, including the constant routine and altered sleep-wake schedules. Results from such protocols have led to the discovery of the factors that determine the amounts and distribution of slow wave and rapid eye movement sleep as well as to the development of models to determine the amount and timing of sleep. One successful model postulates two processes. The first is process S, which is due to sleep pressure (and increases with time awake and is attributed to a 'sleep homeostat'. Process S reverses during slow wave sleep (when it is called process S'. The second is process C, which shows a daily rhythm that is parallel to the rhythm of core temperature. Processes S and C combine approximately additively to determine the times of sleep onset and waking. The model has proved useful in describing normal sleep in adults. Current work aims to identify the detailed nature of processes S and C. The model can also be applied to circumstances when the sleep-wake cycle is different from the norm in some way. These circumstances include: those who are poor sleepers or short sleepers; the role an individual's chronotype (a measure of how the timing of the individual's preferred sleep-wake cycle compares with the average for a population; and changes in the sleep-wake cycle with age, particularly in adolescence and aging, since individuals tend to prefer to go to sleep later during adolescence and earlier in old age. In all circumstances, the evidence that sleep times and architecture are altered and the possible causes of these changes (including altered S, S' and C processes are examined.

  6. Male Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder? Guys, Guises and Disguise in Patrick White’s The Twyborn Affair

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean-Francois Vernay

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Peer reviewed article. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, which first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greek, quickly gained proverbial currency in the English language thanks to its wisdom. Admittedly, whenever beauty has been acknowledged, one should take it primarily as a comment on the beholder rather than on the model. In heterosexual relationships, male beauty would thus be informative of the female gaze and conception of aesthetics. But what of homosexual relationships? Logically, male beauty would inform as much on the aesthetics of the beholder as on the canons of male beauty through the representation of the perfect man. Now what if the male model appeals to both male and female beholders? Can gay men and straight women share the same aesthetics of the male body? Do they seek and value the same things in a partner? And then what if the male model switches to female beauty all the while sustaining an unflinching power of seduction? Would that prove that beauty is genderless or would that mean that desirability is unrelated to beauty? On a creative level, when White depicts an ambiguous protean protagonist, beauty essentially relies on his characterization skills. But is male beauty objectively inherent to the model or is it solely to be found in the novelist’s subjective representation of his central character?

  7. Training of beauty salon professionals in disease prevention using interactive tele-education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieira Júnior, Elso Elias; Wen, Chao Lung

    2015-01-01

    Infectious diseases can be acquired in places where invasive procedures are often performed without the proper care of hand washing and material sterilization. There are approximately 500,000 beauty and esthetics centers in Brazil, which are visited by thousands of people every day. Many diseases, including sexually transmitted infections, are still highly prevalent in Brazil, such as warts caused by human papillomavirus, hepatitis B and C, and human immunodeficiency virus infection, and can be transmitted in beauty salons. We have developed a tele-education course divided into four main themes: sexually transmitted infections, indoor health in beauty salon workplaces, hand washing, and material sterilization. The course was made available through a Web site, which included a face-to-face meeting, Web synchronous meetings (chats and Web conferences), and asynchronous resources (reading material, discussion lists, situations simulator, educational videos, and three-dimensional virtual human video animation on sexually transmitted infections and hand washing), mediated by professors and coordinators. Fifty-two beauty professionals and 33 other professionals were enrolled from different regions. Of the 61 who completed the course and received a certificate at the course's end, 100% considered good to excellent the course's applicability to everyday life and would recommend it to a fellow professional. The results demonstrate the feasibility of an interactive, tele-education model using low-cost tools as an educational resource to teach beauty professionals. In the future, this may become a branch of nationwide telehealth action.

  8. Beauty in a multicultural world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeks, David M; Thomas, J Regan

    2014-08-01

    The increased demand for facial cosmetic surgery has come from a more diverse, informed, and selective patient population from all walks of life. Virtually no two patients have the same background or cosmetic objectives. However, the classic tenets of beauty including phi, symmetry, averageness, youthfulness, and sexual dimorphism can be applied to persons of all ethnicities to assist in objectifying the abstract concept. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. "You are so beautiful"*: behind women's attractiveness towards the biology of reproduction: a narrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buggio, Laura; Vercellini, Paolo; Somigliana, Edgardo; Viganò, Paola; Frattaruolo, Maria Pina; Fedele, Luigi

    2012-10-01

    Female beauty has always attracted human beings. In particular, beauty has been interpreted in terms of reproductive potential and advantage in selection of mates. We have reviewed the recent literature on female facial and physical beauty with the objective of defining which parameters could influence female attractiveness. Symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism with regards to facial beauty, as well as waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), breast size, and body mass index (BMI) for physical beauty, have been assessed. In current societies, it appears that facial attractiveness results from a mixture of symmetry and averageness of traits, high forehead and cheekbones, small nose and chin, full lips, thin eyebrows, and thick hair. A low WHR reliably characterized physical attractiveness, whereas inconsistencies have been observed in the evaluation of breast size and BMI. The importance of breast size appears to vary with time and sex of evaluators, whereas the impact of BMI is related to socio-economic conditions. The various hypotheses behind beauty and the role of attractiveness in mate choice and sexual selection are here described in terms of continuation of human species. Intriguing associations are emerging between features of attractiveness and some reproductive disorders, as both are substantially influenced by sex steroid hormones.

  10. Fragmentation of Rapid Eye Movement and Nonrapid Eye Movement Sleep without Total Sleep Loss Impairs Hippocampus-Dependent Fear Memory Consolidation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Michael L; Katsuyama, Ângela M; Duge, Leanne S; Sriram, Chaitra; Krushelnytskyy, Mykhaylo; Kim, Jeansok J; de la Iglesia, Horacio O

    2016-11-01

    Sleep is important for consolidation of hippocampus-dependent memories. It is hypothesized that the temporal sequence of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is critical for the weakening of nonadaptive memories and the subsequent transfer of memories temporarily stored in the hippocampus to more permanent memories in the neocortex. A great body of evidence supporting this hypothesis relies on behavioral, pharmacological, neural, and/or genetic manipulations that induce sleep deprivation or stage-specific sleep deprivation. We exploit an experimental model of circadian desynchrony in which intact animals are not deprived of any sleep stage but show fragmentation of REM and NREM sleep within nonfragmented sleep bouts. We test the hypothesis that the shortening of NREM and REM sleep durations post-training will impair memory consolidation irrespective of total sleep duration. When circadian-desynchronized animals are trained in a hippocampus-dependent contextual fear-conditioning task they show normal short-term memory but impaired long-term memory consolidation. This impairment in memory consolidation is positively associated with the post-training fragmentation of REM and NREM sleep but is not significantly associated with the fragmentation of total sleep or the total amount of delta activity. We also show that the sleep stage fragmentation resulting from circadian desynchrony has no effect on hippocampus-dependent spatial memory and no effect on hippocampus-independent cued fear-conditioning memory. Our findings in an intact animal model, in which sleep deprivation is not a confounding factor, support the hypothesis that the stereotypic sequence and duration of sleep stages play a specific role in long-term hippocampus-dependent fear memory consolidation. © 2016 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

  11. [Beauty judgment: review of the literature].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faure, Jacques; Bolender, Yves

    2014-03-01

    Esthetic judgments are surely subjective, but as surely, that does not preclude them being studied objectively through rigorous scientific methods. The factual basis of a science of esthetics is not to settle whether some person or image is "objectively beautiful" but rather to determine whether some representative set or sets of individuals judge or experience him/her/it as beautiful or unattractive. The aim of this paper is to review the definitional, theoretical and methodological aspects pertaining to the perception of facial/dental attractiveness by a group of representative individuals. The first part lays down the basic principles of the perception of facial/dental attractiveness: the perception involves a jury, a field of investigation and a test providing quantitative data; the following general determinants of beauty perception are reviewed: the average morphology, the judge's cultural background, the numerology, the judge's ethnical origin. Indirect determinants are the dentition, the osseous architecture and the muscular envelope. Some disruptive factors might alter the judges' facial perception. They might be qualified as either peripheral to the face or psycho-social factors. Peripheral factors include hair style and color, skin hue, wrinkles, lips color... Psycho-social factors cover the personality of the subject being evaluated, his/her intelligence or behavior. The second part deals specifically with the methodology used to determine facial attractiveness and to correlate this latter with a specific morphology. Typically such a study aims to determine average esthetic preferences for some set of visual displays among a particular jury, given a specific task to judge esthetic quality or qualities. The sample being studied, the displays, the jury or jurys, the rating procedure must all be specified prior to collecting data. A specific emphasis will be given to the rating process and the associated morphometrics, the ultimate goal being to

  12. Contemporary Koreans’ Perceptions of Facial Beauty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seung Chul Rhee

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Background This article aims to investigate current perceptions of beauty of the general public and physicians without a specialization in plastic surgery performing aesthetic procedures. Methods A cross-sectional and interviewing questionnaire was administered to 290 people in Seoul, South Korea in September 2015. The questionnaire addressed three issues: general attitudes about plastic surgery (Q1, perception of and preferences regarding Korean female celebrities’ facial attractiveness (Q2, and the relative influence of each facial aesthetic subunit on overall facial attractiveness. The survey’s results were gathered by a professional research agency and classified according to a respondent’s gender, age, and job type (95%±5.75% confidence interval. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS ver. 10.1, calculating one-way analysis of variance with post hoc analysis and Tukey’s t-test. Results Among the respondents, 38.3% were in favor of aesthetic plastic surgery. The most common source of plastic surgery information was the internet (50.0%. The most powerful factor influencing hospital or clinic selection was the postoperative surgical results of acquaintances (74.9%. We created a composite face of an attractive Korean female, representing the current facial configuration considered appealing to the Koreans. Beauty perceptions differed to some degree based on gender and generational differences. We found that there were certain differences in beauty perceptions between general physicians who perform aesthetic procedures and the general public. Conclusions Our study results provide aesthetic plastic surgeons with detailed information about contemporary Korean people’s attitudes toward and perceptions of plastic surgery and the specific characteristics of female Korean faces currently considered attractive, plus trends in these perceptions, which should inform plastic surgeons within their specialized fields.

  13. Beauty baryons produced in pp interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fridman, A.

    1996-01-01

    For pp interactions, we discuss the beauty-baryon (N b ), production and decay, using cross-section estimates at a c.m. energy corresponding to the LHC project (√s ≅ 14 TeV). The polarization measurement of N b as well as the search for CP violation effects in their decays is discussed. (orig.)

  14. Sunflower Beauty Contest : tsvetõ zimoi / Marina Poltavtseva

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Poltavtseva, Marina

    2001-01-01

    Lillekleitide võistlusest Sunflower Beauty Contest Tallinna klubis Decolte. Konkursi idee on florist Tatjana Tridvornovalt. Esimese koha sai Viimsi lilleäri lilleseadjate Meri-Liis Kõivu ja Triinu Põlderi lillekleit "Talvepruut"

  15. Emotion, emotion regulation and sleep: An intimate relationship

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Vandekerckhove

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, research has witnessed an increasing interest in the bidirectional relationship between emotion and sleep. Sleep seems important for restoring daily functioning, whereas deprivation of sleep makes us more emotionally aroused and sensitive to stressful stimuli and events. Sleep appears to be essential to our ability to cope with emotional stress in everyday life. However, when daily stress is insufficiently regulated, it may result in mental health problems and sleep disturbances too. Not only does emotion impact sleep, but there is also evidence that sleep plays a key role in regulating emotion. Emotional events during waking hours affect sleep, and the quality and amount of sleep influences the way we react to these events impacting our general well-being. Although we know that daytime emotional stress affects sleep by influencing sleep physiology, dream patterns, dream content and the emotion within a dream, its exact role is still unclear. Other effects that have been found are the exaggeration of the startle response, decrease in dream recall and elevation of awakening thresholds from rapid eye movement (REM, REM-sleep, increased or decreased latency to REM-sleep, increase in percentage of REM-density, REM-sleep duration, as well as the occurrence of arousals in sleep as a marker of sleep disruption. Equally, the way an individual copes with emotional stress, or the way in which an individual regulates emotion may modulate the effects of emotional stress on sleep. The research presented here supports the idea that adaptive emotion regulation benefits our follow-up sleep. We thus conclude the current review with a call for future research in order to clarify further the precise relationship between sleep, emotion and emotion regulation, as well as to explain further how sleep dissolves our emotional stress.

  16. The beauty of the physical world

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    2010-01-01

    Graham Farmelo, author and former particle physicist, visited CERN on 25 March. To the CERNois gathered in the Main Auditorium, he talked about his new book The Strangest Man, a biography of Paul Dirac. Dirac was obsessed by the importance of mathematical beauty in fundamental physics, a belief that was “almost a religion” to him. Farmelo himself has no doubts: among all of the natural phenomena the LHC may unveil, supersymmetry is the most beautiful.   Talking about the life of a physicist to draw the attention of the public to the science: that was the idea behind Graham Farmelo decision to write a biography of Paul Dirac. The book won the 2009 Costa Biography Award. “I chose Paul Dirac because he was the first truly modern theoretical physicist but he is virtually unknown to the public”, explains Graham Farmelo. “Dirac had a fascinating life. He was not born in a wealthy or a particularly brilliant family but he ended up conceiving in his head ...

  17. Measurement of beauty baryons production and lifetime in Z0 hadronic decays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bianchi, F.

    1994-01-01

    A study of the production of beauty baryons in Z 0 decays is reported. The analysis is based on 1 Million Z 0 hadronic events collected by the DELPHI detector in the 1990-92 data taking. Beauty baryon signals are obtained with three complementary methods: search of Λ (Λ-bar) correlated to a high p T l - (l + ) in the same jet; the presence of a secondary vertex formed by a fast proton (p>5 GeV/c) and a lepton of opposite sign; the presence of Λ c baryon associated with a high p T lepton in the same jet. From these signals, the average lifetime of beauty baryons and inclusive branching fractions have been measured. (author). 5 refs., 4 figs

  18. Informality wears uniform: Beauty salons’ workers in Santiago, Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosario Palacios Ruiz de Gamboa

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This article examines how flexible work economy has been affecting a group of beauty salons’ workers in Santiago, Chile. They do not have a work contract and receive their payment as if they were giving an independent service, but depend on the rules their bosses impose them. The kind of work described in the article appears to be a new arrangement within the context of urban informality, which has present and future implications regarding social security and uncertainty. Drawing on ethnographic observation in four beauty salons, I describe how the embodied belief of being an independent worker helps to enact many skills required by the flexible work economy.

  19. Roles of the hypocretin/orexins in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terao, Akira; Haruyama, Takashi; Kimura, Kazuhiro

    2008-01-01

    Hypocretin/orexin is produced exclusively in the dorsal and lateral hypothalamus but its projection is widespread within the brain and plays important roles. In this paper, we review the independent discoveries of the hypocretin/orexin peptides, the neuroanatomy of this system, and the link to the sleep disorder narcolepsy that has led to the idea that this system plays a crucial role in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness.

  20. The association of mothers' and fathers' insomnia symptoms with school-aged children's sleep assessed by parent report and in-home sleep-electroencephalography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urfer-Maurer, Natalie; Weidmann, Rebekka; Brand, Serge; Holsboer-Trachsler, Edith; Grob, Alexander; Weber, Peter; Lemola, Sakari

    2017-10-01

    Sleep plays an essential role for children's well-being. Because children's sleep is associated with parental sleep patterns, it must be considered in the family context. As a first aim of the present study, we test whether parental insomnia symptoms are related to children's in-home sleep-electroencephalography (EEG). Second, we examine the association between parental insomnia symptoms and maternal and paternal perception of children's sleep using actor-partner interdependence models. A total of 191 healthy children enrolled in public school and aged 7-12 years took part in the study. Ninety-six were formerly very preterm born children. Children underwent in-home sleep-EEG, and parents reported children's sleep-related behavior by using the German version of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Further, parents completed the Insomnia Severity Index to report their own insomnia symptoms. Maternal but not paternal insomnia symptoms were related to less children's EEG-derived total sleep time, more stage 2 sleep, less slow wave sleep, later sleep onset time, and later awakening time. Mothers' and fathers' own insomnia symptoms were related to their reports of children's bedtime resistance, sleep duration, sleep anxiety, night wakings, and/or daytime sleepiness. Moreover, maternal insomnia symptoms were associated with paternal reports of children's bedtime resistance, sleep anxiety, and sleep-disordered breathing. The associations between parental insomnia symptoms and parents' perception of children's sleep could not be explained by children's objectively measured sleep. Mothers' insomnia symptoms and children's objective sleep patterns are associated. Moreover, the parents' own insomnia symptoms might bias their perception of children's sleep-related behavior problems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Measurement of open beauty production at HERA in the D*μ final state

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S.

    2006-09-01

    The production of beauty quarks with a D *± and a muon in the final state has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 114 pb -1 . Low transverse-momentum thresholds for the muon and D * meson allow a measurement of beauty production closer to the production threshold than previous measurements. The beauty signal was extracted using the charge correlations and angular distributions of the muon with respect to the D * meson. Cross sections for photoproduction and deep inelastic scattering are somewhat higher than, but compatible with, next-to-leading-order QCD predictions, and compatible with other measurements. (orig.)

  2. Effect of sleep-inducing music on sleep in persons with percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography in the cardiac care unit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, Min-Jung; Park, Jeong Sook; Park, Heeok

    2012-03-01

    The study compared the effect of earplug-delivered sleep-inducing music on sleep in persons with percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography in the cardiac care unit. Diverse types of music have been claimed to improve sleeping elsewhere, but relatively little is known in South Korea. Most studies investigating the effect of sleep-inducing music on sleep have involved persons with insomnia, even though many persons with cardiovascular disease in the intensive care unit suffer from sleeping problems. There is a need to investigate the effect of sleep-inducing music on sleep disorders in persons with percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography in the cardiac care unit. An experimental research design was used. Data collection was conducted in the cardiac care unit of K University Hospital in D city, from 3 September-4 October 2010. Fifty-eight subjects participated and were randomly assigned to the experimental group (earplug-delivered sleep-inducing music for 52 min beginning at 10:00 pm, while wearing an eyeshield, n = 29) and the control group (no music, but earplugs and eyeshield worn, n = 29). The quantity and quality of sleep were measured using questionnaires at 7 am the next morning for each group. Participants in the experimental group reported that the sleeping quantity and quality were significantly higher than control group (t = 3·181, p = 0·002, t = 5·269, p music significantly improved sleep in patients with percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography at a cardiac care unit. Offering earplugs and playing sleep-inducing music may be a meaningful and easily enacted nursing intervention to improve sleep for intensive care unit patients. Nurses working at cardiac care unit can use music to improve sleeping in clients with percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  3. Effectiveness of structured teaching programme regarding sleep hygiene and sleep disorders on knowledge of students in a selected pre-university college at Bengaluru

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Isaque Manik

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Sleep plays an important role in maintaining good physical and mental health throughout the life. Timely and adequate sleep will improve quality of life, protect mental and physical health. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching programme regarding sleep hygiene and sleep disorders on knowledge of pre-university students in a selected college at Bengaluru. Methodology: A pre-experimental research was conducted with 60 pre-university students; samples were selected using simple random sampling technique, and the data was collected using structured socio-demographic proforma and knowledge questionnaire on sleep hygiene and sleep disorders. Structured teaching programme on sleep hygiene and sleep disorders was given on the same day. Posttest was conducted after seven days. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in pre- and post-test knowledge scores (t=26.71, p<0.001 of pre-university students with respect to sleep hygiene and sleep disorders. Association between socio-demographic variables and pre-test knowledge scores showed that there was significant association between religion and pre-test knowledge scores. Conclusion: Findings conclude that structured teaching programme regarding sleep hygiene and sleep disorders was effective in increasing knowledge score among pre-university students.

  4. Beauty Redeemed

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Braae, Ellen Marie

    /PROAP’s Parque do Tejo e Trancão in Lisbon and Michel Desvigne’s Parc aux Angéliques in Bordeaux. Beauty Redeemed offers a systematic framework for the consideration and use of post-industrial sites. The author, Professor of Landscape Design at Copenhagen University, places these ‘leftovers’ in their broad......Coping with post-industrial sites is a pressing issue throughout Europe and North America. One point of departure for their general rediscovery was the revitalisation by Latz + Partner in the early 1990s of an abandoned steelworks as Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord; industrial relics were...... historical and aesthetic context, proceeding from the 19th-century Romantic fascination with ruins through present-day industrial decline as exemplified by Detroit to a renaissance of the transformed landscape. Transformation, understood as designing with the ‘as found’, forms the basis of this design theory...

  5. Genetic Dissociation of Daily Sleep and Sleep Following Thermogenetic Sleep Deprivation in Drosophila.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubowy, Christine; Moravcevic, Katarina; Yue, Zhifeng; Wan, Joy Y; Van Dongen, Hans P A; Sehgal, Amita

    2016-05-01

    Sleep rebound-the increase in sleep that follows sleep deprivation-is a hallmark of homeostatic sleep regulation that is conserved across the animal kingdom. However, both the mechanisms that underlie sleep rebound and its relationship to habitual daily sleep remain unclear. To address this, we developed an efficient thermogenetic method of inducing sleep deprivation in Drosophila that produces a substantial rebound, and applied the newly developed method to assess sleep rebound in a screen of 1,741 mutated lines. We used data generated by this screen to identify lines with reduced sleep rebound following thermogenetic sleep deprivation, and to probe the relationship between habitual sleep amount and sleep following thermogenetic sleep deprivation in Drosophila. To develop a thermogenetic method of sleep deprivation suitable for screening, we thermogenetically stimulated different populations of wake-promoting neurons labeled by Gal4 drivers. Sleep rebound following thermogenetically-induced wakefulness varies across the different sets of wake-promoting neurons that were stimulated, from very little to quite substantial. Thermogenetic activation of neurons marked by the c584-Gal4 driver produces both strong sleep loss and a substantial rebound that is more consistent within genotypes than rebound following mechanical or caffeine-induced sleep deprivation. We therefore used this driver to induce sleep deprivation in a screen of 1,741 mutagenized lines generated by the Drosophila Gene Disruption Project. Flies were subjected to 9 h of sleep deprivation during the dark period and released from sleep deprivation 3 h before lights-on. Recovery was measured over the 15 h following sleep deprivation. Following identification of lines with reduced sleep rebound, we characterized baseline sleep and sleep depth before and after sleep deprivation for these hits. We identified two lines that consistently exhibit a blunted increase in the duration and depth of sleep after

  6. Deepening Sleep by Hypnotic Suggestion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordi, Maren J.; Schlarb, Angelika A.; Rasch, Björn

    2014-01-01

    Study Objectives: Slow wave sleep (SWS) plays a critical role in body restoration and promotes brain plasticity; however, it markedly declines across the lifespan. Despite its importance, effective tools to increase SWS are rare. Here we tested whether a hypnotic suggestion to “sleep deeper” extends the amount of SWS. Design: Within-subject, placebo-controlled crossover design. Setting: Sleep laboratory at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Participants: Seventy healthy females 23.27 ± 3.17 y. Intervention: Participants listened to an auditory text with hypnotic suggestions or a control tape before napping for 90 min while high-density electroencephalography was recorded. Measurements and Results: After participants listened to the hypnotic suggestion to “sleep deeper” subsequent SWS was increased by 81% and time spent awake was reduced by 67% (with the amount of SWS or wake in the control condition set to 100%). Other sleep stages remained unaffected. Additionally, slow wave activity was significantly enhanced after hypnotic suggestions. During the hypnotic tape, parietal theta power increases predicted the hypnosis-induced extension of SWS. Additional experiments confirmed that the beneficial effect of hypnotic suggestions on SWS was specific to the hypnotic suggestion and did not occur in low suggestible participants. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of hypnotic suggestions to specifically increase the amount and duration of slow wave sleep (SWS) in a midday nap using objective measures of sleep in young, healthy, suggestible females. Hypnotic suggestions might be a successful tool with a lower risk of adverse side effects than pharmacological treatments to extend SWS also in clinical and elderly populations. Citation: Cordi MJ, Schlarb AA, Rasch B. Deepening sleep by hypnotic suggestion. SLEEP 2014;37(6):1143-1152. PMID:24882909

  7. Daily Self-Disclosure and Sleep in Couples

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, Heidi S.; Slatcher, Richard B.; Reynolds, Bridget M.; Repetti, Rena L.; Robles, Theodore F.

    2014-01-01

    Objective An emerging literature provides evidence for the association between romantic relationship quality and sleep, an important factor in health and well-being. However, we still know very little about the specific relationship processes that affect sleep behavior. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine how self-disclosure, an important relational process linked to intimacy, relationship satisfaction and health, is associated with sleep behavior. Method As part of a larger study of family processes, wives (n=46) and husbands (n=38) from 46 cohabiting families completed 56 days of daily diaries. Spouses completed evening diaries assessing daily self-disclosure, relationship satisfaction, and mood and morning diaries assessing the prior night's sleep. Multilevel modeling was used to explore the effects of both daily variation in and average levels across the 56 days of self-disclosure on sleep. Results Daily variation in self-disclosure predicted sleep outcomes for wives, but not for husbands. On days when wives self-disclosed more to their spouses than their average level, their subjective sleep quality and sleep efficiency that night improved. Furthermore, daily self-disclosure buffered the negative effect of daily negative mood on sleep latency for wives, but not husbands. In contrast, higher average levels of self-disclosure predicted less waking during the night for husbands, but not for wives. Conclusion The association between self-disclosure and sleep is one mechanism by which daily relationship functioning may influence health and well-being. Gender may play a role in how self-disclosure is associated with sleep. PMID:25068453

  8. Where protons will play

    CERN Multimedia

    Holt, Jim

    2007-01-01

    "On seing the Alps for the first time, Dorothy Parket is reputed to have said, "They're beautiful, but they're dumb". Near the foot of Mont Blanc, the greatest of the alpine peaks, another sizable object is taking shape, also quite beautiful in its way, yet not at all dumb. In fact, its pristine geometries may be instrumental in revealing what have hitherto been some of nature's deepest secrets." (2 pages)

  9. Prolonged Expression of Secreted Enzymes in Dogs After Liver-Directed Delivery of Sleeping Beauty Transposons: Implications for Non-Viral Gene Therapy of Systemic Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aronovich, Elena L; Hyland, Kendra A; Hall, Bryan C; Bell, Jason B; Olson, Erik R; Rusten, Myra Urness; Hunter, David W; Ellinwood, N Matthew; McIvor, R Scott; Hackett, Perry B

    2017-07-01

    The non-viral, integrating Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon system is efficient in treating systemic monogenic disease in mice, including hemophilia A and B caused by deficiency of blood clotting factors and mucopolysaccharidosis types I and VII caused by α-L-iduronidase (IDUA) and β-glucuronidase (GUSB) deficiency, respectively. Modified approaches of the hydrodynamics-based procedure to deliver transposons to the liver in dogs were recently reported. Using the transgenic canine reporter secreted alkaline phosphatase (cSEAP), transgenic protein in the plasma was demonstrated for up to 6 weeks post infusion. This study reports that immunosuppression of dogs with gadolinium chloride (GdCl 3 ) prolonged the presence of cSEAP in the circulation up to 5.5 months after a single vector infusion. Transgene expression declined gradually but appeared to stabilize after about 2 months at approximately fourfold baseline level. Durability of transgenic protein expression in the plasma was inversely associated with transient increase of liver enzymes alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase in response to the plasmid delivery procedure, which suggests a deleterious effect of hepatocellular toxicity on transgene expression. GdCl 3 treatment was ineffective for repeat vector infusions. In parallel studies, dogs were infused with potentially therapeutic transposons. Activities of transgenic IDUA and GUSB in plasma peaked at 50-350% of wildtype, but in the absence of immunosuppression lasted only a few days. Transposition was detectable by excision assay only when the most efficient transposase, SB100X, was used. Dogs infused with transposons encoding canine clotting factor IX (cFIX) were treated with GdCl 3 and showed expression profiles similar to those in cSEAP-infused dogs, with expression peaking at 40% wt (2 μg/mL). It is concluded that GdCl 3 can support extended transgene expression after hydrodynamic introduction of SB transposons in dogs, but that alternative

  10. Context odor presentation during sleep enhances memory in honeybees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zwaka, Hanna; Bartels, Ruth; Gora, Jacob; Franck, Vivien; Culo, Ana; Götsch, Moritz; Menzel, Randolf

    2015-11-02

    Sleep plays an important role in stabilizing new memory traces after learning [1-3]. Here we investigate whether sleep's role in memory processing is similar in evolutionarily distant species and demonstrate that a context trigger during deep-sleep phases improves memory in invertebrates, as it does in humans. We show that in honeybees (Apis mellifera), exposure to an odor during deep sleep that has been present during learning improves memory performance the following day. Presentation of the context odor during wake phases or novel odors during sleep does not enhance memory. In humans, memory consolidation can be triggered by presentation of a context odor during slow-wave sleep that had been present during learning [3-5]. Our results reveal that deep-sleep phases in honeybees have the potential to prompt memory consolidation, just as they do in humans. This study provides strong evidence for a conserved role of sleep-and how it affects memory processes-from insects to mammals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Sick/Beautiful/Freak

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morgen L. Thomas

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Nonmainstream body modification practitioners actively demonstrate a confounding agency that often results in the stigmatization of their physical characteristics, their moral constitution, and their behavior. By inscribing meaning and identity in visible ways rather than allowing society to project expectations onto them based on their gender, age, race, sexual orientation, and so on, nonmainstream body modifiers present a unique challenge to American conceptions of what is healthy, what is beautiful, and what is human. Using Patricia Hill Collins’ idea of controlling images, Erving Goffman’s conceptions of stigma, and Arthur W. Frank’s styles of body usage typology, this article examines constructions of deviance within the embodied framework of unconventional body modification practices.

  12. Cyclic alternating pattern and interictal epileptiform discharges during morning sleep after sleep deprivation in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giorgi, Filippo Sean; Maestri, Michelangelo; Guida, Melania; Carnicelli, Luca; Caciagli, Lorenzo; Ferri, Raffaele; Bonuccelli, Ubaldo; Bonanni, Enrica

    2017-08-01

    Sleep deprivation (SD) increases the occurrence of interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) compared to basal EEG in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). In adults, EEG after SD is usually performed in the morning after SD. We aimed to evaluate whether morning sleep after SD bears additional IED-inducing effects compared with nocturnal physiological sleep, and whether changes in sleep stability (described by the cyclic alternating pattern-CAP) play a significant role. Adult patients with TLE underwent in-lab night polysomnography (n-PSG) and, within 7days from n-PSG, they underwent also a morning EEG after night SD (SD-EEG). We included only TLE patients in which both recordings showed IED. SD-EEG consisted of waking up patients at 2:00 AM and performing video EEG at 8:00 AM. For both recordings, we obtained the following markers for the first sleep cycle: IED/h (Spike Index, SI), sleep macrostructure, microstructure (NREM CAP rate; A1, A2 and A3 Indices), and SI association with CAP variables. The macrostructure of the first sleep cycle was similar in n-PSG and morning SD-EEG, whereas CAP rate and SI were significantly higher in SD-EEG. SI increase was selectively associated with CAP phases. SD increases the instability of morning recovery sleep compared with n-PSG, and particularly enhances CAP A1 phases, which are associated with the majority of IED. Thus, higher instability of morning recovery sleep may account at least in part for the increased IED yield in SD-EEG in TLE patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Melanopsin Regulates Both Sleep-Promoting and Arousal-Promoting Responses to Light.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Violetta Pilorz

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Light plays a critical role in the regulation of numerous aspects of physiology and behaviour, including the entrainment of circadian rhythms and the regulation of sleep. These responses involve melanopsin (OPN4-expressing photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (pRGCs in addition to rods and cones. Nocturnal light exposure in rodents has been shown to result in rapid sleep induction, in which melanopsin plays a key role. However, studies have also shown that light exposure can result in elevated corticosterone, a response that is not compatible with sleep. To investigate these contradictory findings and to dissect the relative contribution of pRGCs and rods/cones, we assessed the effects of light of different wavelengths on behaviourally defined sleep. Here, we show that blue light (470 nm causes behavioural arousal, elevating corticosterone and delaying sleep onset. By contrast, green light (530 nm produces rapid sleep induction. Compared to wildtype mice, these responses are altered in melanopsin-deficient mice (Opn4-/-, resulting in enhanced sleep in response to blue light but delayed sleep induction in response to green or white light. We go on to show that blue light evokes higher Fos induction in the SCN compared to the sleep-promoting ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO, whereas green light produced greater responses in the VLPO. Collectively, our data demonstrates that nocturnal light exposure can have either an arousal- or sleep-promoting effect, and that these responses are melanopsin-mediated via different neural pathways with different spectral sensitivities. These findings raise important questions relating to how artificial light may alter behaviour in both the work and domestic setting.

  14. Beauty and healing: examining sociocultural expectations of the embodied goddess.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, Jin-Tsann; Lin, Chyong-Ling

    2013-03-01

    Studies indicate mental health improvement can occur via religious communities offering social support and other resources. Many people from many cultures regard medicine as a supernatural or magical treatment that can somehow lead to a better state of living. In medical advertising, female role portrayal involves the blending of beauty, ritual and attractiveness in combination with the best product image. A Chinese saying suggests that, "A girl will doll herself up for him who loves her." Female role attraction is a very important ethical subject in gender issues. Moving forward in time, female role visualization and consumption in medical advertising reveal depictions that encouraged women to do some self-searching and find, or develop, inner strength. This study is designed to examine female role portrayals in a restricted patriarchal society. The results indicate that the ideology of motherhood is an accepted social orientation that the public readily identifies with. Results further indicate that beautification through medical products incorporates an emotional element of religious healing and that the objectification of beauty in the media reveals a possible neglect of women's internal beauty.

  15. Symmetry, beauty and belief in high-energy physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arianna Borrelli

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper engages with the aesthetics of knowl-edge, both in its sense as the connection between knowledge and ‘aesthetic’ judgements of beauty, or ugliness, and of the many ‘aesthetic’ – that is to say sensually perceivable – dimensions of knowledge, which are always to be seen to be constituting an epistemic factor in its production and consumption. On the one hand I analyse how in recent decades the connection between beauty and truth has been systematically employed to both inspire and guide research in high-energy physics; at the same time I also show how this use of aesthetic judgement only reveals its constitutive role in physics research when paying attention to the broad range of aesthetic strategies employed for expressing scientific knowledge.

  16. Fear memory consolidation in sleep requires protein kinase A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Jiyeon; Sypniewski, Krzysztof A; Arai, Shoko; Yamada, Kazuo; Ogawa, Sonoko; Pavlides, Constantine

    2018-05-01

    It is well established that protein kinase A (PKA) is involved in hippocampal dependent memory consolidation. Sleep is also known to play an important role in this process. However, whether sleep-dependent memory consolidation involves PKA activation has not been clearly determined. Using behavioral observation, animals were categorized into sleep and awake groups. We show that intrahippocampal injections of the PKA inhibitor Rp-cAMPs in post-contextual fear conditioning sleep produced a suppression of long-term fear memory, while injections of Rp-cAMPs during an awake state, at a similar time point, had no effect. In contrast, injections of the PKA activator Sp-cAMPs in awake state, rescued sleep deprivation-induced memory impairments. These results suggest that following learning, PKA activation specifically in sleep is required for the consolidation of long-term memory. © 2018 Cho et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

  17. Anxiety Sensitivity and Sleep-Related Problems in Anxious Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiner, Courtney L.; Elkins, Meredith; Pincus, Donna; Comer, Jonathan

    2015-01-01

    Anxiety disorders constitute the most common mental health disturbance experienced by youth. Sleep-related problems (SRPs) are highly prevalent among anxious youth and encompass a variety of problems including nighttime fears, insomnia, and refusal to sleep alone. Given that chronic sleep disturbance is associated with a range of behavioral and physical problems in youth and predicts future psychopathology, it is important to elucidate the nature of SRPs in anxious youth. The present study investigated the relationship between sleep problems and anxiety sensitivity in a sample of 101 anxious youth, ages 6–17. Heightened anxiety sensitivity significantly predicted prolonged sleep onset latency across the sample, even after accounting for severity of anxiety, depression, and age. Results support previous research indicating that SRPs are common among anxious youth and suggest that anxiety sensitivity may play a particularly important role in sleep onset latency. PMID:25863826

  18. Are sleep disturbances preclinical markers of Parkinson’s disease?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brito dos Santos, Altair; Kohlmeier, Kristi Anne; Barreto, George

    2015-01-01

    REM sleep behaviour and currently several other disturbances have gained importance as potential markers, such as excessive daytime sleepiness, restless legs syndrome and new evidence also points to changes in circadian rhythms. Here we present a brief review of the major evidence indicating......Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurobehavioral disorder characterized by motor symptoms and signs, and non-motor abnormalities such as olfactory dysfunction, pain, sleep disorders and cognitive impairment. Amongst these alterations, sleep disturbances play an important role in the pathology......, but presence of disturbed sleep is not currently considered in diagnosis. However, sleeping problems may precede by many years the classic motor abnormalities of PD and should be clinically evaluated as a potential marker before disease onset. The first disturbance reported with this potential was the disorder...

  19. Sleep Tips for Children's Mental Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Ribbon Commands Skip to main content Turn off Animations Turn on Animations Our Sponsors Log in | Register Menu Log in | ... the bed only for sleep, not for TV, reading, working, using a smartphone or tablet, or playing ...

  20. Beauty Therapy, Vet Teaching and Bio-Power: A Tale of Two Training Packages

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKenzie, Mary; Harreveld, Roberta; Blayney, William

    2018-01-01

    This paper explores the teaching of beauty therapy in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. It uses the theoretical concept of bio-power to examine how the body is compliant with intimate treatments in the name of beauty. Bio-power makes visible the anatomical and biological transformation and re-formation of the human…

  1. [Sleep paroxysmal events in children in video/polysomnography].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zajac, Anna; Skowronek-Bała, Barbara; Wesołowska, Ewa; Kaciński, Marek

    2010-01-01

    It is estimated that about 25% of children have sleep disorders, from short problems with falling asleep to severe including primary sleep disorders. Majority of these problems are transitory and self-limiting and usually are not recognized by first care physicians and need education. Analysis of sleep structure at the developmental age and of sleep disorders associated with different sleep phases on the basis of video/polysomnography results. Literature review and illustration of fundamental problems associated with sleep physiology and pathology, with special attention to paroxysmal disorders. Additionally 4 cases from our own experience were presented with neurophysiological and clinical aspects. Discussion on REM and NREM sleep, its phases and alternating share according to child's age was conducted. Sleep disorders were in accordance with their international classification. Parasomnias, occupying most of the space, were divided in two groups: primary and secondary. Among primary parasomnias disorders associated with falling asleep (sleep myoclonus, hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, rhythmic movement disorder, restless legs syndrome) are important. Another disorders are parasomians associated with light NREM sleep (bruxism, periodic limb movement disorder) and with deeper NREM sleep (confusional arousals, somnabulism, night terrors), with REM sleep (nightmares, REM sleep behavior disorder) and associated with NREM and REM sleep (catathrenia, sleep enuresis, sleep talking). Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and epileptic seizures occurring during sleep also play an important role. Frontal lobe epilepsy and Panayiotopoulos syndrome should be considered in the first place in such cases. Our 4 cases document these diagnostic difficulties, requiring video/polysomnography examination 2 of them illustrate frontal lobe epilepsy and single ones myoclonic epilepsy graphy in children is a difficult technique and requires special device, local and trained

  2. Sleep facilitates long-term face adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ditye, Thomas; Javadi, Amir Homayoun; Carbon, Claus-Christian; Walsh, Vincent

    2013-10-22

    Adaptation is an automatic neural mechanism supporting the optimization of visual processing on the basis of previous experiences. While the short-term effects of adaptation on behaviour and physiology have been studied extensively, perceptual long-term changes associated with adaptation are still poorly understood. Here, we show that the integration of adaptation-dependent long-term shifts in neural function is facilitated by sleep. Perceptual shifts induced by adaptation to a distorted image of a famous person were larger in a group of participants who had slept (experiment 1) or merely napped for 90 min (experiment 2) during the interval between adaptation and test compared with controls who stayed awake. Participants' individual rapid eye movement sleep duration predicted the size of post-sleep behavioural adaptation effects. Our data suggest that sleep prevented decay of adaptation in a way that is qualitatively different from the effects of reduced visual interference known as 'storage'. In the light of the well-established link between sleep and memory consolidation, our findings link the perceptual mechanisms of sensory adaptation--which are usually not considered to play a relevant role in mnemonic processes--with learning and memory, and at the same time reveal a new function of sleep in cognition.

  3. 76 FR 77582 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Beauty and Belief...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-13

    ... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice: 7725] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges With the Arts of Islamic Culture'' SUMMARY: Notice is... objects to be included in the exhibition ``Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic...

  4. Measurement of beauty photoproduction using decays into muons in dijet events at HERA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    Beauty photoproduction in dijet events has been measured at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 126 pb -1 . Beauty was identified in events with a muon in the final state by using the transverse momentum of the muon relative to the closest jet. Lifetime information from the silicon vertex detector was also used; the impact parameter of the muon with respect to the primary vertex was exploited to discriminate between signal and background. Cross sections for beauty production as a function of the muon and the jet variables as well as dijet correlations are compared to QCD predictions and to previous measurements. The data are well described by predictions from next-to-leading-order QCD.

  5. The Effects of Sleep Disturbance on School Performance: A Preliminary Investigation of Children Attending Elementary Grades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reale, Laura; Guarnera, Manuela; Mazzone, Luigi

    2014-01-01

    Sleep disorders in children are common. Sleep plays an important role in children's development and sleep disorders can have a substantial impact on their quality of life. Indeed, sleep is crucial for physical growth, behavior, and emotional development and it is also closely related to cognitive functioning, learning and attention, and therefore…

  6. Short-Term Total Sleep-Deprivation Impairs Contextual Fear Memory, and Contextual Fear-Conditioning Reduces REM Sleep in Moderately Anxious Swiss Mice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Munazah F. Qureshi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The conditioning tasks have been widely used to model fear and anxiety and to study their association with sleep. Many reports suggest that sleep plays a vital role in the consolidation of fear memory. Studies have also demonstrated that fear-conditioning influences sleep differently in mice strains having a low or high anxiety level. It is, therefore, necessary to know, how sleep influences fear-conditioning and how fear-conditioning induces changes in sleep architecture in moderate anxious strains. We have used Swiss mice, a moderate anxious strain, to study the effects of: (i sleep deprivation on contextual fear conditioned memory, and also (ii contextual fear conditioning on sleep architecture. Animals were divided into three groups: (a non-sleep deprived (NSD; (b stress control (SC; and (c sleep-deprived (SD groups. The SD animals were SD for 5 h soon after training. We found that the NSD and SC animals showed 60.57% and 58.12% freezing on the testing day, while SD animals showed significantly less freezing (17.13% only; p < 0.001 on the testing day. Further, we observed that contextual fear-conditioning did not alter the total amount of wakefulness and non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep. REM sleep, however, significantly decreased in NSD and SC animals on the training and testing days. Interestingly, REM sleep did not decrease in the SD animals on the testing day. Our results suggest that short-term sleep deprivation impairs fear memory in moderate anxious mice. It also suggests that NREM sleep, but not REM sleep, may have an obligatory role in memory consolidation.

  7. "That's Not Just Beautiful-That's Incredibly Beautiful!" : The Adverse Impact of Inflated Praise on Children With Low Self-Esteem

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brummelman, Eddie; Thomaes, Sander; Orobio de Castro, Bram; Overbeek, Geertjan; Bushman, Brad J.

    2014-01-01

    In current Western society, children are often lavished with inflated praise (e.g., "You made an incredibly beautiful drawing!"). Inflated praise is often given in an attempt to raise children's self-esteem. An experiment (Study 1) and naturalistic study (Study 2) found that adults are especially

  8. Olfactory insights into sleep-dependent learning and memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shanahan, Laura K; Gottfried, Jay A

    2014-01-01

    Sleep is pervasive throughout most of the animal kingdom-even jellyfish and honeybees do it. Although the precise function of sleep remains elusive, research increasingly suggests that sleep plays a key role in memory consolidation. Newly formed memories are highly labile and susceptible to interference, and the sleep period offers an optimal window in which memories can be strengthened or modified. Interestingly, a small but growing research area has begun to explore the ability of odors to modulate memories during sleep. The unique anatomical organization of the olfactory system, including its intimate overlap with limbic systems mediating emotion and memory, and the lack of a requisite thalamic intermediary between the nasal periphery and olfactory cortex, suggests that odors may have privileged access to the brain during sleep. Indeed, it has become clear that the long-held assumption that odors have no impact on the sleeping brain is no longer tenable. Here, we summarize recent studies in both animal and human models showing that odor stimuli experienced in the waking state modulate olfactory cortical responses in sleep-like states, that delivery of odor contextual cues during sleep can enhance declarative memory and extinguish fear memory, and that olfactory associative learning can even be achieved entirely within sleep. Data reviewed here spotlight the emergence of a new research area that should hold far-reaching implications for future neuroscientific investigations of sleep, learning and memory, and olfactory system function. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Cognitive control and unusual decisions about beauty: An fMRI study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albert eFlexas

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Studies of visual aesthetic preference have shown that people without art training generally prefer representational paintings to abstract paintings. This, however, is not always the case: preferences can sometimes go against this usual tendency. We aimed to explore this issue, investigating the relationship between ‘unusual responses’ and reaction time in an aesthetic appreciation task. Results of a behavioural experiment confirmed the trend for laypeople to consider as beautiful mostly representational stimuli and as not beautiful mostly abstract ones (‘usual response’. Furthermore, when participants gave unusual responses, they needed longer time, especially when considering abstract stimuli as beautiful. We interpreted this longer time as greater involvement of the cognitive mastering and evaluation stages during the unusual responses. Results of an fMRI experiment indicated that the anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal cortex and insula were the main structures involved in this effect. We discuss the possible role of these areas in an aesthetic appreciation task.

  10. 77 FR 840 - Pricing for America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated CoinsTM

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-06

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Pricing for America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coins TM AGENCY: United States Mint, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The United States Mint is announcing the re-pricing of the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver...

  11. 76 FR 65563 - Pricing for America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated CoinsTM

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-21

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Pricing for America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coins TM AGENCY: United States Mint, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The United States Mint is announcing the re-pricing of the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver...

  12. Wireless remote monitoring system for sleep apnea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Sechang; Kwon, Hyeokjun; Varadan, Vijay K.

    2011-04-01

    Sleep plays the important role of rejuvenating the body, especially the central nervous system. However, more than thirty million people suffer from sleep disorders and sleep deprivation. That can cause serious health consequences by increasing the risk of hypertension, diabetes, heart attack and so on. Apart from the physical health risk, sleep disorders can lead to social problems when sleep disorders are not diagnosed and treated. Currently, sleep disorders are diagnosed through sleep study in a sleep laboratory overnight. This involves large expenses in addition to the inconvenience of overnight hospitalization and disruption of daily life activities. Although some systems provide home based diagnosis, most of systems record the sleep data in a memory card, the patient has to face the inconvenience of sending the memory card to a doctor for diagnosis. To solve the problem, we propose a wireless sensor system for sleep apnea, which enables remote monitoring while the patient is at home. The system has 5 channels to measure ECG, Nasal airflow, body position, abdominal/chest efforts and oxygen saturation. A wireless transmitter unit transmits signals with Zigbee and a receiver unit which has two RF modules, Zigbee and Wi-Fi, receives signals from the transmitter unit and retransmits signals to the remote monitoring system with Zigbee and Wi-Fi, respectively. By using both Zigbee and Wi-Fi, the wireless sensor system can achieve a low power consumption and wide range coverage. The system's features are presented, as well as continuous monitoring results of vital signals.

  13. Stable gene transfer of CCR5 and CXCR4 siRNAs by sleeping beauty transposon system to confer HIV-1 resistance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akkina Ramesh

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Thus far gene therapy strategies for HIV/AIDS have used either conventional retroviral vectors or lentiviral vectors for gene transfer. Although highly efficient, their use poses a certain degree of risk in terms of viral mediated oncogenesis. Sleeping Beauty (SB transposon system offers a non-viral method of gene transfer to avoid this possible risk. With respect to conferring HIV resistance, stable knock down of HIV-1 coreceptors CCR5 and CXCR4 by the use of lentiviral vector delivered siRNAs has proved to be a promising strategy to protect cells from HIV-1 infection. In the current studies our aim is to evaluate the utility of SB system for stable gene transfer of CCR5 and CXCR4 siRNA genes to derive HIV resistant cells as a first step towards using this system for gene therapy. Results Two well characterized siRNAs against the HIV-1 coreceptors CCR5 and CXCR4 were chosen based on their previous efficacy for the SB transposon gene delivery. The siRNA transgenes were incorporated individually into a modified SB transfer plasmid containing a FACS sortable red fluorescence protein (RFP reporter and a drug selectable neomycin resistance gene. Gene transfer was achieved by co-delivery with a construct expressing a hyperactive transposase (HSB5 into the GHOST-R3/X4/R5 cell line, which expresses the major HIV receptor CD4 and and the co-receptors CCR5 and CXCR4. SB constructs expressing CCR5 or CXCR4 siRNAs were also transfected into MAGI-CCR5 or MAGI-CXCR4 cell lines, respectively. Near complete downregulation of CCR5 and CXCR4 surface expression was observed in transfected cells. During viral challenge with X4-tropic (NL4.3 or R5-tropic (BaL HIV-1 strains, the respective transposed cells showed marked viral resistance. Conclusion SB transposon system can be used to deliver siRNA genes for stable gene transfer. The siRNA genes against HIV-1 coreceptors CCR5 and CXCR4 are able to downregulate the respective cell surface proteins

  14. Anterior esthetics and the visual arts: beauty, elements of composition, and their clinical application to dentistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valo, T S

    1995-01-01

    The challenge of developing a pleasing smile is an artistic venture. A study of how the visual arts have explored the nature of beauty and the elements of artistic composition will enhance our artistic abilities in cosmetic dentistry. This review discusses the perception of beauty and important features of that which we call beautiful. The discussion uses important works of art to demonstrate elements of composition, which are then made relevant in a dental application.

  15. Workplace bullying could play important roles in the relationships between job strain and symptoms of depression and sleep disturbance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takaki, Jiro; Taniguchi, Toshiyo; Fukuoka, Etsuko; Fujii, Yasuhito; Tsutsumi, Akizumi; Nakajima, Kazuo; Hirokawa, Kumi

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess whether workplace bullying mediates between job strain, evaluated by the job demand-control model, and symptoms of depression and sleep disturbance. The subjects in this cross-sectional study were recruited from all the workers (N=2,634) at 50 organizations in Japan. Due to missing data, the numbers of subjects included in the analyses varied from 1,646 to 2,062 (response rates varied from 62.5% to 78.2%). Job strain and workplace social support, workplace bullying, depression, and sleep disturbance were assessed using the Japanese versions of the Job Content Questionnaire, the Negative Acts Questionnaire, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, respectively. Mediation analysis followed the approach outlined by Baron and Kenny. We quantitatively estimated the mediation effects and tested their significance after adjustment for various combinations of demographic variables and workplace social support. Total effects of job strain index on depression or sleep disturbance were all positive and significant (pwomen, but remained significant (pjob strain with depression or sleep disturbance in both genders.

  16. A global quantification of "normal" sleep schedules using smartphone data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walch, Olivia J; Cochran, Amy; Forger, Daniel B

    2016-05-01

    The influence of the circadian clock on sleep scheduling has been studied extensively in the laboratory; however, the effects of society on sleep remain largely unquantified. We show how a smartphone app that we have developed, ENTRAIN, accurately collects data on sleep habits around the world. Through mathematical modeling and statistics, we find that social pressures weaken and/or conceal biological drives in the evening, leading individuals to delay their bedtime and shorten their sleep. A country's average bedtime, but not average wake time, predicts sleep duration. We further show that mathematical models based on controlled laboratory experiments predict qualitative trends in sunrise, sunset, and light level; however, these effects are attenuated in the real world around bedtime. Additionally, we find that women schedule more sleep than men and that users reporting that they are typically exposed to outdoor light go to sleep earlier and sleep more than those reporting indoor light. Finally, we find that age is the primary determinant of sleep timing, and that age plays an important role in the variability of population-level sleep habits. This work better defines and personalizes "normal" sleep, produces hypotheses for future testing in the laboratory, and suggests important ways to counteract the global sleep crisis.

  17. Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medic, Goran; Wille, Micheline; Hemels, Michiel Eh

    2017-01-01

    Sleep plays a vital role in brain function and systemic physiology across many body systems. Problems with sleep are widely prevalent and include deficits in quantity and quality of sleep; sleep problems that impact the continuity of sleep are collectively referred to as sleep disruptions. Numerous factors contribute to sleep disruption, ranging from lifestyle and environmental factors to sleep disorders and other medical conditions. Sleep disruptions have substantial adverse short- and long-term health consequences. A literature search was conducted to provide a nonsystematic review of these health consequences (this review was designed to be nonsystematic to better focus on the topics of interest due to the myriad parameters affected by sleep). Sleep disruption is associated with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, metabolic effects, changes in circadian rhythms, and proinflammatory responses. In otherwise healthy adults, short-term consequences of sleep disruption include increased stress responsivity, somatic pain, reduced quality of life, emotional distress and mood disorders, and cognitive, memory, and performance deficits. For adolescents, psychosocial health, school performance, and risk-taking behaviors are impacted by sleep disruption. Behavioral problems and cognitive functioning are associated with sleep disruption in children. Long-term consequences of sleep disruption in otherwise healthy individuals include hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, weight-related issues, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and colorectal cancer. All-cause mortality is also increased in men with sleep disturbances. For those with underlying medical conditions, sleep disruption may diminish the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents and may worsen the severity of common gastrointestinal disorders. As a result of the potential consequences of sleep disruption, health care

  18. Sleep, circadian rhythm and body weight: parallel developments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerterp-Plantenga, Margriet S

    2016-11-01

    Circadian alignment is crucial for body-weight management, and for metabolic health. In this context, circadian alignment consists of alignment of sleep, meal patterns and physical activity. During puberty a significant reduction in sleep duration occurs, and pubertal status is inversely associated with sleep duration. A consistent inverse association between habitual sleep duration and body-weight development occurs, independent of possible confounders. Research on misalignment reveals that circadian misalignment affects sleep-architecture and subsequently disturbs glucose-insulin metabolism, substrate oxidation, leptin- and ghrelin concentrations, appetite, food reward, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis activity and gut-peptide concentrations enhancing positive energy balance and metabolic disturbance. Not only aligning meals and sleep in a circadian way is crucial, also regular physical activity during the day strongly promotes the stability and amplitude of circadian rhythm, and thus may serve as an instrument to restore poor circadian rhythms. Endogenicity may play a role in interaction of these environmental variables with a genetic predisposition. In conclusion, notwithstanding the separate favourable effects of sufficient daily physical activity, regular meal patterns, sufficient sleep duration and quality sleep on energy balance, the overall effect of the amplitude and stability of the circadian rhythm, perhaps including genetic predisposition, may integrate the separate effects in an additive way.

  19. Keep New Mexico Beautiful, Recycling Project Successful

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bickel, Victor R.

    1975-01-01

    Through the efforts of community groups, the support of local industries, and the state government, Keep New Mexico Beautiful, Inc. (KNMB) is now operating a large-scale recycling business. KNMB has been able to save tons of natural resources, provide local employment, and educate the public to this environmental concern. (MA)

  20. Watching reality television beauty shows is associated with tanning lamp use and outdoor tanning among college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fogel, Joshua; Krausz, Faye

    2013-05-01

    Ultraviolet radiation exposure through natural sunlight or tanning lamps is a risk factor for skin cancer. As the media can influence behavior, we studied whether watching reality television (TV) beauty shows is associated with tanning lamp use or outdoor tanning. College students (n = 576) were surveyed on their reality TV beauty show watching, their use of tanning lamps, and outdoor tanning behavior. We asked media attitude questions about connectivity with reality TV shows and Internet use of Facebook to discuss reality TV shows. Those who did versus did not watch reality TV beauty shows used tanning lamps (12.9% vs 3.7%, P < .001) and tanned outdoors (43.3% vs 28.7%, P < .001) at significantly greater percentages. Significant predictors of tanning lamp use included watching reality TV beauty shows (odds ratio [OR] 2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-6.00), increasing age (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.32), and female sex (OR 10.16, 95% CI 3.29-31.41). Significant predictors of outdoor tanning included watching reality TV beauty shows (OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.33-3.34). The specific names of the reality TV beauty shows watched were not obtained and therefore we cannot determine if particular shows were more or less associated with this behavior. Watching reality TV beauty shows is associated with both tanning lamp use and outdoor tanning. Dermatologists should consider discussing the potential harmful aspects of tanning beds and outdoor tanning, especially with their patients who watch reality TV beauty shows. Copyright © 2012 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. The Digital media phenomenon of Youtube beauty gurus : the case of Bubzbeaty

    OpenAIRE

    García-Rapp, Florencia

    2018-01-01

    This thesis is submitted as a compilation of five publications. With the aim of contributing to the theorizing of digital media culture and practices, I explore the current phenomenon of online popularity as exemplified by influential personalities like YouTube beauty gurus. The study focuses on a popular beauty content producer, Bubz, and her channel Bubzbeauty. Looking at content, meaning, and interactions through qualitative, ethnographically-oriented research, the thesis sheds light into ...

  2. Prediction of super-heavy N⁎ and Λ⁎ resonances with hidden beauty

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Jiajun; Zhao Lu; Zou, B.S.

    2012-01-01

    The meson-baryon coupled channel unitary approach with the local hidden gauge formalism is extended to the hidden beauty sector. A few narrow N ⁎ and Λ ⁎ resonances around 11 GeV are predicted as dynamically generated states from the interactions of heavy beauty mesons and baryons. Production cross sections of these predicted resonances in pp and ep collisions are estimated as a guide for the possible experimental search at relevant facilities.

  3. Making Sense of Oxidative Stress in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Mediator or Distracter in Brain Injury?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing eZhang

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Obstructive sleep apnea is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to cognitive impairment, metabolic derangements and cardiovascular disease and mortality. Identifying the mechanisms by which this prevalent disorder influences health outcomes is now of utmost importance. As the prevalence of this disorder steadily increases, therapies are needed to prevent or reverse sleep apnea morbidities now more than ever before. Oxidative stress is implicated in cardiovascular morbidities of sleep apnea. What role oxidative stress plays in neural injury and cognitive impairments has been difficult to understand without readily accessible tissue to biopsy in persons with and without sleep apnea. An improved understanding of the role oxidative stress plays in neural injury in sleep apnea may be developed by integrating information gained examining neural tissue in animal models of sleep apnea with key features of redox biochemistry and clinical sleep apnea studies where extra-neuronal oxidative stress characterizations have been performed. Collectively, this information sets the stage for developing and testing novel therapeutic approaches to treat and prevent, not only central nervous system injury and dysfunction in sleep apnea, but also the cardiovascular and potentially metabolic conditions associated with this prevalent, disabling disorder.

  4. Measurement of beauty photoproduction using decays into muons in dijet events at HERA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S. [Argonne National Lab., Argonne, IL (US)] (and others)

    2008-12-15

    Beauty photoproduction in dijet events has been measured at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 126 pb{sup -1}. Beauty was identified in events with a muon in the final state by using the transverse momentum of the muon relative to the closest jet. Lifetime information from the silicon vertex detector was also used; the impact parameter of the muon with respect to the primary vertex was exploited to discriminate between signal and background. Cross sections for beauty production as a function of the muon and the jet variables as well as dijet correlations are compared to QCD predictions and to previous measurements. The data are well described by predictions from next-to-leading-order QCD. (orig.)

  5. Measurement of beauty photoproduction using decays into muons in dijet events at HERA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S.

    2008-12-01

    Beauty photoproduction in dijet events has been measured at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 126 pb -1 . Beauty was identified in events with a muon in the final state by using the transverse momentum of the muon relative to the closest jet. Lifetime information from the silicon vertex detector was also used; the impact parameter of the muon with respect to the primary vertex was exploited to discriminate between signal and background. Cross sections for beauty production as a function of the muon and the jet variables as well as dijet correlations are compared to QCD predictions and to previous measurements. The data are well described by predictions from next-to-leading-order QCD. (orig.)

  6. Trace element determination in beauty products by k0-instrumental neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sneyers, L.; Verheyen, L.; Vermaercke, P.; Bruggeman, M.

    2009-01-01

    A recent study on trace elements in beauty products and cosmetics sold on the Asian market has shown the presence of high levels of U, Th and rare earth elements in so called 'Hormesis cosmetics'. For the purpose of comparison, some more information about trace elements in European cosmetics would be useful. In this paper the results obtained using k 0 -standardised Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (k 0 -INAA) for more than 20 trace elements in 20 different beauty products collected from the European market are presented. We found traces of Ba, As and Sb which is in breach with European legislation. For some of the other elements like Cr and Co further speciation is needed in order to evaluate their presence in beauty products. (author)

  7. Slow oscillating transcranial direct current stimulation during sleep has a sleep-stabilizing effect in chronic insomnia: a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saebipour, Mohammad R; Joghataei, Mohammad T; Yoonessi, Ali; Sadeghniiat-Haghighi, Khosro; Khalighinejad, Nima; Khademi, Soroush

    2015-10-01

    Recent evidence suggests that lack of slow-wave activity may play a fundamental role in the pathogenesis of insomnia. Pharmacological approaches and brain stimulation techniques have recently offered solutions for increasing slow-wave activity during sleep. We used slow (0.75 Hz) oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation during stage 2 of non-rapid eye movement sleeping insomnia patients for resonating their brain waves to the frequency of sleep slow-wave. Six patients diagnosed with either sleep maintenance or non-restorative sleep insomnia entered the study. After 1 night of adaptation and 1 night of baseline polysomnography, patients randomly received sham or real stimulation on the third and fourth night of the experiment. Our preliminary results show that after termination of stimulations (sham or real), slow oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation increased the duration of stage 3 of non-rapid eye movement sleep by 33 ± 26 min (P = 0.026), and decreased stage 1 of non-rapid eye movement sleep duration by 22 ± 17.7 min (P = 0.028), compared with sham. Slow oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation decreased stage 1 of non-rapid eye movement sleep and wake time after sleep-onset durations, together, by 55.4 ± 51 min (P = 0.045). Slow oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation also increased sleep efficiency by 9 ± 7% (P = 0.026), and probability of transition from stage 2 to stage 3 of non-rapid eye movement sleep by 20 ± 17.8% (P = 0.04). Meanwhile, slow oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation decreased transitions from stage 2 of non-rapid eye movement sleep to wake by 12 ± 6.7% (P = 0.007). Our preliminary results suggest a sleep-stabilizing role for the intervention, which may mimic the effect of sleep slow-wave-enhancing drugs. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

  8. Measurement of open beauty production at HERA in the D{sup *}{mu} final state

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chekanov, S.; Derrick, M.; Magill, S. [Argonne National Laboratory, IL (US)] (and others)

    2006-09-15

    The production of beauty quarks with a D{sup *{+-}} and a muon in the final state has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 114 pb{sup -1}. Low transverse-momentum thresholds for the muon and D{sup *} meson allow a measurement of beauty production closer to the production threshold than previous measurements. The beauty signal was extracted using the charge correlations and angular distributions of the muon with respect to the D{sup *} meson. Cross sections for photoproduction and deep inelastic scattering are somewhat higher than, but compatible with, next-to-leading-order QCD predictions, and compatible with other measurements. (orig.)

  9. The Beauty of the Psyche and Eros Myth: Integrating Aesthetics into Introduction to Psychology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diessner, Rhett; Burke, Kayla

    2011-01-01

    Beginning in the late 1990s the authors became convinced that their undergraduate psychology students needed classroom experiences that set the conditions for them to become more engaged with beauty. They recognized the intrinsic importance of beauty to human psychological development, beyond any utilitarian concerns. But they also believed that…

  10. The paradox of impossible beauty: body changes and beauty practices in aging women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macia, Enguerran; Duboz, Priscilla; Chevé, Dominique

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this article is to describe and understand the experience of aesthetic body changes in women between 65 and 75 years old. To approach the issue, 29 in-depth interviews were conducted in Marseille in 2011. Following a brief review of contemporary Western aesthetics, we will examine the marks of time women perceive as stigmatizing and analyze beauty practices that aim to conceal or repair them. The last part of this article will be devoted to the experience of the aesthetic body and in particular show how aging can paradoxically have a beneficial effect on some women.

  11. Glycogen metabolism and the homeostatic regulation of sleep

    KAUST Repository

    Petit, Jean-Marie

    2014-11-16

    In 1995 Benington and Heller formulated an energy hypothesis of sleep centered on a key role of glycogen. It was postulated that a major function of sleep is to replenish glycogen stores in the brain that have been depleted during wakefulness which is associated to an increased energy demand. Astrocytic glycogen depletion participates to an increase of extracellular adenosine release which influences sleep homeostasis. Here, we will review some evidence obtained by studies addressing the question of a key role played by glycogen metabolism in sleep regulation as proposed by this hypothesis or by an alternative hypothesis named “glycogenetic” hypothesis as well as the importance of the confounding effect of glucocorticoïds. Even though actual collected data argue in favor of a role of sleep in brain energy balance-homeostasis, they do not support a critical and direct involvement of glycogen metabolism on sleep regulation. For instance, glycogen levels during the sleep-wake cycle are driven by different physiological signals and therefore appear more as a marker-integrator of brain energy status than a direct regulator of sleep homeostasis. In support of this we provide evidence that blockade of glycogen mobilization does not induce more sleep episodes during the active period while locomotor activity is reduced. These observations do not invalidate the energy hypothesis of sleep but indicate that underlying cellular mechanisms are more complex than postulated by Benington and Heller.

  12. Significant Sleep Dysregulation in a Toddler With Developmental Delay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Martin T; Owens, Judith; Abbott, Myles

    Derrick's parents made an appointment with a new pediatrician for a second opinion about disordered sleep. Now 22-months old, he was evaluated at 18 months of age for developmental delay when he was found to have "a regulatory disorder associated with delays in language and motor development, hypotonia and significant sleep problems." The parents are now most concerned about his sleeping pattern. Prolonged sleep onset and frequent night awaking occur each night since 6-months of age. These problems are more severe in the past few months when he awakes screaming and cannot be settled. The awakening episodes occur 2 to 4 times each night when "he screams and thrashes his body for up to an hour." Daytime tantrums increased. After the parents read a book about sleep in young children, they provided a calm atmosphere at bedtime including a dark room and singing a quiet lullaby. When these changes did not alter sleep, they purchased a vibrating mattress which was also unsuccessful.Derrick was born full term after an uncomplicated prenatal and perinatal course. He sat at 10 months, crawled at 12 months, and walked at 18 months. He currently drinks from a sippy cup and he can use a utensil to eat. He has few words saying only "no" and "mama" in the past month. Imitation of some words occurred recently. He has responded to simple directions in the past 2 months. Derrick passed the newborn audiology screen. He does not have difficulty swallowing and he does not drool. He plays with many different toys and he plays in parallel with his older brother who also experienced delays in motor and language development. His brother is now doing very well in school. There is no family history of cognitive delay, seizure disorder, cerebral palsy, early developmental delay (other than the brother) or a significant sleep problem. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION:: head circumference, length and weight (75th percentile). He had mild generalized hypotonia, mild weakness, 2+ symmetrical deep tendon

  13. Longing for Clouds - Does Beautiful Weather have to be Fine?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mădălina Diaconu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Any attempt to outline a meteorological aesthetics centered on so-called beautiful weather has to overcome several difficulties: In everyday life, the appreciation of the weather is mostly related to practical interests or reduced to the ideal of stereotypical fine weather that is conceived according to blue-sky thinking irrespective of climate diversity. Also, an aesthetics of fine weather seems, strictly speaking, to be impossible given that such weather conditions usually allow humans to focus on aspects other than weather, which contradicts the autotelic character of beauty. The unreflective equation of beautiful weather with moderately sunny weather and a cloudless sky also collides with the psychological need for variation: even living in a “paradisal” climate would be condemned to end in monotony. Finally, whereas fine weather is related in modern realistic literature to cosmic harmony and a universal natural order, contemporary literary examples show that in the age of the climate change, fine weather may be deceitful and its passive contemplation, irresponsible. This implies the necessity of a reflective aesthetic attitude on weather, as influenced by art, literature, and science, which discovers the poetics of bad weather and the wonder that underlies average weather conditions.

  14. Sleep Applications to Assess Sleep Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fietze, Ingo

    2016-12-01

    This article highlights the potential uses that smartphone applications may have for helping those with sleep problems. Applications in smartphones offer the promised possibility of detection of sleep. From the author's own experience, one can also conclude that sleep applications are approximately as good as polysomnography in detection of sleep time, similar to the conventional wearable actimeters. In the future, sleep applications will help to further enhance awareness of sleep health and to distinguish those who actually poorly and only briefly sleep from those who suffer more likely from paradox insomnia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Sleep Deprivation Influences Circadian Gene Expression in the Lateral Habenula.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Beilin; Gao, Yanxia; Li, Yang; Yang, Jing; Zhao, Hua

    2016-01-01

    Sleep is governed by homeostasis and the circadian clock. Clock genes play an important role in the generation and maintenance of circadian rhythms but are also involved in regulating sleep homeostasis. The lateral habenular nucleus (LHb) has been implicated in sleep-wake regulation, since LHb gene expression demonstrates circadian oscillation characteristics. This study focuses on the participation of LHb clock genes in regulating sleep homeostasis, as the nature of their involvement is unclear. In this study, we observed changes in sleep pattern following sleep deprivation in LHb-lesioned rats using EEG recording techniques. And then the changes of clock gene expression (Per1, Per2, and Bmal1) in the LHb after 6 hours of sleep deprivation were detected by using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). We found that sleep deprivation increased the length of Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREMS) and decreased wakefulness. LHb-lesioning decreased the amplitude of reduced wake time and increased NREMS following sleep deprivation in rats. qPCR results demonstrated that Per2 expression was elevated after sleep deprivation, while the other two genes were unaffected. Following sleep recovery, Per2 expression was comparable to the control group. This study provides the basis for further research on the role of LHb Per2 gene in the regulation of sleep homeostasis.

  16. Beauty hadroproduction at fixed target in the WA92 experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gemme, C.

    1999-01-01

    Using a sample of 10 8 triggered events, produced in π-Cu interactions at 350 GeV/c, we have identified 26 beauty events. The estimated background in this sample is 0.6 ± 0.6 events. From these data, assuming a linear A-dependence, we measure a beauty production cross-section integrated over all x F of 5.7 +1.3 -1.1 (stat.) +0.6 -0.5 (syst.) nb/N. Differential distributions with respect to x F and p 2 T have been determined as well as some two-particle kinematic variables. Our results are compared with previous experiments and with a next-to-leading-order QCD calculation

  17. Humour, beauty, and culture as personal health resources: experiences of elderly Swedish women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forssén, Annika S K

    2007-01-01

    This paper explores how a group of elderly women used humour, beauty, and cultural activities to maintain physical and mental well-being. The paper reports on one aspect of a qualitative study on women's work and health in a lifetime perspective. Interviews with 20 strategically selected Swedish women, aged 63 to 83 years, were audiotaped and analysed according to a phenomenological approach. During the interview process, the researchers became increasingly aware that the women had clear ideas about what enabled them to feel well and healthy - even when actually quite diseased. Creating and enjoying humour, beauty, and culture formed part of such strategies. Joking with workmates made hard, low-status jobs easier, helped them endure pain, and helped balance marital difficulties. Creating a nice and comfortable home gave pleasure and a little luxury in a life filled with necessities. Making articles for everyday use more beautiful was regarded as worthwhile, because it gave delight to them and their families. Gains from cultural activities were social, aesthetic, and existential - the latter through a feeling of self-recognition and being heard. Humour, beauty, and culture formed a greater part of these women's survival strategies than expected. Making everyday life more aesthetic is an undervalued aspect of women's health-creating work in the family. Through their lifelong experience as carers and homemakers, elderly women possess special knowledge regarding what may promote health, a knowledge that should be tapped. When supplying elderly women with social care, their needs for humour, beauty, and culture should be respected.

  18. Trappings of femininity: A test of the "beauty as currency" hypothesis in shaping college women's gender activism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calogero, Rachel M; Tylka, Tracy L; Donnelly, Lois C; McGetrick, Amber; Leger, Andrea Medrano

    2017-06-01

    This study investigated whether believing beauty is a primary currency for women operates as an antecedent force in the relation between self-objectification and gender activism. Ninety-four ethnically diverse women attending a small liberal arts college in the southeastern United States completed the study questionnaires online for course credit. Preliminary results demonstrated beauty as currency belief, self-objectification, and support for the gender status quo were negatively associated with gender activism. A serial mediation analysis revealed support for the proposed model: Beauty as currency belief was indirectly and inversely linked to gender activism through self-objectification and support for the gender status quo, offering initial evidence for our beauty as currency hypothesis. These findings suggest belief in the notion women will reap more benefits from their bodies than other attributes or pursuits may be an important legitimizing feature of feminine beauty ideology that works through self-objectification against gender social change. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Perception of men's beauty and attractiveness by women with low sexual desire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferdenzi, Camille; Delplanque, Sylvain; Vorontsova-Wenger, Olga; Pool, Eva; Bianchi-Demicheli, Francesco; Sander, David

    2015-04-01

    Despite the high prevalence of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), especially among women, this sexual disorder remains poorly understood. Among the multiple factors possibly involved in HSDD, particularities in the cognitive evaluations of social stimuli need to be better characterized. Especially, beauty and attractiveness judgments, two dimensions of interpersonal perception that are related but differ on their underlying motivational aspects, may vary according to the level of sexual desire. The main goal of this study was to investigate whether women with and without HSDD differ in their evaluations of beauty and attractiveness of men's faces and voices. Young women from the general population (controls, n = 16) and with HSDD (patients, n = 16) took part in the study. They were presented with a series of neutral/nonerotic voices and faces of young men from the GEneva Faces And Voices database. Ratings of beauty (i.e., assessments of aesthetic pleasure) and of attractiveness (i.e., assessments of the personal propensity to feel attracted to someone) and the frequency to which the participants pressed a key to see or listen to each stimulus again were the main outcome measures. Ratings of attractiveness were lower than ratings of beauty in both groups of women. The dissociation between beauty and attractiveness was larger in women with HSDD than in control participants. Patients gave lower attractiveness ratings than the controls and replayed the stimuli significantly less often. These results suggest that women with HSDD are characterized by specific alterations of the motivational component of men's perception, very early in the process of interpersonal relationships. Our findings have significant implications, both in better understanding the specific cognitive processes underlying hypoactive sexual desire and more largely the evaluative processes involved in human mate choice. © 2014 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

  20. Evaluating beauty care provided by the hospital to women suffering from breast cancer: qualitative aspects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amiel, Philippe; Dauchy, Sarah; Bodin, Julie; Cerf, Céline; Zenasni, Franck; Pezant, Elisabeth; Teller, Anne-Marie; André, Fabrice; DiPalma, Mario

    2009-07-01

    Cancer patients are offered more and more access to beauty care during their stay in the hospital. This kind of intervention has not been evaluated yet. Primary objective of our research was to determine what type of evaluation strategy to be implemented (as a supportive care with quality of life and/or medical benefits; as a service providing immediate comfort); intermediate objective was to investigate in scientific terms (psychological, sociological) the experience of beauty care by patients. Sixty patients (all users of beauty care provided by hospital, 58 female, most of them treated for breast cancer, two male, mean age 53 years) and 11 nurses and physicians, from four French cancer centres were included. We used direct observation and semi-structured interviews, conducted by a sociologist and a psychologist; different types of beauty care were concerned. All the interviewed patients were satisfied. Patients appreciated acquiring savoir-faire on how to use make-up and on personal image enhancement. Psychological and social well-being benefits were mentioned. The beauty care was not alleged to be reducing the side effects of the treatments, but it had helped patients to accept or bear the burden of them. Providing care beyond that which is directly curative was appreciated by the patients as a sign that they were treated as a "whole" person. The survey brings valuable clues concerning beauty care experience by cancer patients; it suggests the relevance of quantitative evaluation of the immediate and long-term effects on the quality of life.

  1. Association of sleep quality with watching TV, computer games and caffeine intake in adolescents of Minoodar district, Qazvin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Avani

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: Insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality affect learning, memory and performance and cause behavioral disorders. Watching television (TV, using computer and internet, playing computer games, and caffeine intake are of factors affecting sleep quality. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the association of sleep quality with watching TV, computer games and caffeine intake in adolescents of Minoodar district, Qazvin41T. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in 319 adolescents (10 to 18 years old that were selected by multistage cluster random sampling method during 2010-2011. Demographic data and data on duration of playing computer games and watching TV were collected. Food frequency questionnaire and BEARS questionnaire were completed. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, logistic regression analysis and ANOVA. Findings:Mean age was15±2.43 years41T. Of 319 adolescents, 162 (50.8% were female41T. The duration of watching TV or video41T was not significantly different41T between boys and girls. The duration of playing computer or video games41T was statistically different41T between boys and girls. There was no correlation between sleep quality and duration of watching TV or videos in a day, duration of playing computer or video games in a day, and caffeine intake in adolescents. Conclusions: With regards to the results, it seems that there is no association between sleep quality and watching TV, playing computer games and caffeine intake.

  2. Measurement of charm and beauty dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA using the H1 vertex detector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finke, L.

    2007-01-01

    A measurement of charm and beauty dijet photoproduction cross sections at the ep collider HERA is presented. The lifetime signature of c- and b-flavoured hadrons is exploited to determine the fractions of events in the sample containing charm or beauty. Differential dijet cross sections for charm and beauty, and their relative contributions to the flavour inclusive dijet photoproduction cross section, are measured. Taking into account the theoretical uncertainties, the charm cross sections are consistent with a QCD calculation in next-to-leading order, the predicted cross sections for beauty production being somewhat lower than the measurement. (author)

  3. Study of charm and beauty production at HERA/H1 using dilepton events

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goettlich, M.

    2007-04-01

    A measurement is presented which investigates the production of charm and beauty quarks in ep collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 318 GeV. Data taken by the H1 detector at the HERA collider in the years 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2005 are analysed. The collected data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 221.6 pb -1 . This is the rst measurement of charm and beauty cross sections using HERA II data. Events with two or more jets of transverse momentum p t >5(4) GeV in the polar angular range 20 t >2(1) GeV in the polar angular ranges 30 1 2 2 2 , and for inelasticities 0.1 t rel of the leptons with respect to the jet they are associated to and the charge and angle correlation of the leptons are exploited to extract the fractions of charm and beauty events on a statistical basis. For the first time at H1, visible charm and beauty cross sections for the production of dijet and dilepton events are determined: σ(ep→ec anti cX→ejjμeX ' )=4.6±1.0(stat.)±0.5(sys.) pb, σ(ep→ec anti cX→ejjμμX ' )=2.7 ±0.9(stat.)±0.3(sys.) pb, σ(ep→eb anti bX→ejjμeX ' )=9.4±1.2(stat.)±0.9(sys.) pb, and σ(ep →eb anti bX→ejjμμX ' )=10.4 ± 1.5(stat.) ± 1.0(sys.) pb. To gain a deeper understanding of dilepton correlations in beauty events, differential dilepton cross sections are determined using the observable p t rel alone. The invariant mass m(μl), the transverse momentum p t (μl), the polar angle θ(μl) and the charge and angle correlation vertical stroke Δφ(μ 1 ,l 2 ) vertical stroke x Q(μ 1 ) x Q(l 2 ) of the dilepton system are investigated. In addition, differential jet cross sections are determined. The measurements are compared with leading order QCD calculations, supplemented with parton showers. The charm cross sections are consistent with the predictions, while the predicted beauty cross sections are somewhat lower than the measurement. The predicted differential beauty cross sections describe the shape of the measurements. (orig.)

  4. 78 FR 5245 - Pricing for New Product-America the Beautiful Quarters® Three-Roll Set

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Pricing for New Product--America the Beautiful Quarters[supreg] Three-Roll Set AGENCY: United States Mint, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The United States Mint is announcing pricing for a new product, the America the Beautiful...

  5. Attention bias for sleep-related stimuli in primary insomnia and delayed sleep phase syndrome using the dot-probe task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacMahon, Kenneth M A; Broomfield, Niall M; Espie, Colin A

    2006-11-01

    Cognitive models of primary insomnia (PI) suggest attention bias as a maintaining process. This study used a hallmark measure of attention bias, the dot-probe task, to determine whether attention bias to sleep-related stimuli is present in individuals with PI. Control groups of good sleepers (GS) and individuals with delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS), a sleep disorder with no presumed cognitive pathway and, hence, no predicted association with attention bias, were included. A between-groups (PI, DSPS, GS) design was employed. Participants completed a dot-probe task with stimuli comprising sleep-related and neutral words, balanced for length and frequency of usage. It was predicted a priori that PI would show greater attention bias to sleep stimuli compared with GS and DSPS groups. No difference between GS and DSPS was predicted. Sixty-three individuals completed the study (PI = 21; DSPS = 22; GS = 20), with those in PI and DSPS classified by International Classification of Sleep Disorders criteria according to self-report sleep diaries and actigraphy. GS scored Sleep Quality Index, reported being good sleepers, and met no criteria for a current or previous sleep disorder. N/A. As predicted, PI showed increased vigilance for sleep-related stimuli relative to GS and DSPS. No differences between GS and those with DSPS were found. The PI group showed shorter response latencies relative to the GS and DSPS groups. Results support an association between attention bias and PI. Further work must determine whether or not attention bias is a causal factor. Speeded responses in the PI group suggest heightened arousal, indicating that physiologic factors may play a related role.

  6. Increased Arousal Levels and Decreased Sleep by Brain Music in Rats

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Guang-Zhan Fang; Chun-Peng Zhang; Dan Wu; Yang Xia; Yong-Xiu Lai; De-Zhong Yao

    2009-01-01

    More and more studies have been reported on whether music and other types of auditory stimulation would improve the quality of sleep.Many of these studies have found significant results,but others argue that music is not significantly better than the tones or control conditions in improving sleep.For further understanding the relationship between music and sleep or music and arousal,the present study therefore examines the effects of brain music on sleep and arousal by means of biofeedback.The music is from the transformation of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) of rats using an algorithm in the Chengdu Brain Music (CBM) system.When the brain music was played back to rats,EEG data were recorded to assess the efficacy of music to induce or improve sleep,or increase arousal levels by sleep staging,etc.Our results demonstrate that exposure to the brain music increases arousal levels and decreases sleep in rats,and the underlying mechanism of decreased non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and REM sleep may be different.

  7. Esthetics, eroticism and sex parity: Umberto Eco’s History of Beauty and History of Ugliness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krzysztof Obremski

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The topic of comparative analysis which is presented in this article is The Story of Beauty and The Story of Ugliness edited by Umberto Eco. Even the covers of these books show the contrast between men and women. How esthetic values build a feedback with sexual parity? Ugly men look at beautiful women – this patriarchal discrimination can’t be cancelled either by the parity of sex in The Story of Beauty, nor men who twice outnumber them in The Story of Ugliness. Also as the unfair sex they are prior sex: they humiliate themselves and elevate women

  8. The culture of complexion: the impacts of society's role in shaping the definition of beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlock, Sarah; Russell, Brian

    2015-05-01

    The definition of beauty has evolved as the trends valued by the top of society change. For centuries, fair skin was a requirement of the Western definition of beauty; however, a shift in the 1920s made tanned skin the new standard. In this article, smoking and tanning are presented as risky behaviors that are perpetuated through industry advertising and exploitation of the authority of health professionals. The article further explores the culture of complexion in Western society before and after the 1920s as well as the consequences of tanning and efforts to rewrite society's definition of beauty.

  9. Recreationists’ Perceptions of Scenic Beauty and Satisfaction at a Public Forest Managed for Endangered Wildlife

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramesh Paudyal

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Prescribed burning and other active forest management treatments have been proven essential for maintaining suitable habitat conditions for many wildlife species, including the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW. This study examines the perception of forest management treatments of recreation users participating in various activities (hunting, hiking/backpacking, camping, off-highway vehicle riding, and canoeing/kayaking in terms of scenic beauty and recreation satisfaction. We used photographic images to capture various forest management treatments of different intensity levels and times after treatments, and assessed users’ perception of scenic beauty and recreation satisfaction. Results indicated variation among users participating in different recreation activities, but that good quality RCW habitats offered both higher scenic beauty and higher recreation satisfaction than poor quality habitats for most activity user groups. Finally, recreation satisfaction was statistically equal to perceived scenic beauty from both good and poor-quality RCW habitats for most of the activity user groups, thus suggesting the importance of scenic beauty of forest sites in determining recreation users’ attainment of visit satisfaction. Findings conclude that forest sites developed as good quality RCW habitats in the present state also offer quality experience to recreation users, thus supporting multi-objective forestry practices in public forests.

  10. Strength, functionality and beauty of university buildings in earthquake-prone countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    WADA, Akira

    2018-01-01

    Strength, functionality and beauty are the three qualities identifying well-designed architecture. For buildings in earthquake-prone countries such as Japan, emphasis on seismic safety frequently leads to the sacrifice of functionality and beauty. Therefore, it is important to develop new structural technologies that can ensure the seismic performance of a building without hampering the pursuit of functionality and beauty. The moment-resisting frame structures widely used for buildings in Japan are likely to experience weak-story collapse. Pin-supported walls, which can effectively enhance the structural story-by-story integrity of a building, were introduced to prevent such an unfavorable failure pattern in the seismic retrofit of an eleven-story building on a university campus in Tokyo, while also greatly aesthetically enhancing the façade of the building. The slight damage observed and monitoring records of the retrofitted building during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan demonstrate that the pin-supported walls worked as intended, protecting the building and guaranteeing the safety of its occupants during the earthquake. PMID:29434079

  11. First measurement of the charge asymmetry in beauty-quark pair production.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aaij, R; Adeva, B; Adinolfi, M; Affolder, A; Ajaltouni, Z; Akar, S; Albrecht, J; Alessio, F; Alexander, M; Ali, S; Alkhazov, G; Alvarez Cartelle, P; Alves, A A; Amato, S; Amerio, S; Amhis, Y; An, L; Anderlini, L; Anderson, J; Andreassen, R; Andreotti, M; Andrews, J E; Appleby, R B; Aquines Gutierrez, O; Archilli, F; Artamonov, A; Artuso, M; Aslanides, E; Auriemma, G; Baalouch, M; Bachmann, S; Back, J J; Badalov, A; Balagura, V; Baldini, W; Barlow, R J; Barschel, C; Barsuk, S; Barter, W; Batozskaya, V; Battista, V; Bay, A; Beaucourt, L; Beddow, J; Bedeschi, F; Bediaga, I; Belogurov, S; Belous, K; Belyaev, I; Ben-Haim, E; Bencivenni, G; Benson, S; Benton, J; Berezhnoy, A; Bernet, R; Bettler, M-O; van Beuzekom, M; Bien, A; Bifani, S; Bird, T; Bizzeti, A; Bjørnstad, P M; Blake, T; Blanc, F; Blouw, J; Blusk, S; Bocci, V; Bondar, A; Bondar, N; Bonivento, W; Borghi, S; Borgia, A; Borsato, M; Bowcock, T J V; Bowen, E; Bozzi, C; Brambach, T; van den Brand, J; Bressieux, J; Brett, D; Britsch, M; Britton, T; Brodzicka, J; Brook, N H; Brown, H; Bursche, A; Busetto, G; Buytaert, J; Cadeddu, S; Calabrese, R; Calvi, M; Calvo Gomez, M; Camboni, A; Campana, P; Campora Perez, D; Carbone, A; Carboni, G; Cardinale, R; Cardini, A; Carranza-Mejia, H; Carson, L; Carvalho Akiba, K; Casse, G; Cassina, L; Castillo Garcia, L; Cattaneo, M; Cauet, Ch; Cenci, R; Charles, M; Charpentier, Ph; Chen, S; Cheung, S-F; Chiapolini, N; Chrzaszcz, M; Ciba, K; Cid Vidal, X; Ciezarek, G; Clarke, P E L; Clemencic, M; Cliff, H V; Closier, J; Coco, V; Cogan, J; Cogneras, E; Collins, P; Comerma-Montells, A; Contu, A; Cook, A; Coombes, M; Coquereau, S; Corti, G; Corvo, M; Counts, I; Couturier, B; Cowan, G A; Craik, D C; Cruz Torres, M; Cunliffe, S; Currie, R; D'Ambrosio, C; Dalseno, J; David, P; David, P N Y; Davis, A; De Bruyn, K; De Capua, S; De Cian, M; De Miranda, J M; De Paula, L; De Silva, W; De Simone, P; Decamp, D; Deckenhoff, M; Del Buono, L; Déléage, N; Derkach, D; Deschamps, O; Dettori, F; Di Canto, A; Dijkstra, H; Donleavy, S; Dordei, F; Dorigo, M; Dosil Suárez, A; Dossett, D; Dovbnya, A; Dreimanis, K; Dujany, G; Dupertuis, F; Durante, P; Dzhelyadin, R; Dziurda, A; Dzyuba, A; Easo, S; Egede, U; Egorychev, V; Eidelman, S; Eisenhardt, S; Eitschberger, U; Ekelhof, R; Eklund, L; El Rifai, I; Elsasser, Ch; Ely, S; Esen, S; Evans, H-M; Evans, T; Falabella, A; Färber, C; Farinelli, C; Farley, N; Farry, S; Fay, Rf; Ferguson, D; Fernandez Albor, V; Ferreira Rodrigues, F; Ferro-Luzzi, M; Filippov, S; Fiore, M; Fiorini, M; Firlej, M; Fitzpatrick, C; Fiutowski, T; Fontana, M; Fontanelli, F; Forty, R; Francisco, O; Frank, M; Frei, C; Frosini, M; Fu, J; Furfaro, E; Gallas Torreira, A; Galli, D; Gallorini, S; Gambetta, S; Gandelman, M; Gandini, P; Gao, Y; García Pardiñas, J; Garofoli, J; Garra Tico, J; Garrido, L; Gaspar, C; Gauld, R; Gavardi, L; Gavrilov, G; Gersabeck, E; Gersabeck, M; Gershon, T; Ghez, Ph; Gianelle, A; Giani', S; Gibson, V; Giubega, L; Gligorov, V V; Göbel, C; Golubkov, D; Golutvin, A; Gomes, A; Gordon, H; Gotti, C; Grabalosa Gándara, M; Graciani Diaz, R; Granado Cardoso, L A; Graugés, E; Graziani, G; Grecu, A; Greening, E; Gregson, S; Griffith, P; Grillo, L; Grünberg, O; Gui, B; Gushchin, E; Guz, Yu; Gys, T; Hadjivasiliou, C; Haefeli, G; Haen, C; Haines, S C; Hall, S; Hamilton, B; Hampson, T; Han, X; Hansmann-Menzemer, S; Harnew, N; Harnew, S T; Harrison, J; He, J; Head, T; Heijne, V; Hennessy, K; Henrard, P; Henry, L; Hernando Morata, J A; van Herwijnen, E; Heß, M; Hicheur, A; Hill, D; Hoballah, M; Hombach, C; Hulsbergen, W; Hunt, P; Hussain, N; Hutchcroft, D; Hynds, D; Idzik, M; Ilten, P; Jacobsson, R; Jaeger, A; Jalocha, J; Jans, E; Jaton, P; Jawahery, A; Jing, F; John, M; Johnson, D; Jones, C R; Joram, C; Jost, B; Jurik, N; Kaballo, M; Kandybei, S; Kanso, W; Karacson, M; Karbach, T M; Karodia, S; Kelsey, M; Kenyon, I R; Ketel, T; Khanji, B; Khurewathanakul, C; Klaver, S; Klimaszewski, K; Kochebina, O; Kolpin, M; Komarov, I; Koopman, R F; Koppenburg, P; Korolev, M; Kozlinskiy, A; Kravchuk, L; Kreplin, K; Kreps, M; Krocker, G; Krokovny, P; Kruse, F; Kucewicz, W; Kucharczyk, M; Kudryavtsev, V; Kurek, K; Kvaratskheliya, T; La Thi, V N; Lacarrere, D; Lafferty, G; Lai, A; Lambert, D; Lambert, R W; Lanciotti, E; Lanfranchi, G; Langenbruch, C; Langhans, B; Latham, T; Lazzeroni, C; Le Gac, R; van Leerdam, J; Lees, J-P; Lefèvre, R; Leflat, A; Lefrançois, J; Leo, S; Leroy, O; Lesiak, T; Leverington, B; Li, Y; Liles, M; Lindner, R; Linn, C; Lionetto, F; Liu, B; Liu, G; Lohn, S; Longstaff, I; Lopes, J H; Lopez-March, N; Lowdon, P; Lu, H; Lucchesi, D; Luo, H; Lupato, A; Luppi, E; Lupton, O; Machefert, F; Machikhiliyan, I V; Maciuc, F; Maev, O; Malde, S; Manca, G; Mancinelli, G; Maratas, J; Marchand, J F; Marconi, U; Marin Benito, C; Marino, P; Märki, R; Marks, J; Martellotti, G; Martens, A; Martín Sánchez, A; Martinelli, M; Martinez Santos, D; Martinez Vidal, F; Martins Tostes, D; Massafferri, A; Matev, R; Mathe, Z; Matteuzzi, C; Mazurov, A; McCann, M; McCarthy, J; McNab, A; McNulty, R; McSkelly, B; Meadows, B; Meier, F; Meissner, M; Merk, M; Milanes, D A; Minard, M-N; Moggi, N; Molina Rodriguez, J; Monteil, S; Morandin, M; Morawski, P; Mordà, A; Morello, M J; Moron, J; Morris, A-B; Mountain, R; Muheim, F; Müller, K; Muresan, R; Mussini, M; Muster, B; Naik, P; Nakada, T; Nandakumar, R; Nasteva, I; Needham, M; Neri, N; Neubert, S; Neufeld, N; Neuner, M; Nguyen, A D; Nguyen, T D; Nguyen-Mau, C; Nicol, M; Niess, V; Niet, R; Nikitin, N; Nikodem, T; Novoselov, A; O'Hanlon, D P; Oblakowska-Mucha, A; Obraztsov, V; Oggero, S; Ogilvy, S; Okhrimenko, O; Oldeman, R; Onderwater, G; Orlandea, M; Otalora Goicochea, J M; Owen, P; Oyanguren, A; Pal, B K; Palano, A; Palombo, F; Palutan, M; Panman, J; Papanestis, A; Pappagallo, M; Parkes, C; Parkinson, C J; Passaleva, G; Patel, G D; Patel, M; Patrignani, C; Pazos Alvarez, A; Pearce, A; Pellegrino, A; Pepe Altarelli, M; Perazzini, S; Perez Trigo, E; Perret, P; Perrin-Terrin, M; Pescatore, L; Pesen, E; Petridis, K; Petrolini, A; Picatoste Olloqui, E; Pietrzyk, B; Pilař, T; Pinci, D; Pistone, A; Playfer, S; Plo Casasus, M; Polci, F; Poluektov, A; Polycarpo, E; Popov, A; Popov, D; Popovici, B; Potterat, C; Price, E; Prisciandaro, J; Pritchard, A; Prouve, C; Pugatch, V; Puig Navarro, A; Punzi, G; Qian, W; Rachwal, B; Rademacker, J H; Rakotomiaramanana, B; Rama, M; Rangel, M S; Raniuk, I; Rauschmayr, N; Raven, G; Reichert, S; Reid, M M; Dos Reis, A C; Ricciardi, S; Richards, S; Rihl, M; Rinnert, K; Rives Molina, V; Roa Romero, D A; Robbe, P; Rodrigues, A B; Rodrigues, E; Rodriguez Perez, P; Roiser, S; Romanovsky, V; Romero Vidal, A; Rotondo, M; Rouvinet, J; Ruf, T; Ruffini, F; Ruiz, H; Ruiz Valls, P; Sabatino, G; Saborido Silva, J J; Sagidova, N; Sail, P; Saitta, B; Salustino Guimaraes, V; Sanchez Mayordomo, C; Sanmartin Sedes, B; Santacesaria, R; Santamarina Rios, C; Santovetti, E; Sapunov, M; Sarti, A; Satriano, C; Satta, A; Saunders, D M; Savrie, M; Savrina, D; Schiller, M; Schindler, H; Schlupp, M; Schmelling, M; Schmidt, B; Schneider, O; Schopper, A; Schune, M-H; Schwemmer, R; Sciascia, B; Sciubba, A; Seco, M; Semennikov, A; Sepp, I; Serra, N; Serrano, J; Sestini, L; Seyfert, P; Shapkin, M; Shapoval, I; Shcheglov, Y; Shears, T; Shekhtman, L; Shevchenko, V; Shires, A; Silva Coutinho, R; Simi, G; Sirendi, M; Skidmore, N; Skwarnicki, T; Smith, N A; Smith, E; Smith, E; Smith, J; Smith, M; Snoek, H; Sokoloff, M D; Soler, F J P; Soomro, F; Souza, D; Souza De Paula, B; Spaan, B; Sparkes, A; Spradlin, P; Stagni, F; Stahl, M; Stahl, S; Steinkamp, O; Stenyakin, O; Stevenson, S; Stoica, S; Stone, S; Storaci, B; Stracka, S; Straticiuc, M; Straumann, U; Stroili, R; Subbiah, V K; Sun, L; Sutcliffe, W; Swientek, K; Swientek, S; Syropoulos, V; Szczekowski, M; Szczypka, P; Szilard, D; Szumlak, T; T'Jampens, S; Teklishyn, M; Tellarini, G; Teubert, F; Thomas, C; Thomas, E; van Tilburg, J; Tisserand, V; Tobin, M; Tolk, S; Tomassetti, L; Topp-Joergensen, S; Torr, N; Tournefier, E; Tourneur, S; Tran, M T; Tresch, M; Tsaregorodtsev, A; Tsopelas, P; Tuning, N; Ubeda Garcia, M; Ukleja, A; Ustyuzhanin, A; Uwer, U; Vagnoni, V; Valenti, G; Vallier, A; Vazquez Gomez, R; Vazquez Regueiro, P; Vázquez Sierra, C; Vecchi, S; Velthuis, J J; Veltri, M; Veneziano, G; Vesterinen, M; Viaud, B; Vieira, D; Vieites Diaz, M; Vilasis-Cardona, X; Vollhardt, A; Volyanskyy, D; Voong, D; Vorobyev, A; Vorobyev, V; Voß, C; Voss, H; de Vries, J A; Waldi, R; Wallace, C; Wallace, R; Walsh, J; Wandernoth, S; Wang, J; Ward, D R; Watson, N K; Websdale, D; Whitehead, M; Wicht, J; Wiedner, D; Wilkinson, G; Williams, M P; Williams, M; Wilson, F F; Wimberley, J; Wishahi, J; Wislicki, W; Witek, M; Wormser, G; Wotton, S A; Wright, S; Wu, S; Wyllie, K; Xie, Y; Xing, Z; Xu, Z; Yang, Z; Yuan, X; Yushchenko, O; Zangoli, M; Zavertyaev, M; Zhang, L; Zhang, W C; Zhang, Y; Zhelezov, A; Zhokhov, A; Zhong, L; Zvyagin, A

    2014-08-22

    The difference in the angular distributions between beauty quarks and antiquarks, referred to as the charge asymmetry, is measured for the first time in bb pair production at a hadron collider. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1) collected at 7 TeV center-of-mass energy in proton-proton collisions with the LHCb detector. The measurement is performed in three regions of the invariant mass of the bb system. The results obtained are A(C)(bb))(40 105 GeV/c(2)) = 1.6 ± 1.7 ± 0.6%, where A(C)(bb)) is defined as the asymmetry in the difference in rapidity between jets formed from the beauty quark and antiquark, where in each case the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The beauty jets are required to satisfy 2 20 GeV, and have an opening angle in the transverse plane Δ ϕ > 2.6 rad. These measurements are consistent with the predictions of the standard model.

  12. First measurement of the charge asymmetry in beauty-quark pair production

    CERN Document Server

    Aaij, Roel; Adinolfi, Marco; Affolder, Anthony; Ajaltouni, Ziad; Akar, Simon; Albrecht, Johannes; Alessio, Federico; Alexander, Michael; Ali, Suvayu; Alkhazov, Georgy; Alvarez Cartelle, Paula; Alves Jr, Antonio; Amato, Sandra; Amerio, Silvia; Amhis, Yasmine; An, Liupan; Anderlini, Lucio; Anderson, Jonathan; Andreassen, Rolf; Andreotti, Mirco; Andrews, Jason; Appleby, Robert; Aquines Gutierrez, Osvaldo; Archilli, Flavio; Artamonov, Alexander; Artuso, Marina; Aslanides, Elie; Auriemma, Giulio; Baalouch, Marouen; Bachmann, Sebastian; Back, John; Badalov, Alexey; Balagura, Vladislav; Baldini, Wander; Barlow, Roger; Barschel, Colin; Barsuk, Sergey; Barter, William; Batozskaya, Varvara; Battista, Vincenzo; Bay, Aurelio; Beaucourt, Leo; Beddow, John; Bedeschi, Franco; Bediaga, Ignacio; Belogurov, Sergey; Belous, Konstantin; Belyaev, Ivan; Ben-Haim, Eli; Bencivenni, Giovanni; Benson, Sean; Benton, Jack; Berezhnoy, Alexander; Bernet, Roland; Bettler, Marc-Olivier; van Beuzekom, Martinus; Bien, Alexander; 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Hulsbergen, Wouter; Hunt, Philip; Hussain, Nazim; Hutchcroft, David; Hynds, Daniel; Idzik, Marek; Ilten, Philip; Jacobsson, Richard; Jaeger, Andreas; Jalocha, Pawel; Jans, Eddy; Jaton, Pierre; Jawahery, Abolhassan; Jing, Fanfan; John, Malcolm; Johnson, Daniel; Jones, Christopher; Joram, Christian; Jost, Beat; Jurik, Nathan; Kaballo, Michael; Kandybei, Sergii; Kanso, Walaa; Karacson, Matthias; Karbach, Moritz; Karodia, Sarah; Kelsey, Matthew; Kenyon, Ian; Ketel, Tjeerd; Khanji, Basem; Khurewathanakul, Chitsanu; Klaver, Suzanne; Klimaszewski, Konrad; Kochebina, Olga; Kolpin, Michael; Komarov, Ilya; Koopman, Rose; Koppenburg, Patrick; Korolev, Mikhail; Kozlinskiy, Alexandr; Kravchuk, Leonid; Kreplin, Katharina; Kreps, Michal; Krocker, Georg; Krokovny, Pavel; Kruse, Florian; Kucewicz, Wojciech; Kucharczyk, Marcin; Kudryavtsev, Vasily; Kurek, Krzysztof; Kvaratskheliya, Tengiz; La Thi, Viet Nga; Lacarrere, Daniel; Lafferty, George; Lai, Adriano; Lambert, Dean; Lambert, Robert W; Lanciotti, Elisa; Lanfranchi, Gaia; Langenbruch, Christoph; Langhans, Benedikt; Latham, Thomas; Lazzeroni, Cristina; Le Gac, Renaud; van Leerdam, Jeroen; Lees, Jean-Pierre; Lefèvre, Regis; Leflat, Alexander; Lefrançois, Jacques; Leo, Sabato; Leroy, Olivier; Lesiak, Tadeusz; Leverington, Blake; Li, Yiming; Liles, Myfanwy; Lindner, Rolf; Linn, Christian; Lionetto, Federica; Liu, Bo; Liu, Guoming; Lohn, Stefan; Longstaff, Iain; Lopes, Jose; Lopez-March, Neus; Lowdon, Peter; Lu, Haiting; Lucchesi, Donatella; Luo, Haofei; Lupato, Anna; Luppi, Eleonora; Lupton, Oliver; Machefert, Frederic; Machikhiliyan, Irina V; Maciuc, Florin; Maev, Oleg; Malde, Sneha; Manca, Giulia; Mancinelli, Giampiero; Maratas, Jan; Marchand, Jean François; Marconi, Umberto; Marin Benito, Carla; Marino, Pietro; Märki, Raphael; Marks, Jörg; Martellotti, Giuseppe; Martens, Aurelien; Martín Sánchez, Alexandra; Martinelli, Maurizio; Martinez Santos, Diego; Martinez Vidal, Fernando; Martins Tostes, Danielle; Massafferri, André; Matev, Rosen; Mathe, Zoltan; Matteuzzi, Clara; Mazurov, Alexander; McCann, Michael; McCarthy, James; McNab, Andrew; McNulty, Ronan; McSkelly, Ben; Meadows, Brian; Meier, Frank; Meissner, Marco; Merk, Marcel; Milanes, Diego Alejandro; Minard, Marie-Noelle; Moggi, Niccolò; Molina Rodriguez, Josue; Monteil, Stephane; Morandin, Mauro; Morawski, Piotr; Mordà, Alessandro; Morello, Michael Joseph; Moron, Jakub; Morris, Adam Benjamin; Mountain, Raymond; Muheim, Franz; Müller, Katharina; Muresan, Raluca; Mussini, Manuel; Muster, Bastien; Naik, Paras; Nakada, Tatsuya; Nandakumar, Raja; Nasteva, Irina; Needham, Matthew; Neri, Nicola; Neubert, Sebastian; Neufeld, Niko; Neuner, Max; Nguyen, Anh Duc; Nguyen, Thi-Dung; Nguyen-Mau, Chung; Nicol, Michelle; Niess, Valentin; Niet, Ramon; Nikitin, Nikolay; Nikodem, Thomas; Novoselov, Alexey; O'Hanlon, Daniel Patrick; Oblakowska-Mucha, Agnieszka; Obraztsov, Vladimir; Oggero, Serena; Ogilvy, Stephen; Okhrimenko, Oleksandr; Oldeman, Rudolf; Onderwater, Gerco; Orlandea, Marius; Otalora Goicochea, Juan Martin; Owen, Patrick; Oyanguren, Maria Arantza; Pal, Bilas Kanti; Palano, Antimo; Palombo, Fernando; Palutan, Matteo; Panman, Jacob; Papanestis, Antonios; Pappagallo, Marco; Parkes, Christopher; Parkinson, Christopher John; Passaleva, Giovanni; Patel, Girish; Patel, Mitesh; Patrignani, Claudia; Pazos Alvarez, Antonio; Pearce, Alex; Pellegrino, Antonio; Pepe Altarelli, Monica; Perazzini, Stefano; Perez Trigo, Eliseo; Perret, Pascal; Perrin-Terrin, Mathieu; Pescatore, Luca; Pesen, Erhan; Petridis, Konstantin; Petrolini, Alessandro; Picatoste Olloqui, Eduardo; Pietrzyk, Boleslaw; Pilař, Tomas; Pinci, Davide; Pistone, Alessandro; Playfer, Stephen; Plo Casasus, Maximo; Polci, Francesco; Poluektov, Anton; Polycarpo, Erica; Popov, Alexander; Popov, Dmitry; Popovici, Bogdan; Potterat, Cédric; Price, Eugenia; Prisciandaro, Jessica; Pritchard, Adrian; Prouve, Claire; Pugatch, Valery; Puig Navarro, Albert; Punzi, Giovanni; Qian, Wenbin; Rachwal, Bartolomiej; Rademacker, Jonas; Rakotomiaramanana, Barinjaka; Rama, Matteo; Rangel, Murilo; Raniuk, Iurii; Rauschmayr, Nathalie; Raven, Gerhard; Reichert, Stefanie; Reid, Matthew; dos Reis, Alberto; Ricciardi, Stefania; Richards, Sophie; Rihl, Mariana; Rinnert, Kurt; Rives Molina, Vincente; Roa Romero, Diego; Robbe, Patrick; Rodrigues, Ana Barbara; Rodrigues, Eduardo; Rodriguez Perez, Pablo; Roiser, Stefan; Romanovsky, Vladimir; Romero Vidal, Antonio; Rotondo, Marcello; Rouvinet, Julien; Ruf, Thomas; Ruffini, Fabrizio; Ruiz, Hugo; Ruiz Valls, Pablo; Sabatino, Giovanni; Saborido Silva, Juan Jose; Sagidova, Naylya; Sail, Paul; Saitta, Biagio; Salustino Guimaraes, Valdir; Sanchez Mayordomo, Carlos; Sanmartin Sedes, Brais; Santacesaria, Roberta; Santamarina Rios, Cibran; Santovetti, Emanuele; Sapunov, Matvey; Sarti, Alessio; Satriano, Celestina; Satta, Alessia; Saunders, Daniel Martin; Savrie, Mauro; Savrina, Darya; Schiller, Manuel; Schindler, Heinrich; Schlupp, Maximilian; Schmelling, Michael; Schmidt, Burkhard; Schneider, Olivier; Schopper, Andreas; Schune, Marie Helene; Schwemmer, Rainer; Sciascia, Barbara; Sciubba, Adalberto; Seco, Marcos; Semennikov, Alexander; Sepp, Indrek; Serra, Nicola; Serrano, Justine; Sestini, Lorenzo; Seyfert, Paul; Shapkin, Mikhail; Shapoval, Illya; Shcheglov, Yury; Shears, Tara; Shekhtman, Lev; Shevchenko, Vladimir; Shires, Alexander; Silva Coutinho, Rafael; Simi, Gabriele; Sirendi, Marek; Skidmore, Nicola; Skwarnicki, Tomasz; Smith, Anthony; Smith, Edmund; Smith, Eluned; Smith, Jackson; Smith, Mark; Snoek, Hella; Sokoloff, Michael; Soler, Paul; Soomro, Fatima; Souza, Daniel; Souza De Paula, Bruno; Spaan, Bernhard; Sparkes, Ailsa; Spradlin, Patrick; Stagni, Federico; Stahl, Marian; Stahl, Sascha; Steinkamp, Olaf; Stenyakin, Oleg; Stevenson, Scott; Stoica, Sabin; Stone, Sheldon; Storaci, Barbara; Stracka, Simone; Straticiuc, Mihai; Straumann, Ulrich; Stroili, Roberto; Subbiah, Vijay Kartik; Sun, Liang; Sutcliffe, William; Swientek, Krzysztof; Swientek, Stefan; Syropoulos, Vasileios; Szczekowski, Marek; Szczypka, Paul; Szilard, Daniela; Szumlak, Tomasz; T'Jampens, Stephane; Teklishyn, Maksym; Tellarini, Giulia; Teubert, Frederic; Thomas, Christopher; Thomas, Eric; van Tilburg, Jeroen; Tisserand, Vincent; Tobin, Mark; Tolk, Siim; Tomassetti, Luca; Topp-Joergensen, Stig; Torr, Nicholas; Tournefier, Edwige; Tourneur, Stephane; Tran, Minh Tâm; Tresch, Marco; Tsaregorodtsev, Andrei; Tsopelas, Panagiotis; Tuning, Niels; Ubeda Garcia, Mario; Ukleja, Artur; Ustyuzhanin, Andrey; Uwer, Ulrich; Vagnoni, Vincenzo; Valenti, Giovanni; Vallier, Alexis; Vazquez Gomez, Ricardo; Vazquez Regueiro, Pablo; Vázquez Sierra, Carlos; Vecchi, Stefania; Velthuis, Jaap; Veltri, Michele; Veneziano, Giovanni; Vesterinen, Mika; Viaud, Benoit; Vieira, Daniel; Vieites Diaz, Maria; Vilasis-Cardona, Xavier; Vollhardt, Achim; Volyanskyy, Dmytro; Voong, David; Vorobyev, Alexey; Vorobyev, Vitaly; Voß, Christian; Voss, Helge; de Vries, Jacco; Waldi, Roland; Wallace, Charlotte; Wallace, Ronan; Walsh, John; Wandernoth, Sebastian; Wang, Jianchun; Ward, David; Watson, Nigel; Websdale, David; Whitehead, Mark; Wicht, Jean; Wiedner, Dirk; Wilkinson, Guy; Williams, Matthew; Williams, Mike; Wilson, Fergus; Wimberley, Jack; Wishahi, Julian; Wislicki, Wojciech; Witek, Mariusz; Wormser, Guy; Wotton, Stephen; Wright, Simon; Wu, Suzhi; Wyllie, Kenneth; Xie, Yuehong; Xing, Zhou; Xu, Zhirui; Yang, Zhenwei; Yuan, Xuhao; Yushchenko, Oleg; Zangoli, Maria; Zavertyaev, Mikhail; Zhang, Liming; Zhang, Wen Chao; Zhang, Yanxi; Zhelezov, Alexey; Zhokhov, Anatoly; Zhong, Liang; Zvyagin, Alexander

    2014-01-01

    The difference in the angular distributions between beauty quarks and antiquarks, referred to as the charge asymmetry, is measured for the first time in $b\\bar{b}$ pair production at a hadron collider. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.0fb$^{-1}$ collected at 7TeV center-of-mass energy in proton-proton collisions with the LHCb detector. The measurement is performed in three regions of the invariant mass of the $b\\bar{b}$ system. The results obtained are: \\begin{eqnarray} A_{C}^{b\\bar{b}}(40 105\\,\\rm{GeV/c^2}) &=&1.6 \\pm 1.7(\\rm{stat}) \\pm 0.6(\\rm{syst})\\% \\end{eqnarray} where $A_{C}^{b\\bar{b}}$ is defined as the asymmetry in the difference in rapidity between jets formed from the beauty quark and antiquark. The beauty jets are required to satisfy $2 20$GeV, and have an opening angle in the transverse plane $\\Delta\\phi>2.6$rad. These measurements are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model.

  13. The "beauty arch: " a new aesthetic analysis for malar augmentation planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marianetti, Tito Matteo; Cozzolino, Salvatore; Torroni, Andrea; Gasparini, Giulio; Pelo, Sandro

    2015-05-01

    Midface is a critical area for the aesthetics of the face. Despite malar hypoplasia is often combined with a class III malocclusion, there are few studies focusing on the results of a combined approach of malar implants and Le Fort I. We describe a new aesthetic analysis, named "beauty arch" analysis, for the assessment of sagittal projection of the malar region. We took a reference group of 74 Italian women participating in a national beauty contest in 2011 on which we performed our analysis. We used the ideal values to elaborate the surgical treatment planning of a second group of 45 consecutive female patients affected by skeletal class III malocclusion.Twenty-three patients undergo simultaneous Le Fort I osteotomy and malar implants. From the descriptive statistical comparison of the patients' values before and after orthognathic surgery and malar implants with the reference values, we observed how all parameters considered got closer to the ideal population. We consider our beauty arch a useful help for surgeon in the treatment planning of patients with skeletal malocclusions and malar implants.

  14. Deficiency of FK506-binding protein (FKBP) 51 alters sleep architecture and recovery sleep responses to stress in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albu, Stefana; Romanowski, Christoph P N; Letizia Curzi, M; Jakubcakova, Vladimira; Flachskamm, Cornelia; Gassen, Nils C; Hartmann, Jakob; Schmidt, Mathias V; Schmidt, Ulrike; Rein, Theo; Holsboer, Florian; Hausch, Felix; Paez-Pereda, Marcelo; Kimura, Mayumi

    2014-04-01

    FK506-binding protein 51 (FKBP51) is a co-chaperone of the glucocorticoid receptor, functionally linked to its activity via an ultra-short negative feedback loop. Thus, FKBP51 plays an important regulatory role in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis necessary for stress adaptation and recovery. Previous investigations illustrated that HPA functionality is influenced by polymorphisms in the gene encoding FKBP51, which are associated with both increased protein levels and depressive episodes. Because FKBP51 is a key molecule in stress responses, we hypothesized that its deletion impacts sleep. To study FKBP51-involved changes in sleep, polysomnograms of FKBP51 knockout (KO) mice and wild-type (WT) littermates were compared at baseline and in the recovery phase after 6-h sleep deprivation (SD) and 1-h restraint stress (RS). Using another set of animals, the 24-h profiles of hippocampal free corticosterone levels were also determined. The most dominant effect of FKBP51 deletion appeared as increased nocturnal wake, where the bout length was significantly extended while non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) and rapid eye movement sleep were rather suppressed. After both SD and RS, FKBP51KO mice exhibited less recovery or rebound sleep than WTs, although slow-wave activity during NREMS was higher in KOs, particularly after SD. Sleep compositions of KOs were nearly opposite to sleep profiles observed in human depression. This might result from lower levels of free corticosterone in FKBP51KO mice, confirming reduced HPA reactivity. The results indicate that an FKBP51 deletion yields a pro-resilience sleep phenotype. FKBP51 could therefore be a therapeutic target for stress-induced mood and sleep disorders. © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.

  15. A three states sleep-waking model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Comte, J.C.; Schatzman, M.; Ravassard, P.; Luppi, P.H.; Salin, P.A.

    2006-01-01

    The mechanisms underlying the sleep-states periodicity in animals are a mystery of biology. Recent studies identified a new neuronal population activated during the slow wave sleep (SWS) in the ventral lateral preoptic area of the hypothalamus. Interactions between this neuronal population and the others populations implicated in the vigilance states (paradoxical sleep (PS) and wake (W)) dynamics are not determined. Thus, we propose here a sleep-waking theoretical model that depicts the potential interactions between the neuronal populations responsible for the three vigilance states. First, we pooled data from previous papers regarding the neuronal populations firing rate time course and characterized statistically the experimental hypnograms. Then, we constructed a nonlinear differential equations system describing the neuronal populations activity time course. A simple rule playing the firing threshold role applied to the model allows to construct a theoretical hypnogram. A random modulation of the neuronal activity, shows that theoretical hypnograms present a dynamics close to the experimental observations. Furthermore, we show that the wake promoting neurons activity can predict the next SWS episode duration

  16. The Mystery and Beauty of Total Solar Eclipses

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    ARTICLE. The Mystery and Beauty of Total Solar Eclipses. T Chandrasekhar is with the Astronomy and ..... Specialized instruments called coronagraphs, lo- cated at mountaintop ... Scientific studies of the solar eclipses began with the eclipse of. 1842 which ... a method simultaneously evolved by English spectroscopist.

  17. 76 FR 17485 - Pricing for America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coin Presentation Case

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY United States Mint Pricing for America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coin Presentation Case AGENCY: United States Mint, Department of the Treasury. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The United States Mint is announcing the price of the America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver...

  18. Sleep and inflammatory markers in different psychiatric disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krysta, Krzysztof; Krzystanek, Marek; Bratek, Agnieszka; Krupka-Matuszczyk, Irena

    2017-02-01

    Many psychiatric disorders, like schizophrenia, affective disorders, addictions and different forms of dementia are associated with sleep disturbances. In the etiology and course of those diseases inflammatory processes are regarded to be an increasingly important factor. They are also a frequently discussed element of the pathology of sleep. In this literature review reports on correlations between poor sleep and inflammatory responses in various psychiatric conditions are discussed. The link between schizophrenia, affective disorders and inflammatory cytokines is a complex phenomenon, which has been already confirmed in a number of studies. However, the presence of sleep deficits in those conditions, being a common symptom of depression and psychoses, can be an additional factor having a considerable impact on the immunological processes in mental illnesses. In the analyzed data, a number of studies are presented describing the role of inflammatory markers in sleep disturbances and psychopathological symptoms of affective, psychotic, neurogenerative and other disorders. Also attention is drawn to possible implications for their treatment. Efforts to use, e.g., anti-inflammatory agents in psychiatry in the context of their impact on sleep are reported. The aspect of inflammatory markers in the role of sleep deprivation as the treatment method in major depressive disorder is also discussed. A general conclusion is drawn that the improvement of sleep quality plays a crucial role in the care for psychiatric patients.

  19. Sleep disorders in pediatric chronic kidney disease patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stabouli, Stella; Papadimitriou, Eleni; Printza, Nikoleta; Dotis, John; Papachristou, Fotios

    2016-08-01

    The prevalence of sleep disorders during childhood has been estimated to range from 25 to 43 %. The aim of this review is to determine the prevalence of sleep disorders and possible associations with chronic kidney disease (CKD)-related factors and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children with CKD. An electronic systematic literature search for sleep disorders in children with CKD in Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane Library Databases identified seven relevant articles for review, all of which reported an increased prevalence of sleep disorders in children with CKD. Five studies included children with CKD undergoing dialysis, and two studies included only non-dialysis patients. In all studies the presence of sleep disturbances was assessed by questionnaires; only one study compared the results of a validated questionnaire with laboratory-based polysomnography. The prevalence of any sleep disorder ranged from 77 to 85 % in dialysis patients, to 32-50 % in transplanted patients and 40-50 % in non-dialysis patients. The most commonly studied disorder was restless legs syndrome, which presented at a prevalence of 10-35 %. Three studies showed significant associations between presence of sleep disorders and HRQOL. We found consistent evidence of an increased prevalence of sleep disturbances in children with CKD, and these seemed to play a critical role in HRQOL.

  20. Effects of a newly developed potent orexin-2 receptor-selective antagonist Compound1m on sleep/wake states in mice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keishi eEtori

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Orexins (also known as hypocretins, which are hypothalamic neuropeptides, play critical roles in the regulation of sleep/wakefulness states by activating two G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs, orexin 1 (OX1R and orexin 2 receptors (OX2R. In order to know the difference between effects of OX2R-selective antagonists (2-SORA and dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORA, and to understand the mechanisms underlying orexin-mediated regulation of sleep/wakefulness states, we examined the effects of a newly developed 2-SORA, Compound 1m (C1m, and a DORA, suvorexant, on sleep/wakefulness states in C57BL/6J mice. After oral administration in the dark period, both C1m and suvorexant exhibited potent sleep-promoting properties with similar efficacy in a dose-dependent manner. While C1m did not increase NREM and REM sleep episode durations, suvorexant induced longer episode durations of NREM and REM sleep as compared with both the vehicle- and C1m-administered groups. When compounds were injected during light period, C1m did not show a significant change in sleep/wakefulness states in the light period, whereas suvorexant slightly but significantly increased the sleep time. We also found that C1m did not affect the time of REM sleep, while suvorexant markedly increased it. This suggests that although OX1R-mediated pathway plays a pivotal role in promoting wakefulness, OX1R-mediated pathway also plays an additional role. OX1R-mediated pathway also plays a role in suppression of REM sleep. Fos-immunostaining showed that both compounds affected the activity of arousal-related neurons with different patterns. These results suggest partly overlapping and partly distinct roles of orexin receptors in the regulation of sleep/wakefulness states.

  1. [The relationship between sleep and obesity: current perspective].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piskáčková, Zlata; Forejt, Martin; Martykánová, Lucie

    2012-01-01

    Disruption of circadian rhythms negatively affects regulation of metabolism and energy homeostasis. Disrupted metabolism in response to disrupted biological rhythms might lead, together with genetic background, to obesity and to other health complications. Results of epidemiologic surveys are consistent with mechanistic theory showing the interconnection between the biological rhythms, sleep and metabolism. Epidemiologic surveys confirm that sleep duration of less than 6 hours increases significantly the risk of obesity. Systematic reviews of epidemiologic surveys examining association of sleep and obesity refer to large heterogeneity in involved subjects, methodological approaches of measuring obesity and sleep, and confounders. Design of study plays also essential role in interpretation and definition of causal relationship. Reduced sleep duration in relation to obesity is in the literature discussed from different points of view: 1. as a possible primary cause of obesity, 2. as a result of comorbidities resulting from obesity and 3. as an accompanied part of the third factor contributing to obesity (e.g. long working hours, chronic emotional stress, overusing of media). Causal relationship between sleep and obesity is not yet fully elucidated, however the association is supposed to be bidirectional. The article gives an overview of current knowledge concerning the influence of sleep on the development of obesity and points to the critical points of current research.

  2. Reconstruction: Meltdown in the Midst of Beauty

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    denise

    This stir of memory led me to write down my story. ... beauty of courage, time, and deep listening, as examined through the experiences of fear of the new and of my .... Suzy and Marsha, the two studio teachers and long term .... I turn my attention to the video camera and think, ..... Psychology & Psychotherapy, 1(1), 56-64.

  3. Sleep-related hippocampo-cortical interplay during emotional memory recollection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Virginie Sterpenich

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Emotional events are usually better remembered than neutral ones. This effect is mediated in part by a modulation of the hippocampus by the amygdala. Sleep plays a role in the consolidation of declarative memory. We examined the impact of sleep and lack of sleep on the consolidation of emotional (negative and positive memories at the macroscopic systems level. Using functional MRI (fMRI, we compared the neural correlates of successful recollection by humans of emotional and neutral stimuli, 72 h after encoding, with or without total sleep deprivation during the first post-encoding night. In contrast to recollection of neutral and positive stimuli, which was deteriorated by sleep deprivation, similar recollection levels were achieved for negative stimuli in both groups. Successful recollection of emotional stimuli elicited larger responses in the hippocampus and various cortical areas, including the medial prefrontal cortex, in the sleep group than in the sleep deprived group. This effect was consistent across subjects for negative items but depended linearly on individual memory performance for positive items. In addition, the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex were functionally more connected during recollection of either negative or positive than neutral items, and more so in sleeping than in sleep-deprived subjects. In the sleep-deprived group, recollection of negative items elicited larger responses in the amygdala and an occipital area than in the sleep group. In contrast, no such difference in brain responses between groups was associated with recollection of positive stimuli. The results suggest that the emotional significance of memories influences their sleep-dependent systems-level consolidation. The recruitment of hippocampo-neocortical networks during recollection is enhanced after sleep and is hindered by sleep deprivation. After sleep deprivation, recollection of negative, potentially dangerous, memories recruits an alternate

  4. Measurement of beauty-production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA II

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kahle, B.

    2006-04-15

    This thesis presents a measurement of beauty quark production in deep inelastic scattering at the ep-collider HERA at {radical}(s)=318 GeV. The measurement is based on data collected at the ZEUS detector in the years 2003/2004, using an integrated luminosity of 39 pb{sup -1}. In the analysis presented in this thesis, events were selected that contain a scattered electron, a jet and a muon inside the jet. The fraction of events from beauty quark production was extracted using the characteristic distribution of the transverse momenta of muons relative to the associated jets. The total visible cross section was measured to be: {sigma}{sup b} {sup anti} {sup b}(ep{yields}eb anti b X{yields}e jet{mu}X')=57.9{+-}5.8(stat.){sup +3.5}{sub -8.1}(syst.) pb in the kinematic region defined by: Q{sup 2}>4 GeV{sup 2}, y>0.05 und y<0.7, one jet originating from a beauty quark with: E{sup jet}{sub t,lab}>5 GeV und -2<{eta}{sup jet}<2.5 and a muon originating from a beauty quark decay (direct or indirect) included in this jet with: p{sup {mu}}{sub t}>1.5 GeV and {eta}{sup {mu}}>-1.6. Differential cross sections were measured in p{sup {mu}}{sub t} and {eta}{sup {mu}}, in p{sup jet}{sub t} and {eta}{sup jet} and in Q{sup 2}.Furthermore double differential cross sections d{sup 2}{sigma}/dQ{sup 2}dx were measured. (Orig.)

  5. Sleep duration and insulin resistance in healthy black and white adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthews, Karen A; Dahl, Ronald E; Owens, Jane F; Lee, Laisze; Hall, Martica

    2012-10-01

    Poor sleep may play a role in insulin resistance and diabetes risk. Yet few studies of sleep and insulin resistance have focused on the important developmental period of adolescence. To address this gap, we examined the association of sleep and insulin resistance in healthy adolescents. Cross-sectional. Community setting in one high school. 245 (137 African Americans, 116 males) high school students. Participants provided a fasting blood draw and kept a sleep log and wore a wrist actigraph for one week during the school year. Participants' families were from low to middle class based on family Hollingshead scores. Total sleep time across the week averaged 7.4 h by diary and 6.4 h by actigraph; homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance ([HOMA-IR] unadjusted) averaged 4.13. Linear regression analyses adjusted for age, race, gender, body mass index, and waist circumference showed that the shorter the sleep, the higher the HOMA-IR, primarily due to sleep duration during the week. No evidence was found for long sleep being associated with elevated HOMA-IR. Fragmented sleep was not associated with HOMA-IR but was associated with glucose levels. Reduced sleep duration is associated with HOMA-IR in adolescence. Long sleep duration is not associated. Interventions to extend sleep duration may reduce diabetes risk in youth.

  6. A global quantification of “normal” sleep schedules using smartphone data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walch, Olivia J.; Cochran, Amy; Forger, Daniel B.

    2016-01-01

    The influence of the circadian clock on sleep scheduling has been studied extensively in the laboratory; however, the effects of society on sleep remain largely unquantified. We show how a smartphone app that we have developed, ENTRAIN, accurately collects data on sleep habits around the world. Through mathematical modeling and statistics, we find that social pressures weaken and/or conceal biological drives in the evening, leading individuals to delay their bedtime and shorten their sleep. A country’s average bedtime, but not average wake time, predicts sleep duration. We further show that mathematical models based on controlled laboratory experiments predict qualitative trends in sunrise, sunset, and light level; however, these effects are attenuated in the real world around bedtime. Additionally, we find that women schedule more sleep than men and that users reporting that they are typically exposed to outdoor light go to sleep earlier and sleep more than those reporting indoor light. Finally, we find that age is the primary determinant of sleep timing, and that age plays an important role in the variability of population-level sleep habits. This work better defines and personalizes “normal” sleep, produces hypotheses for future testing in the laboratory, and suggests important ways to counteract the global sleep crisis. PMID:27386531

  7. Consensus on Changing Trends, Attitudes, and Concepts of Asian Beauty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liew, Steven; Wu, Woffles T L; Chan, Henry H; Ho, Wilson W S; Kim, Hee-Jin; Goodman, Greg J; Peng, Peter H L; Rogers, John D

    2016-04-01

    Asians increasingly seek non-surgical facial esthetic treatments, especially at younger ages. Published recommendations and clinical evidence mostly reference Western populations, but Asians differ from them in terms of attitudes to beauty, structural facial anatomy, and signs and rates of aging. A thorough knowledge of the key esthetic concerns and requirements for the Asian face is required to strategize appropriate facial esthetic treatments with botulinum toxin and hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers. The Asian Facial Aesthetics Expert Consensus Group met to develop consensus statements on concepts of facial beauty, key esthetic concerns, facial anatomy, and aging in Southeastern and Eastern Asians, as a prelude to developing consensus opinions on the cosmetic facial use of botulinum toxin and HA fillers in these populations. Beautiful and esthetically attractive people of all races share similarities in appearance while retaining distinct ethnic features. Asians between the third and sixth decades age well compared with age-matched Caucasians. Younger Asians' increasing requests for injectable treatments to improve facial shape and three-dimensionality often reflect a desire to correct underlying facial structural deficiencies or weaknesses that detract from ideals of facial beauty. Facial esthetic treatments in Asians are not aimed at Westernization, but rather the optimization of intrinsic Asian ethnic features, or correction of specific underlying structural features that are perceived as deficiencies. Thus, overall facial attractiveness is enhanced while retaining esthetic characteristics of Asian ethnicity. Because Asian patients age differently than Western patients, different management and treatment planning strategies are utilized. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www

  8. Effect of escitalopram combined with zolpidem on sleep structure, sleep process and neurotransmitter in elderly patients with chronic insomnia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ji-Peng Zhu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To analyze the effect of escitalopram combined with zolpidem on sleep structure, sleep process and neurotransmitter in elderly patients with chronic insomnia. Methods: A total of 112 elderly patients with chronic insomnia treated in our hospital were included in the study and randomly divided into observation group and control group (n=56. Control group received zolpidem therapy alone, observation group received escitalopram combined with zolpidem therapy, and then differences in sleep structure and process, neurotransmitter, stress hormones, hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis indexes and so on were compared between two groups of patients. Results: The sleep structure and sleep process parameters SL, RL and S2 levels of observation group after treatment were significantly lower than those of control group while TST, S3 and REM levels were significantly higher than those of control group; Orexin, ACTH, 5-HT, NE, CRH, E, AngⅡ, Cor, ALD, DA and TGA content in serum were significantly lower than those of control group while T3, T4, TSH and TRH content were significantly higher than those of control group. Conclusions: Escitalopram combined with zolpidem can optimize the sleep structure and process in elderly patients with chronic insomnia, and also plays a prominent role in regulating the body's homeostasis.

  9. Effect of escitalopram combined with zolpidem on sleep structure, sleep process and neurotransmitter in elderly patients with chronic insomnia

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Ji-Peng Zhu

    2016-01-01

    Objective:To analyze the effect of escitalopram combined with zolpidem on sleep structure, sleep process and neurotransmitter in elderly patients with chronic insomnia.Methods:A total of 112 elderly patients with chronic insomnia treated in our hospital were included in the study and randomly divided into observation group and control group (n=56). Control group received zolpidem therapy alone, observation group received escitalopram combined with zolpidem therapy, and then differences in sleep structure and process, neurotransmitter, stress hormones, hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis indexes and so on were compared between two groups of patients.Results: The sleep structure and sleep process parameters SL, RL and S2 levels of observation group after treatment were significantly lower than those of control group while TST, S3 and REM levels were significantly higher than those of control group; Orexin, ACTH, 5-HT, NE, CRH, E, AngⅡ, Cor, ALD, DA and TGA content in serum were significantly lower than those of control group while T3, T4, TSH and TRH content were significantly higher than those of control group.Conclusions:Escitalopram combined with zolpidem can optimize the sleep structure and process in elderly patients with chronic insomnia, and also plays a prominent role in regulating the body's homeostasis.

  10. Sleep less and bite more: sleep disorders associated with occlusal loads during sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kato, Takafumi; Yamaguchi, Taihiko; Okura, Kazuo; Abe, Susumu; Lavigne, Gilles J

    2013-04-01

    Occlusal overload during sleep is a significant clinical issue that has negative impacts on the maintenance of teeth and the longevity of dental prostheses. Sleep is usually viewed as an 'out-of-functional' mode for masticatory muscles. However, orodental structures and prostheses are not free from occlusal loads during sleep since masticatory muscles can be activated at a low level within normal sleep continuity. Thus, an increase in masticatory muscle contractions, by whatever the cause, can be associated with a risk of increased occlusal loads during sleep. Among such conditions, sleep bruxism (SB) is a type of sleep-related movement disorders with potential load challenge to the tooth and orofacial structures. Patients with SB usually report frequent tooth grinding noises during sleep and there is a consecutive increase in number and strength of rhythmic masticatory muscle activity (RMMA). Other types of masticatory muscle contractions can be non-specifically activated during sleep, such as brief contractions with tooth tapping, sleep talking, non-rhythmic contractions related to non-specific body movements, etc.; these occur more frequently in sleep disorders. Studies have shown that clinical signs and symptoms of SB can be found in patients with sleep disorders. In addition, sleep becomes compromised with aging process, and a prevalence of most sleep disorders is high in the elderly populations, in which prosthodontic rehabilitations are more required. Therefore, the recognition and understanding of the role of sleep disorders can provide a comprehensive vision for prosthodontic rehabilitations when prosthodontists manage complex orodental cases needing interdisciplinary collaborations between dentistry and sleep medicine. Copyright © 2013 Japan Prosthodontic Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Sleep-Active Neurons: Conserved Motors of Sleep

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bringmann, Henrik

    2018-01-01

    Sleep is crucial for survival and well-being. This behavioral and physiological state has been studied in all major genetically accessible model animals, including rodents, fish, flies, and worms. Genetic and optogenetic studies have identified several neurons that control sleep, making it now possible to compare circuit mechanisms across species. The “motor” of sleep across animal species is formed by neurons that depolarize at the onset of sleep to actively induce this state by directly inhibiting wakefulness. These sleep-inducing neurons are themselves controlled by inhibitory or activating upstream pathways, which act as the “drivers” of the sleep motor: arousal inhibits “sleep-active” neurons whereas various sleep-promoting “tiredness” pathways converge onto sleep-active neurons to depolarize them. This review provides the first overview of sleep-active neurons across the major model animals. The occurrence of sleep-active neurons and their regulation by upstream pathways in both vertebrate and invertebrate species suggests that these neurons are general and ancient components that evolved early in the history of nervous systems. PMID:29618588

  12. Sleep Disorders

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rahbek Kornum, Birgitte; Mignot, Emmanuel

    2014-01-01

    mediates circadian regulation of sleep. Misalignment with the rhythm of the sun results in circadian disorders and jet lag. The molecular basis of homeostatic sleep regulation is mostly unknown. A network of mutually inhibitory brain nuclei regulates sleep states and sleep-wake transitions. Abnormalities...... in these networks create sleep disorders, including rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, sleep walking, and narcolepsy. Physiological changes associated with sleep can be imbalanced, resulting in excess movements such as periodic leg movements during sleep or abnormal breathing in obstructive sleep apneas....... As every organ in the body is affected by sleep directly or indirectly, sleep and sleep-associated disorders are frequent and only now starting to be understood....

  13. Regulation of sleep by neuropeptide Y-like system in Drosophila melanogaster.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chunxia He

    Full Text Available Sleep is important for maintenance of normal physiology in animals. In mammals, neuropeptide Y (NPY, a homolog of Drosophila neuropeptide F (NPF, is involved in sleep regulation, with different effects in human and rat. However, the function of NPF on sleep in Drosophila melanogaster has not yet been described. In this study, we investigated the effects of NPF and its receptor-neuropeptide F receptor (NPFR1 on Drosophila sleep. Male flies over-expressing NPF or NPFR1 exhibited increased sleep during the nighttime. Further analysis demonstrated that sleep episode duration during nighttime was greatly increased and sleep latency was significantly reduced, indicating that NPF and NPFR1 promote sleep quality, and their action on sleep is not because of an impact of the NPF signal system on development. Moreover, the homeostatic regulation of flies after sleep deprivation was disrupted by altered NPF signaling, since sleep deprivation decreased transcription of NPF in control flies, and there were less sleep loss during sleep deprivation and less sleep gain after sleep deprivation in flies overexpressing NPF and NPFR1 than in control flies, suggesting that NPF system auto-regulation plays an important role in sleep homeostasis. However, these effects did not occur in females, suggesting a sex-dependent regulatory function in sleep for NPF and NPFR1. NPF in D1 brain neurons showed male-specific expression, providing the cellular locus for male-specific regulation of sleep by NPF and NPFR1. This study brings a new understanding into sleep studies of a sexually dimorphic regulatory mode in female and male flies.

  14. Sleep in the human hippocampus: a stereo-EEG study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Moroni

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: There is compelling evidence indicating that sleep plays a crucial role in the consolidation of new declarative, hippocampus-dependent memories. Given the increasing interest in the spatiotemporal relationships between cortical and hippocampal activity during sleep, this study aimed to shed more light on the basic features of human sleep in the hippocampus. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We recorded intracerebral stereo-EEG directly from the hippocampus and neocortical sites in five epileptic patients undergoing presurgical evaluations. The time course of classical EEG frequency bands during the first three NREM-REM sleep cycles of the night was evaluated. We found that delta power shows, also in the hippocampus, the progressive decrease across sleep cycles, indicating that a form of homeostatic regulation of delta activity is present also in this subcortical structure. Hippocampal sleep was also characterized by: i a lower relative power in the slow oscillation range during NREM sleep compared to the scalp EEG; ii a flattening of the time course of the very low frequencies (up to 1 Hz across sleep cycles, with relatively high levels of power even during REM sleep; iii a decrease of power in the beta band during REM sleep, at odds with the typical increase of power in the cortical recordings. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data imply that cortical slow oscillation is attenuated in the hippocampal structures during NREM sleep. The most peculiar feature of hippocampal sleep is the increased synchronization of the EEG rhythms during REM periods. This state of resonance may have a supportive role for the processing/consolidation of memory.

  15. Measurement of beauty quark production from dimuon events with the ZEUS detector at HERA II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bot, Danny

    2011-10-01

    In this thesis, a measurement of beauty quark production via the process ep→e'b anti bX→e'μμX in electron-proton collisions at HERA using a data sample recorded by the ZEUS detector in the years 2003-2007, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 376 pb -1 , is presented. A low transverse momentum threshold for muon identification in combination with the large rapidity coverage of the ZEUS muon-detection system gives access to essentially the full phase space for beauty quark production. Dimuon charge correlations as well as hadronic isolation and the mass of the dimuon system were used to separate the beauty signal from backgrounds. Visible, differential and total cross sections for beauty quark production were measured and compared to next-to-leading order QCD calculations and previous measurements. In addition, a first search for QCD instanton-induced processes containing both a charm- and beauty-quark pair in dimuon events was performed. In order to differentiate between beauty and instanton events, discriminating observables sensitive to the hadronic final state, so-called event shape variables, were used in combination with the dimuon requirement. As technical part of this thesis, the reconstruction algorithm for so-called energy flow objects (EFOs) was modified. EFOs contain the combined information of primary and secondary vertex-fitted tracks as well as CAL energy measurements. The modification considers additional tracks close to but not fitted to the primary vertex and which fulfill reasonable track and impact parameter requirements. As a result, the efficiency to reconstruct muon candidates with high impact parameter values as energy flow objects was increased. (orig.)

  16. Measurement of beauty quark production from dimuon events with the ZEUS detector at HERA II

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bot, Danny

    2011-10-15

    In this thesis, a measurement of beauty quark production via the process ep{yields}e'b anti bX{yields}e'{mu}{mu}X in electron-proton collisions at HERA using a data sample recorded by the ZEUS detector in the years 2003-2007, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 376 pb{sup -1}, is presented. A low transverse momentum threshold for muon identification in combination with the large rapidity coverage of the ZEUS muon-detection system gives access to essentially the full phase space for beauty quark production. Dimuon charge correlations as well as hadronic isolation and the mass of the dimuon system were used to separate the beauty signal from backgrounds. Visible, differential and total cross sections for beauty quark production were measured and compared to next-to-leading order QCD calculations and previous measurements. In addition, a first search for QCD instanton-induced processes containing both a charm- and beauty-quark pair in dimuon events was performed. In order to differentiate between beauty and instanton events, discriminating observables sensitive to the hadronic final state, so-called event shape variables, were used in combination with the dimuon requirement. As technical part of this thesis, the reconstruction algorithm for so-called energy flow objects (EFOs) was modified. EFOs contain the combined information of primary and secondary vertex-fitted tracks as well as CAL energy measurements. The modification considers additional tracks close to but not fitted to the primary vertex and which fulfill reasonable track and impact parameter requirements. As a result, the efficiency to reconstruct muon candidates with high impact parameter values as energy flow objects was increased. (orig.)

  17. Sleep in healthy black and white adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthews, Karen A; Hall, Martica; Dahl, Ronald E

    2014-05-01

    Inadequate sleep among adolescents has negative consequences for self-regulation, emotional well-being, and risk behaviors. Using multiple assessment methods, we evaluated the adequacy of sleep among healthy adolescents from a lower socioeconomic community and expected differences by race. A total of 250 healthy high school students enrolled in public school (mean age: 15.7 years; 57% black, 54% female) from families of low to middle class according to the Hollingshead scale participated in weeklong assessments of sleep duration and fragmentation, assessed by using actigraphy; sleep duration and perceived quality, assessed by using daily diaries; and daytime sleepiness and sleep delay, assessed by using a questionnaire. Students slept during the school week a mean ± SD of 6.0 ± 0.9 hours per night according to actigraphy and 6.8 ± 1.1 hours according to daily diary, and during the weekend, a mean of 7.4 ± 1.2 and 8.7 ± 1.4 hours, respectively. Black participants and male participants slept less and had more fragmented sleep; female participants reported poorer quality of sleep in their daily diaries and more daytime sleepiness. The results remained significant after adjustments for age, physical activity, smoking status, and percentile BMI. Most students slept less than the 8 to 9 hours suggested by the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black male participants had the least amount of sleep, which may play a role in the substantial risks experienced by this demographic group. Our findings are consistent with recommendations that pediatricians should routinely screen their adolescent patients about their sleep, especially those from at-risk subgroups. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  18. Sociodemographic and cultural determinants of sleep deficiency: implications for cardiometabolic disease risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knutson, Kristen L

    2013-02-01

    Sleep is a biological imperative associated with cardiometabolic disease risk. As such, a thorough discussion of the sociocultural and demographic determinants of sleep is warranted, if not overdue. This paper begins with a brief review of the laboratory and epidemiologic evidence linking sleep deficiency, which includes insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality, with increased risk of chronic cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Identification of the determinants of sleep deficiency is the critical next step to understanding the role sleep plays in human variation in health and disease. Therefore, the majority of this paper describes the different biopsychosocial determinants of sleep, including age, gender, psychosocial factors (depression, stress and loneliness), socioeconomic position and race/ethnicity. In addition, because sleep duration is partly determined by behavior, it will be shaped by cultural values, beliefs and practices. Therefore, possible cultural differences that may impact sleep are discussed. If certain cultural, ethnic or social groups are more likely to experience sleep deficiency, then these differences in sleep could increase their risk of cardiometabolic diseases. Furthermore, if the mechanisms underlying the increased risk of sleep deficiency in certain populations can be identified, interventions could be developed to target these mechanisms, reduce sleep differences and potentially reduce cardiometabolic disease risk. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. The beautiful invisible creativity, imagination, and theoretical physics

    CERN Document Server

    Vignale, Giovanni

    2011-01-01

    Challenging the image of theoretical physics as a dry discipline, The Beautiful Invisible shows that this highly abstract science is in fact teeming with beautiful concepts, and the task of imagining them demands profound creativity, just as creative as the work of poets or magical realist novelists such as Borges and Musil. "A good scientific theory is like a symbolic tale, an allegory of reality," writes Giovanni Vignale, as he uncovers the unexpected links between theoretical physics and artistic creativity. In engaging and at times poetic prose, and with ample quotations from many of the writers he admires, Vignale presents his own unorthodox accounts of fundamental theoretical concepts such as Newtonian mechanics, superconductivity, and Einstein's theory of relativity, illuminating their profound implications. Throughout, the author treats readers to glimpses of physics as "exercised in the still night, when only the moon rages." Indeed, as we delve behind now-familiar concepts such as "electron spin" an...

  20. Physics analysis tools for beauty physics in ATLAS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anastopoulos, C; Bouhova-Thacker, E; Catmore, J; Mora, L de; Dallison, S; Derue, F; Epp, B; Jussel, P; Kaczmarska, A; Radziewski, H v; Stahl, T; Reznicek, P

    2008-01-01

    The Large Hadron Collider experiments will search for physics phenomena beyond the Standard Model. Highly sensitive tests of beauty hadrons will represent an alternative approach to this research. The analysis of complex decay chains of the beauty hadrons have to efficiently extract the detector tracks made by these reactions and reject other events in order to make sufficiently precise measurement. This places severe demands on the software used to analyze the B-physics data. The ATLAS B-physics group has written a series of tools and algorithms for performing these tasks, to be run within the ATLAS offline software framework Athena. This paper describes this analysis suite, paying particular attention to mechanisms for handling combinatorics, interfaces to secondary vertex fitting packages, B-flavor tagging tools and finally Monte Carlo true information association to pursue simulation data in process of the software validations which is an important part of the development of the physics analysis tools

  1. Abnormal secretion of melatonin and cortisol in relation to sleep disturbances in children with Williams syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sniecinska-Cooper, Anna Maria; Iles, Ray Kruse; Butler, Stephen Andrew; Jones, Huw; Bayford, Richard; Dimitriou, Dagmara

    2015-01-01

    A high rate of sleep disturbances has been reported in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) but the underlying aetiology has yet to be identified. Melatonin and cortisol levels display circadian rhythmicity and are known to affect and regulate sleep/wake patterns. The current study examined the levels of these two endocrine markers and explored a possible relationship with sleep patterns in children with WS. Twenty-five children with WS and 27 typically developing age- and gender-matched comparison children were recruited. Saliva was collected from each child at three time points: 4-6 pm, before natural bedtime, and after awakening. The levels of salivary melatonin and cortisol were analysed by specific enzyme-linked immunoassays. Sleep patterns were examined using actigraphy and the Children's Sleep Habit Questionnaire. The WS group had shallower drops in cortisol and less pronounced increase in melatonin at bedtime compared to the controls. Furthermore, they also had significantly higher levels of cortisol before bedtime. Increased bedtime cortisol and less pronounced rise in melatonin levels before sleep may play a role in the occurrence of sleep disturbances, such as delayed sleep onset, observed in children with WS. As both markers play a significant role in our circadian rhythm and sleep/wake cycle, it is necessary to examine sleep using multi-system analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. What flowers do we like? The influence of shape and color on the rating of flower beauty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Hůla

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available There is no doubt that people find flowers beautiful. Surprisingly, we know very little about the actual properties which make flowers so appealing to humans. Although the evolutionary aesthetics provides some theories concerning generally preferred flower traits, empirical evidence is largely missing. In this study, we used an online survey in which residents of the Czech Republic (n = 2006 rated the perceived beauty of 52 flower stimuli of diverse shapes and colors. Colored flowers were preferred over their uncolored versions. When controlling for flower shape, we found an unequal preference for different flower colors, blue being the most and yellow the least preferred. In the overall assessment of beauty, shape was more important than color. Prototypical flowers, i.e., radially symmetrical flowers with low complexity, were rated as the most beautiful. We also found a positive effect of sharp flower contours and blue color on the overall rating of flower beauty. The results may serve as a basis for further studies in some areas of the people-plant interaction research.

  3. What flowers do we like? The influence of shape and color on the rating of flower beauty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flegr, Jaroslav

    2016-01-01

    There is no doubt that people find flowers beautiful. Surprisingly, we know very little about the actual properties which make flowers so appealing to humans. Although the evolutionary aesthetics provides some theories concerning generally preferred flower traits, empirical evidence is largely missing. In this study, we used an online survey in which residents of the Czech Republic (n = 2006) rated the perceived beauty of 52 flower stimuli of diverse shapes and colors. Colored flowers were preferred over their uncolored versions. When controlling for flower shape, we found an unequal preference for different flower colors, blue being the most and yellow the least preferred. In the overall assessment of beauty, shape was more important than color. Prototypical flowers, i.e., radially symmetrical flowers with low complexity, were rated as the most beautiful. We also found a positive effect of sharp flower contours and blue color on the overall rating of flower beauty. The results may serve as a basis for further studies in some areas of the people-plant interaction research. PMID:27330863

  4. Impact of Acute Sleep Deprivation on Sarcasm Detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deliens, Gaétane; Stercq, Fanny; Mary, Alison; Slama, Hichem; Cleeremans, Axel; Peigneux, Philippe; Kissine, Mikhail

    2015-01-01

    There is growing evidence that sleep plays a pivotal role on health, cognition and emotional regulation. However, the interplay between sleep and social cognition remains an uncharted research area. In particular, little is known about the impact of sleep deprivation on sarcasm detection, an ability which, once altered, may hamper everyday social interactions. The aim of this study is to determine whether sleep-deprived participants are as able as sleep-rested participants to adopt another perspective in gauging sarcastic statements. At 9am, after a whole night of sleep (n = 15) or a sleep deprivation night (n = 15), participants had to read the description of an event happening to a group of friends. An ambiguous voicemail message left by one of the friends on another's phone was then presented, and participants had to decide whether the recipient would perceive the message as sincere or as sarcastic. Messages were uttered with a neutral intonation and were either: (1) sarcastic from both the participant's and the addressee's perspectives (i.e. both had access to the relevant background knowledge to gauge the message as sarcastic), (2) sarcastic from the participant's but not from the addressee's perspective (i.e. the addressee lacked context knowledge to detect sarcasm) or (3) sincere. A fourth category consisted in messages sarcastic from both the participant's and from the addressee's perspective, uttered with a sarcastic tone. Although sleep-deprived participants were as accurate as sleep-rested participants in interpreting the voice message, they were also slower. Blunted reaction time was not fully explained by generalized cognitive slowing after sleep deprivation; rather, it could reflect a compensatory mechanism supporting normative accuracy level in sarcasm understanding. Introducing prosodic cues compensated for increased processing difficulties in sarcasm detection after sleep deprivation. Our findings support the hypothesis that sleep deprivation might

  5. Beauty, Knowledge, and Terror: A Phenomenological-Syllogistic Exploration of the Aesthetics of the Educative Moment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, James

    2016-01-01

    In this text, I outline the relationship between beauty, knowledge, and terror through a syllogism and an exploration of each term individually. Before undertaking a full analysis of the interrelationships between beauty, knowledge, and terror, I would provide two illustrations: a visual representation of the proposed syllogism, and a description…

  6. Being an online celebrity: Norms and expectations of YouTube’s beauty community

    OpenAIRE

    García-Rapp, Florencia; Roca-Cuberes, Carles

    2017-01-01

    This paper is based on 22 months of online fieldwork examining YouTube’s beauty community, specifically the beauty guru Bubz, her uploaded content, and user comments. We aim to conceptualize central community-specific dynamics and practices, particularly those related to self-presentation and identity management and their affordances for legitimized online popularity. We explain how the guru’s successful online persona is based on a performative blend of relatable, down-to-earth values paired...

  7. Adolescents' sleep behaviors and perceptions of sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noland, Heather; Price, James H; Dake, Joseph; Telljohann, Susan K

    2009-05-01

    Sleep duration affects the health of children and adolescents. Shorter sleep durations have been associated with poorer academic performance, unintentional injuries, and obesity in adolescents. This study extends our understanding of how adolescents perceive and deal with their sleep issues. General education classes were randomly selected from a convenience sample of three high schools in the Midwest. Three hundred eighty-four ninth- to twelfth-grade students (57%) completed a self-administered valid and reliable questionnaire on sleep behaviors and perceptions of sleep. Most respondents (91.9%) obtained inadequate sleep (sleep each week night. The majority indicated that not getting enough sleep had the following effects on them: being more tired during the day (93.7%), having difficulty paying attention (83.6%), lower grades (60.8%), increase in stress (59.0%), and having difficulty getting along with others (57.7%). Some students reported engaging in harmful behaviors to help them sleep: taking sleeping pills (6.0%), smoking a cigarette to relax (5.7%), and drinking alcohol in the evening (2.9%). Students who received fewer hours of sleep were significantly more likely to report being stressed (p = .02) and were more likely to be overweight (p = .04). Inadequate sleep time may be contributing to adolescent health problems such as increased stress and obesity. Findings indicate a need for sleep hygiene education for adolescents and their parents. A long-term solution to chronic sleep deprivation among high school students could include delaying high school start times, such as was done successfully in the Minneapolis Public School District.

  8. A Neuron-Based Model of Sleep-Wake Cycles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Postnova, Svetlana; Peters, Achim; Braun, Hans

    2008-03-01

    In recent years it was discovered that a neuropeptide orexin/hypocretin plays a main role in sleep processes. This peptide is produced by the neurons in the lateral hypothalamus, which project to almost all brain areas. We present a computational model of sleep-wake cycles, which is based on the Hodgkin-Huxley type neurons and considers reciprocal glutaminergic projections between the lateral hypothalamus and the prefrontal cortex. Orexin is released as a neuromodulator and is required to keep the neurons firing, which corresponds to the wake state. When orexin is depleted the neurons are getting silent as observed in the sleep state. They can be reactivated by the circadian signal from the suprachiasmatic nucleus and/or external stimuli (alarm clock). Orexin projections to the thalamocortical neurons also can account for their transition from tonic firing activity during wakefulness to synchronized burst discharges during sleep.

  9. Stilbene Glucoside, a Putative Sleep Promoting Constituent from Polygonum multiflorum Affects Sleep Homeostasis by Affecting the Activities of Lactate Dehydrogenase and Salivary Alpha Amylase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Qian; Ta, Guang; He, Wenjing; Wang, Wei; Wu, Qiucheng

    2017-01-01

    Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been used for treating insomnia for centuries. The most used CHM for insomnia was Polygonum multiflorum. However, the molecular mechanism for CHM preventing insomnia is unknown. Stilbene glucoside (THSG), an important active component of P. multiflorum, may play an important role for treating insomnia. To test the hypothesis, Kunming mice were treated with different dosages of THSG. To examine the sleep duration, a computer-controlled sleep-wake detection system was implemented. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) electrodes were implanted to determine sleep-wake state. RT-PCR and Western blot was used to measure the levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and saliva alpha amylase. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to identify the strength of correlation between the variables. The results showed that THSG significantly prolonged the sleep time of the mice (palpha amylase (palpha amylase (pamylase were negatively associated with sleep duration (palpha amylase.

  10. Subjective sleep quality, unstimulated sexual arousal, and sexual frequency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rui Costa

    Full Text Available Introduction: REM sleep deprivation increases unstimulated erections in rats, and total sleep deprivation increases erections during audiovisual sexual stimulation in men, but the effects of sleep problems on human unstimulated sexual arousal are unknown. Objective: We examined the associations of subjective sleep quality with unstimulated sexual arousal, satisfaction with sex life, and sexual frequency and desire over the past month. Methods: 275 Portuguese (169 women reported their anxiety, sexual arousal and sexual desire during a resting state, and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the sexual satisfaction subscale of the LiSat scale, the Desire dimensions of the Female Sexual Function Index (women only and International Index of Erectile Function (men only. They additionally reported how many days in the past month they engaged in penile-vaginal intercourse, noncoital sex, and masturbation. Salivary testosterone (T was assayed by luminescence immunoassays. Results: Poorer sleep quality correlated with greater unstimulated sexual arousal in men with higher T levels and in women with higher T levels not taking oral contraceptives. In women with lower T, poorer subjective sleep quality correlated with greater sexual dissatisfaction. In both sexes, sleep quality was uncorrelated with sexual desire and sexual frequency over the past month. Discussion: Consistently with other studies in humans and animals, the findings are congruent with the notion that lack of sleep can increase sexual arousal, but not sexual frequency. T might play a role in the sexual arousal caused by lack of appropriate sleep.

  11. A link between sleep loss, glucose metabolism and adipokines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H.G. Padilha

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available The present review evaluates the role of sleep and its alteration in triggering problems of glucose metabolism and the possible involvement of adipokines in this process. A reduction in the amount of time spent sleeping has become an endemic condition in modern society, and a search of the current literature has found important associations between sleep loss and alterations of nutritional and metabolic contexts. Studies suggest that sleep loss is associated with problems in glucose metabolism and a higher risk for the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The mechanism involved may be associated with the decreased efficacy of regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis by negative feedback mechanisms in sleep-deprivation conditions. In addition, changes in the circadian pattern of growth hormone (GH secretion might also contribute to the alterations in glucose regulation observed during sleep loss. On the other hand, sleep deprivation stress affects adipokines - increasing tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α and interleukin-6 (IL-6 and decreasing leptin and adiponectin -, thus establishing a possible association between sleep-debt, adipokines and glucose metabolism. Thus, a modified release of adipokines resulting from sleep deprivation could lead to a chronic sub-inflammatory state that could play a central role in the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Further studies are necessary to investigate the role of sleep loss in adipokine release and its relationship with glucose metabolism.

  12. Sleep spindles and intelligence: evidence for a sexual dimorphism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ujma, Péter P; Konrad, Boris Nikolai; Genzel, Lisa; Bleifuss, Annabell; Simor, Péter; Pótári, Adrián; Körmendi, János; Gombos, Ferenc; Steiger, Axel; Bódizs, Róbert; Dresler, Martin

    2014-12-03

    Sleep spindles are thalamocortical oscillations in nonrapid eye movement sleep, which play an important role in sleep-related neuroplasticity and offline information processing. Sleep spindle features are stable within and vary between individuals, with, for example, females having a higher number of spindles and higher spindle density than males. Sleep spindles have been associated with learning potential and intelligence; however, the details of this relationship have not been fully clarified yet. In a sample of 160 adult human subjects with a broad IQ range, we investigated the relationship between sleep spindle parameters and intelligence. In females, we found a positive age-corrected association between intelligence and fast sleep spindle amplitude in central and frontal derivations and a positive association between intelligence and slow sleep spindle duration in all except one derivation. In males, a negative association between intelligence and fast spindle density in posterior regions was found. Effects were continuous over the entire IQ range. Our results demonstrate that, although there is an association between sleep spindle parameters and intellectual performance, these effects are more modest than previously reported and mainly present in females. This supports the view that intelligence does not rely on a single neural framework, and stronger neural connectivity manifesting in increased thalamocortical oscillations in sleep is one particular mechanism typical for females but not males. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3416358-11$15.00/0.

  13. Obstructive sleep apnea alters sleep stage transition dynamics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matt T Bianchi

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Enhanced characterization of sleep architecture, compared with routine polysomnographic metrics such as stage percentages and sleep efficiency, may improve the predictive phenotyping of fragmented sleep. One approach involves using stage transition analysis to characterize sleep continuity.We analyzed hypnograms from Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS participants using the following stage designations: wake after sleep onset (WASO, non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep, and REM sleep. We show that individual patient hypnograms contain insufficient number of bouts to adequately describe the transition kinetics, necessitating pooling of data. We compared a control group of individuals free of medications, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA, medical co-morbidities, or sleepiness (n = 374 with mild (n = 496 or severe OSA (n = 338. WASO, REM sleep, and NREM sleep bout durations exhibited multi-exponential temporal dynamics. The presence of OSA accelerated the "decay" rate of NREM and REM sleep bouts, resulting in instability manifesting as shorter bouts and increased number of stage transitions. For WASO bouts, previously attributed to a power law process, a multi-exponential decay described the data well. Simulations demonstrated that a multi-exponential process can mimic a power law distribution.OSA alters sleep architecture dynamics by decreasing the temporal stability of NREM and REM sleep bouts. Multi-exponential fitting is superior to routine mono-exponential fitting, and may thus provide improved predictive metrics of sleep continuity. However, because a single night of sleep contains insufficient transitions to characterize these dynamics, extended monitoring of sleep, probably at home, would be necessary for individualized clinical application.

  14. Sleep-related headache and its management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Niranjan N; Sahota, Pradeep

    2013-12-01

    apnea, which includes cluster headache, hypnic headache, and headache related to obstructive sleep apnea; and (2) headaches with high prevalence of insomnia, medication overuse, and psychiatric comorbidity including chronic migraine and chronic tension-type headache. The initial step in the management of sleep related headache is proper diagnosis with exclusion of secondary headaches. Screening for sleep disorders with the use of proper tests including polysomnography and referral to sleep clinic, when appropriate is very helpful. Control of individual episode in less than 2 hours should be the initial goal using measures to abort and prevent a relapse. Cluster headache responds very well to injectable Imitrex and oxygen. Verapamil, steroids and lithium are used for preventive treatment of cluster headache. Intractable cluster headache patients have responded to hypothalamic deep brain stimulation. Hypnic headache patients respond to nightly caffeine, indomethacin, and lithium. Paroxysmal hemicrania responds very well to indomethacin. Early morning headaches associated with obstructive sleep apnea respond to CPAP or BiPAP with complete resolution of headache within a month. Patient education and lifestyle modification play a significant role in overall success of the treatment. Chronic tension-type headache and chronic migraine have high prevalence of insomnia and comorbid psychiatric disorders, which require behavioral insomnia treatment and medication if needed along with psychiatric evaluation. Apart from the abortive treatment tailored to the headache types, - such as triptans and DHE 45 for migraine and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication for chronic tension-type headache, preventive treatment with different class of medications including antiepileptics (Topamax and Depakote), calcium channel blockers (verapamil), beta blockers (propranolol), antidepressants (amitriptyline), and Botox may be used depending upon the comorbid conditions.

  15. Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Medic G

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Goran Medic,1,2 Micheline Wille,1 Michiel EH Hemels1 1Market Access, Horizon Pharma B.V., Utrecht, 2Unit of Pharmacoepidemiology & Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Pharmacy, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Abstract: Sleep plays a vital role in brain function and systemic physiology across many body systems. Problems with sleep are widely prevalent and include deficits in quantity and quality of sleep; sleep problems that impact the continuity of sleep are collectively referred to as sleep disruptions. Numerous factors contribute to sleep disruption, ranging from lifestyle and environmental factors to sleep disorders and other medical conditions. Sleep disruptions have substantial adverse short- and long-term health consequences. A literature search was conducted to provide a nonsystematic review of these health consequences (this review was designed to be nonsystematic to better focus on the topics of interest due to the myriad parameters affected by sleep. Sleep disruption is associated with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, metabolic effects, changes in circadian rhythms, and proinflammatory responses. In otherwise healthy adults, short-term consequences of sleep disruption include increased stress responsivity, somatic pain, reduced quality of life, emotional distress and mood disorders, and cognitive, memory, and performance deficits. For adolescents, psychosocial health, school performance, and risk-taking behaviors are impacted by sleep disruption. Behavioral problems and cognitive functioning are associated with sleep disruption in children. Long-term consequences of sleep disruption in otherwise healthy individuals include hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, weight-related issues, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and colorectal cancer. All-cause mortality is also increased in men with sleep disturbances. For those with

  16. Lifetime measurements of the strange beauty meson and beauty baryons at LEP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Romero, A.

    1994-01-01

    Last experimental results on the lifetimes of B s 0 mesons and beauty baryons from the LEP experiments ALEPH, DELPHI and OPAL are presented. LEP averages for the lifetimes of B s 0 and Λ b are compared to lifetimes of B d 0 and B + and to the average b hadron lifetime. The precision of these measurements begins to be suitable to test the theoretical predictions of 10-15% differences between the lifetimes of b baryons and mesons, but does not allow a test of the few percent difference expected between B d 0 and B + lifetimes. The data show a significant evidence (3 σ) for lifetime differences between b mesons and b baryons. (author). 4 refs., 9 figs

  17. Eat, sleep, work, play: associations of weight status and health-related behaviors among young adult college students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quick, Virginia; Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol; White, Adrienne A; Brown, Onikia; Colby, Sarah; Shoff, Suzanne; Lohse, Barbara; Horacek, Tanya; Kidd, Tanda; Greene, Geoffrey

    2014-01-01

    To examine relationships of sleep, eating, and exercise behaviors; work time pressures; and sociodemographic characteristics by weight status (healthy weight [body mass index or BMI universities. Enrolled college students (N = 1252; 18-24 years; 80% white; 59% female). Survey included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI), National Cancer Institute Fruit/Vegetable Screener, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Work Time Pressure items, and sociodemographic characteristics. Chi-square and t-tests determined significant bivariate associations of sociodemographics, sleep behaviors, eating behaviors, physical activity behavior, and work time pressures with weight status (i.e., healthy vs. overweight/obese). Statistically significant bivariate associations with weight status were then entered into a multivariate logistic regression model that estimated associations with being overweight/obese. Sex (female), race (nonwhite), older age, higher Global PSQI score, lower ecSI total score, and higher TFEQ Emotional Eating Scale score were significantly (p obesity in bivariate analyses. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that sex (female; odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, confidence interval [CI] = 1.54-2.74), older age (OR = 1.35, CI = 1.21-1.50), higher Global PSQI score (OR = 1.07, CI = 1.01-1.13), and lower ecSI score (OR = .96, CI = .94-.98), were significantly (p obesity. Findings suggest that obesity prevention interventions for college students should include an education component to emphasize the importance of overall sleep quality and improving eating competence.

  18. Small Is Not Always Beautiful – A Comparative Study Of Working Conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Ole Henning; Hasle, Peter; Bach, Elsa

    2004-01-01

    When considering working conditions, the myth sometimes holds that small is beautiful. Some studies of occupational accidents show that small companies have fever accidents than large. This indicates that small companies have better working conditions than large. A Danish study based on a random...... sample of employees in the general industry rejects this myth. The figures show that physical working conditions become systematically worse the smaller the size of privately owned companies. The study also supports international data that small companies underreport accidents, and that this might...... be the reason why small seems beautiful....

  19. Perspectives for the Measurement of Beauty Production Via Semileptonic Decays in ALICE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Turrisi, R.

    2007-01-01

    In the present talk we report results from a study of the performance for the detection in ALICE of (a) B → e + X decays with the central barrel and (b) B → μ + X decays with the muon spectrometer. We include an evaluation of the expected statistical and systematic uncertainties on the measurement of the cross section of beauty hadrons. We also discuss the possibility of detecting the modifications of beauty hadrons' transverse momentum (pt) distribution induced by in-medium gluon radiation calculated by a phenomenological model. (author)

  20. Sleep Habits and Sleep Problems in Healthy Preschoolers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murthy, C L Srinivasa; Bharti, Bhavneet; Malhi, Prahbhjot; Khadwal, Alka

    2015-07-01

    To describe the sleep patterns and problems in children aged between 12 and 36 mo of age. This cross sectional survey was collected over a span of 1 y in Advanced Pediatric Centre, PGIMER, Chandigarh and crèches of Chandigarh. Children in the age group of 12 to 36 mo were included in study. Children with chronic illness, developmental delay, seizure disorder and lack of consent were excluded. A total of 368 children were enrolled. Main outcome measures were sleep duration over 1 to 3 y of life; sleep behavior at onset, during and waking of sleep and parent reported sleep problems and their predictors. The average duration of sleep was 12.5 h (S.D = 1.9). The mean total sleep duration and mean day time sleep duration decreased, while mean night time sleep increased as the age advanced from 12 to 36 mo. Following were the frequency of sleep habits seen in the index study; bed time routine was seen only in 68(18.5 %), a regular bed time ritual was seen in 281(76.4 %), 329(89.4 %) children frequently required 0-20 min time to fall asleep, 11(3 %) parents used sleep inducing drugs. Night waking (1 to 3 times a night) was seen in 297(80.7 %) and its frequency declined with age. Parent reported sleep problems were seen in 12.8 % (47/368). Lack of co-sleeping and night waking were considered as strongest predictors of parent reported sleep problems. Toddlers' sleep duration, night waking behavior, and day time naps decrease as the age progress while night time sleep duration increases with age. Lack of co-sleeping and night waking are considered as strongest predictors of parent reported sleep problems.

  1. 77 FR 2341 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “The Cult of Beauty: The...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 7756] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860- 1900'' SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of... included in the exhibition ``The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant- Garde, 1860-1900,'' imported from...

  2. Sleep

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Institute (NHLBI). 1 Mood. Sleep affects your mood. Insufficient sleep can cause irritability that can lead to trouble with relationships, ... basics/understanding_sleep.htm#dynamic_activity Centers for Disease ... insufficient rest or sleep among adults—United States, 2008. MMWR, 58 (42), ...

  3. Immediate postarousal sleep dynamics: an important determinant of sleep stability in obstructive sleep apnea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Younes, Magdy; Hanly, Patrick J

    2016-04-01

    Arousability from sleep is increasingly recognized as an important determinant of the clinical spectrum of sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Patients with SDB display a wide range of arousability. The reason for these differences is not known. We hypothesized that differences in the speed with which sleep deepens following arousals/awakenings (postarousal sleep dynamics) is a major determinant of these differences in arousability in patients with SDB. We analyzed 40 preexisting clinical polysomnography records from patients with a range of SDB severity (apnea-hypopnea index 5-135/h). Sleep depth was determined every 3 s using the odds ratio product (ORP) method, a continuous index of sleep depth (0 = deep sleep, 2.5 = full wakefulness) that correlates strongly (r = 0.98) with arousability (Younes M, Ostrowski M, Soiferman M, Younes H, Younes M, Raneri J, and Hanly P. Sleep 38: 641-654, 2015). Time course of ORP was determined from end of arousal until the next arousal. All arousals were analyzed (142 ± 65/polysomnogram). ORP increased from 0.58 ± 0.32 during sleep to 1.67 ± 0.35 during arousals. ORP immediately (first 9 s) following arousals/awakenings (ORP-9) ranged from 0.21(very deep sleep) to 1.71 (highly arousable state) in different patients. In patients with high ORP-9, sleep deepened slowly (over minutes) beyond 9 s but only if no arousals/awakenings recurred. ORP-9 correlated strongly with average non-rapid eye movement sleep depth (r = 0.87, P sleep architecture. We conclude that postarousal sleep dynamics are highly variable among patients with sleep-disordered breathing and largely determine average sleep depth and continuity. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  4. Consolidating the effects of waking and sleep on motor-sequence learning.

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    Brawn, Timothy P; Fenn, Kimberly M; Nusbaum, Howard C; Margoliash, Daniel

    2010-10-20

    Sleep is widely believed to play a critical role in memory consolidation. Sleep-dependent consolidation has been studied extensively in humans using an explicit motor-sequence learning paradigm. In this task, performance has been reported to remain stable across wakefulness and improve significantly after sleep, making motor-sequence learning the definitive example of sleep-dependent enhancement. Recent work, however, has shown that enhancement disappears when the task is modified to reduce task-related inhibition that develops over a training session, thus questioning whether sleep actively consolidates motor learning. Here we use the same motor-sequence task to demonstrate sleep-dependent consolidation for motor-sequence learning and explain the discrepancies in results across studies. We show that when training begins in the morning, motor-sequence performance deteriorates across wakefulness and recovers after sleep, whereas performance remains stable across both sleep and subsequent waking with evening training. This pattern of results challenges an influential model of memory consolidation defined by a time-dependent stabilization phase and a sleep-dependent enhancement phase. Moreover, the present results support a new account of the behavioral effects of waking and sleep on explicit motor-sequence learning that is consistent across a wide range of tasks. These observations indicate that current theories of memory consolidation that have been formulated to explain sleep-dependent performance enhancements are insufficient to explain the range of behavioral changes associated with sleep.

  5. Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Neuromuscular Disease: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aboussouan, Loutfi S; Mireles-Cabodevila, Eduardo

    2017-10-01

    Normal sleep-related rapid eye movement sleep atonia, reduced lung volumes, reduced chemosensitivity, and impaired airway dilator activity become significant vulnerabilities in the setting of neuromuscular disease. In that context, the compounding effects of respiratory muscle weakness and disease-specific features that promote upper airway collapse or cause dilated cardiomyopathy contribute to various sleep-disordered breathing events. The reduction in lung volumes with neuromuscular disease is further compromised by sleep and the supine position, exaggerating the tendency for upper airway collapse and desaturation with sleep-disordered breathing events. The most commonly identified events are diaphragmatic/pseudo-central, due to a decrease in the rib cage contribution to the tidal volume during phasic rapid eye movement sleep. Obstructive and central sleep apneas are also common. Noninvasive ventilation can improve survival and quality of sleep but should be used with caution in the context of dilated cardiomyopathy or significant bulbar symptoms. Noninvasive ventilation can also trigger sleep-disordered breathing events, including ineffective triggering, autotriggering, central sleep apnea, and glottic closure, which compromise the potential benefits of the intervention by increasing arousals, reducing adherence, and impairing sleep architecture. Polysomnography plays an important diagnostic and therapeutic role by correctly categorizing sleep-disordered events, identifying sleep-disordered breathing triggered by noninvasive ventilation, and improving noninvasive ventilation settings. Optimal management may require dedicated hypoventilation protocols and a technical staff well versed in the identification and troubleshooting of respiratory events. Copyright © 2017 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. The role of serotonin and norepinephrine in sleep-waking activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgane, P J; Stern, W C

    1975-11-01

    A critical review of the evidences relating the biogenic amines serotonin and norepinephrine to the states of slow-wave and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is presented. Various alternative explanations for specific chemical regulation of the individual sleep states, including the phasic events of REM sleep, are evaluated within the overall framework of the monoamine theory of sleep. Several critical neuropsychopharmacological studies relating to metabolsim of the amines in relation to sleep-waking behavior are presented. Models of the chemical neuronal circuitry involved in sleep-waking activity are derived and interactions between several brainstem nuclei, particularly the raphé complex and locus coeruleus, are discussed. Activity in these aminergic systems in relation to oscillations in the sleep-waking cycles is evaluated. In particular, the assessment of single cell activity in specific chemical systems in relations to chemical models of sleep is reviewed. Overall, it appears that the biogenic amines, especially serotonin and norepinephrine, play key roles in the generation and maintenance of the sleep states. These neurotransmitters participate in some manner in the "triggering" processes necessary for actuating each sleep phase and in regulating the transitions from sleep to waking activity. The biogenic amines are, however, probably not "sleep factors" or direct inducers of the sleep states. Rather, they appear to be components of a multiplicity of interacting chemical circuitry in the brain whose activity maintains various chemical balances in different brain regions. Shifts in these balances appear to be involved in the triggering and maintenance of the various states comprising the vigilance continuum.

  7. SLEEP AND MENTAL DISORDERS: A META-ANALYSIS OF POLYSOMNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baglioni, Chiara; Nanovska, Svetoslava; Regen, Wolfram; Spiegelhalder, Kai; Feige, Bernd; Nissen, Christoph; Reynolds, Charles F.; Riemann, Dieter

    2016-01-01

    Investigating sleep in mental disorders has the potential to reveal both disorder-specific and transdiagnostic psychophysiological mechanisms. This meta-analysis aimed at determining the polysomnographic (PSG) characteristics of several mental disorders. Relevant studies were searched through standard strategies. Controlled PSG studies evaluating sleep in affective, anxiety, eating, pervasive developmental, borderline and antisocial personality disorders, ADHD, and schizophrenia were included. PSG variables of sleep continuity, depth, and architecture, as well as rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep were considered. Calculations were performed with the “Comprehensive Meta-Analysis” and “R” softwares. Using random effects modeling, for each disorder and each variable, a separate meta-analysis was conducted if at least 3 studies were available for calculation of effect sizes as standardized means (Hedges’g). Sources of variability, i.e., sex, age, and mental disorders comorbidity, were evaluated in subgroup analyses. Sleep alterations were evidenced in all disorders, with the exception of ADHD and seasonal affective disorders. Sleep continuity problems were observed in most mental disorders. Sleep depth and REM pressure alterations were associated with affective, anxiety, autism and schizophrenia disorders. Comorbidity was associated with enhanced REM sleep pressure and more inhibition of sleep depth. No sleep parameter was exclusively altered in one condition; however, no two conditions shared the same PSG profile. Sleep continuity disturbances imply a transdiagnostic imbalance in the arousal system likely representing a basic dimension of mental health. Sleep depth and REM variables might play a key role in psychiatric comorbidity processes. Constellations of sleep alterations may define distinct disorders better than alterations in one single variable. PMID:27416139

  8. Practice makes imperfect: restorative effects of sleep on motor learning.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bhavin R Sheth

    Full Text Available Emerging evidence suggests that sleep plays a key role in procedural learning, particularly in the continued development of motor skill learning following initial acquisition. We argue that a detailed examination of the time course of performance across sleep on the finger-tapping task, established as the paradigm for studying the effect of sleep on motor learning, will help distinguish a restorative role of sleep in motor skill learning from a proactive one. Healthy subjects rehearsed for 12 trials and, following a night of sleep, were tested. Early training rapidly improved speed as well as accuracy on pre-sleep training. Additional rehearsal caused a marked slow-down in further improvement or partial reversal in performance to observed levels below theoretical upper limits derived on the basis of early pre-sleep rehearsal. This decrement in learning efficacy does not occur always, but if and only if it does, overnight sleep has an effect in fully or partly restoring the efficacy and actual performance to the optimal theoretically achieveable level. Our findings re-interpret the sleep-dependent memory enhancement in motor learning reported in the literature as a restoration of fatigued circuitry specialized for the skill. In providing restitution to the fatigued brain, sleep eliminates the rehearsal-induced synaptic fatigue of the circuitry specialized for the task and restores the benefit of early pre-sleep rehearsal. The present findings lend support to the notion that latent sleep-dependent enhancement of performance is a behavioral expression of the brain's restitution in sleep.

  9. Physical neighborhood and social environment, beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors, and sleep quality among African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nam, Soohyun; Whittemore, Robin; Jung, Sunyoung; Latkin, Carl; Kershaw, Trace; Redeker, Nancy S

    2018-06-01

    African Americans (AAs) have a higher prevalence of sleep disorders than other racial/ethnic groups. However, little is known about the relationships among individual and neighborhood factors related to sleep quality in AAs. The purposes of this study were to (1) describe beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors, and sleep quality among AAs; and (2) examine the relationships among sociodemographic characteristics, neighborhood environment, beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors, and sleep quality. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 252 AA men and women in the Greater New Haven, CT, USA community. We assessed their sociodemographic characteristics, neighborhood environment, beliefs about sleep, sleep hygiene, and sleep quality with the following measures, respectively: the Neighborhood Environment Scale, the brief version of Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep, the Sleep Hygiene Practice Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. We performed descriptive statistics, correlations and multiple hierarchical regression. About 72% of the participants (mean age: 53.88 ± 14.17 years, 77.8% women) reported experiencing sleep disturbance. People with poor sleep quality were more likely to report poorer neighborhood social environment (social cohesion), poorer overall neighborhood environment, more dysfunctional beliefs toward sleep, and poorer sleep hygiene than those who had good sleep quality. In the final multivariate model that controlled for a number of chronic comorbid conditions, neighborhood environment, beliefs about sleep, and sleep hygiene behaviors were significantly associated with sleep quality. Future efforts are needed to improve sleep among AAs by considering both the individual's belief about sleep, sleep hygiene behaviors and neighborhood factors. Copyright © 2018 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Beauty production measurements in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions with the ALICE detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-12-01

    Beauty production has been measured in the ALICE experiment via its semi-electronic decays and non-prompt J/Ψ at mid-rapidity. A review of results on beauty production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at √s = 7TeV and at √s = 2.76TeV. in p-Pb collisions at = 5.02 TeV and in Pb-Pb collisions at q= 2.76TeV are reported, along with the current status of b-jet tagging studies in ALICE. Prospects of beauty production measurements with RUN2 and RUN3-4 are outlined, focusing on the upgraded Inner Tracking System (ITS) and the new Muon Forward Tracker (MFT).

  11. Sleep physiology and sleep disorders in childhood

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    El Shakankiry HM

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Hanan M El ShakankiryKing Fahd University Hospital, Al Dammam University, Al Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaAbstract: Sleep has long been considered as a passive phenomenon, but it is now clear that it is a period of intense brain activity involving higher cortical functions. Overall, sleep affects every aspect of a child's development, particularly higher cognitive functions. Sleep concerns are ranked as the fifth leading concern of parents. Close to one third of all children suffer from sleep disorders, the prevalence of which is increased in certain pediatric populations, such as children with special needs, children with psychiatric or medical diagnoses and children with autism or pervasive developmental disorders. The paper reviews sleep physiology and the impact, classification, and management of sleep disorders in the pediatric age group.Keywords: sleep physiology, sleep disorders, childhood, epilepsy

  12. Cordycepin Increases Nonrapid Eye Movement Sleep via Adenosine Receptors in Rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Zhenzhen; Lee, Chung-Il; Shah, Vikash Kumar; Oh, Eun-Hye; Han, Jin-Yi; Bae, Jae-Ryong; Lee, Kinam; Chong, Myong-Soo; Hong, Jin Tae; Oh, Ki-Wan

    2013-01-01

    Cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine) is a naturally occurring adenosine analogue and one of the bioactive constituents isolated from Cordyceps militaris/Cordyceps sinensis, species of the fungal genus Cordyceps. It has traditionally been a prized Chinese folk medicine for the human well-being. Because of similarity of chemical structure of adenosine, cordycepin has been focused on the diverse effects of the central nervous systems (CNSs), like sleep regulation. Therefore, this study was undertaken to know whether cordycepin increases the natural sleep in rats, and its effect is mediated by adenosine receptors (ARs). Sleep was recorded using electroencephalogram (EEG) for 4 hours after oral administration of cordycepin in rats. Sleep architecture and EEG power spectra were analyzed. Cordycepin reduced sleep-wake cycles and increased nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Interestingly, cordycepin increased θ (theta) waves power density during NREM sleep. In addition, the protein levels of AR subtypes (A1, A2A, and A2B) were increased after the administration of cordycepin, especially in the rat hypothalamus which plays an important role in sleep regulation. Therefore, we suggest that cordycepin increases theta waves power density during NREM sleep via nonspecific AR in rats. In addition, this experiment can provide basic evidence that cordycepin may be helpful for sleep-disturbed subjects.

  13. Cordycepin Increases Nonrapid Eye Movement Sleep via Adenosine Receptors in Rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhenzhen Hu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Cordycepin (3′-deoxyadenosine is a naturally occurring adenosine analogue and one of the bioactive constituents isolated from Cordyceps militaris/Cordyceps sinensis, species of the fungal genus Cordyceps. It has traditionally been a prized Chinese folk medicine for the human well-being. Because of similarity of chemical structure of adenosine, cordycepin has been focused on the diverse effects of the central nervous systems (CNSs, like sleep regulation. Therefore, this study was undertaken to know whether cordycepin increases the natural sleep in rats, and its effect is mediated by adenosine receptors (ARs. Sleep was recorded using electroencephalogram (EEG for 4 hours after oral administration of cordycepin in rats. Sleep architecture and EEG power spectra were analyzed. Cordycepin reduced sleep-wake cycles and increased nonrapid eye movement (NREM sleep. Interestingly, cordycepin increased θ (theta waves power density during NREM sleep. In addition, the protein levels of AR subtypes (A1, A2A, and A2B were increased after the administration of cordycepin, especially in the rat hypothalamus which plays an important role in sleep regulation. Therefore, we suggest that cordycepin increases theta waves power density during NREM sleep via nonspecific AR in rats. In addition, this experiment can provide basic evidence that cordycepin may be helpful for sleep-disturbed subjects.

  14. Beauty and science in a shot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciceri, Piera

    2017-04-01

    Taking pictures has become a daily action for young. Photography is an essential component of many areas of science, has played a crucial role in the study of anatomy, botany, archeology, ... Still today it is a "scientific tool" in the school textbooks: pictures describe, make reality larger or smaller, faster or slower, show evidence and experimental results. But a photograph has the ability to move, engage and inspire viewers. That means that a photograph can build an emotional bridge between science and people. People and students can get closer to science through beautiful, evocative and expressive shot. In this project students are involved in taking pictures with a scientific and aesthetic content looking around, setting an experiment, watching nature, playing with light, point of wiew, colors and perspective. They have to write a short text and a title that explains the scientific content, why and how they have taken the picture. Both description and title should let increase curiosity, could looks fun or stress artistic aspects. Student show their shots in an official public event in Milan managed by a committee of science and photograph experts and in a local event to parents and local community. "Shots of science" is a project promoted by the italian national association "Scienza under 18", the Physic Department of "Università degli Studi di Milano" and the "Museo di fotografia contemporanea" of Cinisello Balsamo (MI) that help students in discussing about scientific and artistic aspects of their shots. This project contributes to develop digital skills (such as to manage digital images, to share documents, to learn about copyright and creative commons license), communication skills (such as to write a caption, public speaking, to use a picture to communicate), collaboration skills (such as to work with pairs, to respect scheduled times, to be positive in giving and taking into account suggestions) and artistic skills (to learn how to compose a good

  15. Forest landscape assessment: the effects of pre-experience education on public perception of scenic beauty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chad D. Pierskalla; Kevin E. Saunders; David W. McGill; David A. Smaldone

    2008-01-01

    Aldo Leopold argued for a type of "ecological aesthetic," where perceptions of natural landscape beauty are tied to an understanding of the natural process of forests. The purpose of this study is to examine how education affects perceptions of scenic beauty. Thirty-two students were assigned to four groups, with each group participating in a different...

  16. A novel sleep optimisation programme to improve athletes' well-being and performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Ryswyk, Emer; Weeks, Richard; Bandick, Laura; O'Keefe, Michaela; Vakulin, Andrew; Catcheside, Peter; Barger, Laura; Potter, Andrew; Poulos, Nick; Wallace, Jarryd; Antic, Nick A

    2017-03-01

    To improve well-being and performance indicators in a group of Australian Football League (AFL) players via a six-week sleep optimisation programme. Prospective intervention study following observations suggestive of reduced sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness in an AFL group. Athletes from the Adelaide Football Club were invited to participate if they had played AFL senior-level football for 1-5 years, or if they had excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS] >10), measured via ESS. An initial education session explained normal sleep needs, and how to achieve increased sleep duration and quality. Participants (n = 25) received ongoing feedback on their sleep, and a mid-programme education and feedback session. Sleep duration, quality and related outcomes were measured during week one and at the conclusion of the six-week intervention period using sleep diaries, actigraphy, ESS, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Profile of Mood States, Training Distress Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task. Sleep diaries demonstrated an increase in total sleep time of approximately 20 min (498.8 ± 53.8 to 518.7 ± 34.3; p sleep efficiency (p sleep efficiency, fatigue and vigour indicate that a sleep optimisation programme may improve athletes' well-being. More research is required into the effects of sleep optimisation on athletic performance.

  17. Landscape perception based on personal attributes in determining the scenic beauty of in-stand natural secondary forests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Chen

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper was to validate factors affecting the in-stand landscape quality and how important each factor was in determining scenic beauty of natural secondary forests. The study was limited to 23 stand-level cases of natural secondary forests in Shen Zhen city in southern China. Typical samples of photographs and public estimations were applied to evaluate scenic beauty inside the natural secondary forests. The major factors were then selected by multiple linear-regression analysis and a model between scenic beauty estimation (SBE values and in-stand landscape features was established. Rise in crown density, fall in plant litter, glow in color of trunk, fall in arbor richness, and rise in visible distance increased scenic beauty values of in-stand landscape. These five factors significantly explained the differences in scenic beauty, and together accounted for 45% of total variance in SBEs. Personal factors (e.g. gender, age and education did not significantly affect the ratings of landscape photos, although variations of landscape quality were affected by some personal factors. Results of this study will assist policymakers, silviculturists and planners in landscape design and management of natural secondary forests in Shenzhen city. People can improve the scenic beauty values by pruning branches and clearing plant litter, which subsequently improve the forest health and contribute to forest recreation.

  18. Adolescents with a smartphone sleep less than their peers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schweizer, Angélick; Berchtold, André; Barrense-Dias, Yara; Akre, Christina; Suris, Joan-Carles

    2017-01-01

    Many studies have shown that the use of electronic media is related to sleep disturbance, but few have examined the impact of smartphones. The objective of this study was to assess longitudinally whether acquiring a smartphone had an effect on adolescents' sleeping duration. The study included 591 adolescents observed at baseline (T0, Spring 2012; mean age 14.3 years, 288 females) and 2 years later (T1). They were divided into owners (those owning a smartphone at T0 and T1; N = 383), new owners (those owning a smartphone at T1 but not at T0; N = 153), and non-owners (those not owning a smartphone at any time-point; N = 55). Groups were compared on sleep duration, sleep problems, and sociodemographic variables. Overall, all three groups decreased their sleeping time between T0 and T1. At T0, owners of a smartphone were found to sleep significantly less than non-owners and new-owners, especially on school days, and to report significantly more sleeping problems. At T1, new-owners and owners showed no differences on sleep duration or sleeping problems. The results emphasize that owning a smartphone tends to entail sleep disturbance. Therefore, adolescents and parents should be informed about the potential consequences of smartphone use on sleep and health. What is Known: • The use of electronic media plays an important role in the life of adolescents. • Smartphone use is increasing among young people and allows them to be connected almost anytime anywhere. What is New : • Adolescents owning a smartphone sleep less hours on school days than their peers. • Smartphones seem to have an important impact on youths' sleep duration.

  19. Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption in neuropsychiatric illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jagannath, Aarti; Peirson, Stuart N; Foster, Russell G

    2013-10-01

    Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption (SCRD) is a common feature in many neuropsychiatric diseases including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. Although the precise mechanisms remain unclear, recent evidence suggests that this comorbidity is not simply a product of medication or an absence of social routine, but instead reflects commonly affected underlying pathways and mechanisms. For example, several genes intimately involved in the generation and regulation of circadian rhythms and sleep have been linked to psychiatric illness. Further, several genes linked to mental illness have recently been shown to also play a role in normal sleep and circadian behaviour. Here we describe some of the emerging common mechanisms that link circadian rhythms, sleep and SCRD in severe mental illnesses. A deeper understanding of these links will provide not only a greater understanding of disease mechanisms, but also holds the promise of novel avenues for therapeutic intervention. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. Selective visual attention for ugly and beautiful body parts in eating disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansen, Anita; Nederkoorn, Chantal; Mulkens, Sandra

    2005-02-01

    Body image disturbance is characteristic of eating disorders, and current treatments use body exposure to reduce bad body feelings. There is however little known about the cognitive effects of body exposure. In the present study, eye movement registration (electroculography) as a direct index of selective visual attention was used while eating symptomatic and normal control participants were exposed to digitalized pictures of their own body and control bodies. The data showed a decreased focus on their own 'beautiful' body parts in the high symptomatic participants, whereas inspection of their own 'ugly' body parts was given priority. In the normal control group a self-serving cognitive bias was found: they focused more on their own 'beautiful' body parts and less on their own 'ugly' body parts. When viewing other bodies the pattern was reversed: high symptom participants allocated their attention to the beautiful parts of other bodies, whereas normal controls concentrated on the ugly parts of the other bodies. From the present findings the hypothesis follows that a change in the processing of information might be needed for body exposure to be successful.