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Sample records for sospecha poco habitual

  1. Empleo de la Tarjeta Amarilla y el Formato NOM220 para las notificaciones de sospechas de reacciones adversas a medicamentos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lourdes Cristina Carrillo-Alarcón

    Full Text Available Introducción: la notificación de reacciones adversas a medicamentos es una obligación a nivel mundial. Aunque se han establecido muchas metodologías para esta acción, en la actualidad existen problemas. Objetivo: determinar la frecuencia de sospecha de reacciones adversas a la administración de medicamentos en pacientes y comparar la accesibilidad del llenado del formato de la NOM220 de la Secretaría de Salud y la Tarjeta Amarilla propuesta por la Organización Mundial de la Salud. Métodos: estudio transversal y observacional. Participaron 50 médicos responsables de las clínicas de diabetes del Estado de Hidalgo. Inicialmente, los médicos fueron capacitados para identificar las sospechas de reacciones adversas a la administración de medicamentos en los pacientes atendidos. Se realizó un diseño cruzado, en el que el 50 % de los médicos utilizaron por tres meses el formato de la NOM220 y 50 % la Tarjeta Amarilla. Después intercambiaron formatos y los utilizaron durante los tres meses siguientes. Al cabo de este periodo, respondieron un cuestionario para determinar la utilidad, claridad, tiempo de llenado y practicidad de ambos formatos. Se realizó estadística descriptiva y análisis bivariado para determinar los factores asociados a las sospecha de reacciones adversas a medicamentos, con el software SPSS (versión 17. Resultados: se registraron 46 sospechas de reacciones adversas a medicamentos en 46 pacientes con el formato de la NOM220 y 78 sospechas de reacciones adversas a medicamentos con la Tarjeta Amarilla en 78 pacientes. Todas las sospechas de reacciones adversas a la administración de medicamentos fueron tipo A. Los médicos recomiendan la utilización de la Tarjeta Amarilla, consideran claro el formato, sencillo, legible, fácil de llenar, entendible y accesible (p< 0,05. Conclusiones: los resultados permiten proponer la Tarjeta Amarilla como una alternativa más accesible para la notificación de sospechas de

  2. CARACTERÍSTICAS DE LOS SISTEMAS DE COMUNICACIÓN DE LAS SOSPECHAS DE ENFERMEDAD PROFESIONAL EN LAS COMUNIDADES AUTÓNOMAS

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    Montserrat García Gómez

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Fundamentos: En algunas comunidades autónomas (CCAA existen diver - sas iniciativas para conocer la comunicación de las sospechas de enfermedades profesionales (EP a las autoridades sanitarias. El objetivo de este trabajo fue des - cribir el grado de desarrollo y características de los sistemas puestos en marcha desde las administraciones sanitarias a nivel autonómico. Métodos : Se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal para conocer los sis - temas de información y vigilancia de las enfermedades laborales, marco legal, institución responsable y disponibilidad de la información. Se celebró una reu - nión y se diseñó una encuesta que se remitió a todas las CCAA y ciudades autó - nomas. Se recogió información sobre si existían o no normas reguladoras, asig - nación de recursos humanos, los profesionales responsables de la notificación, la cobertura y el número de sospechas de EP recibidas, tramitadas y reconocidas. Resultados : Respondieron 17 CCAA y 1 ciudad autónoma. Tenían desarro - llados sistemas de comunicación de sospecha de EP 10 de ellas, de los cuales 3 se apoyaban en una norma legal autonómica específica. Los profesionales respon - sables de la notificación fueron médicos/as de los servicios públicos de salud, de los servicios de prevención y 2 de las inspecciones sanitarias. 7 CCAA disponían de aplicación informática para dar soporte al sistema. La tasa de reconocimiento de EP de las sospechas tramitadas fue del 53% en el País Vasco, del 41% en Castilla-La Mancha, del 36% en Murcia, del 32,6% en la Comunidad Valenciana y 31 % en La Rioja. Conclusiones: El estudio pone de manifiesto un desarrollo desigual de los sistemas de declaración de sospecha de EP en España. Aunque la tendencia es po - sitiva, so lo la mitad de las CCAA tienen algún sistema de comunicación aunque no todos disponen de una aplicación informática para gestionarlo, obteniéndose tasas de reconocimiento de EP desiguales entre

  3. Poco Petroleum Ltd. annual report 1998

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1999-01-01

    Calgary-based Poco Petroleum Ltd. is a senior independent oil and gas exploration and development company operating in Western Canada. The company's main goal is to generate sustainable long term growth in cash flow and earnings per share. Poco pursues high impact, deep natural gas exploration in its Northern Region, liquids-rich natural gas in its Western Region, and the smaller Eastern Region is in harvest mode. In 1999, over 80% of average production is forecast to be natural gas and natural gas liquids, with the balance being crude oil. 1998 highlights included: a record daily production was attained for both natural gas and liquids at 490.1 million cubic feet at 40,015 barrels, respectively; cash flow was down only 1% at $333.3 million despite a 30% decline in average prices for crude oil and natural gas liquids; Poco replaced 303% of 1998 oil production, adding proven and probable reserves of 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent; the deep gas exploration program was accelerated throu gh the acquisition of Pan East Petroleum Corp. and assets at Monkman Pass, B.C.; and the acquisition of Canrise Resources Ltd. added undeveloped acreage and considerable exploration potential to Poco's Western region

  4. La sospecha de enfermedad profesional: programas de vigilancia epidemiológica laboral

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    Montserrat García Gómez

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available El desconocimiento de la realidad de las enfermedades profesionales (EP supone uno de los principales déficits de la prevención de riesgos laborales. El conocimiento del número de las enfermedades profesionales que realmente sufren los trabajadores, así como en qué actividades y lugares de trabajo ocurren, permitiría elaborar acciones preventivas más eficaces y promover el diagnóstico precoz para favorecer su tratamiento en el momento más efectivo, esto es, cuando se manifiestan los primeros síntomas, fase en la que, con frecuencia, un buen número de las afecciones todavía son reversibles. Tras la aprobación de la Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales, han tenido lugar iniciativas relevantes de las administraciones y los agentes sociales con la finalidad de hacer aflorar enfermedades profesionales ocultas y evitar la infradeclaración de tales enfermedades. La más reciente, el Real Decreto 1299/2006, por el que se establecía un nuevo procedimiento de notificación y registro, que incorporó la comunicación de sospecha de enfermedad profesional por parte de los facultativos del SNS y de los servicios de prevención de riesgos laborales. Son ya 9 las Comunidades Autónomas que han desarrollado el procedimiento e iniciado los trabajos de declaración de la sospecha de EP. Se describen las iniciativas correspondientes a Navarra, Comunidad Valenciana y Asturias.

  5. Differences in the locomotor-activating effects of indirect serotonin agonists in habituated and non-habituated rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halberstadt, Adam L; Buell, Mahálah R; Price, Diana L; Geyer, Mark A

    2012-07-01

    The indirect serotonin (5-HT) agonist 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) produces a distinct behavioral profile in rats consisting of locomotor hyperactivity, thigmotaxis, and decreased exploration. The indirect 5-HT agonist α-ethyltryptamine (AET) produces a similar behavioral profile. Using the Behavioral Pattern Monitor (BPM), the present investigation examined whether the effects of MDMA and AET are dependent on the novelty of the testing environment. These experiments were conducted in Sprague-Dawley rats housed on a reversed light cycle and tested during the dark phase of the light/dark cycle. We found that racemic MDMA (RS-MDMA; 3 mg/kg, SC) increased locomotor activity in rats tested in novel BPM chambers, but had no effect on locomotor activity in rats habituated to the BPM chambers immediately prior to testing. Likewise, AET (5 mg/kg, SC) increased locomotor activity in non-habituated animals but not in animals habituated to the test chambers. These results were unexpected because previous reports indicate that MDMA has robust locomotor-activating effects in habituated animals. To further examine the influence of habituation on MDMA-induced locomotor activity, we conducted parametric studies with S-(+)-MDMA (the more active enantiomer) in habituated and non-habituated rats housed on a standard or reversed light cycle. Light cycle was included as a variable due to reported differences in sensitivity to serotonergic ligands during the dark and light phases. In confirmation of our initial studies, rats tested during the dark phase and habituated to the BPM did not show an S-(+)-MDMA (3 mg/kg, SC)-induced increase in locomotor activity, whereas non-habituated rats did. By contrast, in rats tested during the light phase, S-(+)-MDMA increased locomotor activity in both non-habituated and habituated rats, although the response in habituated animals was attenuated. The finding that habituation and light cycle interact to influence MDMA- and AET

  6. Pocos de Caldas Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1988-01-01

    The first annual report of the Pocos de Caldas Project describes the results of the feasibility study established to test the objectives of the work. Boreholes have been drilled at two sites, the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine and Morro do Ferro, to assess the feasibility of using them as natural analogues of radionuclide migration processes. Detailed geochemical analysis and hydrogeological studies are described. (author)

  7. Caffeine promotes global spatial processing in habitual and non-habitual caffeine consumers

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    Grace E. Giles

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Information processing is generally biased toward global cues, often at the expense of local information. Equivocal extant data suggests that arousal states may accentuate either a local or global processing bias, at least partially dependent on the nature of the manipulation, task and stimuli. To further differentiate the conditions responsible for such equivocal results we varied caffeine doses to alter physiological arousal states and measured their effect on tasks requiring the retrieval of local versus global spatial knowledge. In a double-blind, repeated-measures design, non-habitual (Exp. 1; N=36, M=42.5±29 mg/day caffeine and habitual (Exp. 2; N=34, M=579.5±311.5 mg/day caffeine caffeine consumers completed four test sessions corresponding to each of four caffeine doses (0 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, 400 mg. During each test session, participants consumed a capsule containing one of the three doses of caffeine or placebo, waited sixty minutes, and then completed two spatial tasks, one involving memorizing maps and one spatial descriptions. A spatial statement verification task tested local versus global spatial knowledge by differentially probing memory for proximal versus distal landmark relationships. On the map learning task, results indicated that caffeine enhanced memory for distal (i.e. global compared to proximal (i.e. local comparisons at 100 (marginal, 200, and 400 mg caffeine in non-habitual consumers, and marginally beginning at 200 mg caffeine in habitual consumers. On the spatial descriptions task, caffeine enhanced memory for distal compared to proximal comparisons beginning at 100 mg in non-habitual but not habitual consumers. We thus provide evidence that caffeine-induced physiological arousal amplifies global spatial processing biases, and these effects are at least partially driven by habitual caffeine consumption.

  8. Pocos de Caldas Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-01-01

    The second annual report of the Pocos de Caldas Project describes the results of the first phase of the post-feasibility study investigations. Boreholes have been drilled at two sites, the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine and Morro do Ferro, and rock and groundwater samples analysed to provide data on natural analogues of radionuclide migration processes. These detailed geochemical analysis and hydrogeological studies are described, and related to four specific objectives concerning issues of importance in repository performance assessment. (author)

  9. Habituating alarming atmospheres

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Højlund, Marie

    This paper proposes embodied rhythmic sound habituation as a possible resource when designing contextualized technologies in critical atmospheres. The main contribution is collating the concept of rhythm as presented by Henri Lefebvre with the concept of sound habituation to help operationalize...... functionality for the staff, but are stressful for visitors and patients, as they are designed to demand attention even though they have no direct functional meaning to them. By introducing sounds from the ward, integrated in the furniture as simple sound sample triggers, KidKit invites children to become...... accustomed to the alarming sounds through rhythmic interaction in the waiting room, and bringing the furniture with them afterwards as a secure anchor, when entering the ward. This rhythmic habituation can enable the child to focus her attention on the meeting with the hospitalized relative....

  10. Déficit de antitrombina III como causa de isquemia mesentérica

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    Diego-Fernando Moreno-Sanchez

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available La isquemia mesentérica es una patología poco frecuente, considerada una urgencia vascularcon una mortalidad elevada que requiere un tratamiento oportuno. Tiene una presentaciónclínica inespecífica, haciendo que la sospecha diagnóstica sea difícil, pero ayudas de imágenescomo la angiografía por tomografía computarizada confirman el diagnostico anteuna sospecha clínica. La etiología va desde enfermedades autoinmunes, medicamentos,arritmias cardiacas hasta trombofilias. Presentamos el caso de un paciente con déficit deantitrombina III (AT III quien debuta con una isquemia mesentérica.

  11. The Habituation/Cross-Habituation Test Revisited: Guidance from Sniffing and Video Tracking

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    G. Coronas-Samano

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The habituation/cross-habituation test (HaXha is a spontaneous odor discrimination task that has been used for many decades to evaluate olfactory function in animals. Animals are presented repeatedly with the same odorant after which a new odorant is introduced. The time the animal explores the odor object is measured. An animal is considered to cross-habituate during the novel stimulus trial when the exploration time is higher than the prior trial and indicates the degree of olfactory patency. On the other hand, habituation across the repeated trials involves decreased exploration time and is related to memory patency, especially at long intervals. Classically exploration is timed using a stopwatch when the animal is within 2 cm of the object and aimed toward it. These criteria are intuitive, but it is unclear how they relate to olfactory exploration, that is, sniffing. We used video tracking combined with plethysmography to improve accuracy, avoid observer bias, and propose more robust criteria for exploratory scoring when sniff measures are not available. We also demonstrate that sniff rate combined with proximity is the most direct measure of odorant exploration and provide a robust and sensitive criterion.

  12. Habituation of reinforcer effectiveness

    OpenAIRE

    David R Lloyd; David R Lloyd; Douglas J Medina; Larry W Hawk; Whitney D Fosco; Jerry B Richards

    2014-01-01

    In this paper we propose an integrative model of habituation of reinforcer effectiveness (HRE) that links behavioral and neural based explanations of reinforcement. We argue that habituation of reinforcer effectiveness (HRE) is a fundamental property of reinforcing stimuli. Most reinforcement models implicitly suggest that the effectiveness of a reinforcer is stable across repeated presentations. In contrast, an HRE approach predicts decreased effectiveness due to repeated presentation. We ar...

  13. Delayed habituation in Behcet′s disease

    OpenAIRE

    Gulturk Sefa; Akyol Melih; Kececi Hulusi; Ozcelik Sedat; Cinar Ziynet; Demirkazik Ayse

    2008-01-01

    Background: The autonomic nervous system in Behcet′s patients may be affected due to various reasons. This entity may be detected with the measurement of the electrodermal activities, heart rate variability and pupillometric methods. Habituation is one of the implicit forms of learning and memory and the loss of habituation can reveal pathological changes in the synaptic regions. Aim: To determine whether there is a functional decrease in the synaptic effectiveness (habituation) of ...

  14. Presynaptic learning and memory with a persistent firing neuron and a habituating synapse: a model of short term persistent habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramanathan, Kiruthika; Ning, Ning; Dhanasekar, Dhiviya; Li, Guoqi; Shi, Luping; Vadakkepat, Prahlad

    2012-08-01

    Our paper explores the interaction of persistent firing axonal and presynaptic processes in the generation of short term memory for habituation. We first propose a model of a sensory neuron whose axon is able to switch between passive conduction and persistent firing states, thereby triggering short term retention to the stimulus. Then we propose a model of a habituating synapse and explore all nine of the behavioral characteristics of short term habituation in a two neuron circuit. We couple the persistent firing neuron to the habituation synapse and investigate the behavior of short term retention of habituating response. Simulations show that, depending on the amount of synaptic resources, persistent firing either results in continued habituation or maintains the response, both leading to longer recovery times. The effectiveness of the model as an element in a bio-inspired memory system is discussed.

  15. Habituation and sensitization of aggression in bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana): testing the dual-process theory of habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bee, M A

    2001-09-01

    The aggressive response of male bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) habituates with repeated broadcasts of acoustic stimuli simulating a new territorial neighbor. The effects of stimulus repetition rate and stimulus intensity on bullfrog aggressive responses were tested in a field experiment designed to test the assumptions of a dual-process theory of habituation. Synthetic advertisement calls were broadcast at 2 repetition rates and 2 intensities in a factorial design. Bullfrogs were more aggressive at the higher stimulus intensity at both repetition rates. Aggressive responses habituated more slowly at the higher stimulus intensity and slower repetition rate compared with other treatments. Several biotic and abiotic factors had small or negligible effects on aggressive responses. Although consistent with the operation of 2 opposing processes, habituation and sensitization, the data provide only partial support for the assumptions of dual-process theory.

  16. Delayed habituation in Behcet's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulturk, Sefa; Akyol, Melih; Kececi, Hulusi; Ozcelik, Sedat; Cinar, Ziynet; Demirkazik, Ayse

    2008-01-01

    The autonomic nervous system in Behcet's patients may be affected due to various reasons. This entity may be detected with the measurement of the electrodermal activities, heart rate variability and pupillometric methods. Habituation is one of the implicit forms of learning and memory and the loss of habituation can reveal pathological changes in the synaptic regions. To determine whether there is a functional decrease in the synaptic effectiveness (habituation) of the pathways to sympathetic neurons that had been repeatedly activated in Behcet's. Twelve patients with Behcet's disease and 12 healthy controls were included in the study. Sympathetic skin potential (SSP) records were taken at normal room temperature in a quiet place within a Faraday cage. Sixteen square wave single shock impulses (duration: 1200 ms, strength: 5 mA) were applied on each case. After the 1st stimulus, the SSP amplitudes were lower in the patients compared to the controls (P0.05). Whereas there was no significant differences among the SSP amplitudes after the 9th impulse in the controls (P>0.05). The habituation rate of the SSP after consecutive impulses was slowest in the patients compared to controls (P<0.001, t value=12.39). There is a delayed habituation in Behcet's disease and that may due to pathologic changes with vasculitis through their peripheral nerves.

  17. Fetal habituation in assisted conception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joy, Jolly; McClure, Neil; Hepper, Peter G; Cooke, Inez

    2012-06-01

    Neurodevelopment outcomes of children conceived by Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)have been the subject of much recent attention. To date there are no reports of neurodevelopmental performance before birth in this group. To compare habituation (a measure of brain function) in fetuses conceived by assisted reproduction techniques (ART) with naturally conceived (NC) fetuses. Case control study. Women with singleton pregnancies matched for maternal age, parity and smoking were recruited in 2 groups: ART (n=20) and NC (n=20). Sound stimuli (250 Hz, 110 dB) at 10 second intervals lasting 2 s were administered to the fetus. The end point was habituation (cessation of movement for five consecutive stimuli) or a maximum of 30 stimuli. Responses of the fetus were observed with ultrasound at 28, 32 and 36 weeks' gestation, video-recorded and anonymised for analysis. At 28 weeks' gestation significantly more ART fetuses responded to sound of 250 Hz, 110 dB (p=0.02) but this difference did not persist at 32 and 36 weeks'. There was a significant increase in nonresponders as gestation advanced in the ART group. There was no difference in habituation or mean number of trials to habituate at all three gestations. ART fetuses demonstrated no differences in habituation suggesting that there is no neurodevelopment delay. However, a decrease in response to sound as gestation advances might be a harbinger for poor perinatal outcomes and needs exploration. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Habituation in acoustic startle reflex: individual differences in personality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanch, Angel; Balada, Ferran; Aluja, Anton

    2014-03-01

    This study analyzed the relationship of individual differences in personality with habituation in the acoustic startle response (ASR). Data from nine trials in ASR to white noise bursts and a personality questionnaire based on the alternative big five personality approach were modelled with a latent growth curve (LCM) including intercept and slope habituation growth factors. There was a negative correlation between the intercept and slope, indicating that individuals with higher initial ASR levels had also a more pronounced and faster decrease in the ASR. Contrary to expectations, Extraversion and Sensation Seeking did not relate with habituation in ASR. Neuroticism and Aggressiveness related asymmetrically with the habituation rate in ASR. Higher levels of Neuroticism were related with faster habituation, whereas higher levels of Aggressiveness were related with slower habituation. Further studies with the LCM should be undertaken to clarify in a greater extent the association of personality with habituation in ASR. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Habituation as a Determinant of Human Food Intake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein, Leonard H.; Temple, Jennifer L.; Roemmich, James N.; Bouton, Mark E.

    2009-01-01

    Research has shown that animals and humans habituate on a variety of behavioral and physiological responses to repeated presentations of food cues, and habituation is related to amount of food consumed and cessation of eating. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of experimental paradigms used to study habituation, integrate a…

  20. Pulse waveform analysis on temporal changes in ocular blood flow due to caffeine intake: a comparative study between habitual and non-habitual groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ismail, Aishah; Bhatti, Mehwish S; Faye, Ibrahima; Lu, Cheng Kai; Laude, Augustinus; Tang, Tong Boon

    2018-06-06

    To evaluate and compare the temporal changes in pulse waveform parameters of ocular blood flow (OBF) between non-habitual and habitual groups due to caffeine intake. This study was conducted on 19 healthy subjects (non-habitual 8; habitual 11), non-smoking and between 21 and 30 years of age. Using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG), three areas of optical nerve head were analyzed which are vessel, tissue, and overall, each with ten pulse waveform parameters, namely mean blur rate (MBR), fluctuation, skew, blowout score (BOS), blowout time (BOT), rising rate, falling rate, flow acceleration index (FAI), acceleration time index (ATI), and resistive index (RI). Two-way mixed ANOVA was used to determine the difference between every two groups where p groups in several ocular pulse waveform parameters, namely MBR (overall, vessel, tissue), BOT (overall), rising rate (overall), and falling rate (vessel), all with p group, but not within the habitual group. The temporal changes in parameters MBR (vessel, tissue), skew (overall, vessel), BOT (overall, vessel), rising rate (overall), falling rate (overall, vessel), and FAI (tissue) were significant for both groups (habitual and non-habitual) in response to caffeine intake. The experiment results demonstrated caffeine does modulate OBF significantly and response differently in non-habitual and habitual groups. Among all ten parameters, MBR and BOT were identified as the suitable biomarkers to differentiate between the two groups.

  1. Object recognition and generalisation during habituation in horses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Janne Winther; Zharkikh, Tjatjana; Chovaux, Elodie

    2011-01-01

    The ability of horses to habituate to frightening stimuli greatly increases safety in the horse–human relationship. A recent experiment suggested, however, that habituation to frightening visual stimuli is relatively stimulus-specific in horses and that shape and colour are important factors...... for object generalisation (Christensen et al., 2008). In a series of experiments, we aimed to further explore the ability of horses (n = 30, 1 and 2-year-old mares) to recognise and generalise between objects during habituation. TEST horses (n = 15) were habituated to a complex object, composed of five...... simple objects of varying shape and colour, whereas CONTROL horses (n = 15) were habituated to the test arena, but not to the complex object. In the first experiment, we investigated whether TEST horses subsequently reacted less to i) simple objects that were previously part of the complex object (i...

  2. Generalized Habituation of Concept Stimuli in Toddlers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faulkender, Patricia J.; And Others

    1974-01-01

    An evaluation of selective generalization of habituation on the basis of meaningful categories of stimuli. Also explored are the sex differences in conceptual generalization of habituation. Subjects were 36 toddlers with a mean age of 40 months. (SDH)

  3. Short-Term Memory in Habituation and Dishabituation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitlow, Jesse William, Jr.

    1975-01-01

    The present research evaluated the refractorylike response decrement, as found in habituation of auditory evoked peripheral vasoconstriction in rabbits, to determine whether or not it represents a short-term habituation process distinct from effector fatigue or sensory adaptation. (Editor)

  4. Habituation of reinforcer effectiveness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David R Lloyd

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we propose an integrative model of habituation of reinforcer effectiveness (HRE that links behavioral and neural based explanations of reinforcement. We argue that habituation of reinforcer effectiveness (HRE is a fundamental property of reinforcing stimuli. Most reinforcement models implicitly suggest that the effectiveness of a reinforcer is stable across repeated presentations. In contrast, an HRE approach predicts decreased effectiveness due to repeated presentation. We argue that repeated presentation of reinforcing stimuli decreases their effectiveness and that these decreases are described by the behavioral characteristics of habituation (McSweeney and Murphy, 2009;Rankin et al., 2009. We describe a neural model that postulates a positive association between dopamine neurotransmission and HRE. We present evidence that stimulant drugs, which artificially increase dopamine neurotransmission, disrupt (slow normally occurring HRE and also provide evidence that stimulant drugs have differential effects on operant responding maintained by reinforcers with rapid vs. slow HRE rates. We hypothesize that abnormal HRE due to genetic and/or environmental factors may underlie some behavioral disorders. For example, recent research indicates that slow-HRE is predictive of obesity. In contrast ADHD may reflect ‘accelerated-HRE’. Consideration of HRE is important for the development of effective reinforcement based treatments. Finally, we point out that most of the reinforcing stimuli that regulate daily behavior are non-consumable environmental/social reinforcers which have rapid-HRE. The almost exclusive use of consumable reinforcers with slow-HRE in pre-clinical studies with animals may have caused the importance of HRE to be overlooked. Further study of reinforcing stimuli with rapid-HRE is needed in order to understand how habituation and reinforcement interact and regulate behavior.

  5. On the development of past habitual from iterative in Lithuanian

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jurgis Pakerys

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Lithuanian has regular past habitual forms with the suffix -dav-, which can be explained as an originally iterative suffix -dau- restricted to the past tense (Fraenkel 1936. Dialectal and Old Lithuanian, in addition to -dav-, also feature habituals with the suffixes -lav- and -dlav-, which could have followed the same path of development (Fraenkel 1936, as evidenced by a number of diverse languages (Bybee et al. 1994. Using an electronic edition of Lietuvių kalbos žodynas (The Dictionary of Lithuanian as the data source, a limited number of possible iteratives with -dau- and other related suffixes were found, which has led to two main conclusions. (1 Habituals were restricted to the past tense before the appearance of the first written Lithuanian texts (mid-16th c. and the present and the infinitive stems went out of use. If this had not been the case, more corresponding verbal formations should have remained. (2 Iteratives with the habitual-to-be suffixes had to be productive to some extent in the dialects, which grammaticalized them as past habituals. If these formations had been productive in all dialects of Lithuanian, more iteratives should have been found in the areas that did not grammaticalize them as past habituals. It is also suggested that the form-frequency correspondence principle (Haspelmath 2008, 2014, 2017 should have operated in the formation of the Lithuanian habitual. Longer suffixes were chosen to mark habitual situations as a less frequent subtype of iterative situations and habitual forms were restricted to the past tense because habituality is one of the default (more frequent readings of the present and hence the habituals in the past tend to be marked explicitly (Bybee et al. 1994.

  6. Usefulness of endoscopic ultrasonography in the clinical suspicion of biliary disease Utilidad de la ultrasonografía endoscópica en la sospecha clínica de patología biliar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David del Pozo

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Background and aims: endoscopic ultrasound (EUS is a very sensitive and specific technique for the diagnosis of biliary diseases. This procedure has proven its usefulness in cases of high suspicion of biliary disease (history of gallstones and dilatation of the intrahepatic and/or extrahepatic bile ducts. We know less about its usefulness in cases of low suspicion of biliary pathology. The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of EUS in patients with low suspicion of biliary disease (patients with dilatation of the biliary tract were excluded. Methods: 33 patients with low suspicion of biliary disease were recruited in 12 months. All of them had no biliary findings in a previous abdominal ultrasound and computer tomography scan. All of them underwent EUS and were studied prospectively. The diagnosis was confirmed by surgery and/or by ERCP in patients with positive EUS or clinical follow-up in those with normal EUS. Time of follow-up was 9 months (range, 3-12 months. Results: seventeen patients (51.5% presented with abnormal biliary findings on EUS (7 choledocholithiasis, 3 cholelithiasis, 2 choledocholithiasis + cholelithiasis and 5 microlithiasis. Conclusion: EUS is a useful and safe procedure for diagnosing patients with low suspicion of biliary disease.Antecedentes y objetivos: la ultrasonografía endoscópica (USE es una técnica muy sensible y específica para el diagnóstico de enfermedades biliares. Este procedimiento ha demostrado su utilidad en casos de alta sospecha de enfermedad biliar (historia de colelitiasis y dilatación de la vía biliar intra- y/o extrahepática. Sabemos menos sobre su utilidad en casos de baja sospecha de patología biliar. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la precisión diagnóstica de la USE en pacientes con baja sospecha de enfermedad biliar (los pacientes con dilatación de la vía biliar fueron excluidos. Métodos: 33 pacientes con baja sospecha de enfermedad biliar fueron

  7. Do horses generalise between objects during habituation?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Janne Winther; Zharkikh, Tatjana; Ladevig, Jan

    2008-01-01

    Habituation to frightening stimuli plays an important role in horse training. To investigate the extent to which horses generalise between different visual objects, 2-year-old stallions were habituated to feeding from a container placed inside a test arena and assigned as TEST (n = 12) or REFERENCE...... horses (n = 12). In Experiment 1, TEST horses were habituated to six objects (ball, barrel, board, box, cone, cylinder) presented in sequence in a balanced order. The objects were of similar size but different colour. Each object was placed 0.5 m in front of the feed container, forcing the horses to pass...... the object to get to the food. TEST horses received as many 2 min exposures to each object as required to meet a habituation criterion. We recorded behavioural reactions to the object, latency to feed, total eating time, and heart rate (HR) during all exposures. There was no significant decrease in initial...

  8. PoCos: Population Covering Locus Sets for Risk Assessment in Complex Diseases.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marzieh Ayati

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Susceptibility loci identified by GWAS generally account for a limited fraction of heritability. Predictive models based on identified loci also have modest success in risk assessment and therefore are of limited practical use. Many methods have been developed to overcome these limitations by incorporating prior biological knowledge. However, most of the information utilized by these methods is at the level of genes, limiting analyses to variants that are in or proximate to coding regions. We propose a new method that integrates protein protein interaction (PPI as well as expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL data to identify sets of functionally related loci that are collectively associated with a trait of interest. We call such sets of loci "population covering locus sets" (PoCos. The contributions of the proposed approach are three-fold: 1 We consider all possible genotype models for each locus, thereby enabling identification of combinatorial relationships between multiple loci. 2 We develop a framework for the integration of PPI and eQTL into a heterogenous network model, enabling efficient identification of functionally related variants that are associated with the disease. 3 We develop a novel method to integrate the genotypes of multiple loci in a PoCo into a representative genotype to be used in risk assessment. We test the proposed framework in the context of risk assessment for seven complex diseases, type 1 diabetes (T1D, type 2 diabetes (T2D, psoriasis (PS, bipolar disorder (BD, coronary artery disease (CAD, hypertension (HT, and multiple sclerosis (MS. Our results show that the proposed method significantly outperforms individual variant based risk assessment models as well as the state-of-the-art polygenic score. We also show that incorporation of eQTL data improves the performance of identified POCOs in risk assessment. We also assess the biological relevance of PoCos for three diseases that have similar biological mechanisms

  9. Habituation as an adaptive shift in response strategy mediated by neuropeptides

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardiel, Evan L.; Yu, Alex J.; Giles, Andrew C.; Rankin, Catharine H.

    2017-08-01

    Habituation is a non-associative form of learning characterized by a decremented response to repeated stimulation. It is typically framed as a process of selective attention, allowing animals to ignore irrelevant stimuli in order to free up limited cognitive resources. However, habituation can also occur to threatening and toxic stimuli, suggesting that habituation may serve other functions. Here we took advantage of a high-throughput Caenorhabditis elegans learning assay to investigate habituation to noxious stimuli. Using real-time computer vision software for automated behavioral tracking and optogenetics for controlled activation of a polymodal nociceptor, ASH, we found that neuropeptides mediated habituation and performed an RNAi screen to identify candidate receptors. Through subsequent mutant analysis and cell-type-specific gene expression, we found that pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) neuropeptides function redundantly to promote habituation via PDFR-1-mediated cAMP signaling in both neurons and muscles. Behavioral analysis during learning acquisition suggests that response habituation and sensitization of locomotion are parts of a shifting behavioral strategy orchestrated by pigment dispersing factor signaling to promote dispersal away from repeated aversive stimuli.

  10. Hormonal and epigenetic regulation during embryogenic tissue habituation in Cucurbita pepo L.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leljak-Levanić, Dunja; Mrvková, Mihaela; Turečková, Veronika; Pěnčík, Aleš; Rolčík, Jakub; Strnad, Miroslav; Mihaljević, Snježana

    2016-01-01

    Habituated embryogenic line of pumpkin contained more CKs and IAA, but less ABA than the non-habituated line. Pronounced hypomethylation correlated with the absence of 2,4-D, addition of 5-azaC, and the process of habituation. A comparative analysis between habituated and non-habituated embryogenic cultures of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) in relation to endogenous phytohormones, global DNA methylation, and developmental and regeneration capacities of the cultures was conducted. The analysis revealed more cytokinins (CKs) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), but less abscisic acid (ABA) in the habituated HEC line than in the non-habituated DEC line. Ribosides and ribotides were the most abundant CK forms in both HEC and DEC lines (75.9 and 57.6 %, respectively). HEC contained more free-base CKs (5.8 vs. 3.2 %), whereas DEC contained considerably more O-glycosides (39.1 vs. 18.3 %). Although prevalence of IAA was common for both lines, relative ratio of CKs and ABA differed between DEC and HEC lines. ABA was prevailing over CKs in DEC, while CKs prevailed over ABA in HEC line. Taking into account the importance of ABA for embryo maturation, the reduced endogenous ABA content in HEC line might be the reason for a 5-fold reduction in regeneration capacity compared to DEC. Both habituated and non-habituated embryogenic lines were highly methylated in the presence of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Pronounced hypomethylation correlated with the absence of 2,4-D, addition of 5-azacytidine (5-azaC), but also with the process of habituation. The habituated line was resistant to the effect of hypomethylation drug 5-azaC and remained highly methylated even after the addition of 5-azaC. Also, 5-azaC did not change the developmental pattern in the habituated line, indicating the existence of separate mechanisms by which 2,4-D influences global DNA methylation in comparison to habituation-related global DNA methylation.

  11. 222Rn determination in mineral waters from the Pocos de Caldas Plateau in Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Taddei, M.H.T.; Silva, N.C.; Cipriani, M.

    2002-01-01

    It is estimated that 50% of the radioactive effective dose equivalent to man comes from radon and its radioactivity daughters. The main 222 Rn sources are the soils, building materials and potable waters. There is an especial interest in spas waters with high natural radioactivity. It's considered that the use of these waters as drinking waters is a significant radiation exposure factor, and it is worthwhile to assess the consequent dose. Such estimation has been made for the Pocos de Caldas Plateau, which is a region of high natural radioactivity, from volcanic origin, containing several spas (Aguas da Prata, Caldas, Pocos de Caldas and Andradas). The 222 Rn content was determined in 23 spring waters in Pocos de Caldas and neighboring cities. In water sampling, modified Marinelli flasks were used. The determinations were effected with a high resolution gamma ray spectrometer. High concentration variations were observed in the collected mineral waters, the highest values having been found in Fonte Villela's waters, in Aguas da Prata town (926 Bq/l); Grande Hotel's in Caldas Town (420 Bq/l) and COLAB's in Pocos de Caldas region (289 Bq/l). The annual whole body effective dose equivalent estimate for adult due to water ingestion, using the Crowford-Brown's biokinetic model's adult dose conversion factors, was higher than 1 mSv/year in 61% of the analyzed waters. (author)

  12. Se aprende poco : ¿Qué podemos hacer?

    OpenAIRE

    Quinquer, Dolors

    2006-01-01

    La situación en las aulas es más compleja, heterogénea y pluricultural que antes; las competencias que se han de desarrollar se han diversificado, ahora son cognitivas, éticas y sociales, mientras que los marcos organizativos siguen tan rígidos como siempre. En este contexto, comparando España con otros países, parece que los alumnos aprenden poco.¿Qué podemos hacer? 

  13. Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil: a natural analogue study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smellie, J.

    1989-01-01

    The Pocos de Caldas natural analogue project is an internationally funded project hosted by Brazil; the contributary organizations are SKB (Sweden), NAGRA (Switzerland), DOE (United Kingdom) and the DOE (United States). The Project is a multidisciplinary study of two mineralized areas within an alkaline igneous caldera complex located near the town of Pocos de Caldas in the state of Minas Gerais. One area, the Osamu Utsumi mine, is characterized by redox deposits of secondary remobilized pitchblende, and the other area, Morro do Ferro, comprises a highly weathered deposit of thorium and REE with subordinate uranium. The project, scheduled for three years (1986-1989), is now entering its third and final year. The pilot and feasibility studies, which characterized the first year, helped to establish the major drilling programme and the sampling protocols for both rock and groundwater studies which constituted the major part of the second year. The latest status of the investigations are briefly reported

  14. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met genotype modulates amygdala habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez-Rodriguez, M Mercedes; New, Antonia S; Goldstein, Kim E; Rosell, Daniel; Yuan, Qiaoping; Zhou, Zhifeng; Hodgkinson, Colin; Goldman, David; Siever, Larry J; Hazlett, Erin A

    2017-05-30

    A deficit in amygdala habituation to repeated emotional stimuli may be an endophenotype of disorders characterized by emotion dysregulation, such as borderline personality disorder (BPD). Amygdala reactivity to emotional stimuli is genetically modulated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) variants. Whether amygdala habituation itself is also modulated by BDNF genotypes remains unknown. We used imaging-genetics to examine the effect of BDNF Val66Met genotypes on amygdala habituation to repeated emotional stimuli. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 57 subjects (19 BPD patients, 18 patients with schizotypal personality disorder [SPD] and 20 healthy controls [HC]) during a task involving viewing of unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant pictures, each presented twice to measure habituation. Amygdala responses across genotypes (Val66Met SNP Met allele-carriers vs. Non-Met carriers) and diagnoses (HC, BPD, SPD) were examined with ANOVA. The BDNF 66Met allele was significantly associated with a deficit in amygdala habituation, particularly for emotional pictures. The association of the 66Met allele with a deficit in habituation to unpleasant emotional pictures remained significant in the subsample of BPD patients. Using imaging-genetics, we found preliminary evidence that deficient amygdala habituation may be modulated by BDNF genotype. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  15. The effects of caffeine and directed attention on acoustic startle habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schicatano, E J; Blumenthal, T D

    1998-01-01

    The present experiment tested the effects of caffeine on acoustic startle habituation during different attention tasks in which subjects either (a) attended to the acoustic startle stimulus (auditory attention; n = 9) (b) attended to a visual search task during presentation of acoustic startle stimuli (visual attention; n = 10), or (c) were given no specific instructions during acoustic startle testing (no attention; n = 9). Startle eyeblink responses were measured after subjects received either caffeine (1 mg/kg) or placebo. Caffeine significantly delayed response habituation in the no attention group and in the auditory attention group, but had no effect on habituation in the visual attention group. These data show that startle habituation can occur with minimal attention being directed to the acoustic startle stimulus, and that visual attention cancels the effects of caffeine on startle habituation.

  16. Sensitization and habituation of motivated behavior in overweight and non-overweight children

    OpenAIRE

    Epstein, Leonard H.; Robinson, Jodie L.; Temple, Jennifer L.; Roemmich, James N.; Marusewski, Angela; Nadbrzuch, Rachel

    2008-01-01

    The rate of habituation to food is inversely related to energy intake, and overweight children may habituate slower to food and consume more energy. This study compared patterns of sensitization, as defined by an initial increase in operant or motivated responding for food, and habituation, defined by gradual reduction in responding, for macaroni and cheese and pizza in overweight and non-overweight 8−12 year-old children. Non-overweight children habituated faster to both foods than overweigh...

  17. Habitual exercise is associated with cognitive control and cognitive reappraisal success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giles, Grace E; Cantelon, Julie A; Eddy, Marianna D; Brunyé, Tad T; Urry, Heather L; Mahoney, Caroline R; Kanarek, Robin B

    2017-12-01

    Habitual exercise is associated with enhanced domain-general cognitive control, such as inhibitory control, selective attention, and working memory, all of which rely on the frontal cortex. However, whether regular exercise is associated with more specific aspects of cognitive control, such as the cognitive control of emotion, remains relatively unexplored. The present study employed a correlational design to determine whether level of habitual exercise was related to performance on the Stroop test measuring selective attention and response inhibition, the cognitive reappraisal task measuring cognitive reappraisal success, and associated changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. 74 individuals (24 men, 50 women, age 18-32 years) participated. Higher habitual physical activity was associated with lower Stroop interference (indicating greater inhibitory control) and enhanced cognitive reappraisal success. Higher habitual exercise was also associated with lower oxygenated hemoglobin (O 2 Hb) in the PFC in response to emotional information. However, NIRS data indicated that exercise was not associated with cognitive control-associated O 2 Hb in the PFC. Behaviorally, the findings support and extend the previous findings that habitual exercise relates to more successful cognitive control of neutral information and cognitive reappraisal of emotional information. Future research should explore whether habitual exercise exerts causal benefits to cognitive control and PFC oxygenation, as well as isolate specific cognitive control processes sensitive to change through habitual exercise.

  18. Habituation of reinforcer effectiveness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lloyd, David R; Medina, Douglas J; Hawk, Larry W; Fosco, Whitney D; Richards, Jerry B

    2014-01-09

    In this paper we propose an integrative model of habituation of reinforcer effectiveness (HRE) that links behavioral- and neural-based explanations of reinforcement. We argue that HRE is a fundamental property of reinforcing stimuli. Most reinforcement models implicitly suggest that the effectiveness of a reinforcer is stable across repeated presentations. In contrast, an HRE approach predicts decreased effectiveness due to repeated presentation. We argue that repeated presentation of reinforcing stimuli decreases their effectiveness and that these decreases are described by the behavioral characteristics of habituation (McSweeney and Murphy, 2009; Rankin etal., 2009). We describe a neural model that postulates a positive association between dopamine neurotransmission and HRE. We present evidence that stimulant drugs, which artificially increase dopamine neurotransmission, disrupt (slow) normally occurring HRE and also provide evidence that stimulant drugs have differential effects on operant responding maintained by reinforcers with rapid vs. slow HRE rates. We hypothesize that abnormal HRE due to genetic and/or environmental factors may underlie some behavioral disorders. For example, recent research indicates that slow-HRE is predictive of obesity. In contrast ADHD may reflect "accelerated-HRE." Consideration of HRE is important for the development of effective reinforcement-based treatments. Finally, we point out that most of the reinforcing stimuli that regulate daily behavior are non-consumable environmental/social reinforcers which have rapid-HRE. The almost exclusive use of consumable reinforcers with slow-HRE in pre-clinical studies with animals may have caused the importance of HRE to be overlooked. Further study of reinforcing stimuli with rapid-HRE is needed in order to understand how habituation and reinforcement interact and regulate behavior.

  19. Treating chronic tinnitus: comparison of cognitive-behavioural and habituation-based treatments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zachriat, Claudia; Kröner-Herwig, Birgit

    2004-01-01

    Using a randomized control group trial the long-term efficacy of a habituation-based treatment as conceived by Jastreboff, and a cognitive-behavioural tinnitus coping training were compared. An educational intervention was administered as a control condition. Both treatments were conducted in a group format (habituation-based treatment, 5 sessions; tinnitus coping training, 11 sessions). Educational intervention was delivered in a single group session. Patients were categorized according to their level of disability due to tinnitus (low, high), age and gender and then randomly allocated to the treatment conditions (habituation-based treatment, n = 30; tinnitus coping training, n = 27; educational intervention, n = 20). Data assessment included follow-ups of up to 21 months. Several outcome variables including disability due to tinnitus were assessed either by questionnaire or diary. Findings reveal highly significant improvements in both tinnitus coping training and habituation-based treatment in comparison with the control group. While tinnitus coping training and habituation-based treatment do not differ significantly in reduction of tinnitus disability, improvement in general well-being and adaptive behaviour is greater in tinnitus coping training than habituation-based treatment. The decrease in disability remains stable throughout the last follow-up in both treatment conditions.

  20. Amygdala Habituation and Prefrontal Functional Connectivity in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swartz, Johnna R.; Wiggins, Jillian Lee; Carrasco, Melissa; Lord, Catherine; Monk, Christopher S.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: Amygdala habituation, the rapid decrease in amygdala responsiveness to the repeated presentation of stimuli, is fundamental to the nervous system. Habituation is important for maintaining adaptive levels of arousal to predictable social stimuli and decreased habituation is associated with heightened anxiety. Input from the ventromedial…

  1. Causation and Effectuation Processes: Opportunity Discovery and Exploitation Logics of Habitual Entrepreneurs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Müller, Sabine

    2010-01-01

    This study investigates how habitual entrepreneurs (i.e. serial and portfolio entrepreneurs) discover and exploit opportunities, deal with risk and uncertainty, predict or control the future, and plan their businesses based on a causation and effectuation perspective. This study thereby uncovered...... the causation and effectuation logics applied by habitual entrepreneurs with regard to four dimensions of the venture creation: View of the future (VF), Opportunity Discovery (OD), Opportunity Exploitation (OE), and Dealing with Risk (DR). Six habitual entrepreneurs, who had to meet three strictly defined...... criteria, where sampled and case studies performed. The findings clearly indicate that habitual entrepreneurs mainly apply an effectual logic with regards to the four dimensions examined. Some of the more inexperienced habitual entrepreneurs tend to apply both logics, but almost exclusively become...

  2. Sensitization and Habituation of Motivated Behavior in Overweight and Non-Overweight Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein, Leonard H.; Robinson, Jodie L.; Temple, Jennifer L.; Roemmich, James N.; Marusewski, Angela; Nadbrzuch, Rachel

    2008-01-01

    The rate of habituation to food is inversely related to energy intake, and overweight children may habituate slower to food and consume more energy. This study compared patterns of sensitization, as defined by an initial increase in operant or motivated responding for food, and habituation, defined by gradual reduction in responding, for macaroni…

  3. Habitual physical activity levels are positively correlated with CD4 ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Habitual physical activity levels are positively correlated with CD4 counts in an ... per month) and functional independence as assessed from the responses to the ... and between CD4 cell counts and total habitual physical activity levels (p ...

  4. Habituation and sensitization in primary headaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    The phenomena of habituation and sensitization are considered most useful for studying the neuronal substrates of information processing in the CNS. Both were studied in primary headaches, that are functional disorders of the brain characterized by an abnormal responsivity to any kind of incoming innocuous or painful stimuli and it’s cycling pattern over time (interictal, pre-ictal, ictal). The present review summarizes available data on stimulus responsivity in primary headaches obtained with clinical neurophysiology. In migraine, the majority of electrophysiological studies between attacks have shown that, for a number of different sensory modalities, the brain is characterised by a lack of habituation of evoked responses to repeated stimuli. This abnormal processing of the incoming information reaches its maximum a few days before the beginning of an attack, and normalizes during the attack, at a time when sensitization may also manifest itself. An abnormal rhythmic activity between thalamus and cortex, namely thalamocortical dysrhythmia, may be the pathophysiological mechanism subtending abnormal information processing in migraine. In tension-type headache (TTH), only few signs of deficient habituation were observed only in subgroups of patients. By contrast, using grand-average responses indirect evidence for sensitization has been found in chronic TTH with increased nociceptive specific reflexes and evoked potentials. Generalized increased sensitivity to pain (lower thresholds and increased pain rating) and a dysfunction in supraspinal descending pain control systems may contribute to the development and/or maintenance of central sensitization in chronic TTH. Cluster headache patients are chrarcterized during the bout and on the headache side by a pronounced lack of habituation of the brainstem blink reflex and a general sensitization of pain processing. A better insight into the nature of these ictal/interictal electrophysiological dysfunctions in primary

  5. 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.

  6. The concept of the deceased's habitual residence in the European succession regulation / El concepto de residencia habitual del causante en el Reglamento Sucesorio europeo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Carrascosa González

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available International successions have often raised controversies for Private International Law. This paper deals with the general ground of jurisdiction of the deceased’s last habitual residence. In this field, the flexible, fluid and changing concept of the last “habitual residence” of the deceased needs an appropriate interpretation both for academics and for the practitioners of Private International Law. However, this essay holds that the liquidity of the concept “habitual residence” of the deceased may be an advantage to grant international jurisdiction on the courts which are best placed to rule on the merits of the case. Moreover, this paper sustains that a careful and holistic interpretation of the text of the Regulation and a proper analysis of the function of this ground of international jurisdiction leads to a surprising conclusion, i.e., the concept of the “habitual residence” is not as complex and difficult to specify as, at first glance, it might appear.

  7. Attentional Bias Associated with Habitual Self-Stigma in People with Mental Illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Kevin K S; Mak, Winnie W S

    2015-01-01

    As habitual self-stigma can have a tremendous negative impact on people with mental illness, it is of paramount importance to identify its risk factors. The present study aims to examine the potential contributory role of attentional bias in habitual self-stigma. People with mental illness having strong (n = 47) and weak (n = 47) habitual self-stigma completed a computerized emotional Stroop task which included stigma-related, positive, and non-affective words as stimuli. The strong habit group was found to exhibit faster color-naming of stigma-related words (compared to non-affective words), whereas the weak habit group showed no difference in the speed of response to different stimuli. These findings suggest that people with stronger habitual self-stigma may be more able to ignore the semantic meaning of stigma-related words and focus on the color-naming task. Moreover, people with stronger habitual self-stigma may have greater attentional avoidance of stigma-related material. The present study is the first to demonstrate a specific relationship between habitual self-stigma and biased processing of stigma-related information. In order to further determine the role and the nature of attentional bias in habitual self-stigma, future research should employ a broader range of experimental paradigms and measurement techniques to examine stigma-related attentional bias in people with mental illness.

  8. Does anxiety sensitivity correlate with startle habituation? An examination in two independent samples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Miranda L; Gorka, Stephanie M; McGowan, Sarah K; Nelson, Brady D; Sarapas, Casey; Katz, Andrea C; Robison-Andrew, E Jenna; Shankman, Stewart A

    2014-01-01

    Individuals with anxiety disorders have previously demonstrated abnormal habituation to aversiveness over time. As anxiety sensitivity (AS), or an individuals' propensity to fear of anxiety-related sensations, has been shown to be a risk factor for anxiety disorders (particularly panic disorder), the present study examined whether AS was also associated with abnormal habituation. This association was examined in two independent samples of undergraduates (Ntotal=178). Habituation was operationalised as the reduction in startle response to multiple startle probes presented over 2.5 minutes and three definitions of this reduction were employed. Results indicated that individuals with higher levels of AS evidenced deficits in startle habituation, but the strength of this relationship was somewhat dependent on the definition of startle habituation, with the most robust definition being an analysis of participants' individual slopes across all nine blinks. The present findings suggest that startle habituation is a key mechanism underlying AS, and may help elucidate the role this risk factor plays in the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders.

  9. Motion sickness and otolith sensitivity - A pilot study of habituation to linear acceleration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potvin, A. R.; Sadoff, M.; Billingham, J.

    1977-01-01

    Astronauts, particularly in Skylab flights, experienced varying degrees of motion sickness lasting 3-5 days. One possible mechanism for this motion sickness adaptation is believed to be a reduction in otolith sensitivity with an attendant reduction in sensory conflict. In an attempt to determine if this hypothesis is valid, a ground-based pilot study was conducted on a vertical linear accelerator. The extent of habituation to accelerations which initially produced motion sickness was evaluated, along with the possible value of habituation training to minimize the space motion sickness problem. Results showed that habituation occurred for 6 of the 8 subjects tested. However, in tests designed to measure dynamic and static otolith function, no significant differences between pre- and post-habituation tests were observed. Cross habituation effects to a standard Coriolis acceleration test were not significant. It is unlikely that ground-based pre-habituation to linear accelerations of the type examined would alter susceptibility to space motion sickness.

  10. Enfermedades poco comunes: una prioridad de los sistemas de salud

    OpenAIRE

    RAP

    2017-01-01

    Las enfermedades poco comunes, incluidas las de origen genético, son aquellas enfermedades que tienen una prevalencia baja, menor de 5 casos por cada 10.000 habitantes en la comunidad, según la definición de la Unión Europea. Estas enfermedades tienen ciertas características comunes. Son, en su mayor parte, degenerativas y constituyen una prioridad de los sistemas de salud.

  11. Body composition and habitual and match-day dietary intake of the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    To determine the body composition, habitual and game-specific nutritional practices of FNB Maties Varsity Cup (MVC) rugby ... After soccer, rugby is the most popular South .... supplements was quantified and added to the total habitual dietary.

  12. Physiological, Molecular and Genetic Mechanisms of Long-Term Habituation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Calin-Jageman, Robert J

    2009-09-12

    Work funded on this grant has explored the mechanisms of long-term habituation, a ubiquitous form of learning that plays a key role in basic cognitive functioning. Specifically, behavioral, physiological, and molecular mechanisms of habituation have been explored using a simple model system, the tail-elicited siphon-withdrawal reflex (T-SWR) in the marine mollusk Aplysia californica. Substantial progress has been made on the first and third aims, providing some fundamental insights into the mechanisms by which memories are stored. We have characterized the physiological correlates of short- and long-term habituation. We found that short-term habituation is accompanied by a robust sensory adaptation, whereas long-term habituation is accompanied by alterations in sensory and interneuron synaptic efficacy. Thus, our data indicates memories can be shifted between different sites in a neural network as they are consolidated from short to long term. At the molecular level, we have accomplished microarray analysis comparing gene expression in both habituated and control ganglia. We have identified a network of putatively regulated transcripts that seems particularly targeted towards synaptic changes (e.g. SNAP25, calmodulin) . We are now beginning additional work to confirm regulation of these transcripts and build a more detailed understanding of the cascade of molecular events leading to the permanent storage of long-term memories. On the third aim, we have fostered a nascent neuroscience program via a variety of successful initiatives. We have funded over 11 undergraduate neuroscience scholars, several of whom have been recognized at national and regional levels for their research. We have also conducted a pioneering summer research program for community college students which is helping enhance access of underrepresented groups to life science careers. Despite minimal progress on the second aim, this project has provided a) novel insight into the network mechanisms by

  13. Memory for individual scent in hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) as assessed by habituation methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, R E

    1993-06-01

    The memory of hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) for the flank scent of other male hamsters was investigated in a series of habituation experiments. In 2 types of habituation tasks (Experiments 1 and 2), male hamsters habituated to the flank scent of 1 male and then increased their level of investigation to that of a novel male; similar results were obtained when the intervals between trials ranged from 1 s to 2 days. When the test trial was 10 or 21 days after habituation (Experiment 3), males discriminated between familiar and novel flank scents at 10 days but not at 21 days. The results demonstrate recognition of familiar and unfamiliar individual odors and excellent memory for these differences. Habituation techniques yield extremely robust results and may be useful for investigations of other aspects of individual signatures.

  14. Habitual and value-guided purchase behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biel, Anders; Dahlstrand, Ulf; Grankvist, Gunne

    2005-06-01

    Society increasingly requests that individuals adopt environmentally benign behavior. Information campaigns purported to change people's attitudes are often regarded as prerequisites to installing such changes. While such information may be a necessary step, it is not sufficient by itself. We argue that many everyday behaviors with environmental consequences are habitual, and that little attention is given to information directed toward changing these habitual behaviors. In other instances, behavior is guided by values in a more reflective process. However, other information besides environmental consequences may draw a person's attention and affect behavioral choice. Using surveys and experimental studies targeting consumer behavior, we studied under what conditions different kinds of information is likely to influence people with varying levels of environmental concern. Based on results from these studies, implications for behavioral change are discussed.

  15. Attention to novelty versus repetition: Contrasting habituation profiles in Autism and Williams syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giacomo Vivanti

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Abnormalities in habituation have been documented in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD and Williams syndrome (WS. Such abnormalities have been proposed to underlie the distinctive social and non-social difficulties that define ASD, including sensory features and repetitive behaviours, and the distinctive social phenotype characterizing WS. Methods: We measured habituation in 39 preschoolers with ASD, 20 peers with WS and 19 typically developing (TD children using an eye-tracking protocol that measured participants’ duration of attention in response to a repeating stimulus and a novel stimulus presented side by side across multiple trials. Results: Participants in the TD group and the WS group decreased their attention toward the repeating stimulus and increased their attention to the novel stimulus over time. Conversely, the ASD group showed a similar attentional response to the novel and repeating stimuli. Habituation was correlated with social functioning in the WS but not in the ASD group. Contrary to predictions, slower habituation in ASD was associated with lower severity of repetitive behaviours. Conclusions: Habituation appears to be intact in WS and impaired in ASD. More research is needed to clarify the nature of the syndrome-specific patterns of correlations between habituation and social and non-social functioning in these neurodevelopmental disorders. Keywords: Habituation, Learning, Eye-tracking, Repetitive behaviours, Social cognition, Autism, Williams syndrome

  16. Competitive short-term and long-term memory processes in spatial habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanderson, David J; Bannerman, David M

    2011-04-01

    Exposure to a spatial location leads to habituation of exploration such that, in a novelty preference test, rodents subsequently prefer exploring a novel location to the familiar location. According to Wagner's (1981) theory of memory, short-term and long-term habituation are caused by separate and sometimes opponent processes. In the present study, this dual-process account of memory was tested. Mice received a series of exposure training trials to a location before receiving a novelty preference test. The novelty preference was greater when tested after a short, rather than a long, interval. In contrast, the novelty preference was weaker when exposure training trials were separated by a short, rather than a long interval. Furthermore, it was found that long-term habituation was determined by the independent effects of the amount of exposure training and the number of exposure training trials when factors such as the intertrial interval and the cumulative intertrial interval were controlled. A final experiment demonstrated that a long-term reduction of exploration could be caused by a negative priming effect due to associations formed during exploration. These results provide evidence against a single-process account of habituation and suggest that spatial habituation is determined by both short-term, recency-based memory and long-term, incrementally strengthened memory.

  17. Maternal Habitual Midday Napping Duration and Frequency are Associated with High Birthweight.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Xiaoxuan; Zhang, Lina; Shen, Lijun; Song, Lulu; Li, Hui; Liu, Bingqing; Li, Yuanyuan; Xia, Wei; Zhang, Bin; Xu, Shunqing; Wang, Youjie

    2017-09-05

    Habitual midday napping is a common habit in China, especially for pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to examine whether duration and frequency of maternal habitual midday napping were associated with high birthweight (HBW). A total of 10,482 participants from Healthy Baby Cohort were include in our analysis. The information of the mothers and their infants were abstracted from medical records, or obtained from questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of habitual midday napping duration and frequency with HBW. Of the participants, 8,705 (83.0%) reported having habitual midday napping. Duration and frequency of napping had a positive association with HBW without adjustment. After controlling for potential confounders, increasing risk of HBW was observed in participants who napped 1.5-2 hours (OR, 1.50, 95% CI, 1.14, 1.98), and ≥2 hours (OR, 1.35, 95% CI, 1.03, 1.78) compared with no habitual midday napping. Participants who took naps ≥5 days/week had a higher risk of HBW (OR, 1.37, 95% CI, 1.07, 1.77) compared with the women without naps. This suggests that longer (≥1.5 hours) and more frequent (≥5 days/week) maternal habitual midday napping were associated with an increased risk of HBW.

  18. Objectively determined habitual physical activity in South African adolescents: the PAHL study

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background There is limited data on objectively determined habitual physical activity (PA) in 16-year old South African adolescents. The purpose of this study was to objectively determine the habitual PA of adolescents from the North West Province of South Africa by race and gender. Methods Adolescents (137 girls, 89 boys) from the ongoing Physical Activity and Health Longitudinal Study (PAHL study), participated in the present study. Habitual PA was objectively recorded by means of the Actiheart® over a period of 7 days. Time spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) was assessed. Results Average MVPA for the study sample was 50.9 ± 40.3 minutes/day. Girls were significantly more active than boys expending more time in MVPA (61.13 ± 52.2 minutes/day; p Physical activity varies by both gender and race in adolescents from the North West Province of South Africa. Objectively determined data from our study indicates that girls habitually spend more time in MVPA per day than boys, and that white adolescents habitually engage in more MVPA than black adolescents. Seeing as the average MVPA per day for the entire study sample falls below the recommended daily average of 60minutes/day, adolescents should be the foremost targets of interventions aimed at enhancing habitual PA. PMID:24885503

  19. Body composition and habitual and match-day dietary intake of the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Of all the MVC rugby players (N=35), 18 completed the sections on body composition and match-day dietary intake, while 11 completed the habitual dietary intake section. Body composition data were collected by an International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry-accredited biokineticist. Habitual dietary ...

  20. The influence of personal and trip characteristics on habitual parking behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Waerden, van der P.J.H.J.; Timmermans, H.J.P.; Da Silva, A.N.R.

    2015-01-01

    This paper discusses some results of a study on the influence of car drivers' characteristics on habitual parking behavior. First, the level of habitual parking behavior is determined in two ways: car drivers' regularity in choosing a parking facility and car drivers' self-reporting scores for

  1. Salivary habituation to food stimuli in successful weight loss maintainers, obese and normal-weight adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bond, DS; Raynor, HA; McCaffery, JM; Wing, RR

    2017-01-01

    Objective Research shows that slower habituation of salivary responses to food stimuli is related to greater energy intake and that obese (Ob) individuals habituate slower than those of normal weight (NW). No study has examined habituation rates in weight loss maintainers (WLMs) who have reduced from obese to normal weight, relative to those who are Ob or NW. Design Salivation to two baseline water trials and 10 lemon-flavored lollipop trials were studied in 14 WLMs, 15 Ob and 18 NW individuals comparable in age, gender and ethnicity. Linear mixed models were used to compare WLMs with Ob and NW groups. Results Salivation in the WLM and NW groups decreased significantly (for both P <0.005) across trials, indicative of habituation. Salivary responses in the Ob group did not habituate (P=0.46). When compared with Ob group, WLMs showed a quicker reduction in salivation (P<0.05). WLM and NW groups did not differ in habituation rate (P=0.49). Conclusions WLMs have habituation rates that are comparable to NW individuals without previous history of obesity, and show quicker habituation than those who are currently obese. These results suggest that physiological responses to food may ‘normalize’ with successful weight loss maintenance. PMID:20010900

  2. Habitual alcohol seeking: modeling the transition from casual drinking to addiction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barker, Jacqueline M; Taylor, Jane R

    2014-01-01

    The transition from goal-directed actions to habitual ethanol seeking models the development of addictive behavior that characterizes alcohol use disorders. The progression to habitual ethanol-seeking behavior occurs more rapidly than for natural rewards, suggesting that ethanol may act on habit circuit to drive the loss of behavioral flexibility. This review will highlight recent research that has focused on the formation and expression of habitual ethanol seeking, and the commonalities and distinctions between ethanol and natural reward-seeking habits, with the goal of highlighting important, understudied research areas that we believe will lead toward the development of novel treatment and prevention strategies for uncontrolled drinking. PMID:25193245

  3. Investigation of habitual pitch during free play activities for preschool-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yang; Kimelman, Mikael D Z; Micco, Katie

    2009-01-01

    This study is designed to compare the habitual pitch measured in two different speech activities (free play activity and traditionally used structured speech activity) for normally developing preschool-aged children to explore to what extent preschoolers vary their vocal pitch among different speech environments. Habitual pitch measurements were conducted for 10 normally developing children (2 boys, 8 girls) between the ages of 31 months and 71 months during two different activities: (1) free play; and (2) structured speech. Speech samples were recorded using a throat microphone connected with a wireless transmitter in both activities. The habitual pitch (in Hz) was measured for all collected speech samples by using voice analysis software (Real-Time Pitch). Significantly higher habitual pitch is found during free play in contrast to structured speech activities. In addition, there is no showing of significant difference of habitual pitch elicited across a variety of structured speech activities. Findings suggest that the vocal usage of preschoolers appears to be more effortful during free play than during structured activities. It is recommended that a comprehensive evaluation for young children's voice needs to be based on the speech/voice samples collected from both free play and structured activities.

  4. Validity and Reproducibility of a Habitual Dietary Fibre Intake Short Food Frequency Questionnaire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Healey, Genelle; Brough, Louise; Murphy, Rinki; Hedderley, Duncan; Butts, Chrissie; Coad, Jane

    2016-09-10

    Low dietary fibre intake has been associated with poorer health outcomes, therefore having the ability to be able to quickly assess an individual's dietary fibre intake would prove useful in clinical practice and for research purposes. Current dietary assessment methods such as food records and food frequency questionnaires are time-consuming and burdensome, and there are presently no published short dietary fibre intake questionnaires that can quantify an individual's total habitual dietary fibre intake and classify individuals as low, moderate or high habitual dietary fibre consumers. Therefore, we aimed to develop and validate a habitual dietary fibre intake short food frequency questionnaire (DFI-FFQ) which can quickly and accurately classify individuals based on their habitual dietary fibre intake. In this study the DFI-FFQ was validated against the Monash University comprehensive nutrition assessment questionnaire (CNAQ). Fifty-two healthy, normal weight male (n = 17) and female (n = 35) participants, aged between 21 and 61 years, completed the DFI-FFQ twice and the CNAQ once. All eligible participants completed the study, however the data from 46% of the participants were excluded from analysis secondary to misreporting. The DFI-FFQ cannot accurately quantify total habitual dietary fibre intakes, however, it is a quick, valid and reproducible tool in classifying individuals based on their habitual dietary fibre intakes.

  5. Habitual coffee consumption enhances attention and vigilance in hemodialysis patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikić, Petar M; Andrić, Branislav R; Stojimirović, Biljana B; Trbojevic-Stanković, Jasna; Bukumirić, Zoran

    2014-01-01

    Coffee drinking is the main source of caffeine intake among adult population in the western world. It has been reported that low to moderate caffeine intake has beneficial effect on alertness and cognitive functions in healthy subjects. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of habitual coffee consumption on cognitive function in hemodialysis patients. In a cross-sectional study, 86 patients from a single-dialysis centre underwent assessment by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment tool and evaluation for symptoms of fatigue, mood, and sleep disorders by well-validated questionnaires. The habitual coffee use and the average daily caffeine intake were estimated by participants' response to a dietary questionnaire. Sixty-seven subjects (78%) consumed black coffee daily, mostly in low to moderate dose. Cognitive impairment was found in three-quarters of tested patients. Normal mental performance was more often in habitual coffee users (25% versus 16%). Regular coffee drinkers achieved higher mean scores on all tested cognitive domains, but a significant positive correlation was found only for items that measure attention and concentration (P = 0.024). Moderate caffeine intake by habitual coffee consumption could have beneficial impact on cognitive function in hemodialysis patients due to selective enhancement of attention and vigilance.

  6. Habituation of medaka (Oryzias latipes) demonstrated by open-field testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsunaga, Wataru; Watanabe, Eiji

    2010-10-01

    Habituation to novel environments is frequently studied to analyze cognitive phenotypes in animals, and an open-field test is generally conducted to investigate the changes that occur in animals during habituation. The test has not been used in behavioral studies of medaka (Oryzias latipes), which is recently being used in behavioral research. Therefore, we examined the open-field behavior of medaka on the basis of temporal changes in 2 conventional indexes of locomotion and position. The findings of our study clearly showed that medaka changed its behavior through multiple temporal phases as it became more familiar with new surroundings; this finding is consistent with those of other ethological studies in animals. During repeated open-field testing on 2 consecutive days, we observed that horizontal locomotion on the second day was less than that on the first day, which suggested that habituation is retained in fish for days. This temporal habituation was critically affected by water factors or visual cues of the tank, thereby suggesting that fish have spatial memory of their surroundings. Thus, the data from this study will afford useful fundamental information for behavioral phenotyping of medaka and for elucidating cognitive phenotypes in animals. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. With or without pheromone habituation: possible differences between insect orders?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suckling, David Maxwell; Stringer, Lloyd D; Jiménez-Pérez, Alfredo; Walter, Gimme H; Sullivan, Nicola; El-Sayed, Ashraf M

    2018-06-01

    Habituation to sex pheromones is one of the key mechanisms in mating disruption, an insect control tactic. Male moths often show reduced sexual response after pre-exposure to female sex pheromone. Mating disruption is relatively rare in insect orders other than Lepidoptera. As a positive control we confirmed habituation in a moth (Epiphyas postvittana) using 24 h pre-exposure to sex pheromone to reduce subsequent activation behaviour. We then tested the impact of pre-exposure to sex or trail pheromone on subsequent behavioural response with insects from three other orders. Similar pre-exposure for 24 h to either sex pheromone [Pseudococcus calceolariae (Homoptera) and apple leaf curling midge Dasineura mali (Diptera), or trail pheromone of Argentine ants (Linepithema humile (Hymenoptera)], followed by behavioural assay in clean air provided no evidence of habituation after pre-exposure in these latter cases. The moths alone were affected by pre-exposure to pheromone. For pests without habituation, sustained attraction to a point source may make lure and kill more economical. Improved knowledge of behavioural processes should lead to better success in pest management and mechanisms should be investigated further to inform studies and practical efforts generally enhancing effectiveness of pheromone-based management. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

  8. Habitual Coffee Consumption Enhances Attention and Vigilance in Hemodialysis Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petar M. Nikić

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective. Coffee drinking is the main source of caffeine intake among adult population in the western world. It has been reported that low to moderate caffeine intake has beneficial effect on alertness and cognitive functions in healthy subjects. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of habitual coffee consumption on cognitive function in hemodialysis patients. Methods. In a cross-sectional study, 86 patients from a single-dialysis centre underwent assessment by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment tool and evaluation for symptoms of fatigue, mood, and sleep disorders by well-validated questionnaires. The habitual coffee use and the average daily caffeine intake were estimated by participants’ response to a dietary questionnaire. Results. Sixty-seven subjects (78% consumed black coffee daily, mostly in low to moderate dose. Cognitive impairment was found in three-quarters of tested patients. Normal mental performance was more often in habitual coffee users (25% versus 16%. Regular coffee drinkers achieved higher mean scores on all tested cognitive domains, but a significant positive correlation was found only for items that measure attention and concentration (P=0.024. Conclusions. Moderate caffeine intake by habitual coffee consumption could have beneficial impact on cognitive function in hemodialysis patients due to selective enhancement of attention and vigilance.

  9. Effects of temperature on heat pain adaptation and habituation in men and women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashmi, Javeria A; Davis, Karen D

    2010-12-01

    We recently reported that women report greater pain adaptation and habituation to moderately painful heat stimuli than men (Hashmi and Davis [16]); but slightly lower temperatures were needed to evoke moderate pain in the women. Hardy et al (1962) and LaMotte (1979) suggested that pain adaptation is most prominent at modest noxious heat temperatures and may occur at temperatures close to pain thresholds. Thus, as a follow-up to our previous study, we examined the role of absolute temperature in pain adaptation and habituation in men and women and assessed whether pain threshold impacts these findings. We hypothesised that pain adaptation and habituation would be more prominent at low and moderate temperatures, and that higher temperatures would induce pain adaptation and habituation in women but not in men. We further hypothesized that pain adaptation would not be correlated with pain thresholds. To test this, we obtained continuous ratings of pain evoked by 44.5-47.5°C stimuli applied to the dorsal foot of men and women. Each run consisted of three 30s stimuli at the same temperature with a 60s inter-stimulus interval. Women showed within-stimulus adaptation of total pain at all temperatures, but men showed significant adaptation to temperatures less than 47°C. There were no sex differences in inter-stimulus habituation and both men and women reported habituation to temperatures less than 46°C. Pain thresholds did not correlate with pain adaptation. These data highlight the temperature-sensitivity and sex differences of pain adaptation and habituation. Copyright © 2010 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Hernia diafragmática secundaria a trauma abdominal cerrado

    OpenAIRE

    Carrillo Esper, Raúl; López Caballero, Carlos

    2011-01-01

    La hernia diafragmática traumática (HDT) es una complicación poco común en el trauma abdominal cerrado y puede no ser diagnosticada a menos de que se tenga un alto índice de sospecha. El mecanismo fisiopatológico consiste en un impacto de alta energía con aceleración y desaceleración que condiciona incremento súbito de la presión intraabdominal. El hemidiafragma izquierdo es afectado más comúnmente. El diagnóstico temprano y oportuno es fundamental debido a la elevada incidencia con la que se...

  11. Individual variation in habituation: behaviour over time toward different stimuli in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Alison M.; Peeke, Harman V.S.

    2014-01-01

    Habituation, or the relatively permanent waning of a response as a result of repeated stimulation, is a form of behavioural plasticity that allows animals to filter out irrelevant stimuli and to focus selectively on important stimuli. Individuals that fail to habituate might be at a disadvantage if they continue to respond to irrelevant stimuli; therefore, habituation can have adaptive significance. In this study we compared rates of behaviour over time toward three different ecologically-relevant stimuli (food, a male intruder and a gravid female) in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We detected evidence for habituation to the stimuli, and males in this study were especially aggressive toward both male and female conspecifics. Although there were some clear temporal patterns that could be detected by looking at average behaviour, not all individuals behaved in the same ‘average’ way. We detected substantial inter-individual variation in behaviour toward all three stimuli, inter-individual variation in rates of habituation to both male and female conspecifics, but no evidence for correlations between behaviours across stimuli (behavioural syndromes). These results suggest that individual animals vary in rates of habituation, and prompt hypotheses about the causes and consequences of variation in rates of habituation. PMID:25678715

  12. Fundamental movement skills and habitual physical activity in young children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Abigail; Reilly, John J; Kelly, Louise A; Montgomery, Colette; Williamson, Avril; Paton, James Y; Grant, Stan

    2005-04-01

    To test for relationships between objectively measured habitual physical activity and fundamental movement skills in a relatively large and representative sample of preschool children. Physical activity was measured over 6 d using the Computer Science and Applications (CSA) accelerometer in 394 boys and girls (mean age 4.2, SD 0.5 yr). Children were scored on 15 fundamental movement skills, based on the Movement Assessment Battery, by a single observer. Total physical activity (r=0.10, Pmovement skills score. Time spent in light-intensity physical activity was not significantly correlated with motor skills score (r=0.02, P>0.05). In this sample and setting, fundamental movement skills were significantly associated with habitual physical activity, but the association between the two variables was weak. The present study questions whether the widely assumed relationships between motor skills and habitual physical activity actually exist in young children.

  13. Effect of interpersonal and cognitive stressors on habituation and the utility of heart rate variability to measure habituation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Interpersonal stressors promote eating. Habituation to the sensory properties of a food slows or stops motivated responding for a food. Stress may increase eating by acting as a dishabituator that prolongs responding for a food. Mental arithmetic (memory requirements), Stroop task (cognitive disson...

  14. Aging affects the balance between goal-guided and habitual spatial attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twedell, Emily L; Koutstaal, Wilma; Jiang, Yuhong V

    2017-08-01

    Visual clutter imposes significant challenges to older adults in everyday tasks and often calls on selective processing of relevant information. Previous research has shown that both visual search habits and task goals influence older adults' allocation of spatial attention, but has not examined the relative impact of these two sources of attention when they compete. To examine how aging affects the balance between goal-driven and habitual attention, and to inform our understanding of different attentional subsystems, we tested young and older adults in an adapted visual search task involving a display laid flat on a desk. To induce habitual attention, unbeknownst to participants, the target was more often placed in one quadrant than in the others. All participants rapidly acquired habitual attention toward the high-probability quadrant. We then informed participants where the high-probability quadrant was and instructed them to search that screen location first-but pitted their habit-based, viewer-centered search against this instruction by requiring participants to change their physical position relative to the desk. Both groups prioritized search in the instructed location, but this effect was stronger in young adults than in older adults. In contrast, age did not influence viewer-centered search habits: the two groups showed similar attentional preference for the visual field where the target was most often found before. Aging disrupted goal-guided but not habitual attention. Product, work, and home design for people of all ages--but especially for older individuals--should take into account the strong viewer-centered nature of habitual attention.

  15. Boredom and Passion: Triggers of Habitual Entrepreneurship

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Müller, Sabine; Neergaard, Helle

    . The case based, the study identifies eight factors, which contribute to consecutive venture creation. The findings suggest that boredom and passion are necessary conditions triggering habitual entrepreneurship. Other important mechanisms included the joy of discovering and exploiting an opportunity...

  16. "My worries are rational, climate change is not": habitual ecological worrying is an adaptive response.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bas Verplanken

    Full Text Available Qualifications such as "global warming hysteria" and "energy policy schizophrenia" put forward by some climate change skeptics, usually outside the academic arena, may suggest that people who seriously worry about the environment suffer from psychological imbalance. The present study aimed to refute this thesis. While habitual worrying in general is strongly associated with psychopathological symptoms, in a survey a near-zero correlation was found between habitual ecological worrying and pathological worry. Instead, habitual ecological worrying was associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, and with a personality structure characterized by imagination and an appreciation for new ideas. The study had sufficient statistical power and measures were valid and reliable. The results confirm that those who habitually worry about the ecology are not only lacking in any psychopathology, but demonstrate a constructive and adaptive response to a serious problem. In the public domain, these findings may contribute to a more rational and less emotional debate on climate change and to the prevention of stigmatization of people who are genuinely concerned about our habitat and are prepared to do something about it ("habitual worriers are not crazy". In the academic arena this study may contribute to environmental psychology ("habitual worrying is part of a green identity", as well as to the literature on worry and anxiety ("habitual worrying can be a constructive response".

  17. "My worries are rational, climate change is not": habitual ecological worrying is an adaptive response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verplanken, Bas; Roy, Deborah

    2013-01-01

    Qualifications such as "global warming hysteria" and "energy policy schizophrenia" put forward by some climate change skeptics, usually outside the academic arena, may suggest that people who seriously worry about the environment suffer from psychological imbalance. The present study aimed to refute this thesis. While habitual worrying in general is strongly associated with psychopathological symptoms, in a survey a near-zero correlation was found between habitual ecological worrying and pathological worry. Instead, habitual ecological worrying was associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, and with a personality structure characterized by imagination and an appreciation for new ideas. The study had sufficient statistical power and measures were valid and reliable. The results confirm that those who habitually worry about the ecology are not only lacking in any psychopathology, but demonstrate a constructive and adaptive response to a serious problem. In the public domain, these findings may contribute to a more rational and less emotional debate on climate change and to the prevention of stigmatization of people who are genuinely concerned about our habitat and are prepared to do something about it ("habitual worriers are not crazy"). In the academic arena this study may contribute to environmental psychology ("habitual worrying is part of a green identity"), as well as to the literature on worry and anxiety ("habitual worrying can be a constructive response").

  18. Competition with Variety Seeking and Habitual Consumption: Price Commitment or Quality Commitment?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liyang Xiong

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates price and quality competition in a market where consumers seek variety and habit formation. Variety seeking is modeled as a decrease in the willingness to pay for product purchased on the previous occasion while habitual consumption may increase future marginal utility. We compare two competing strategies: price commitment and quality commitment. With a three-stage Hotelling-type model, we show that variety seeking intensifies while habitual consumption softens the competition. With price commitment, firms supply lower quality levels in period 1 and higher quality levels in period 2, while, with quality commitment, firms charge higher prices in period 1 and lower prices in period 2. However, the habitual consumption brings the opposite effect. In addition, with quality commitment variety seeking leads to a lower profit and a higher consumer surplus, while habitual consumption leads to the opposite results. On the other side, with price commitment these behaviors have no effect on the consumer surplus, although they still lower down the firm profits. Finally, we also identify conditions under which one strategy outperforms the other.

  19. Niveles de verbalización y resolución colaborativa de problemas poco estructurados

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José D. Chávez

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Se describieron las verbalizaciones de seis estudian - tes universitarios que resolvieron colaborativamen - te un problema poco estructurado. Partiendo de que aportaban información sobre la regulación metacog - nitiva y la solución de problemas, las verbalizacio - nes fueron categorizadas en niveles. Se utilizaron matrices espacio estado para interpretar los niveles de verbalización y los procesos de resolución de problemas poco estructurados. Se evidenció el predo - minio de verbalizaciones no reguladas, la ausencia de verbalizaciones relacionadas a la elaboración de justificaciones y la superficialidad del monitoreo y la evaluación. La evidencia apoya la idea de que la interacción entre pares no mejora por sí misma la solución de problemas. Los resultados invitan al diseño de situaciones de resolución de problemas que efectivamente promuevan la regulación meta - cognitiva entre pares.

  20. Tryptophan Depletion Promotes Habitual over Goal-Directed Control of Appetitive Responding in Humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Worbe, Yulia; Savulich, George; de Wit, Sanne; Fernandez-Egea, Emilio; Robbins, Trevor W

    2015-02-05

    Optimal behavioral performance results from a balance between goal-directed and habitual systems of behavioral control, which are modulated by ascending monoaminergic projections. While the role of the dopaminergic system in behavioral control has been recently addressed, the extent to which changes in global serotonin neurotransmission could influence these 2 systems is still poorly understood. We employed the dietary acute tryptophan depletion procedure to reduce serotonin neurotransmission in 18 healthy volunteers and 18 matched controls. We used a 3-stage instrumental learning paradigm that includes an initial instrumental learning stage, a subsequent outcome-devaluation test, and a slip-of-action stage, which directly tests the balance between hypothetical goal-directed and habitual systems. We also employed a separate response inhibition control test to assess the behavioral specificity of the results. Acute tryptophan depletion produced a shift of behavioral performance towards habitual responding as indexed by performance on the slip-of-action test. Moreover, greater habitual responding in the acute tryptophan depletion group was predicted by a steeper decline in plasma tryptophan levels. In contrast, acute tryptophan depletion left intact the ability to use discriminative stimuli to guide instrumental choice as indexed by the instrumental learning stage and did not impair inhibitory response control. The major implication of this study is that serotonin modulates the balance between goal-directed and stimulus-response habitual systems of behavioral control. Our findings thus imply that diminished serotonin neurotransmission shifts behavioral control towards habitual responding. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

  1. Variation in foot strike patterns during running among habitually barefoot populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatala, Kevin G; Dingwall, Heather L; Wunderlich, Roshna E; Richmond, Brian G

    2013-01-01

    Endurance running may have a long evolutionary history in the hominin clade but it was not until very recently that humans ran wearing shoes. Research on modern habitually unshod runners has suggested that they utilize a different biomechanical strategy than runners who wear shoes, namely that barefoot runners typically use a forefoot strike in order to avoid generating the high impact forces that would be experienced if they were to strike the ground with their heels first. This finding suggests that our habitually unshod ancestors may have run in a similar way. However, this research was conducted on a single population and we know little about variation in running form among habitually barefoot people, including the effects of running speed, which has been shown to affect strike patterns in shod runners. Here, we present the results of our investigation into the selection of running foot strike patterns among another modern habitually unshod group, the Daasanach of northern Kenya. Data were collected from 38 consenting adults as they ran along a trackway with a plantar pressure pad placed midway along its length. Subjects ran at self-selected endurance running and sprinting speeds. Our data support the hypothesis that a forefoot strike reduces the magnitude of impact loading, but the majority of subjects instead used a rearfoot strike at endurance running speeds. Their percentages of midfoot and forefoot strikes increased significantly with speed. These results indicate that not all habitually barefoot people prefer running with a forefoot strike, and suggest that other factors such as running speed, training level, substrate mechanical properties, running distance, and running frequency, influence the selection of foot strike patterns.

  2. Variation in foot strike patterns during running among habitually barefoot populations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kevin G Hatala

    Full Text Available Endurance running may have a long evolutionary history in the hominin clade but it was not until very recently that humans ran wearing shoes. Research on modern habitually unshod runners has suggested that they utilize a different biomechanical strategy than runners who wear shoes, namely that barefoot runners typically use a forefoot strike in order to avoid generating the high impact forces that would be experienced if they were to strike the ground with their heels first. This finding suggests that our habitually unshod ancestors may have run in a similar way. However, this research was conducted on a single population and we know little about variation in running form among habitually barefoot people, including the effects of running speed, which has been shown to affect strike patterns in shod runners. Here, we present the results of our investigation into the selection of running foot strike patterns among another modern habitually unshod group, the Daasanach of northern Kenya. Data were collected from 38 consenting adults as they ran along a trackway with a plantar pressure pad placed midway along its length. Subjects ran at self-selected endurance running and sprinting speeds. Our data support the hypothesis that a forefoot strike reduces the magnitude of impact loading, but the majority of subjects instead used a rearfoot strike at endurance running speeds. Their percentages of midfoot and forefoot strikes increased significantly with speed. These results indicate that not all habitually barefoot people prefer running with a forefoot strike, and suggest that other factors such as running speed, training level, substrate mechanical properties, running distance, and running frequency, influence the selection of foot strike patterns.

  3. Evidence for habituation of the irrelevant-sound effect on serial recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Röer, Jan P; Bell, Raoul; Buchner, Axel

    2014-05-01

    Working memory theories make opposing predictions as to whether the disruptive effect of task-irrelevant sound on serial recall should be attenuated after repeated exposure to the auditory distractors. Although evidence of habituation has emerged after a passive listening phase, previous attempts to observe habituation to to-be ignored distractors on a trial-by-trial basis have proven to be fruitless. With the present study, we suggest that habituation to auditory distractors occurs, but has often been overlooked because past attempts to measure habituation in the irrelevant-sound paradigm were not sensitive enough. In a series of four experiments, the disruptive effects of to-be-ignored speech and music relative to a quiet control condition were markedly reduced after eight repetitions, regardless of whether trials were presented in blocks (Exp. 1) or in a random order (Exp. 2). The auditory distractor's playback direction (forward, backward) had no effect (Exp. 3). The same results were obtained when the auditory distractors were only presented in a retention interval after the presentation of the to-be-remembered items (Exp. 4). This pattern is only consistent with theoretical accounts that allow for attentional processes to interfere with the maintenance of information in working memory.

  4. La lógica de la sospecha: Sobre criminalización del uso de drogas, complots y barreras de acceso al sistema de salud

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Epele

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Partiendo de los resultados de un estudio etnográfico que he desarrollado en dos barrios pobres del sur del Gran Buenos Aires, en este artículo, examino las consecuencias de la criminalización del consumo de drogas, en los vínculos entre instituciones de salud y usuarios/as de drogas que viven bajo condiciones de pobreza y marginación social. Específicamente, defino y caracterizo la lógica de la sospecha, es decir, aquel conjunto de prácticas simbólicas que incluye desde la duda, la desconfianza, la sospecha, la modificación del significado de los mensajes, la dificultad de fijar la intencionalidad del interlocutor hasta la elaboración de teorías sobre planes de aniquilación de determinados grupos sociales. Partiendo del análisis de una dispersión de experiencias, narraciones, posiciones, actitudes y elaboraciones, en este trabajo examino a la sospecha que estructura esta lógica como una barrera entre los usuarios/as de drogas y las instituciones de salud.A partir dos resultados de um estudo etnográfico que desenvolvi em dois bairros carentes do sul do Grande Buenos Aires, examino neste artigo as conseqüências da criminalização do consumo de drogas, nos vínculos entre instituições de saúde e usuários/as de drogas que vivem em condições de pobreza e de marginalidade social. Especificamente, defino e caracterizo a lógica da suspeita. Isto é, aquele conjunto de práticas simbólicas que inclui tanto a dúvida, a desconfiança, a suspeita, a mudança da significação das mensagens, a dificuldade de fixar a intencionalidade do interlocutor, quanto a elaboração de teorias a respeito de planos de aniquilação de determinados grupos sociais. A partir da análise da dispersão de experiências, narrativas, posições, atitudes e elaborações, proponho que a suspeita que estrutura esta lógica, é uma das barreiras mais importantes entre os usuários/as de drogas e as instituições de saúde.Based on the results of the

  5. Habituation and adaptation of the vestibuloocular reflex: a model of differential control by the vestibulocerebellum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, H.; Cohen, B.; Raphan, T.; Waespe, W.

    1992-01-01

    We habituated the dominant time constant of the horizontal vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) of rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys by repeated testing with steps of velocity about a vertical axis and adapted the gain of the VOR by altering visual input with magnifying and reducing lenses. After baseline values were established, the nodulus and ventral uvula of the vestibulocerebellum were ablated in two monkeys, and the effects of nodulouvulectomy and flocculectomy on VOR gain adaptation and habituation were compared. The VOR time constant decreased with repeated testing, rapidly at first and more slowly thereafter. The gain of the VOR was unaffected. Massed trials were more effective than distributed trials in producing habituation. Regardless of the schedule of testing, the VOR time constant never fell below the time constant of the semicircular canals (approximately 5 s). This finding indicates that only the slow component of the vestibular response, the component produced by velocity storage, was habituated. In agreement with this, the time constant of optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN) was habituated concurrently with the VOR. Average values for VOR habituation were obtained on a per session basis for six animals. The VOR gain was adapted by natural head movements in partially habituated monkeys while they wore x 2.2 magnifying or x 0.5 reducing lenses. Adaptation occurred rapidly and reached about +/- 30%, similar to values obtained using forced rotation. VOR gain adaptation did not cause additional habituation of the time constant. When the VOR gain was reduced in animals with a long VOR time constant, there were overshoots in eye velocity that peaked at about 6-8 s after the onset or end of constant-velocity rotation. These overshoots occurred at times when the velocity storage integrator would have been maximally activated by semicircular canal input. Since the activity generated in the canals is not altered by visual adaptation, this finding indicates that the gain

  6. Habituation to a stressor predicts adolescents' adiposity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Background and Objectives: Stress is associated with gains in adiposity. One factor that determines how much stress is experienced is how quickly an adolescent reduces responding (habituates) across repeated stressors. The purpose of this study was to determine the association of body mass index pe...

  7. No Compromise of Competition Sleep Compared With Habitual Sleep in Elite Australian Footballers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lalor, Benita J; Halson, Shona L; Tran, Jacqueline; Kemp, Justin G; Cormack, Stuart J

    2018-01-01

    To assess the impact of match-start time and days relative to match compared with the habitual sleep characteristics of elite Australian Football (AF) players. 45 elite male AF players were assessed during the preseason (habitual) and across 4 home matches during the season. Players wore an activity monitor the night before (-1), night of (0), 1 night after (+1), and 2 nights (+2) after each match and completed a self-reported rating of sleep quality. A 2-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc was used to determine differences in sleep characteristics between match-start times and days relative to the match. Two-way nested ANOVA was conducted to examine differences between competition and habitual phases. Effect size ± 90% confidence interval (ES ± 90% CI) was calculated to quantify the magnitude of pairwise differences. Differences observed in sleep-onset latency (ES = 0.11 ± 0.16), sleep rating (ES = 0.08 ± 0.14), and sleep duration (ES = 0.08 ± 0.01) between competition and habitual periods were trivial. Sleep efficiency was almost certainly higher during competition than habitual, but this was not reflected in the subjective rating of sleep quality. Elite AF competition does not cause substantial disruption to sleep characteristics compared with habitual sleep. While match-start time has some impact on sleep variables, it appears that the match itself is more of a disruption than the start time. Subjective ratings of sleep from well-being questionnaires appear limited in their ability to accurately provide an indication of sleep quality.

  8. Olfactory habituation in Drosophila-odor encoding and its plasticity in the antennal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twick, Isabell; Lee, John Anthony; Ramaswami, Mani

    2014-01-01

    A ubiquitous feature of an animal's response to an odorant is that it declines when the odorant is frequently or continuously encountered. This decline in olfactory response, termed olfactory habituation, can have temporally or mechanistically different forms. The neural circuitry of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster's olfactory system is well defined in terms of component cells, which are readily accessible to functional studies and genetic manipulation. This makes it a particularly useful preparation for the investigation of olfactory habituation. In addition, the insect olfactory system shares many architectural and functional similarities with mammalian olfactory systems, suggesting that olfactory mechanisms in insects may be broadly relevant. In this chapter, we discuss the likely mechanisms of olfactory habituation in context of the participating cell types, their connectivity, and their roles in sensory processing. We overview the structure and function of key cell types, the mechanisms that stimulate them, and how they transduce and process odor signals. We then consider how each stage of olfactory processing could potentially contribute to behavioral habituation. After this, we overview a variety of recent mechanistic studies that point to an important role for potentiation of inhibitory synapses in the primary olfactory processing center, the antennal lobe, in driving the reduced response to familiar odorants. Following the discussion of mechanisms for short- and long-term olfactory habituation, we end by considering how these mechanisms may be regulated by neuromodulators, which likely play key roles in the induction, gating, or suppression of habituated behavior, and speculate on the relevance of these processes for other forms of learning and memory. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. “My Worries Are Rational, Climate Change Is Not”: Habitual Ecological Worrying Is an Adaptive Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verplanken, Bas; Roy, Deborah

    2013-01-01

    Qualifications such as “global warming hysteria” and “energy policy schizophrenia” put forward by some climate change skeptics, usually outside the academic arena, may suggest that people who seriously worry about the environment suffer from psychological imbalance. The present study aimed to refute this thesis. While habitual worrying in general is strongly associated with psychopathological symptoms, in a survey a near-zero correlation was found between habitual ecological worrying and pathological worry. Instead, habitual ecological worrying was associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, and with a personality structure characterized by imagination and an appreciation for new ideas. The study had sufficient statistical power and measures were valid and reliable. The results confirm that those who habitually worry about the ecology are not only lacking in any psychopathology, but demonstrate a constructive and adaptive response to a serious problem. In the public domain, these findings may contribute to a more rational and less emotional debate on climate change and to the prevention of stigmatization of people who are genuinely concerned about our habitat and are prepared to do something about it (“habitual worriers are not crazy”). In the academic arena this study may contribute to environmental psychology (“habitual worrying is part of a green identity”), as well as to the literature on worry and anxiety (“habitual worrying can be a constructive response”). PMID:24023958

  10. From episodic to habitual prospective memory: ERP-evidence for a linear transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meier, Beat; Matter, Sibylle; Baumann, Brigitta; Walter, Stefan; Koenig, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    Performing a prospective memory task repeatedly changes the nature of the task from episodic to habitual. The goal of the present study was to investigate the neural basis of this transition. In two experiments, we contrasted event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by correct responses to prospective memory targets in the first, more episodic part of the experiment with those of the second, more habitual part of the experiment. Specifically, we tested whether the early, middle, or late ERP-components, which are thought to reflect cue detection, retrieval of the intention, and post-retrieval processes, respectively, would be changed by routinely performing the prospective memory task. The results showed a differential ERP effect in the middle time window (450–650 ms post-stimulus). Source localization using low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography analysis suggests that the transition was accompanied by an increase of activation in the posterior parietal and occipital cortex. These findings indicate that habitual prospective memory involves retrieval processes guided more strongly by parietal brain structures. In brief, the study demonstrates that episodic and habitual prospective memory tasks recruit different brain areas. PMID:25071519

  11. Associative learning versus fear habituation as predictors of long-term extinction retention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Lily A; LeBeau, Richard T; Chat, Ka Yi; Craske, Michelle G

    2017-06-01

    Violation of unconditioned stimulus (US) expectancy during extinction training may enhance associative learning and result in improved long-term extinction retention compared to within-session habituation. This experiment examines variation in US expectancy (i.e., expectancy violation) as a predictor of long-term extinction retention. It also examines within-session habituation of fear-potentiated startle (electromyography, EMG) and fear of conditioned stimuli (CS) throughout extinction training as predictors of extinction retention. Participants (n = 63) underwent fear conditioning, extinction and retention and provided continuous ratings of US expectancy and EMG, as well as CS fear ratings before and after each phase. Variation in US expectancy throughout extinction and habituation of EMG and fear was entered into a regression as predictors of retention and reinstatement of levels of expectancy and fear. Greater variation in US expectancy throughout extinction training was significantly predictive of enhanced extinction performance measured at retention test, although not after reinstatement test. Slope of EMG and CS fear during extinction did not predict retention of extinction. Within-session habituation of EMG and self-reported fear is not sufficient for long-term retention of extinction learning, and models emphasizing expectation violation may result in enhanced outcomes.

  12. Reversible online control of habitual behavior by optogenetic perturbation of medial prefrontal cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Kyle S.; Virkud, Arti; Deisseroth, Karl; Graybiel, Ann M.

    2012-01-01

    Habits tend to form slowly but, once formed, can have great stability. We probed these temporal characteristics of habitual behaviors by intervening optogenetically in forebrain habit circuits as rats performed well-ingrained habitual runs in a T-maze. We trained rats to perform a maze habit, confirmed the habitual behavior by devaluation tests, and then, during the maze runs (ca. 3 s), we disrupted population activity in a small region in the medial prefrontal cortex, the infralimbic cortex. In accordance with evidence that this region is necessary for the expression of habits, we found that this cortical disruption blocked habitual behavior. Notably, however, this blockade of habitual performance occurred on line, within an average of three trials (ca. 9 s of inhibition), and as soon as during the first trial (habit, and, simultaneously, the more recently acquired habit was blocked. These online changes occurred within an average of two trials (ca. 6 s of infralimbic inhibition). Measured changes in generalized performance ability and motivation to consume reward were unaffected. This immediate toggling between breaking old habits and returning to them demonstrates that even semiautomatic behaviors are under cortical control and that this control occurs online, second by second. These temporal characteristics define a framework for uncovering cellular transitions between fixed and flexible behaviors, and corresponding disturbances in pathologies. PMID:23112197

  13. The relative importance of habitual and deliberative factors in food consumer behaviour

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scholderer, Joachim; Olsen, Svein Ottar; Brunsø, Karen

    2006-01-01

    Rational-choice approaches to consumer behaviour neglect the influence of habitual factors. Previous research outside the food choice area has found that habitual factors tend to dominate when the target behaviour is performed often and in stable contexts, whilst deliberative factors tend......), 0.18 (Denmark), 0.10 (Spain), 0.16 (Netherlands), 0.00 (Poland). Although no general answer may exist to the question whether habitual or deliberative factors are more important in food consumer behaviour, habits appear to dominate behaviour in the domain of seafood consumption....... to dominate when the target behaviour is performed rarely and in unstable contexts. In the food choice area, only little research exists that would allow a similar assessment. As part of the SEAFOODplus project, representative surveys were conducted in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland...

  14. The relative importance of habitual and deliberative factors in food consumer behaviour

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scholderer, Joachim; Olsen, Svein Ottar; Brunsø, Karen

    2006-01-01

    Rational-choice approaches to consumer behaviour neglect the influence of habitual factors. Previous research outside the food choice area has found that habitual factors tend to dominate when the target behaviour is performed often and in stable contexts, whilst deliberative factors tend...... to dominate when the target behaviour is performed rarely and in unstable contexts. In the food choice area, only little research exists that would allow a similar assessment. As part of the SEAFOODplus project, representative surveys were conducted in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands, and Poland......), 0.18 (Denmark), 0.10 (Spain), 0.16 (Netherlands), 0.00 (Poland). Although no general answer may exist to the question whether habitual or deliberative factors are more important in food consumer behaviour, habits appear to dominate behaviour in the domain of seafood consumption....

  15. Habituation in non-neural organisms: evidence from slime moulds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boisseau, Romain P; Vogel, David; Dussutour, Audrey

    2016-04-27

    Learning, defined as a change in behaviour evoked by experience, has hitherto been investigated almost exclusively in multicellular neural organisms. Evidence for learning in non-neural multicellular organisms is scant, and only a few unequivocal reports of learning have been described in single-celled organisms. Here we demonstrate habituation, an unmistakable form of learning, in the non-neural organism Physarum polycephalum In our experiment, using chemotaxis as the behavioural output and quinine or caffeine as the stimulus, we showed that P. polycephalum learnt to ignore quinine or caffeine when the stimuli were repeated, but responded again when the stimulus was withheld for a certain time. Our results meet the principle criteria that have been used to demonstrate habituation: responsiveness decline and spontaneous recovery. To distinguish habituation from sensory adaptation or motor fatigue, we also show stimulus specificity. Our results point to the diversity of organisms lacking neurons, which likely display a hitherto unrecognized capacity for learning, and suggest that slime moulds may be an ideal model system in which to investigate fundamental mechanisms underlying learning processes. Besides, documenting learning in non-neural organisms such as slime moulds is centrally important to a comprehensive, phylogenetic understanding of when and where in the tree of life the earliest manifestations of learning evolved. © 2016 The Author(s).

  16. Habitual sleep variability, not sleep duration, is associated with caloric intake in adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Fan; Bixler, Edward O; Berg, Arthur; Imamura Kawasawa, Yuka; Vgontzas, Alexandros N; Fernandez-Mendoza, Julio; Yanosky, Jeff; Liao, Duanping

    2015-07-01

    The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between objectively measured habitual sleep duration (HSD), habitual sleep variability (HSV), and energy and snack intake in adolescents. We used data from 324 adolescents who participated in the Penn State Child Cohort follow-up examination. Actigraphy was used over seven consecutive nights to estimate nightly sleep duration. The seven-night mean and standard deviation of sleep duration were used to represent HSD and HSV, respectively. The Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to obtain the daily average total energy, protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake, and number of snacks consumed. Linear regression models were used to investigate the associations between habitual sleep patterns and caloric, protein, fat, and carbohydrate intake. Proportional odds models were used to associate habitual sleep patterns with snack consumption. After adjusting for age, sex, race, body mass index (BMI) percentile, and smoking status, an increased HSV was associated with a higher energy intake, particularly from fat and carbohydrate. For example, with a 1-h increase in HSV, there was a 170 (66)-kcal increase in the daily total energy intake. An increased HSV was also related to increased snack consumption, especially snacks consumed after dinner. For instance, a 1-h increase in HSV was associated with 65% and 94% higher odds of consuming more snacks after dinner during school/workdays and weekends/vacation days, respectively. Neither energy intake nor snack consumption was significantly related to HSD. High habitual sleep variability, not habitual sleep duration, is related to increased energy and food consumption in adolescents. Maintaining a regular sleep pattern may decrease the risk of obesity in adolescents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Habituation of Salmonella spp. at Reduced Water Activity and Its Effect on Heat Tolerance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattick, K. L.; Jørgensen, F.; Legan, J. D.; Lappin-Scott, H. M.; Humphrey, T. J.

    2000-01-01

    The effect of habituation at reduced water activity (aw) on heat tolerance of Salmonella spp. was investigated. Stationary-phase cells were exposed to aw 0.95 in broths containing glucose-fructose, sodium chloride, or glycerol at 21°C for up to a week prior to heat challenge at 54°C. In addition, the effects of different aws and heat challenge temperatures were investigated. Habituation at aw 0.95 resulted in increased heat tolerance at 54°C with all solutes tested. The extent of the increase and the optimal habituation time depended on the solute used. Exposure to broths containing glucose-fructose (aw 0.95) for 12 h resulted in maximal heat tolerance, with more than a fourfold increase in D54 values. Cells held for more than 72 h in these conditions, however, became as heat sensitive as nonhabituated populations. Habituation in the presence of sodium chloride or glycerol gave rise to less pronounced but still significant increases in heat tolerance at 54°C, and a shorter incubation time was required to maximize tolerance. The increase in heat tolerance following habituation in broths containing glucose-fructose (aw 0.95) was RpoS independent. The presence of chloramphenicol or rifampin during habituation and inactivation did not affect the extent of heat tolerance achieved, suggesting that de novo protein synthesis was probably not necessary. These data highlight the importance of cell prehistory prior to heat inactivation and may have implications for food manufacturers using low-aw ingredients. PMID:11055944

  18. Biomarkers of Habitual Fish Intake in Adipose-Tissue

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Marckmann, P.; Lassen, Anne Dahl; Haraldsdottir, H.

    1995-01-01

    The association between habitual fish and marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake, and the fatty acid composition of subcutaneous fat was studied in 24 healthy young volunteers. Habitual dietary intakes were estimated from three 7-d weighed food records made at months 0, 5, and 8...... of the 8-mo study period. The adipose tissue fatty acid composition of each individual was determined by gas chromatography as the mean of two gluteal biopsies, obtained in the first and the last month of the study. The daily consumption of fish and of marine n-3 PUFAs in absolute terms (g....../d) was significantly associated with adipose tissue docosahexaenoic acid content (DHA; r = 0.55 and 0.58, respectively, P acid contents. Our study indicates that the adipose tissue DHA content is the biomarker of choice for the assessment of long...

  19. Sensory and sympathetic correlates of heat pain sensitization and habituation in men and women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breimhorst, M; Hondrich, M; Rebhorn, C; May, A; Birklein, F

    2012-10-01

    Habituation and sensitization are important behavioural responses to repeated exposure to painful stimuli, but little is known about the factors determining sensory, affective and sympathetic habituation to repeated pain stimulation in men and women. Thirty volunteers (15 women) underwent a standardized heat pain paradigm spread over 8 consecutive days. At the beginning of the experiment, personality dimensions, coping strategies and pain catastrophizing thoughts were determined. Receiving a series of 10 blocks of six painful heat stimuli a day, participants rated pain intensity and unpleasantness. Skin conductance was recorded throughout the sessions. The results show similar habituation of both the sensory and affective dimensions of pain in men and women, although skin conductance did not undergo a significant decrease across the eight days. When focusing on single daily sessions, women showed pain sensitization but sympathetic habituation, while men showed pain sensitization but stable sympathetic activation. Our findings therefore indicate that the process of long-term habituation to painful heat stimuli is a common feature in both genders, whereas men and women might differently recruit their sympathetic nervous system for short-term pain processing. This study could potentially help to better evaluate gender-specific mechanisms in pain perception. © 2012 European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters.

  20. Habitual Physical Activity, Peripheral Neuropathy, Foot Deformities ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Results: Habitual physical activity index (3.2 ± 0.83) was highest in work-related activities; 69 (26.1 %) patients presented with peripheral neuropathy and 52 (19. 7%) had the lowest limb function. Pes planus was the most prevalent foot deformity (20.1%). Significant differences existed in physical activity indices across ...

  1. Striatal fast-spiking interneurons selectively modulate circuit output and are required for habitual behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Hare, Justin K; Li, Haofang; Kim, Namsoo; Gaidis, Erin; Ade, Kristen; Beck, Jeff; Yin, Henry; Calakos, Nicole

    2017-09-05

    Habit formation is a behavioral adaptation that automates routine actions. Habitual behavior correlates with broad reconfigurations of dorsolateral striatal (DLS) circuit properties that increase gain and shift pathway timing. The mechanism(s) for these circuit adaptations are unknown and could be responsible for habitual behavior. Here we find that a single class of interneuron, fast-spiking interneurons (FSIs), modulates all of these habit-predictive properties. Consistent with a role in habits, FSIs are more excitable in habitual mice compared to goal-directed and acute chemogenetic inhibition of FSIs in DLS prevents the expression of habitual lever pressing. In vivo recordings further reveal a previously unappreciated selective modulation of SPNs based on their firing patterns; FSIs inhibit most SPNs but paradoxically promote the activity of a subset displaying high fractions of gamma-frequency spiking. These results establish a microcircuit mechanism for habits and provide a new example of how interneurons mediate experience-dependent behavior.

  2. Habituation of 10-year-old hockey players to treadmill skating.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lockwood, Kelly L; Frost, Gail

    2007-05-01

    This study assessed changes in selected physiological and kinematic variables over 6 weeks of treadmill skating in an effort to understand the process of habituation to this novel training modality. Seven male, Atom-A hockey players who were injury-free and had no previous treadmill skating experience participated in the study. Players performed four 1-min skating bouts at progressively increasing speeds, each week, for 6 weeks. One speed (10.5 km/h) was repeated weekly to allow for assessment of the habituation process. Our criteria for habituation were: a decrease in stride rate, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion, and an increase in stride length, trunk angle and vertical movement of the centre of mass, leading to a plateau, over the course of the 6-week study. Significant decreases were seen in stride rate, heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion, and significant increases were found in stride length. Some of these changes were evident after only one week of training and all were present by week 4. After 6 weeks (24 min) of exposure to treadmill skating, all participants displayed a visibly more efficient skating style.

  3. Temporomandibular Disorders: The Habitual Chewing Side Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santana-Mora, Urbano; López-Cedrún, José; Mora, María J.; Otero, Xosé L.; Santana-Penín, Urbano

    2013-01-01

    Background Temporomandibular disorders are the most common cause of chronic orofacial pain, but, except where they occur subsequent to trauma, their cause remains unknown. This cross-sectional study assessed chewing function (habitual chewing side) and the differences of the chewing side and condylar path and lateral anterior guidance angles in participants with chronic unilateral temporomandibular disorder. This is the preliminary report of a randomized trial that aimed to test the effect of a new occlusal adjustment therapy. Methods The masticatory function of 21 randomly selected completely dentate participants with chronic temporomandibular disorders (all but one with unilateral symptoms) was assessed by observing them eat almonds, inspecting the lateral horizontal movement of the jaw, with kinesiography, and by means of interview. The condylar path in the sagittal plane and the lateral anterior guidance angles with respect to the Frankfort horizontal plane in the frontal plane were measured on both sides in each individual. Results Sixteen of 20 participants with unilateral symptoms chewed on the affected side; the concordance (Fisher’s exact test, P = .003) and the concordance-symmetry level (Kappa coefficient κ = 0.689; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38 to 0.99; P = .002) were significant. The mean condylar path angle was steeper (53.47(10.88) degrees versus 46.16(7.25) degrees; P = .001), and the mean lateral anterior guidance angle was flatter (41.63(13.35) degrees versus 48.32(9.53) degrees P = .036) on the symptomatic side. Discussion The results of this study support the use of a new term based on etiology, “habitual chewing side syndrome”, instead of the nonspecific symptom-based “temporomandibular joint disorders”; this denomination is characterized in adults by a steeper condylar path, flatter lateral anterior guidance, and habitual chewing on the symptomatic side. PMID:23593156

  4. Temporomandibular disorders: the habitual chewing side syndrome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urbano Santana-Mora

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Temporomandibular disorders are the most common cause of chronic orofacial pain, but, except where they occur subsequent to trauma, their cause remains unknown. This cross-sectional study assessed chewing function (habitual chewing side and the differences of the chewing side and condylar path and lateral anterior guidance angles in participants with chronic unilateral temporomandibular disorder. This is the preliminary report of a randomized trial that aimed to test the effect of a new occlusal adjustment therapy. METHODS: The masticatory function of 21 randomly selected completely dentate participants with chronic temporomandibular disorders (all but one with unilateral symptoms was assessed by observing them eat almonds, inspecting the lateral horizontal movement of the jaw, with kinesiography, and by means of interview. The condylar path in the sagittal plane and the lateral anterior guidance angles with respect to the Frankfort horizontal plane in the frontal plane were measured on both sides in each individual. RESULTS: Sixteen of 20 participants with unilateral symptoms chewed on the affected side; the concordance (Fisher's exact test, P = .003 and the concordance-symmetry level (Kappa coefficient κ = 0.689; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38 to 0.99; P = .002 were significant. The mean condylar path angle was steeper (53.47(10.88 degrees versus 46.16(7.25 degrees; P = .001, and the mean lateral anterior guidance angle was flatter (41.63(13.35 degrees versus 48.32(9.53 degrees P = .036 on the symptomatic side. DISCUSSION: The results of this study support the use of a new term based on etiology, "habitual chewing side syndrome", instead of the nonspecific symptom-based "temporomandibular joint disorders"; this denomination is characterized in adults by a steeper condylar path, flatter lateral anterior guidance, and habitual chewing on the symptomatic side.

  5. Voluntary habitual dislocation of the hip in children

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pettersson, H; Theander, G; Danielsson, L [Malmoe Allmaenna Sjukhus, Malmoe (Sweden). Dept. of Diagnostic Radiology

    1980-01-01

    The clinical and radiologic findings in a child with habitual voluntary dislocation of the hip are reported. Observations made in this case and in 6 others on record suggest that this rare condition is a specific pediatric entity with a good prognosis.

  6. Habitual short sleep impacts frontal switch mechanism in attention to novelty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gumenyuk, Valentina; Roth, Thomas; Korzyukov, Oleg; Jefferson, Catherine; Bowyer, Susan; Drake, Christopher L

    2011-12-01

    Reduced time in bed relative to biological sleep need is common. The impact of habitual short sleep on auditory attention has not been studied to date. In the current study, we utilized novelty oddball tasks to evaluate the effect of habitual short sleep on brain function underlying attention control processes measured by the mismatch negativity (MMN, index of pre-attentive stage), P3a (attention-dependent), and P3b (memory-dependent) event related brain potentials (ERPs). An extended time in bed in a separate study was used to evaluate the possible reversal of the impairments of these processes in habitual short sleepers. Ten self-defined short sleepers (total sleep time [TST] ≤ 6 h) and 9 normal-sleeping subjects with TST 7-8 h, participated. ERPs were recorded via a 64-channel EEG system. Two test conditions: "ignore" and "attend" were implemented. The ERPs were analyzed and compared between groups on the 2 task conditions and frontal/central/parietal electrodes by 3-factor ANOVA. Sleep diary data were compared between groups by t-test. Sleep was recorded by the Zeo sleep monitoring system for a week in both habitual and extended sleep conditions at home. The main findings of the present study show that short sleeping individuals had deficiency in activity of the MMN and P3a brain responses over frontal areas compared to normal-sleeping subjects. The P3b amplitude was increased over frontal areas and decreased over parietal with respect to the control group. Extension of time in bed for one week increased TST (from 5.7 h to 7.4 h), and concomitantly MMN amplitude increased from -0.1 μV up to -1.25 μV over frontal areas. Reduced time in bed is associated with deficiency of the neuronal process associated with change detection, which may recover after one week of sleep extension, whereas attention-dependent neural processes do not normalize after this period of time in habitually short sleeping individuals and may require longer recovery periods.

  7. Relationship between resistance training and selfreported habitual ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Similar to the non-exercising control group, resistance training resulted in no significant (p > 0.05) changes in the habitual intake of daily intake of total ... as a mode of training may not be an effective mode of exercise to promote overall physical activity in an attempt to modify the patterns of macronutrient and energy intake.

  8. Uranium ore from Morro do Agostinho, Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuda, H.T.

    1976-01-01

    Three non-destrutive methods for determination of uranium from Morro do Agostinho's ore, Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais are presented. Comparative data between chemical analysis (volumetric method) and cited non-destructive methods are shown. Gamma spectrometry, x-rays fluorescense and delayed neutrons counting are the methods discussed. Uranium's and molibdenium's behavior related to anionic sulphuric resin system is also discussed. Comparative studies concerning retention of uranium and molibdenium in strong and weak anionic resins as well as selective elution using appropriate solvents are shown [pt

  9. Habituation of the cold shock response is inhibited by repeated anxiety: Implications for safety behaviour on accidental cold water immersions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barwood, Martin J; Corbett, Jo; Tipton, Mike; Wagstaff, Christopher; Massey, Heather

    2017-05-15

    Accidental cold-water immersion (CWI) triggers the life-threatening cold shock response (CSR) which is a precursor to sudden death on immersion. One practical means of reducing the CSR is to induce an habituation by undergoing repeated short CWIs. Habituation of the CSR is known to be partially reversed by the concomitant experience of acute anxiety, raising the possibility that repeated anxiety could prevent CSR habituation; we tested this hypothesis. Sixteen participants (12 male, 4 female) completed seven, seven-minute immersions in to cold water (15°C). Immersion one acted as a control (CON1). During immersions two to five, which would ordinarily induce an habituation, anxiety levels were repeatedly increased (CWI-ANX rep ) by deception and a demanding mathematical task. Immersions six and seven were counter-balanced with another high anxiety condition (CWI-ANX rep ) or a further control (CON2). Anxiety (20cm visual analogue scale) and cardiorespiratory responses (cardiac frequency [f c ], respiratory frequency [f R ], tidal volume [V T ], minute ventilation [V̇ E ]) were measured. Comparisons were made between experimental immersions (CON1, final CWI-ANX rep , CON2), across habituation immersions and with data from a previous study. Anxiety levels were sustained at a similar level throughout the experimental and habituation immersions (mean [SD] CON1: 7.0 [4.0] cm; CON2: 5.8 [5.2] cm cf CWI-ANX rep : 7.3 [5.5] cm; p>0.05). This culminated in failure of the CSR to habituate even when anxiety levels were not manipulated (i.e. CON2). These data were different (pCSR consequently habituated. Repeated anxiety prevented CSR habituation. A protective strategy that includes inducing habituation for those at risk should include techniques to lower anxiety associated with the immersion event or habituation may not be beneficial in the emergency scenario. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Six Weeks Habituation of Simulated Barefoot Running Induces Neuromuscular Adaptations and Changes in Foot Strike Patterns in Female Runners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khowailed, Iman Akef; Petrofsky, Jerrold; Lohman, Everett; Daher, Noha

    2015-01-01

    Background The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a 6-week training program of simulated barefoot running (SBR) on running kinetics in habitually shod (wearing shoes) female recreational runners. Material/Methods Twelve female runners age 25.7±3.4 years gradually increased running distance in Vibram FiveFingers minimal shoes over a 6-week period. The kinetic analysis of treadmill running at 10 Km/h was performed pre- and post-intervention in shod running, non-habituated SBR, and habituated SBR conditions. Spatiotemporal parameters, ground reaction force components, and electromyography (EMG) were measured in all conditions. Results Post-intervention data indicated a significant decrease across time in the habituation SBR for EMG activity of the tibialis anterior (TA) in the pre-activation and absorptive phase of running (Prunning, unhabituated SBR, and habituated SBR. Six weeks of SBR was associated with a significant decrease in the loading rates and impact forces. Additionally, SBR significantly decrease the stride length, step duration, and flight time, and stride frequency was significantly higher compared to shod running. Conclusions The findings of this study indicate that changes in motor patterns in previously habitually shod runners are possible and can be accomplished within 6 weeks. Non-habituation SBR did not show a significant neuromuscular adaptation in the EMG activity of TA and GAS as manifested after 6 weeks of habituated SBR. PMID:26166443

  11. Habituation/Fatigue behavior of a synapse memristor based on IGZO-HfO2 thin film.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Ran; Ma, Pengfei; Han, Zuyin; Du, Xianghao

    2017-08-24

    A synaptic memristor based on IGZO and oxygen-deficient HfO 2 films has been demonstrated. The memristor exhibits a fatigue response to a monotonic stimulus of voltage pulses, which is analogous to the habituation behavior of biological memory. The occurrence of habituation is nearly simultaneous with the transition from short-term memory to long-term memory. The movement and redistribution of oxygen species with the assistance of polarization in HfO 2 layer are responsible for the above results. The observation of habituation behavior proves the potential prospect of memristor on the mimic of biological neuron.

  12. Self-objectification, habitual body monitoring, and body dissatisfaction in older European American women: exploring age and feminism as moderators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grippo, Karen P; Hill, Melanie S

    2008-06-01

    This study examined the influence of feminist attitudes on self-objectification, habitual body monitoring, and body dissatisfaction in middle age and older women. The participants were 138 European American heterosexual women ranging in age from 40 to 87 years old. Consistent with previous research, self-objectification and habitual body monitoring were positively correlated with body dissatisfaction and, self-objectification and habitual body monitoring remained stable across the lifespan. While age did not moderate the relationship between self-objectification and body dissatisfaction, age was found to moderate the relationship between habitual body monitoring and body dissatisfaction such that the relationship was smaller for older women than for middle-aged women. Interestingly, feminist attitudes were not significantly correlated with body dissatisfaction, self-objectification, or habitual body monitoring, and endorsement of feminist attitudes was not found to moderate the relationship between self-objectification or habitual body monitoring and body dissatisfaction. Potential implications for older women are discussed.

  13. Behavioral responses of gorillas to habituation in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Blom, A.; Cipolletta, C.; Brunsting, A.M.H.; Prins, H.H.T.

    2004-01-01

    We monitored the impact of habituation for tourism through changes in gorillas' behavior during the habituation process at Bai Hokou (Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic) from August 1996 to December 1999. From August 1998 onwards we focused on one gorilla group: the Munye. During

  14. Characterization of Rn-222 production in Campo do Cercado C/09 Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais State

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pereira, E.B.

    1977-01-01

    A systematic study for correlating the Rn-222 escape with the main geochemical and mineralogical factors for understanding of some change processes from uranium deposits in Campo do Cercado C-09 in Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais State is described. (author)

  15. The neural correlates of anomalous habituation to negative emotional pictures in borderline and avoidant personality disorder patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koenigsberg, Harold W; Denny, Bryan T; Fan, Jin; Liu, Xun; Guerreri, Stephanie; Mayson, Sarah Jo; Rimsky, Liza; New, Antonia S; Goodman, Marianne; Siever, Larry J

    2014-01-01

    Extreme emotional reactivity is a defining feature of borderline personality disorder, yet the neural-behavioral mechanisms underlying this affective instability are poorly understood. One possible contributor is diminished ability to engage the mechanism of emotional habituation. The authors tested this hypothesis by examining behavioral and neural correlates of habituation in borderline patients, healthy comparison subjects, and a psychopathological comparison group of patients with avoidant personality disorder. During fMRI scanning, borderline patients, healthy subjects, and avoidant personality disorder patients viewed novel and repeated pictures, providing valence ratings at each presentation. Statistical parametric maps of the contrasts of activation during repeated versus novel negative picture viewing were compared between groups. Psychophysiological interaction analysis was employed to examine functional connectivity differences between groups. Unlike healthy subjects, neither borderline nor avoidant personality disorder patients exhibited increased activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex when viewing repeated versus novel pictures. This lack of an increase in dorsal anterior cingulate activity was associated with greater affective instability in borderline patients. In addition, borderline and avoidant patients exhibited smaller increases in insula-amygdala functional connectivity than healthy subjects and, unlike healthy subjects, did not show habituation in ratings of the emotional intensity of the images. Borderline patients differed from avoidant patients in insula-ventral anterior cingulate functional connectivity during habituation. Unlike healthy subjects, borderline patients fail to habituate to negative pictures, and they differ from both healthy subjects and avoidant patients in neural activity during habituation. A failure to effectively engage emotional habituation processes may contribute to affective instability in borderline

  16. Habituating to handling: Factors affecting preorbital gland opening in red deer calves

    OpenAIRE

    Ceacero, Francisco; Landete-Castillejos, Tomás; Bartošová, Jitka; García, Andrés J.; Bartoš, Ludek; Komárková, Martina; Gallego, Laureano

    2014-01-01

    The preorbital gland plays not only an olfactory role in cervids but also a visual one. Opening this gland is an easy way for the calf to communicate with the mother, indicating hunger/satiety, stress, pain, fear, or excitement. This information can be also useful for farm operators to assess how fast the calves habituate to handling routines and to detect those calves that do not habituate and may suffer chronic stress in the future. Thirty-one calves were subjected to 2 consecutive experime...

  17. Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus from Costa Rica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shasta E. Webb

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The increase of ecotourism operations within Costa Rica during the last 20yrs has brought more and more humans into close, direct contact with several wildlife species. One of these species is the white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus, highly gregarious, and with exposure over time, willing to come into close vicinity of humans and their developments. Such contact has its advantages and disadvantages for the ecotourism industry. We observed white-faced monkeys in order to assess the impact of human presence and development on monkey behavior, with a focus on aggressive, affiliative, and foraging behaviors in Curú Wildlife Refuge (CWR, located in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, and to ascertain the degree of over-habituation of capuchin populations at CWR. Though there exists no discrete behavioral parameters that measure over-habituation, it can be defined as an extreme state of habituation in which non-human primates not only lose fear of humans, but also actively include humans in social interactions or treat them as a food resource. We used instantaneous focal animal and group scan sampling during 8wks in March and April 2012. Two groups (approximately 20-30 individuals each of capuchins were observed; the first near the tourist development at the Southwestern area of CWR, representing a habituated population that regularly foraged, rested, and groomed in the presence of humans. The second, was observed in the Northeastern area of CWR, did not visit the center of human activity and exhibited fear of humans. The habituated group exhibited significantly fewer instances of threatened behavior in response to human presence (p<0.0001 than the non-habituated group, and spent significantly more time eating and foraging (p<0.0001. While the habituated monkeys at CWR may not be over-habituated, they could become that way as development, especially ecotourism, increases. Over-habituation is a problem that affects capuchins in certain ecotourism sites in Costa

  18. Desensitization to media violence: links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krahé, Barbara; Möller, Ingrid; Huesmann, L Rowell; Kirwil, Lucyna; Felber, Juliane; Berger, Anja

    2011-04-01

    This study examined the links between desensitization to violent media stimuli and habitual media violence exposure as a predictor and aggressive cognitions and behavior as outcome variables. Two weeks after completing measures of habitual media violence exposure, trait aggression, trait arousability, and normative beliefs about aggression, undergraduates (N = 303) saw a violent film clip and a sad or a funny comparison clip. Skin conductance level (SCL) was measured continuously, and ratings of anxious and pleasant arousal were obtained after each clip. Following the clips, participants completed a lexical decision task to measure accessibility of aggressive cognitions and a competitive reaction time task to measure aggressive behavior. Habitual media violence exposure correlated negatively with SCL during violent clips and positively with pleasant arousal, response times for aggressive words, and trait aggression, but it was unrelated to anxious arousal and aggressive responding during the reaction time task. In path analyses controlling for trait aggression, normative beliefs, and trait arousability, habitual media violence exposure predicted faster accessibility of aggressive cognitions, partly mediated by higher pleasant arousal. Unprovoked aggression during the reaction time task was predicted by lower anxious arousal. Neither habitual media violence usage nor anxious or pleasant arousal predicted provoked aggression during the laboratory task, and SCL was unrelated to aggressive cognitions and behavior. No relations were found between habitual media violence viewing and arousal in response to the sad and funny film clips, and arousal in response to the sad and funny clips did not predict aggressive cognitions or aggressive behavior on the laboratory task. This suggests that the observed desensitization effects are specific to violent content.

  19. A single high dose of escitalopram disrupts sensory gating and habituation, but not sensorimotor gating in healthy volunteers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oranje, Bob; Wienberg, Malene; Glenthøj, Birte Yding

    2011-01-01

    Early mechanisms to limit the input of sensory information to higher brain areas are important for a healthy individual. In previous studies, we found that a low dose of 10mg escitalopram (SSRI) disrupts habituation, without affecting sensory and sensorimotor gating in healthy volunteers. In the ......Early mechanisms to limit the input of sensory information to higher brain areas are important for a healthy individual. In previous studies, we found that a low dose of 10mg escitalopram (SSRI) disrupts habituation, without affecting sensory and sensorimotor gating in healthy volunteers....... In the current study a higher dose of 15mg was used. The hypothesis was that this higher dose of escitalopram would not only disrupt habituation, but also sensory and sensorimotor gating. Twenty healthy male volunteers received either placebo or 15mg escitalopram, after which they were tested in a P50...... suppression, and a habituation and prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle reflex paradigm. Escitalopram significantly decreased P50 suppression and habituation, but had no effect on PPI. The results indicate that habituation and sensory gating are disrupted by increased serotonergic activity, while...

  20. Psychosocial Stress Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: Habitual ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    USER

    A total of 193 adults with type 2 diabetes took part in this study. Psychosocial stress was ... KEY WORDS: Type 2 diabetes, psychosocial stress, habitual physical activity. INTRODUCTION ..... to address them: A qualitative study. PLoS ONE 9(9):.

  1. Contribution to the understanding of how principal component analysis-derived dietary patterns emerge from habitual data on food consumption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwedhelm, Carolina; Iqbal, Khalid; Knüppel, Sven; Schwingshackl, Lukas; Boeing, Heiner

    2018-02-01

    Principal component analysis (PCA) is a widely used exploratory method in epidemiology to derive dietary patterns from habitual diet. Such dietary patterns seem to originate from intakes on multiple days and eating occasions. Therefore, analyzing food intake of study populations with different levels of food consumption can provide additional insights as to how habitual dietary patterns are formed. We analyzed the food intake data of German adults in terms of the relations among food groups from three 24-h dietary recalls (24hDRs) on the habitual, single-day, and main-meal levels, and investigated the contribution of each level to the formation of PCA-derived habitual dietary patterns. Three 24hDRs were collected in 2010-2012 from 816 adults for an European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam subcohort study. We identified PCA-derived habitual dietary patterns and compared cross-sectional food consumption data in terms of correlation (Spearman), consistency (intraclass correlation coefficient), and frequency of consumption across all days and main meals. Contribution to the formation of the dietary patterns was obtained through Spearman correlation of the dietary pattern scores. Among the meals, breakfast appeared to be the most consistent eating occasion within individuals. Dinner showed the strongest correlations with "Prudent" (Spearman correlation = 0.60), "Western" (Spearman correlation = 0.59), and "Traditional" (Spearman correlation = 0.60) dietary patterns identified on the habitual level, and lunch showed the strongest correlations with the "Cereals and legumes" (Spearman correlation = 0.60) habitual dietary pattern. Higher meal consistency was related to lower contributions to the formation of PCA-derived habitual dietary patterns. Absolute amounts of food consumption did not strongly conform to the habitual dietary patterns by meals, suggesting that these patterns are formed by complex combinations of variable food

  2. Saliency mapping in the optic tectum and its relationship to habituation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arkadeb eDutta

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Habituation of the orienting response has long served as a model system for studying fundamental psychological phenomena such as learning, attention, decisions and surprise. In this article, we review an emerging hypothesis that the evolutionary role of the superior colliculus (SC in mammals or its homologue in birds, the optic tectum (OT, is to select the most salient target and send this information to the appropriate brain regions to control the body and brain orienting responses. Recent studies have begun to reveal mechanisms of how saliency is computed in the OT/SC, demonstrating a striking similarity between mammals and birds. The saliency of a target can be determined by how different it is from the surrounding objects, by how different it is from its history (that is habituation and by how relevant it is for the task at hand. Here, we will first review evidence, mostly from primates and barn owls, that all three types of saliency computations are linked in the OT/SC. We will then focus more on neural adaptation in the OT and its possible link to temporal saliency and habituation.

  3. The Self-Report Habit Index: Assessing habitual marijuana, alcohol, e-cigarette, and cigarette use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morean, Meghan E; DeMartini, Kelly S; Foster, Dawn; Patock-Peckham, Julie; Garrison, Kathleen A; Corlett, Philip R; Krystal, John H; Krishan-Sarin, Suchitra; O'Malley, Stephanie S

    2018-05-01

    Substance use is partially driven by habitual processes that occur automatically in response to environmental cues and may be central to users' identities. This study was designed to validate the Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI) for assessing habitual marijuana, alcohol, cigarette, and e-cigarette use. We examined the SRHI's psychometrics in separate samples of adult marijuana (Ns = 189;170), alcohol (Ns = 100;133), cigarette (Ns = 58;371), and e-cigarette (N = 239) users. A 6-item, single-factor solution evidenced good fit across substances (CFI marijuana/alcohol/cigarettes/e-cigarettes = 0.996/0.997/0.996/0.994, RMSEA = 0.046/0.047/0.067/0.068, SRMR = 0.017/0.017/0.010/0.015) and internal consistency (α = 0.88/0.94/0.95/0.91). The SRHI was scalar invariant for sex and race. However, independent-samples t-tests indicated only that women endorsed stronger habitual e-cigarette use and that men endorsed stronger habitual marijuana use. The SRHI also was scalar invariant by product type in dual-users (cigarettes/e-cigarettes[N = 371]; alcohol/cigarettes [n = 58]), although differences in habit strength only were observed for cigarettes versus e-cigarettes, with dual-users reporting stronger habitual cigarette use. Finally, the SRHI predicted frequency of marijuana, alcohol, cigarette, and e-cigarette use (n p 2 [marijuana/alcohol/cigarettes/e-cigarettes] = 0.37/0.48/0.31/0.17) and quantity of alcohol and cigarette use (n p 2  = 0.43/0.33). The SRHI is a psychometrically sound measure of adults' habitual substance use. The SRHI detected mean differences by sex and substance type and predicted the frequency of using each substance. Future research should determine if the SRHI is appropriate for use with other substances or age groups (e.g., adolescents), how it relates to task-based, behavioral measures of habit strength, and the degree to which habit predicts the development or maintenance of addiction. Copyright © 2018

  4. Sleep extension normalizes ERP of waking auditory sensory gating in healthy habitually short sleeping individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gumenyuk, Valentina; Korzyukov, Oleg; Roth, Thomas; Bowyer, Susan M; Drake, Christopher L

    2013-01-01

    Chronic sleep loss has been associated with increased daytime sleepiness, as well as impairments in memory and attentional processes. In the present study, we evaluated the neuronal changes of a pre-attentive process of wake auditory sensory gating, measured by brain event-related potential (ERP)--P50 in eight normal sleepers (NS) (habitual total sleep time (TST) 7 h 32 m) vs. eight chronic short sleeping individuals (SS) (habitual TST ≤6 h). To evaluate the effect of sleep extension on sensory gating, the extended sleep condition was performed in chronic short sleeping individuals. Thus, one week of time in bed (6 h 11 m) corresponding to habitual short sleep (hSS), and one week of extended time (∼ 8 h 25 m) in bed corresponding to extended sleep (eSS), were counterbalanced in the SS group. The gating ERP assessment was performed on the last day after each sleep condition week (normal sleep and habitual short and extended sleep), and was separated by one week with habitual total sleep time and monitored by a sleep diary. We found that amplitude of gating was lower in SS group compared to that in NS group (0.3 µV vs. 1.2 µV, at Cz electrode respectively). The results of the group × laterality interaction showed that the reduction of gating amplitude in the SS group was due to lower amplitude over the left hemisphere and central-midline sites relative to that in the NS group. After sleep extension the amplitude of gating increased in chronic short sleeping individuals relative to their habitual short sleep condition. The sleep condition × frontality interaction analysis confirmed that sleep extension significantly increased the amplitude of gating over frontal and central brain areas compared to parietal brain areas.

  5. Sleep extension normalizes ERP of waking auditory sensory gating in healthy habitually short sleeping individuals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Gumenyuk

    Full Text Available Chronic sleep loss has been associated with increased daytime sleepiness, as well as impairments in memory and attentional processes. In the present study, we evaluated the neuronal changes of a pre-attentive process of wake auditory sensory gating, measured by brain event-related potential (ERP--P50 in eight normal sleepers (NS (habitual total sleep time (TST 7 h 32 m vs. eight chronic short sleeping individuals (SS (habitual TST ≤6 h. To evaluate the effect of sleep extension on sensory gating, the extended sleep condition was performed in chronic short sleeping individuals. Thus, one week of time in bed (6 h 11 m corresponding to habitual short sleep (hSS, and one week of extended time (∼ 8 h 25 m in bed corresponding to extended sleep (eSS, were counterbalanced in the SS group. The gating ERP assessment was performed on the last day after each sleep condition week (normal sleep and habitual short and extended sleep, and was separated by one week with habitual total sleep time and monitored by a sleep diary. We found that amplitude of gating was lower in SS group compared to that in NS group (0.3 µV vs. 1.2 µV, at Cz electrode respectively. The results of the group × laterality interaction showed that the reduction of gating amplitude in the SS group was due to lower amplitude over the left hemisphere and central-midline sites relative to that in the NS group. After sleep extension the amplitude of gating increased in chronic short sleeping individuals relative to their habitual short sleep condition. The sleep condition × frontality interaction analysis confirmed that sleep extension significantly increased the amplitude of gating over frontal and central brain areas compared to parietal brain areas.

  6. Striving for habitual well-being in non-invasive ventilation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Dorthe; Frederiksen, Kirsten; Grøfte, Thorbjørn

    2013-01-01

    December 2009 to January 2012. Results. A substantive theory of striving for habitual well-being was developed. The theory included three phases: initiation, transition, and determination. Each phase contained a set of subcategories to indicate the dimensions of and variations in the participants...

  7. Variation in Foot Strike Patterns among Habitually Barefoot and Shod Runners in Kenya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieberman, Daniel E; Castillo, Eric R; Otarola-Castillo, Erik; Sang, Meshack K; Sigei, Timothy K; Ojiambo, Robert; Okutoyi, Paul; Pitsiladis, Yannis

    2015-01-01

    Runners are often categorized as forefoot, midfoot or rearfoot strikers, but how much and why do individuals vary in foot strike patterns when running on level terrain? This study used general linear mixed-effects models to explore both intra- and inter-individual variations in foot strike pattern among 48 Kalenjin-speaking participants from Kenya who varied in age, sex, body mass, height, running history, and habitual use of footwear. High speed video was used to measure lower extremity kinematics at ground contact in the sagittal plane while participants ran down 13 meter-long tracks with three variables independently controlled: speed, track stiffness, and step frequency. 72% of the habitually barefoot and 32% of the habitually shod participants used multiple strike types, with significantly higher levels of foot strike variation among individuals who ran less frequently and who used lower step frequencies. There was no effect of sex, age, height or weight on foot strike angle, but individuals were more likely to midfoot or forefoot strike when they ran on a stiff surface, had a high preferred stride frequency, were habitually barefoot, and had more experience running. It is hypothesized that strike type variation during running, including a more frequent use of forefoot and midfoot strikes, used to be greater before the introduction of cushioned shoes and paved surfaces.

  8. Variation in Foot Strike Patterns among Habitually Barefoot and Shod Runners in Kenya.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel E Lieberman

    Full Text Available Runners are often categorized as forefoot, midfoot or rearfoot strikers, but how much and why do individuals vary in foot strike patterns when running on level terrain? This study used general linear mixed-effects models to explore both intra- and inter-individual variations in foot strike pattern among 48 Kalenjin-speaking participants from Kenya who varied in age, sex, body mass, height, running history, and habitual use of footwear. High speed video was used to measure lower extremity kinematics at ground contact in the sagittal plane while participants ran down 13 meter-long tracks with three variables independently controlled: speed, track stiffness, and step frequency. 72% of the habitually barefoot and 32% of the habitually shod participants used multiple strike types, with significantly higher levels of foot strike variation among individuals who ran less frequently and who used lower step frequencies. There was no effect of sex, age, height or weight on foot strike angle, but individuals were more likely to midfoot or forefoot strike when they ran on a stiff surface, had a high preferred stride frequency, were habitually barefoot, and had more experience running. It is hypothesized that strike type variation during running, including a more frequent use of forefoot and midfoot strikes, used to be greater before the introduction of cushioned shoes and paved surfaces.

  9. Habituation, Response to Novelty, and Dishabituation in Human Infants: Tests of a Dual-Process Theory of Visual Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, Peter S.; Werner, John S.

    1986-01-01

    Tests infants' dual-process performance (a process mediating response decrements called habituation and a state-dependent process mediating response increments called sensitization) on visual habituation-dishabituation tasks. (HOD)

  10. Dispelling the myth that habitual caffeine consumption influences the performance response to acute caffeine supplementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonçalves, Lívia de Souza; Painelli, Vitor de Salles; Yamaguchi, Guilherme; Oliveira, Luana Farias de; Saunders, Bryan; da Silva, Rafael Pires; Maciel, Erika; Artioli, Guilherme Giannini; Roschel, Hamilton; Gualano, Bruno

    2017-07-01

    This study investigates the influence of habitual caffeine intake on aerobic exercise-performance responses to acute caffeine supplementation. A double-blind, crossover, counterbalanced study was performed. Forty male endurance-trained cyclists were allocated into tertiles, according to their daily caffeine intake: low (58 ± 29 mg/d), moderate (143 ± 25 mg/d), and high (351 ± 139 mg/d) consumers. Participants completed three trials in which they performed simulated cycling time trials (TTs) in the fastest time possible following ingestion of the following: caffeine (CAF: 6 mg/kg body mass), placebo (PLA), and no supplement (CON). A mixed-model analysis revealed that TT performance was significantly improved in CAF compared with PLA and CON (29.92 ± 2.18 vs. 30.81 ± 2.67 and 31.14 ± 2.71 min, respectively; P = 0.0002). Analysis of covariance revealed no influence of habitual caffeine intake as a covariate on exercise performance ( P = 0.47). TT performance was not significantly different among tertiles ( P = 0.75). No correlation was observed between habitual caffeine intake and absolute changes (CAF - CON) in TT performance with caffeine ( P = 0.524). Individual analysis showed that eight, seven, and five individuals improved above the variation of the test in CAF in the low, moderate, and high tertiles, respectively. A Fisher's exact test did not show any significant differences in the number of individuals who improved in CAF among the tertiles ( P > 0.05). Blood lactate and ratings of perceived exertion were not different between trials and tertiles ( P > 0.05). Performance effects of acute caffeine supplementation during an ~30-min cycling TT performance were not influenced by the level of habitual caffeine consumption. NEW & NOTEWORTHY There has been a long-standing paradigm that habitual caffeine intake may influence the ergogenicity of caffeine supplementation. Low, moderate, and high caffeine consumers showed similar absolute and

  11. Radioactive ores from Agostinho field, Pocos de Caldas (MG), Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujimori, K.

    1974-01-01

    Aiming to characterize the radioactive minerals of Campo Agostinho, Pocos de Caldas - Brazil, the survey of all natural radiactive elements and their geochemical behaviors, decays and radioactive equilibrium was done. Several models of radioactive instability of the minerals or the radioactive samples were proposed to characterize the geochemistry and the mineralization of radioactive elements. The complete isotopic analysis of the elements was done by high resolution gamma spectrometry, using a Ge(Li) detector, at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, coupled to a multichannel analyser. The sample in radioactive equilibrium of Atomic Energy Comission of United States - A.S. n.6, NBL - New Brunswick Laboratory, was considered as standard sample. Fluorite, zircons, pirite, molibinite, rutile, anatase, niobophyllite, and in small ratio (bellow 0.1%) uranothorianite, coffinite, pyrochlore, monazite and apatite. (M.C.K.) [pt

  12. Sounds scary? Lack of habituation following the presentation of novel sounds.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tine A Biedenweg

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Animals typically show less habituation to biologically meaningful sounds than to novel signals. We might therefore expect that acoustic deterrents should be based on natural sounds. METHODOLOGY: We investigated responses by western grey kangaroos (Macropus fulignosus towards playback of natural sounds (alarm foot stomps and Australian raven (Corvus coronoides calls and artificial sounds (faux snake hiss and bull whip crack. We then increased rate of presentation to examine whether animals would habituate. Finally, we varied frequency of playback to investigate optimal rates of delivery. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Nine behaviors clustered into five Principal Components. PC factors 1 and 2 (animals alert or looking, or hopping and moving out of area accounted for 36% of variance. PC factor 3 (eating cessation, taking flight, movement out of area accounted for 13% of variance. Factors 4 and 5 (relaxing, grooming and walking; 12 and 11% of variation, respectively discontinued upon playback. The whip crack was most evocative; eating was reduced from 75% of time spent prior to playback to 6% following playback (post alarm stomp: 32%, raven call: 49%, hiss: 75%. Additionally, 24% of individuals took flight and moved out of area (50 m radius in response to the whip crack (foot stomp: 0%, raven call: 8% and 4%, hiss: 6%. Increasing rate of presentation (12x/min ×2 min caused 71% of animals to move out of the area. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The bull whip crack, an artificial sound, was as effective as the alarm stomp at eliciting aversive behaviors. Kangaroos did not fully habituate despite hearing the signal up to 20x/min. Highest rates of playback did not elicit the greatest responses, suggesting that 'more is not always better'. Ultimately, by utilizing both artificial and biological sounds, predictability may be masked or offset, so that habituation is delayed and more effective deterrents may be produced.

  13. Caracterización de la expresión de nCD64 en neutrófilos y de los niveles de s-TREM-1 y HMGB-1 en pacientes con sospecha de infección admitidos en el departamento de emergencias

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Velásquez

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Introducción. El receptor CD64, receptor soluble ‘desencadenador’ expresado en células mieloides (sTREM-1 y la proteína del grupo Box-1 de alta movilidad (HMGB-1, se han propuesto como mediadores en la sepsis. Objetivo. Evaluar el valor pronóstico de estos marcadores en pacientes con sospecha de infección, recientemente admitidos en un departamento de emergencias. Materiales y métodos. Se incluyeron en el estudio pacientes que consultaron al hospital con sospecha de infección. Se analizó la base de datos clínica, el puntaje SOFA, el puntaje APACHE II, los niveles de HMGB-1, los niveles de sTREM-1 y los niveles de nCD64. Se determinaron las concentraciones en suero de HMGB-1 y sTREM-1, usando kits de ELISA disponibles comercialmente, y la de CD64 se midió por citometría de flujo. Resultados. Se analizaron 579 pacientes con sospecha de infección al ingreso. La edad media fue de 50 años (rango intercuartílico=35-68, y 11,1 % (n=64 murieron durante el seguimiento de 28 días. El diagnóstico más frecuente en el momento del ingreso fue neumonía adquirida en la comunidad, en 23 % (n=133 de los pacientes, seguida de infección de tejidos blandos, en 16,6 % (n=96, e infección urinaria, en 15 % (n=87. Después de un análisis multivariado, no hubo asociación significativa entre ningún biomarcador y la mortalidad a los 28 días. Conclusión. Los resultados sugieren que en el contexto de un departamento de emergencias de tercer nivel de una ciudad latinoamericana típica, los tres marcadores evaluados no ofrecieron ninguna ventaja en el pronóstico de infección. La búsqueda de marcadores pronósticos más confiables en estadios tempranos de la infección aún continúa abierta.   doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v33i4.805

  14. Familial clustering of habitual constipation: a prospective study in children from West Virginia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ostwani, Waseem; Dolan, Jenna; Elitsur, Yoram

    2010-03-01

    To investigate familial clustering of habitual constipation in pediatric patients who attended our medical facilities. Children with the diagnosis of functional, habitual constipation or patients without constipation and their respective family members were prospectively recruited to our study. Constipation was established in all participants using a standard questionnaire (Rome criteria). A total of 112 children and their families participated in the study, of which 37 were probands families (test) and 75 children and their respective family members constituted the control group. A total of 310 family members completed the questionnaire. No significant differences were found between the study and the control groups in age, sex, or family size. Siblings or parents from the study group (probands) had significantly higher rates of constipation compared with the control group (30% vs 7% and 42% vs 9%, respectively; P = 0.001). Habitual constipation in children seemed to cluster in families. The pathophysiology behind this phenomenon is yet unknown.

  15. The effects of increased central serotonergic activity on prepulse inhibition and habituation of the human startle response

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Kristian S; Oranje, Bob; Wienberg, Malene

    2007-01-01

    modulation is currently inconsistent. In a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design, 18 healthy male volunteers received either placebo or a dose of 10 mg of escitalopram (SSRI), after which they were tested in both PPI and habituation of the startle reflex paradigms. No significant differences...... between the two treatments were observed on PPI, although escitalopram was found to significantly delay habituation of the ASR. In the current study, escitalopram was found to delay habituation, but it did not affect PPI in healthy male volunteers. As escitalopram is a highly specific SSRI, the results...

  16. Female habitual self-mutilators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Favazza, A R; Conterio, K

    1989-03-01

    Data are presented on 240 female habitual self-mutilators. The typical subject is a 28-year-old Caucasian who first deliberately harmed herself at age 14. Skin cutting is her usual practice, but she has used other methods such as skin burning and self-hitting, and she has injured herself on at least 50 occasions. Her decision to self-mutilate is impulsive and results in temporary relief from symptoms such as racing thoughts, depersonalization, and marked anxiety. She now has or has had an eating disorder, and may be concerned about her drinking. She has been a heavy utilizer of medical and mental health services, although treatment generally has been unsatisfactory. In desperation over her inability to control her self-mutilative behavior this typical subject has attempted suicide by a drug overdose.

  17. Atividade física habitual e risco cardiovascular na pós-menopausa Habitual physical activity and cardiovascular risk in post menopause

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raimunda Beserra da Silva

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Avaliar a prevalência de atividade física habitual e risco cardiovascular em mulheres na pós-menopausa. MÉTODOS: Estudo de coorte transversal com 162 mulheres, entre 40 e 65 anos, em amenorréia há no mínimo 12 meses, acompanhadas no Ambulatório de Menopausa do CAISM/UNICAMP. As mulheres responderam oralmente o questionário International Physical Activity Questionnaire para avaliação do nível de atividade física, que abordou a freqüência e duração das atividades ocorridas durante uma semana normal, realizadas no transporte, trabalho, em casa e no lazer, classificando-as em sedentárias, insuficientemente ativas, ativas e muito ativas. Foram realizados exames laboratoriais para dosagem sérica de colesterol total, lipoproteína de alta densidade, lipoproteína de baixa densidade, triglicérides, glicemia de jejum e medidas de pressão arterial sistólica e diastólica. RESULTADOS: A média de idade das mulheres foi de 56,5 anos e idade na menopausa de 46 anos. A prevalência de atividade física foi de 83,3%, sendo que 2,5% foram classificadas como muito ativas, 80,8% ativas e 16,7% insuficientemente ativas. A maioria realizava atividades, principalmente no transporte e em casa, e apenas 38,3% realizavam atividade física durante o lazer. Nesta população, 87,7% das mulheres apresentavam escore de Framingham inferior a 10, considerado de baixo risco cardiovascular. CONCLUSÃO: Mulheres na pós-menopausa apresentam alta prevalência de atividade física habitual e baixa aderência ao exercício físico. O risco cardiovascular foi baixo na população estudada. É importante incentivar e orientar esta população a praticar atividade física compatível com suas condições físicas, estimulando a prática não somente da atividade física habitual, mas também do exercício físico.BACKGROUND: To evaluate the prevalence of habitual physical activity and cardiovascular risk in postmenopausal women. METHODS: A cross

  18. Poor habitual sleep efficiency is associated with increased cardiovascular and cortisol stress reactivity in men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massar, Stijn A A; Liu, Jean C J; Mohammad, Nabilah B; Chee, Michael W L

    2017-07-01

    Inadequate sleep and psychological stress can both elevate physiological stress markers, such as cortisol. Prior studies that have applied induced psychosocial stress after a night of experimental sleep deprivation have found these effects to be compounded. We examined whether the relationship between stress reactivity and poor sleep also extends to habitual sleep patterns. Fifty-nine adult male participants were recruited. Habitual sleep patterns were monitored with actigraphy for a week. Participants subsequently underwent the Trier Social Stress Test. Cardiovascular responses and salivary cortisol were measured at baseline, during stress, and during recovery. Subjects who showed poor habitual sleep efficiency during the week before stress induction responded with higher stress-related elevations of blood pressure and cortisol levels as compared to subjects with high sleep efficiency. This relationship between poor sleep efficiency and elevated blood pressure persisted during the post-stress recovery period. Similar associations between total sleep time in the week prior to the stress induction and physiological reactivity did not reach significance. Our findings indicate that habitual low sleep efficiency exaggerates cardiovascular and neuroendocrine effects of psychosocial stress, in a male population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Does habitual behavior affect the choice of alternative fuel vehicles?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Valeri, Eva; Cherchi, Elisabetta

    2016-01-01

    Because of the recent improvements in the electrification process of cars, several types of alternative fuel vehicles are appearing in the car market. However, these new engine technologies are not easily penetrating the market around the world and the conventional ones are still the leaders....... A vast literature has explored the reasons for such low market penetration, due mainly to car's features. Using a hybrid choice model approach, in this research we study if, and to which extent, habitual car use influences individual propensity to buy a specific type of engine technology. We found...... of a conventional one. The importance of taking into account this latent construct is demonstrated also with the results of the simulated elasticity measures. In fact, the exclusion of latent habitual effect significantly underestimates the elasticity of diesel and hybrid cars and overestimates the elasticity...

  20. Habituating to handling: factors affecting preorbital gland opening in red deer calves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ceacero, F; Landete-Castillejos, T; Bartošová, J; García, A J; Bartoš, L; Komárková, M; Gallego, L

    2014-09-01

    The preorbital gland plays not only an olfactory role in cervids but also a visual one. Opening this gland is an easy way for the calf to communicate with the mother, indicating hunger/satiety, stress, pain, fear, or excitement. This information can be also useful for farm operators to assess how fast the calves habituate to handling routines and to detect those calves that do not habituate and may suffer chronic stress in the future. Thirty-one calves were subjected to 2 consecutive experiments to clarify if observing preorbital gland opening is related to habituation to handling in red deer calves (Cervus elaphus). Calves were born in 3 different paddocks, handled as newborns (Exp. 1), and then subjected to the same routine handling but with different periodicity: every 1, 2, or 3 wk (Exp. 2). In Exp. 1, preorbital gland opening was recorded in newborns during an initial handling (including weighing, ear tagging, and sex determination). Preorbital gland opening occurred in 93% of calves during this procedure and was not affected by sex, time since birth, or birth weight. Experiment 2 consisted of measuring preorbital opening during the same routine handling (weighing, blood sampling, and rump touching to assess body condition) when calves were 1, 3, and 5 mo old. Binary logistic regression showed that gland opening was associated with habituation to handling, since at 1 and 3 mo the probability of opening the gland decreased with the number of handlings that a calf experienced before (P = 0.008 and P = 0.028, respectively). However, there were no further changes in preorbital gland opening rate in the 5-mo-old calves (P = 0.182). The significant influence of the number of previous handlings on the probability of opening the preorbital gland was confirmed through generalized linear model with repeated measures (P = 0.007). Preorbital gland opening decreased along the phases of the study. Nevertheless, we found a significant trend in individuals to keep similar

  1. Modification of Male Courtship Motivation by Olfactory Habituation via the GABAA Receptor in Drosophila melanogaster

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tachibana, Shin-Ichiro; Touhara, Kazushige; Ejima, Aki

    2015-01-01

    A male-specific component, 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) works as an anti-aphrodisiac pheromone in Drosophila melanogaster. The presence of cVA on a male suppresses the courtship motivation of other males and contributes to suppression of male-male homosexual courtship, while the absence of cVA on a female stimulates the sexual motivation of nearby males and enhances the male-female interaction. However, little is known how a male distinguishes the presence or absence of cVA on a target fly from either self-produced cVA or secondhand cVA from other males in the vicinity. In this study, we demonstrate that male flies have keen sensitivity to cVA; therefore, the presence of another male in the area reduces courtship toward a female. This reduced level of sexual motivation, however, could be overcome by pretest odor exposure via olfactory habituation to cVA. Real-time imaging of cVA-responsive sensory neurons using the neural activity sensor revealed that prolonged exposure to cVA decreased the levels of cVA responses in the primary olfactory center. Pharmacological and genetic screening revealed that signal transduction via GABAA receptors contributed to this olfactory habituation. We also found that the habituation experience increased the copulation success of wild-type males in a group. In contrast, transgenic males, in which GABA input in a small subset of local neurons was blocked by RNAi, failed to acquire the sexual advantage conferred by habituation. Thus, we illustrate a novel phenomenon in which olfactory habituation positively affects sexual capability in a competitive environment. PMID:26252206

  2. Using feedback through digital technology to disrupt and change habitual behavior : a critical review of current literature

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sander Hermsen; Reint-Jan Renes; Jeana Frost; Peter Kerkhof

    2016-01-01

    Habitual behavior is often hard to change because of a lack of self-monitoring skills. Digital technologies offer an unprecedented chance to facilitate self-monitoring by delivering feedback on undesired habitual behavior. This review analyzed the results of 72 studies in which feedback from digital

  3. Short-term exposure to repeated chasing stress does not induce habituation in Senegalese sole, Solea senegalensis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Conde-Sieira, Marta; Valente, Luisa M.P.; Hernandez-Perez, Juan

    2018-01-01

    Animals can habituate to certain repeated stressors and reduce the physiological response that such stressor evoked initially. Studies related to stress habituation in fish are scarce and the available data differ depending on the species and on the type, duration and severity of the stressor...... no significant changes in serotonergic activity. However, incremented serotonergic activity was detected in fish previously trained. Furthermore, dopaminergic activity decreased in diurnal trained and nocturnal trained groups with respect to ST/naïve fish. Crh expression in hypothalamus was higher in ST...... for the animals to habituate, indicating that repeated chasing within short periods should be avoided when manipulating fish in order to keep proper welfare conditions in this species....

  4. Dieta habitual e fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares Habitual diet and cardiovascular disease risk factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Maria Cervato

    1997-06-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUÇÃO: Estudo descritivo por amostragem em munícípio do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil, em 1990, com objetivo de analisar, mediante entrevistas domiciliares, a dieta habitual e fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares em indivíduos maiores de 20 anos. METODOLOGIA: Foram entrevistados 557 indivíduos, de idade entre 20 e 88 anos, que fazem parte de subamostra de um estudo global na região. A dieta habitual, identificada pelo histórico alimentar foi comparada às recomendações da OMS e os fatores de risco estudados (obesidade, dislipidemias, diabetes melito diagnosticados pelo Índice de Massa Corpórea e dosagens bioquímicas. RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÕES: Observou-se que 60% da população consome dieta com energia total abaixo da estimativa das necessidades e que a contribuição calórica dos carboidratos foi de 56%, dos lipídios de 29% e das proteínas de 15%. Entretanto, na análise por percentil, a contribuição calórica dos lipídios e das proteínas encontra-se muito acima dos padrões recomendados em detrimento dos carboidratos. A energia, distribuição calórica e quantidade de colesterol foi adequada em apenas 5% das dietas. Dentre os fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares estudados observou-se a prevalência de obesidade em 38% dos indivíduos, de dislipidemias em 26% e de diabetes melito em 5%. A atividade física leve preponderante com dieta inadequada, tanto em termos de qualitativos quanto quantitativos, agravam ainda mais esse quadro.INTRODUCTION: A survey by sampling in a county of the State of S. Paulo in 1990 sought, by means of home interviews, to analyse the habitual diet and risk factors for cardiovascular disease of people over 20 years of age. METHODOLOGY: Of the sub-specimen of a comprehensive study population, 557 individuals, aged between 20 and 88, were interviewed. The habitual diet, characterized by the dietary history, was compared with the recommendations on energy and nutrients of the

  5. Adaptive Response of Listeria monocytogenes to Heat, Salinity and Low pH, after Habituation on Cherry Tomatoes and Lettuce Leaves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poimenidou, Sofia V; Chatzithoma, Danai-Natalia; Nychas, George-John; Skandamis, Panagiotis N

    2016-01-01

    Pathogens found on fresh produce may encounter low temperatures, high acidity and limited nutrient availability. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of habituation of Listeria monocytogenes on cherry tomatoes or lettuce leaves on its subsequent response to inhibitory levels of acid, osmotic and heat stress. Habituation was performed by inoculating lettuce coupons, whole cherry tomatoes or tryptic soy broth (TSB) with a three-strains composite of L. monocytogenes, which were further incubated at 5°C for 24 hours or 5 days. Additionally, cells grown overnight in TSB supplemented with 0.6% yeast extract (TSBYE) at 30°C were used as control cells. Following habituation, L. monocytogenes cells were harvested and exposed to: (i) pH 3.5 adjusted with lactic acid, acetic acid or hydrochloric acid (HCl), and pH 1.5 (HCl) for 6 h; (ii) 20% NaCl and (iii) 60°C for 150 s. Results showed that tomato-habituated L. monocytogenes cells were more tolerant (P lettuce, and habituation on both foods resulted in more stress resistant cells than prior growth in TSB. On the contrary, the highest resistance to heat stress (P lettuce-habituated L. monocytogenes cells followed by TSB-grown cells at 5°C for 24 h, whereas tomato-habituated cells were highly sensitized. Prolonged starvation on fresh produce (5 days vs. 24 h) increased resistance to osmotic and acid stress, but reduced thermotolerance, regardless of the pre-exposure environment (i.e., tomatoes, lettuce or TSB). These results indicate that L. monocytogenes cells habituated on fresh produce at low temperatures might acquire resistance to subsequent antimicrobial treatments raising important food safety implications.

  6. TYPOLOGY OF THE REALITY STATUS CATEGORY IN SELECTED LANGUAGES. IS THE HABITUAL IN POLISH AN INSTANCE OF (IRREALIS OR MODALITY?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulina Pietras

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The present article is aimed at examining the category of the reality status by discussing the dichotomy “realis / irrealis” in the context of the categories of modality, habituality and futurity. Prototype analysis is juxtaposed with scope analysis, and the category of the habitual is discussed from the typological perspective as well as from the perspective of its connection with the category of futurity. The paper presents aspect diversity of habituals (perfective and imperfective aspect and its contextual implications as well as the differentiation between the habitual and modality. A special focus is on the prototype analysis and its application instances in Polish, English and Hebrew. The primary objective of the paper is to show that, although it is possible to treat irrealis as notional category, the habituals in Polish and many other Slavic languages (e.g. Czech should be identified with the modality domain rather than irrealis category. The paper is also an attempt to provide an insight into the distinction between (irrealis and encoding systems of modalities as the habitual aspect displays modal category features in many languages (including Polish.

  7. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 deletion rescues auditory evoked potential habituation deficit in a mouse model of Fragile X Syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lovelace, Jonathan W; Wen, Teresa H; Reinhard, Sarah; Hsu, Mike S; Sidhu, Harpreet; Ethell, Iryna M; Binder, Devin K; Razak, Khaleel A

    2016-05-01

    Sensory processing deficits are common in autism spectrum disorders, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a leading genetic cause of intellectual disability and autism. Electrophysiological responses in humans with FXS show reduced habituation with sound repetition and this deficit may underlie auditory hypersensitivity in FXS. Our previous study in Fmr1 knockout (KO) mice revealed an unusually long state of increased sound-driven excitability in auditory cortical neurons suggesting that cortical responses to repeated sounds may exhibit abnormal habituation as in humans with FXS. Here, we tested this prediction by comparing cortical event related potentials (ERP) recorded from wildtype (WT) and Fmr1 KO mice. We report a repetition-rate dependent reduction in habituation of N1 amplitude in Fmr1 KO mice and show that matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), one of the known FMRP targets, contributes to the reduced ERP habituation. Our studies demonstrate a significant up-regulation of MMP-9 levels in the auditory cortex of adult Fmr1 KO mice, whereas a genetic deletion of Mmp-9 reverses ERP habituation deficits in Fmr1 KO mice. Although the N1 amplitude of Mmp-9/Fmr1 DKO recordings was larger than WT and KO recordings, the habituation of ERPs in Mmp-9/Fmr1 DKO mice is similar to WT mice implicating MMP-9 as a potential target for reversing sensory processing deficits in FXS. Together these data establish ERP habituation as a translation relevant, physiological pre-clinical marker of auditory processing deficits in FXS and suggest that abnormal MMP-9 regulation is a mechanism underlying auditory hypersensitivity in FXS. Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the leading known genetic cause of autism spectrum disorders. Individuals with FXS show symptoms of auditory hypersensitivity. These symptoms may arise due to sustained neural responses to repeated sounds, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. For the first time, this study shows deficits

  8. Ecotourism and primate habituation: Behavioral variation in two groups of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) from Costa Rica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, Shasta E; McCoy, Michael B

    2014-09-01

    The increase of ecotourism operations within Costa Rica during the last 20 yrs has brought more and more humans into close, direct contact with several wildlife species. One of these species is the white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinos), highly gregarious, and with exposure over time, willing to come into close vicinity of humans and their developments. Such contact has its advantages and disadvantages for the ecotourism industry. We observed white-faced monkeys in order to assess the impact of human presence and development on monkey behavior, with a focus on aggressive, affiliative, and foraging behaviors in Curú Wildlife Refuge (CWR), located in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, and to ascertain the degree of over-habituation of capuchin popula- tions at CWR. Though there exists no discrete behavioral parameters that measure over-habituation, it can be defined as an extreme state of habituation in which non-human primates not only lose fear of humans, but also actively include humans in social interactions or treat them as a food resource. We used instantaneous focal animal and group scan sampling during 8 wks in March and April 2012. Two groups (approximately 20-30 individuals each) of capuchins were observed; the first near the tourist development at the Southwestern area of CWR, representing a habituated population that regularly foraged, rested, and groomed in the presence of humans. The second, was observed in the Northeastern area of CWR, did not visit the center of human activity and exhibited fear of humans. The habituated group exhibited significantly fewer instances of threatened behavior in response to human presence (p ecotourism, increases. Over-habituation is a problem that affects capuchins in certain ecotourism sites in Costa Rica. It is critical that the consequences of habituation be studied more carefully, primarily in areas where ecotourism operations draw visitors to wildlife habitats.

  9. Measurement of habituation to noise using the method of continuous judgment by category

    Science.gov (United States)

    Namba, S.; Kuwano, S.

    1988-12-01

    Using "the method of continuous judgment by category", we examined the noisiness of sounds from public loudspeakers, and habituation to them. Subjects judged the noisiness of the sound at any moment of their choice by touching one of seven numbered keys on a computer keyboard, each corresponding to a noisiness category. At the same time, the subjects were required to complete a task as carefully and rapidly as possible. The duration of "no response" to sounds was an index of habituation. Both personality factors and physical factors were analyzed. It was found that the duration of "no response" is a good index to habituation to noise, and that there were wide differences in the "no response" time of different subjects. The reactions of individual subjects in sessions 1 and 2 and the questionnaire survey were, however, consistent. This suggests that there is a group that is relatively sensitive to noise and a group that is less sensitive to noise. It was also found that subjects had difficulty in becoming accustomed to intense noise.

  10. ?My Worries Are Rational, Climate Change Is Not?: Habitual Ecological Worrying Is an Adaptive Response

    OpenAIRE

    Verplanken, Bas; Roy, Deborah

    2013-01-01

    Qualifications such as "global warming hysteria" and "energy policy schizophrenia" put forward by some climate change skeptics, usually outside the academic arena, may suggest that people who seriously worry about the environment suffer from psychological imbalance. The present study aimed to refute this thesis. While habitual worrying in general is strongly associated with psychopathological symptoms, in a survey a near-zero correlation was found between habitual ecological worrying and path...

  11. Metabolic syndrome associated with habitual indulgence and dietary behavior in middle‐aged health‐care professionals

    OpenAIRE

    Wan, Chu‐Jen; Lin, Li‐Yun; Yu, Tung‐Hsi; Sheu, Wayne H‐H

    2010-01-01

    Abstract Aims/Introduction:  Few studies, especially in Asia, have examined the relevance between metabolic syndrome (MetS), habitual indulgence and dietary behaviors in health‐care professionals. The present study evaluates metabolic syndrome rate and its association with habitual indulgence (coffee, tea, alcohol and cigarette smoking) and diet behavior in health‐care professionals. Materials and Methods:  Information was collected from 514 health‐care professionals (147 men, 367 women) who ...

  12. Study of the kinematic variables of unilateral and habitual mastication of healthy individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasinato, Fernanda; Oliveira, Andréia Gussi de; Santos-Couto-Paz, Clarissa C; Zeredo, Jorge Luis Lopes; Bolzan, Geovana de Paula; Macedo, Sergio Bruzadelli; Corrêa, Eliane C R

    2017-03-30

    To describe and compare the temporal-spatial kinematic variables of mandibular movement during deliberate unilateral and habitual mastication in healthy young-adult individuals. The study sample was composed of eight male healthy volunteers aged 19 to 24 years. The kinematic data were obtained using a motion analysis system - Qualisys Track Manager (QTM) ProReflex MCU. Recordings were performed during deliberate unilateral mastication (UM) and habitual mastication (HM) of firm-consistency gummy candy. The following variables were analyzed: (1) masticatory sequence: duration, number of masticatory cycles, and chewing rate; (2) masticatory cycle: duration, vertical and medial-lateral mandibular range of motion in relation to the skull, and maximum velocity during the opening and closing phases. Data of the variables were compared during UM and HM by the paired t test, and the effect sizes ('d' Cohen) were calculated. Regarding the variables of the masticatory sequence, smaller chewing rate was observed for UM compared with that for HM (1.19±0.21Hz and 1.29±0.16Hz, respectively, p=0.004, d=0.53). Smaller values of maximum velocity during the opening (MU=67.4 mm/s and MH=80.02, p=0.053, d=0.80) and closing (MU=71.77±9.35mm/s and MH=3.51±7mm/s, p=0.014, d=0.79) phases of the masticatory cycle were observed in deliberate unilateral mastication compared with those in habitual mastication. Kinematic variables associated with the sequence and cycle of mastication are influenced by the chewing pattern adopted - deliberate unilateral or habitual.

  13. Occasional, obligatory, and habitual stone tool use in hominin evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shea, John J

    2017-09-01

    Archeologists have long assumed that earlier hominins were obligatory stone tool users. This assumption is deeply embedded in traditional ways of describing the lithic record. This paper argues that lithic evidence dating before 1.7 Ma reflects occasional stone tool use, much like that practiced by nonhuman primates except that it involved flaked-stone cutting tools. Evidence younger than 0.3 Ma is more congruent with obligatory stone tool use, like that among recent humans. The onset of habitual stone tool use at about 1.7 Ma appears correlated with increased hominin logistical mobility (carrying things). The onset of obligatory stone tool use after 0.3 Ma may be linked to the evolution of spoken language. Viewing the lithic evidence dating between 0.3-1.7 Ma as habitual stone tool use explains previously inexplicable aspects of the Early-Middle Pleistocene lithic record. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Visual recognition memory, manifest as long-term habituation, requires synaptic plasticity in V1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooke, Sam F.; Komorowski, Robert W.; Kaplan, Eitan S.; Gavornik, Jeffrey P.; Bear, Mark F.

    2015-01-01

    Familiarity with stimuli that bring neither reward nor punishment, manifested through behavioural habituation, enables organisms to detect novelty and devote cognition to important elements of the environment. Here we describe in mice a form of long-term behavioural habituation to visual grating stimuli that is selective for stimulus orientation. Orientation-selective habituation (OSH) can be observed both in exploratory behaviour in an open arena, and in a stereotyped motor response to visual stimuli in head-restrained mice. We show that the latter behavioural response, termed a vidget, requires V1. Parallel electrophysiological recordings in V1 reveal that plasticity, in the form of stimulus-selective response potentiation (SRP), occurs in layer 4 of V1 as OSH develops. Local manipulations of V1 that prevent and reverse electrophysiological modifications likewise prevent and reverse memory demonstrated behaviourally. These findings suggest that a form of long-term visual recognition memory is stored via synaptic plasticity in primary sensory cortex. PMID:25599221

  15. Visual recognition memory, manifested as long-term habituation, requires synaptic plasticity in V1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooke, Sam F; Komorowski, Robert W; Kaplan, Eitan S; Gavornik, Jeffrey P; Bear, Mark F

    2015-02-01

    Familiarity with stimuli that bring neither reward nor punishment, manifested through behavioral habituation, enables organisms to detect novelty and devote cognition to important elements of the environment. Here we describe in mice a form of long-term behavioral habituation to visual grating stimuli that is selective for stimulus orientation. Orientation-selective habituation (OSH) can be observed both in exploratory behavior in an open arena and in a stereotyped motor response to visual stimuli in head-restrained mice. We found that the latter behavioral response, termed a 'vidget', requires V1. Parallel electrophysiological recordings in V1 revealed that plasticity, in the form of stimulus-selective response potentiation (SRP), occurred in layer 4 of V1 as OSH developed. Local manipulations of V1 that prevented and reversed electrophysiological modifications likewise prevented and reversed memory demonstrated behaviorally. These findings suggest that a form of long-term visual recognition memory is stored via synaptic plasticity in primary sensory cortex.

  16. Cold habituation does not improve manual dexterity during rest and exercise in 5 °C

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muller, Matthew D.; Seo, Yongsuk; Kim, Chul-Ho; Ryan, Edward J.; Pollock, Brandon S.; Burns, Keith J.; Glickman, Ellen L.

    2014-04-01

    When exposed to a cold environment, a barehanded person experiences pain, cold sensation, and reduced manual dexterity. Both acute (e.g. exercise) and chronic (e.g. cold acclimatization or habituation) processes might lessen these negative effects. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of cold habituation on physiology, perception, and manual dexterity during rest, exercise, and recovery in 5 °C. Six cold weather athletes (CWA) and eight non habituated men (NON) volunteered to participate in a repeated measures cross-over design. The protocol was conducted in 5 °C and was 90 min of resting cold exposure, 30 min of cycle ergometry exercise (50 % VO2 peak), and 60 min of seated recovery. Core and finger skin temperature, metabolic rate, Purdue Pegboard dexterity performance, hand pain, thermal sensation, and mood were quantified. Exercise-induced finger rewarming (EIFRW) was calculated for each hand. During 90 min of resting exposure to 5 °C, the CWA had a smaller reduction in finger temperature, a lower metabolic rate, less hand pain, and less negative mood. Despite this cold habituation, dexterity performance was not different between groups. In response to cycle ergometry, EIFRW was greater in CWA (~12 versus 7 °C) and occurred at lower core temperatures (37.02 versus 37.31 °C) relative to NON but dexterity was not greater during post-exercise recovery. The current data indicate that cold habituated men (i.e., CWA) do not perform better on the Purdue Pegboard during acute cold exposure. Furthermore, despite augmented EIFRW in CWA, dexterity during post-exercise recovery was similar between groups.

  17. Edmund Husserl's Phenomenology of Habituality and Habitus

    OpenAIRE

    Moran, Dermot

    2011-01-01

    Habit is a key concept in Husserl’s genetic phenomenology. In this paper, I want to flesh out Husserl’s conception of habit (for which he employs a wide variety of terms including: Habitus, Habitualität, Gewohnheit, das Habituelle, Habe, Besitz, Sitte, Tradition) to illustrate the complexity, range and depth of the phenomenological treatment of habit. I shall show that Husserl was by no means offering a limited Cartesian intellectualist explication of habitual action, rather he attempted to c...

  18. A Comparison of the Habitual Landing Strategies from Differing Drop Heights of Parkour Practitioners (Traceurs) and Recreationally Trained Individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Standing, Regan J; Maulder, Peter S

    2015-12-01

    Parkour is an activity that encompasses methods of jumping, climbing and vaulting. With landing being a pertinent part of this practise, Parkour participants (traceurs) have devised their own habitual landing strategies, which are suggested to be a safer and more effective style of landing. The purpose of this study was to compare the habitual landing strategies of traceurs and recreationally trained individuals from differing drop heights. Comparisons between landing sound and mechanical parameters were also assessed to gauge the level of landing safety. Ten recreationally trained participants and ten traceurs performed three landings from 25% and 50% body height using their own habitual landing strategies. Results at 25% showed significantly lower maximal vertical force (39.9%, p strike analysis revealed traceurs landed using forefoot or forefoot-midfoot strategies in 93.2% of trials; whereas recreationally trained participants used these styles in only 8.3% of these landings. To conclude, the habitual landings of traceurs are more effective at lowering the kinetic landing variables associated with a higher injury risk in comparison to recreationally trained individuals. Sound as a measure of landing effectiveness and safety holds potential significance; however requires further research to confirm. Key pointsHabitual traceur landings were observed to be safer landing techniques in comparison to those utilised by recreationally trained individuals, due to the lower maximal vertical forces, slower times to maximal vertical force, lesser loading rates and lower maximal sound.Traceurs predominantly landed with the forefoot only, whereas recreationally trained individuals habitually utilised a forefoot to heel landing strategy.The habitual landing techniques performed by traceurs may be beneficial for other landing sports to incorporate into training to reduce injury.

  19. Long-Term Effects of Habitual Barefoot Running and Walking: A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hollander, Karsten; Heidt, Christoph; VAN DER Zwaard, Babette C; Braumann, Klaus-Michael; Zech, Astrid

    2017-04-01

    Barefoot locomotion is widely believed to be beneficial for motor development and biomechanics but are implied to be responsible for foot pathologies and running-related injuries. Although most of available studies focused on acute effects of barefoot running and walking little is known regarding the effects of long-term barefoot versus shod locomotion. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature to evaluate current evidence of habitual barefoot (HB) versus habitual shod locomotion on foot anthropometrics, biomechanics, motor performance, and pathologies. Four electronic databases were searched using terms related to habitually barefoot locomotion. Relevant studies were identified based on title, abstract, and full text, and a forward (citation tracking) and backward (references) search was performed. Risk of bias was assessed, data pooling, and meta-analysis (random effects model) performed and finally levels of evidence determined. Fifteen studies with 8399 participants were included. Limited evidence was found for a reduced ankle dorsiflexion at footstrike (pooled effect size, -3.47; 95% confidence interval [CI], -5.18 to -1.76) and a lower pedobarographically measured hallux angle (-1.16; 95% CI, -1.64 to -0.68). HB populations had wider (0.55; 95% CI, 0.06-1.05) but no shorter (-0.22; 95% CI, -0.51 to 0.08) feet compared with habitual shod populations. No differences in relative injury rates were found, with limited evidence for a different body part distribution of musculoskeletal injuries and more foot pathologies and less foot deformities and defects in HB runners. Only limited or very limited evidence is found for long-term effects of HB locomotion regarding biomechanics or health-related outcomes. Moreover, no evidence exists for motor performance. Future research should include prospective study designs.

  20. Psychosocial stress among patients with type 2 diabetes: habitual ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Psychosocial stress is a disabling condition and is common among people with diabetes mellitus in view of the complexity of the disorder. It is however not clear if the psychosocial stress has any link with habitual physical activity, which is an important component in the care of people with diabetes. This study was ...

  1. Habitual intake of fruit juice predicts central blood pressure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pase, Matthew P; Grima, Natalie; Cockerell, Robyn; Pipingas, Andrew

    2015-01-01

    Despite a common perception that fruit juice is healthy, fruit juice contains high amounts of naturally occurring sugar without the fibre content of the whole fruit. Frequent fruit juice consumption may therefore contribute to excessive sugar consumption typical of the Western society. Although excess sugar intake is associated with high blood pressure (BP), the association between habitual fruit juice consumption and BP is unclear. The present study investigated the association of fruit juice consumption with brachial and central (aortic) BP in 160 community dwelling adults. Habitual fruit juice consumption was measured using a 12 month dietary recall questionnaire. On the same day, brachial BP was measured and central (aortic) BP was estimated through radial artery applanation. Frequency of fruit juice consumption was classified as rare, occasional or daily. Those who consumed fruit juice daily, versus rarely or occasionally, had significantly higher central systolic BP (F (2, 134) = 6.09, p juice daily rather than rarely or occasionally. In conclusion, more frequent fruit juice consumption was associated with higher central BPs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Characterization of potassic materials of Pocos de Caldas alkaline massif, Southeastern Brazil; Caracterizacao de materiais potassicos do macico alcalino de Pocos de Caldas (MG)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goncalves, P.; Navarro, F.C.; Roveri, C.D. [Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL), MG (Brazil); Bergerman, M.G., E-mail: pattypgpatty@gmail.com [Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), SP (Brazil)

    2016-07-01

    Potassium, which has featured in Brazil's agricultural sector and in the world's in the application of fertilizers, is present in magmatic rocks, such as nepheline syenite and phonolite, found in the Alkaline Massif of Pocos de Caldas (AMPC). The rare earth elements (REE), in turn, also occur in this region and have important uses in various industrial fields. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of potassic rocks of AMPC in the fertilizer and rare earths industry. Five samples were collected and characterized. It was observed that there was no preferential concentration by granulometric range of potassium oxide, alumina, silica and iron oxide. Feldspathic mass, potash feldspar, and muscovite were found in all samples. The samples show REE with amounts greater than those found in the earth's crust, except for lutetium and scandium and possessed average content of potassium oxide from 8.70 to 14.40%. (author)

  3. Drunk decisions: Alcohol shifts choice from habitual towards goal-directed control in adolescent intermediate-risk drinkers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obst, Elisabeth; Schad, Daniel J; Huys, Quentin Jm; Sebold, Miriam; Nebe, Stephan; Sommer, Christian; Smolka, Michael N; Zimmermann, Ulrich S

    2018-05-01

    Studies in humans and animals suggest a shift from goal-directed to habitual decision-making in addiction. We therefore tested whether acute alcohol administration reduces goal-directed and promotes habitual decision-making, and whether these effects are moderated by self-reported drinking problems. Fifty-three socially drinking males completed the two-step task in a randomised crossover design while receiving an intravenous infusion of ethanol (blood alcohol level=80 mg%), or placebo. To minimise potential bias by long-standing heavy drinking and subsequent neuropsychological impairment, we tested 18- to 19-year-old adolescents. Alcohol administration consistently reduced habitual, model-free decisions, while its effects on goal-directed, model-based behaviour varied as a function of drinking problems measured with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. While adolescents with low risk for drinking problems (scoring towards goal-directed decision-making, such that alcohol possibly even improved their performance. We assume that alcohol disrupted basic cognitive functions underlying habitual and goal-directed decisions in low-risk drinkers, thereby enhancing hasty choices. Further, we speculate that intermediate-risk drinkers benefited from alcohol as a negative reinforcer that reduced unpleasant emotional states, possibly displaying a novel risk factor for drinking in adolescence.

  4. Habituation of the initial responses to cold water immersion in humans: a central or peripheral mechanism?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tipton, M J; Eglin, C M; Golden, F S

    1998-10-15

    1. The initial respiratory and cardiac responses to cold water immersion are thought to be responsible for a significant number of open water deaths each year. Previous research has demonstrated that the magnitude of these responses can be reduced by repeated immersions in cold waterwhether the site of habituation is central or peripheral. 2. Two groups of subjects undertook two 3 min head-out immersions in stirred water at 10 C of the right-hand side of the body (R). Between these two immersions (3 whole days) the control group (n = 7) were not exposed to cold water, but the habituation group (n = 8) undertook a further six 3 min head-out immersions in stirred water at 10 C of the left-hand side of the body (L). 3. Repeated L immersions reduced (P immersion a reduction (P < 0.05) in the magnitude of the responses evoked was seen in the habituation group but not in the control group, despite both groups having identical skin temperature profiles. 4. It is concluded that the mechanisms involved in producing habituation of the initial responses are located more centrally than the peripheral receptors.

  5. Evidence for β-adrenergic modulation of sweating during incremental exercise in habitually trained males.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amano, Tatsuro; Shitara, Yosuke; Fujii, Naoto; Inoue, Yoshimitsu; Kondo, Narihiko

    2017-07-01

    The aim of the present study was to determine the β-adrenergic contribution to sweating during incremental exercise in habitually trained males. Nine habitually trained and 11 untrained males performed incremental cycling until exhaustion (20 W/min). Bilateral forearm sweat rates (ventilated capsule) were measured at two skin sites that were transdermally administered via iontophoresis with either 1% propranolol (Propranolol, a nonselective β-adrenergic receptor antagonist) or saline (Control). The sweat rate was evaluated as a function of both relative (percentage of maximum workload) and absolute exercise intensities. The sweat rate at the Propranolol site was lower than the control during exercise at 80 (0.57 ± 0.21 and 0.45 ± 0.19 mg·cm -2 ·min -1 for Control and Propranolol, respectively) and 90% (0.74 ± 0.22 and 0.65 ± 0.17 mg·cm -2 ·min -1 , respectively) of maximum workload in trained males (all P 0.05). At the same absolute intensity, higher sweat rates on the control site were observed in trained males relative to the untrained during exercise at 160 (0.23 ± 0.20 and 0.04 ± 0.05 mg·cm -2 ·min -1 for trained and untrained, respectively) and 180 W (0.40 ± 0.20 and 0.13 ± 0.13 mg·cm -2 ·min -1 , respectively) (all P 0.05). We show that the β-adrenergic mechanism does modulate sweating during exercise at a submaximal high relative intensity in habitually trained males. The β-adrenergic mechanism may in part contribute to the greater sweat production in habitually trained males than in untrained counterparts during exercise. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We demonstrated for the first time that the β-adrenergic mechanism does modulate sweating (i.e., β-adrenergic sweating) during exercise using a localized β-adrenoceptor blockade in humans in vivo. β-Adrenergic sweating was evident in habitually trained individuals during exercise at a submaximal high relative intensity (80-90% maximal work). This observation advances

  6. A geostatistical investigation of the spatial variation of external gamma exposure in urban area of Pocos de Caldas Plateau

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, Nivaldo C.; Macacini, Jose F.; Taddei, Maria H.T.; Montano, Marcelo; Fontes, Aurelio T.

    2008-01-01

    Full text: The Pocos de Caldas Plateau has been recognized as High Level of Natural Radiation Area for a long time. It consists in an alkaline intrusion with some uranium and thorium anomalies, where the first Brazilian uranium mining and milling facilities is located. Due to these facts, the population of Pocos de Caldas city shows a great deal of concern about radiation health effects. This perception of the risks of radiation exposure leads to much confusion among the population that attributes an imaginary excess (without an scientific support) of cancer cases and deformities in newborns in the city to radiation. In order to obtain information for help radiation risks management by government and to explore the spatial variation external gamma exposure a survey in the urban area of Pocos de Caldas city was done. The measurements were performed using a Mobile Radioactivity Measurement System - Mobisys (ESM Eberline model FHT 1376). The system consists of a high-sensitivity 5-liter scintillation detector, an electronic for measurement system that is able to on-line separate natural and artificial gamma radiation (Natural Background Rejection Detector NBR), one compact Global Positioning System GPS and a computer (notebook). Data was collected at approximately 50,000 points spread over all streets of city. The obtained results ranged from 40 nSv.h -1 to 420 nSv.h -1 where the mean value was 112 nSv.h -1 . The spatial distribution of gamma exposure over the city is quite homogeneous with lowest and highest values in western and southern area, respectively. (author)

  7. Nocebo context modulates long-term habituation to heat pain and influences functional connectivity of the operculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellerbrock, Isabel; Wiehler, Antonius; Arndt, Manuela; May, Arne

    2015-11-01

    In the past, nocebo manipulations have been found to modulate pain perception and influence long-term habituation to pain. Recently, neural correlates accompanying this finding have been identified: habituation over days is mirrored by decreased activity in pain-processing brain areas, whereas nocebo-specific modulation specifically involves the opercular cortex. Focusing on duration and central network characteristics of nocebo information in a longitudinal heat pain paradigm, we investigated 40 healthy participants over a period of 21 consecutive days, whereof sessions on days 1, 8, 14, and 21 were performed during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Negative context information was given to half of the participants, inducing a nocebo manipulation through verbal suggestions. The analysis was focused on brain areas associated with habituation and nocebo effects and identified coupled brain regions using functional connectivity analysis. Decreased pain perception over days was reflected in reduced blood oxygenation level dependent signal in pain-processing areas, such as the insula and somatosensory cortices, whereas increased rostral anterior cingulate cortex activation reflected the central correlate for habituation over time. Habituation was significantly less pronounced in the nocebo group. Consistent with previous results, the nocebo manipulation not only modulated pain perception but also was accompanied by the activation of the operculum over an extended period of time. Importantly, the operculum exhibited changes in coupling during nociceptive input over time, as demonstrated by decreased connectivity with the basal ganglia and pinpoints differences, depending on whether a nocebo context was given. These data suggest that negative verbal suggestions prognosticating increasing pain may prevail by modulating basal ganglia-thalamocortical loops.

  8. Habituation of evoked responses is greater in patients with familial hemiplegic migraine than in controls

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Jakob Møller; Bolla, M; Magis, D

    2011-01-01

    have associated with disturbed ion homeostasis, altered cellular excitability, neurotransmitter release, and decreased threshold for cortical spreading depression. The common forms of migraine are characterized interictally by a habituation deficit of cortical and subcortical evoked responses that has...... been attributed to neuronal dysexcitability. FHM and the common forms of migraine are thought to belong to a spectrum of migraine phenotypes with similar pathophysiology, and we therefore examined whether an abnormal habituation pattern would also be found in FHM patients....

  9. Geology and Geochemistry of the Poco de Fora region-Curaca river valley-Bahia-Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Figueiredo, M.C.H. de.

    1976-01-01

    In the Poco de Fora region level rocks of light metamorphism, from Caraiba group, corresponding to: - a meta-sedimentar sequence from Lower Pre-cambrian (Archean) - maphic-ultramaphic bodies with Fe and Cu sulphides of volcanogenic origin, and - sienitic ortho-gneiss. Geological, petrographic, geochemistry and geochronological studies were done. The sienitic-intrusion, from the upper crust, occur during the Archean-beginning of the Proterozoic. All the region was re-mobilized, and the sienitic was metamorphosed during Transamazonic Orogeny (2.200 to 1.800 m.y.). (C.D.G.) [pt

  10. Differential effects of diazepam and MPEP on habituation and neuro-behavioural processes in inbred mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salomons, Amber R; Pinzon, Nathaly Espitia; Boleij, Hetty; Kirchhoff, Susanne; Arndt, Saskia S; Nordquist, Rebecca E; Lindemann, Lothar; Jaeschke, Georg; Spooren, Will; Ohl, Frauke

    2012-06-11

    Previous studies have demonstrated a profound lack of habituation in 129P3 mice compared to the habituating, but initially more anxious, BALB/c mice. The present study investigated whether this non-adaptive phenotype of 129P3 mice is primarily based on anxiety-related characteristics. To test this hypothesis and extend our knowledge on the behavioural profile of 129P3 mice, the effects of the anxiolyticdiazepam (1, 3 and 5 mg/kg) and the putative anxiolytic metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5R) antagonist 2-methyl-6-(phenylethynyl)pyridine (MPEP, 3, 10 and 30 mg/kg) treatment on within-trial (intrasession) habituation, object recognition (diazepam: 1 mg/kg; MPEP 10 mg/kg) and on the central-nervous expression of the immediate early gene c-Fos (diazepam: 1 mg/kg; MPEP 10 mg/kg) were investigated. Behavioural findings validated the initially high, but habituating phenotype of BALB/c mice, while 129P3 mice were characterized by impaired intrasession habituation. Diazepam had an anxiolytic effect in BALB/c mice, while in higher doses caused behavioural inactivity in 129P3 mice. MPEP revealed almost no anxiolytic effects on behaviour in both strains, but reduced stress-induced corticosterone responses only in 129P3 mice. These results were complemented by reduced expression of c-Fos after MPEP treatment in brain areas related to emotional processes, and increased c-Fos expression in higher integrating brain areas such as the prelimbic cortex compared to vehicle-treated 129P3 mice. These results suggest that the strain differences observed in (non)adaptive anxiety behaviour are at least in part mediated by differences in gamma-aminobutyric acid- A and mGluR5 mediated transmission.

  11. Habituation: a non-associative learning rule design for spiking neurons and an autonomous mobile robots implementation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cyr, André; Boukadoum, Mounir

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a novel bio-inspired habituation function for robots under control by an artificial spiking neural network. This non-associative learning rule is modelled at the synaptic level and validated through robotic behaviours in reaction to different stimuli patterns in a dynamical virtual 3D world. Habituation is minimally represented to show an attenuated response after exposure to and perception of persistent external stimuli. Based on current neurosciences research, the originality of this rule includes modulated response to variable frequencies of the captured stimuli. Filtering out repetitive data from the natural habituation mechanism has been demonstrated to be a key factor in the attention phenomenon, and inserting such a rule operating at multiple temporal dimensions of stimuli increases a robot's adaptive behaviours by ignoring broader contextual irrelevant information. (paper)

  12. Habituation: a non-associative learning rule design for spiking neurons and an autonomous mobile robots implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cyr, André; Boukadoum, Mounir

    2013-03-01

    This paper presents a novel bio-inspired habituation function for robots under control by an artificial spiking neural network. This non-associative learning rule is modelled at the synaptic level and validated through robotic behaviours in reaction to different stimuli patterns in a dynamical virtual 3D world. Habituation is minimally represented to show an attenuated response after exposure to and perception of persistent external stimuli. Based on current neurosciences research, the originality of this rule includes modulated response to variable frequencies of the captured stimuli. Filtering out repetitive data from the natural habituation mechanism has been demonstrated to be a key factor in the attention phenomenon, and inserting such a rule operating at multiple temporal dimensions of stimuli increases a robot's adaptive behaviours by ignoring broader contextual irrelevant information.

  13. Habitual physical activity in mitochondrial disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apabhai, Shehnaz; Gorman, Grainne S; Sutton, Laura; Elson, Joanna L; Plötz, Thomas; Turnbull, Douglass M; Trenell, Michael I

    2011-01-01

    Mitochondrial disease is the most common neuromuscular disease and has a profound impact upon daily life, disease and longevity. Exercise therapy has been shown to improve mitochondrial function in patients with mitochondrial disease. However, no information exists about the level of habitual physical activity of people with mitochondrial disease and its relationship with clinical phenotype. Habitual physical activity, genotype and clinical presentations were assessed in 100 patients with mitochondrial disease. Comparisons were made with a control group individually matched by age, gender and BMI. Patients with mitochondrial disease had significantly lower levels of physical activity in comparison to matched people without mitochondrial disease (steps/day; 6883±3944 vs. 9924±4088, p = 0.001). 78% of the mitochondrial disease cohort did not achieve 10,000 steps per day and 48% were classified as overweight or obese. Mitochondrial disease was associated with less breaks in sedentary activity (Sedentary to Active Transitions, % per day; 13±0.03 vs. 14±0.03, p = 0.001) and an increase in sedentary bout duration (bout lengths/fraction of total sedentary time; 0.206±0.044 vs. 0.187±0.026, p = 0.001). After adjusting for covariates, higher physical activity was moderately associated with lower clinical disease burden (steps/day; r(s) = -0.49; 95% CI -0.33, -0.63, Pphysical activity between different genotypes mitochondrial disease. These results demonstrate for the first time that low levels of physical activity are prominent in mitochondrial disease. Combined with a high prevalence of obesity, physical activity may constitute a significant and potentially modifiable risk factor in mitochondrial disease.

  14. Habitual yogurt consumption and health-related quality of life: a prospective cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Garcia, Esther; Leon-Muñoz, Luz; Guallar-Castillon, Pilar; Rodríguez-Artalejo, Fernando

    2015-01-01

    Health-related quality of life (HRQL) is a global indicator of perceived health status, which includes physical and mental domains. Several biological mechanisms might support an association between consumption of yogurt and better HRQL. Our aim was to assess the association between habitual yogurt consumption and HRQL in the general adult population. We conducted a prospective study with 4,445 individuals aged 18 years and older who were recruited in 2008 to 2010 and were followed up to 2012. Habitual yogurt consumption was assessed at baseline with a validated diet history. HRQL was measured with the Physical Composite Summary and the Mental Composite Summary of the Spanish version of the SF-12 Health Survey. The analysis of the association between baseline yogurt consumption and HRQL at 2012 was performed with linear regression and adjusted for the main confounders, including baseline HRQL. Mean follow-up was 3.5 years (standard deviation=0.6 years). Compared with nonconsumers of yogurt, the Physical Composite Summary scores were similar in habitual consumers of ≤6 servings/week (β=.40; P=0.20) and in consumers of ≥1 serving/day (β=.25; P=0.45). A suggestion of tendency toward a lower Mental Composite Summary score was found among daily yogurt consumers (β=-.65; P=0.09; P for trend across categories=0.07). Results were similar among individuals without morbidity, never smokers, and individuals with higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Habitual yogurt consumption did not show an association with improved HRQL. Copyright © 2015 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. The relationship between habitual breakfast consumption frequency and academic performance in British adolescents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katie eAdolphus

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Breakfast has been shown to be beneficial for cognitive and academic performance in school children. However, there is a paucity of studies which examine the relationship between breakfast consumption and academic performance and a complete absence of studies in UK school children. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the association between habitual breakfast consumption frequency and Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT performance, a reasoning test routinely used in UK schools. Adolescents aged 11-13 years (n=292; males: 53.8% completed a questionnaire to report usual weekly breakfast intake frequency. Breakfast was subjectively defined by the participants. Habitual weekly breakfast consumption frequency was categorized as rare (0-2 days, occasional (3-4 days or frequent (5-7 days. Participants’ CAT performance was used as a proxy measure of academic performance. The CAT has three components: verbal, non-verbal and quantitative reasoning. Normative standard age scores (SAS for verbal, nonverbal, quantitative reasoning and overall mean SAS were obtained from school records and hierarchical linear regression models were applied, adjusting for the confounders: gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, English as an Additional Language and body mass index. Habitual breakfast consumption frequency did not significantly predict any CAT SAS in all models (crude and adjusted. However, methodological considerations which could account for this disagreement with previous research were identified. These included the isolation of school-day breakfast consumption, use of a standard definition of breakfast, and measurement of actual academic performance. The findings of the current study suggest more comprehensive ways in which future studies might investigate the relationship between habitual breakfast consumption and academic performance.

  16. Habitual Sleep Duration, Unmet Sleep Need, and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in Korean Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwangbo, Young; Kim, Won Joo; Chu, Min Kyung; Yun, Chang Ho; Yang, Kwang Ik

    2016-04-01

    Sleep need differs between individuals, and so the same duration of sleep will lead to sleep insufficiency in some individuals but not others. The aim of this study was to determine the separate and combined associations of both sleep duration and unmet sleep need with excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in Korean adults. The participants comprised 2,769 Korean adults aged 19 years or older. They completed questionnaires about their sleep habits over the previous month. The question regarding sleep need was "How much sleep do you need to be at your best during the day?" Unmet sleep need was calculated as sleep need minus habitual sleep duration. Participants with a score of >10 on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale were considered to have EDS. The overall prevalence of EDS was 11.9%. Approximately one-third of the participants (31.9%) reported not getting at least 7 hours of sleep. An unmet sleep need of >0 hours was present in 30.2% of the participants. An adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a significant excess risk of EDS in the groups with unmet sleep needs of ≥2 hours [odds ratio (OR), 1.80; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.27-2.54] and 0.01-2 hours (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.02-1.98). However, habitual sleep duration was not significantly related to EDS. EDS was found to be associated with unmet sleep need but not with habitual sleep duration when both factors were examined together. We suggest that individual unmet sleep need is more important than habitual sleep duration in terms of the relation to EDS.

  17. The Relationship between Habitual Breakfast Consumption Frequency and Academic Performance in British Adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adolphus, Katie; Lawton, Clare L; Dye, Louise

    2015-01-01

    Breakfast has been shown to be beneficial for cognitive and academic performance in school children. However, there is a paucity of studies which examine the relationship between breakfast consumption and academic performance and a complete absence of studies in UK school children. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the association between habitual breakfast consumption frequency and Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) performance, a reasoning test routinely used in UK schools. Adolescents aged 11-13 years (n = 292; males: 53.8%) completed a questionnaire to report usual weekly breakfast intake frequency. Breakfast was subjectively defined by the participants. Habitual weekly breakfast consumption frequency was categorized as rare (0-2 days), occasional (3-4 days), or frequent (5-7 days). Participants' CAT performance was used as a proxy measure of academic performance. The CAT has three components: verbal, non-verbal, and quantitative reasoning. Normative standard age scores (SAS) for verbal, non-verbal, quantitative reasoning, and overall mean SAS were obtained from school records and hierarchical linear regression models were applied, adjusting for the confounders: gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, English as an Additional Language, and body mass index. Habitual breakfast consumption frequency did not significantly predict any CAT SAS in all models (crude and adjusted). However, methodological considerations which could account for this disagreement with previous research, were identified. These included the isolation of school-day breakfast consumption, use of a standard definition of breakfast, and measurement of actual academic performance. The findings of the current study suggest more comprehensive ways in which future studies might investigate the relationship between habitual breakfast consumption and academic performance.

  18. The Relationship between Habitual Breakfast Consumption Frequency and Academic Performance in British Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adolphus, Katie; Lawton, Clare L.; Dye, Louise

    2015-01-01

    Breakfast has been shown to be beneficial for cognitive and academic performance in school children. However, there is a paucity of studies which examine the relationship between breakfast consumption and academic performance and a complete absence of studies in UK school children. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the association between habitual breakfast consumption frequency and Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) performance, a reasoning test routinely used in UK schools. Adolescents aged 11–13 years (n = 292; males: 53.8%) completed a questionnaire to report usual weekly breakfast intake frequency. Breakfast was subjectively defined by the participants. Habitual weekly breakfast consumption frequency was categorized as rare (0–2 days), occasional (3–4 days), or frequent (5–7 days). Participants’ CAT performance was used as a proxy measure of academic performance. The CAT has three components: verbal, non-verbal, and quantitative reasoning. Normative standard age scores (SAS) for verbal, non-verbal, quantitative reasoning, and overall mean SAS were obtained from school records and hierarchical linear regression models were applied, adjusting for the confounders: gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, English as an Additional Language, and body mass index. Habitual breakfast consumption frequency did not significantly predict any CAT SAS in all models (crude and adjusted). However, methodological considerations which could account for this disagreement with previous research, were identified. These included the isolation of school-day breakfast consumption, use of a standard definition of breakfast, and measurement of actual academic performance. The findings of the current study suggest more comprehensive ways in which future studies might investigate the relationship between habitual breakfast consumption and academic performance. PMID:26000270

  19. Don't worry, be active: positive affect and habitual physical activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasco, Julie A; Jacka, Felice N; Williams, Lana J; Brennan, Sharon L; Leslie, Eva; Berk, Michael

    2011-12-01

    The aim of ths study was to examine the association between habitual physical activity and positive and negative affect. This cross-sectional study included 276 women aged 20 +, from the Geelong Osteoporosis Study. Habitual physical activity and other lifestyle exposures were assessed by questionnaire, concurrent with anthropometric assessments. Physical activity was categorized as very active, moderately active or sedentary. Positive and negative affect scores were derived from the validated 20 item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) self-report and were categorized into tertiles. There was a pattern of lower positive affect scores for lower levels of physical activity. With very active as the reference category, the odds for having a positive affect score in the highest tertile were sequentially lower for those who were moderately active (OR = 0.53, 95%CI 0.28-1.01) and sedentary (OR = 0.28, 95%CI 0.10-0.75). Associations were sustained after adjusting for body mass index and polypharmacy (OR = 0.50, 95%CI 0.26-0.96 and OR = 0.25, 95%CI 0.09-0.72, respectively). These associations were not explained by age, negative affect score or other exposures. No association was detected between physical activity and negative affect scores. This study reports that higher positive affect scores, encompassing emotions such as interest, excitement, enthusiasm and alertness, are associated with higher levels of habitual physical activity. These observations warrant further investigations into possible mechanistic interplay between neurobiological and psychosocial factors that underpin this association.

  20. Does habituation really happen? Investigation of psycho-biological responses to body exposure in bulimia nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trentowska, Monika; Svaldi, Jennifer; Blechert, Jens; Tuschen-Caffier, Brunna

    2017-03-01

    Body exposure is a common and effective treatment for body image disturbance in bulimia nervosa (BN). However, little is known about treatment mechanisms. Based on models of emotional processing and neurovisceral integration, we expected to observe a) initial activation and b) habituation of cognitive-affective and autonomic responding within one and between two standardized body exposure sessions. A group of 13 women with BN and 13 healthy controls (HC) were repeatedly exposed to their bodies. Prior to and after treatment with three individualized mirror exposure sessions participants received a session of standardized exposure to videographic recordings of their body. Subjective ratings of body-related emotions and thoughts were assessed repeatedly throughout the standardized exposure sessions and autonomic responses were recorded continuously. Subjective and sympathetic responses were activated initially in both groups. Cognitive-affective responses habituated within the standardized sessions in both groups, whereas between the standardized sessions habituation was only found in women with BN. Increasing sympathetic responses were found within the sessions in both groups. The results support cognitive-affective habituation during body exposure in BN and to a lesser extent in HC. Autonomic responses however did not show a corresponding pattern and did not distinguish between groups. Implications for body exposure research and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic impact of endoscopic ultrasonography in patients with intermediate suspicion of choledocholithiasis and absence of findings in magnetic resonance cholangiography Precisión diagnóstica e impacto terapéutico de la ultrasonografía endoscópica en los pacientes con sospecha intermedia de coledocolitiasis y colangiorresonancia normal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrique Vázquez-Sequeiros

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS and magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC are the elective tests in the diagnosis of choledocholithiasis. MRC is best accepted by patients, but its sensitivity might decrease in the evaluation of microlithiasis. Aim: to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic impact of EUS in a prospective cohort of patients with intermediate suspicion of choledocolithiasis and no findings in MRC (normal MRC. Material and methods: during a period of 24 months, all the patients with clinical intermediate suspicion of choledocholithiasis and normal MRC were included. Sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV and negative predictive value (NPV of MRC and EUS were compared, and so their impact in the management of these patients. Results: seventy six patients were evaluated (lithiasis in 30% of them. Sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy of EUS (100%, 92% were significantly higher than MRC values (0%, 70% (p Antecedentes: la ultrasonografía endoscópica (USE y la colangiografía por resonancia magnética nuclear (CRM son las técnicas de elección para el diagnóstico de litiasis en la vía biliar. Aunque la CRM es mejor aceptada por los pacientes, la sensibilidad de esta para detectar litiasis de pequeño tamaño podría ser insuficiente. Objetivo: estudiar de forma prospectiva la precisión diagnóstica y el impacto terapéutico de la USE en los pacientes con sospecha intermedia de coledocolitiasis y CRM normal. Material y métodos: se incluyeron prospectivamente durante 24 meses todos los pacientes con sospecha clínica intermedia de coledocolitiasis y CRM negativa. Se compar�� la sensibilidad, especificidad, precisión diagnóstica, valor predictivo positivo y negativo de CRM y USE, así como su impacto en el tratamiento. Resultados: se evaluaron 76 pacientes (litiasis en el 30%. La sensibilidad y precisión diagnóstica de USE (100%, 92% eran significativamente

  2. A confiabilidade da informação fornecida pelo indivíduo a respeito de seu posicionamento habitual de língua The reliability of the information provided by the individuals about their habitual tongue position

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Fernanda Rodrigues Cardoso

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: verificar a confiabilidade da informação fornecida por adultos e crianças a respeito do posicionamento habitual de língua. MÉTODOS: foram investigadas 30 crianças e 30 adultos em dois momentos, com diferença mínima de sete e máxima de vinte e um dias. Inicialmente foi realizada a observação do posicionamento habitual de língua. Em seguida, o participante foi questionado a respeito de seu posicionamento habitual. Após a resposta, a língua foi estimulada com uma espátula de madeira, a fim de aumentar a percepção. Posteriormente, questionou-se, novamente, o indivíduo. Em seguida, orientou-se o participante a observar onde sua língua permanece habitualmente na cavidade oral, até o segundo momento da avaliação. Nesta oportunidade, o participante foi questionado a respeito de seu posicionamento habitual de língua. Os dados foram analisados por meio da estatística Kappa. RESULTADOS: não foi possível visualizar o posicionamento habitual de língua em 100% da amostra. Quanto à confiabilidade geral das respostas verificou-se classificação entre discreta e regular. As crianças apresentaram respostas pouco consistentes e bastante diversificadas, já em relação aos adultos, parte apresentou respostas corretas logo no primeiro questionamento e parte somente apresentou respostas confiáveis após estimulação de percepção intra-oral. CONCLUSÕES: a confiabilidade da informação fornecida pelos indivíduos da amostra a respeito de seu posicionamento habitual de língua varia entre discreta e regular, sendo, portanto, baixa, tanto em crianças quanto em adultos. Uma possível estratégia a ser utilizada na prática clínica fonoaudiológica é questionar o paciente quanto ao seu posicionamento lingual após determinado período de observação.PURPOSE: to check the reliability of the information provided by adults and children about the habitual tongue position. METHODS: we investigated 30 children and 30 adults in

  3. Neural Habituation to Painful Stimuli Is Modulated by Dopamine: Evidence from a Pharmacological fMRI Study

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    Eva M. Bauch

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In constantly changing environments, it is crucial to adaptively respond to threatening events. In particular, painful stimuli are not only processed in terms of their absolute intensity, but also with respect to their context. While contextual pain processing can simply entail the repeated processing of information (i.e., habituation, it can, in a more complex form, be expressed through predictions of magnitude before the delivery of nociceptive information (i.e., adaptive coding. Here, we investigated the brain regions involved in the adaptation to nociceptive electrical stimulation as well as their link to dopaminergic neurotransmission (placebo/haloperidol. The main finding is that haloperidol changed the habituation to the absolute pain intensity over time. More precisely, in the placebo condition, activity in left postcentral gyrus and midcingulate cortex increased linearly with pain intensity only in the beginning of the experiment and subsequently habituated. In contrast, when the dopaminergic system was blocked by haloperidol, a linear increase with pain intensity was present throughout the entire experiment. Finally, there were no adaptive coding effects in any brain regions. Together, our findings provide novel insights into the nature of pain processing by suggesting that dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a specific role for the habituation to painful stimuli over time.

  4. Habitual Minimalist Shod Running Biomechanics and the Acute Response to Running Barefoot.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tam, Nicholas; Darragh, Ian A J; Divekar, Nikhil V; Lamberts, Robert P

    2017-09-01

    The aim of the study was to determine whether habitual minimalist shoe runners present with purported favorable running biomechanithat reduce running injury risk such as initial loading rate. Eighteen minimalist and 16 traditionally cushioned shod runners were assessed when running both in their preferred training shoe and barefoot. Ankle and knee joint kinetics and kinematics, initial rate of loading, and footstrike angle were measured. Sagittal ankle and knee joint stiffness were also calculated. Results of a two-factor ANOVA presented no group difference in initial rate of loading when participants were running either shod or barefoot; however, initial loading rate increased for both groups when running barefoot (p=0.008). Differences in footstrike angle were observed between groups when running shod, but not when barefoot (minimalist:8.71±8.99 vs. traditional: 17.32±11.48 degrees, p=0.002). Lower ankle joint stiffness was found in both groups when running barefoot (p=0.025). These findings illustrate that risk factors for injury potentially differ between the two groups. Shoe construction differences do change mechanical demands, however, once habituated to the demands of a given shoe condition, certain acute favorable or unfavorable responses may be moderated. The purported benefits of minimalist running shoes in mimicking habitual barefoot running is questioned, and risk of injury may not be attenuated. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  5. Eminectomy for Habitual Luxation of the Temporomandibular Joint with Sedation and Local Anesthesia: A Case Series

    OpenAIRE

    Iwanaga, Joe; Nakamura, Yoshiaki; Kusukawa, Jingo; Tubbs, R. Shane

    2016-01-01

    Eminectomy which is one of the popular and most effective treatments for habitual temporomandibular joint luxation was first described by Myrhaug in 1951. There are few reports which described eminectomy being performed under local anesthesia and conscious sedation. We present a case series of habitual luxation of the TMJ treated by eminectomy performed under local anesthesia and conscious sedation and general anesthesia. Five patients were examined and found to have recurrent luxation of the...

  6. Developed methodology for the geologic control of the secondary uranium concentrations in Osamu Utsumi, Pocos de Caldas (MG)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magno Junior, L.B.

    1982-01-01

    It was developed a methodology for the geologic control of the mining of the secondary uranium concentrations in the Osamu Utsumi mine, Pocos de Caldas. A sequential systematization with the definitions and objectives of the operational phases of the mining explotation is shown, in addition of a scheme and flow charts of them. (A.B.) [pt

  7. Do habituation, host traits and seasonality have an impact on protist and helminth infections of wild western lowland gorillas?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pafčo, Barbora; Benavides, Julio A; Pšenková-Profousová, Ilona; Modrý, David; Červená, Barbora; Shutt, Kathryn A; Hasegawa, Hideo; Fuh, Terence; Todd, Angelique F; Petrželková, Klára J

    2017-12-01

    Increased anthropogenic activity can result in parasite exchanges and/or general changes in parasite communities, imposing a health risk to great apes. We studied protist and helminth parasites of wild western lowland gorilla groups in different levels of habituation, alongside humans inhabiting Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas in the Central African Republic. Faeces were collected yearly during November and December from 2007 to 2010 and monthly from November 2010 to October 2011. Protist and helminth infections were compared among gorilla groups habituated, under habituation and unhabituated, and the effect of host traits and seasonality was evaluated. Zoonotic potential of parasites found in humans was assessed. No significant differences in clinically important parasites among the groups in different stages of habituation were found, except for Entamoeba spp. However, humans were infected with four taxa which may overlap with taxa found in gorillas. Females were less infected with spirurids, and adults had higher intensities of infection of Mammomonogamus sp. We found seasonal differences in the prevalence of several parasite taxa, but most importantly, the intensity of infection of unidentified strongylids was higher in the dry season. This study highlights that habituation may not necessarily pose a greater risk of protist and helminth infections in gorilla groups.

  8. Relationships between negative affect and academic achievement among secondary school students: the mediating effects of habituated exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashim, Hairul A; Freddy, Golok; Rosmatunisah, Ali

    2012-09-01

    The current study was undertaken to examine the associations between self-determination, exercise habit, anxiety, depression, stress, and academic achievement among adolescents aged 13 and 14 years in eastern Malaysia. The sample consisted of 750 secondary school students (mean age = 13.4 years, SD = 0.49). Participants completed self-report measures of exercise behavioral regulation, negative affect, and exercise habit strength. Midyear exam results were used as an indicator of academic performance. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results of structural equation modeling revealed a close model fit for the hypothesized model, which indicates that higher levels of self-determination were positively associated with habituated exercise behavior. In turn, exercise habit strength fostered academic achievement and buffered the debilitative effect of stress, depression, and anxiety on student academic performance. The analysis of model invariance revealed a nonsignificant difference between male and female subjects. The findings support the notion that habituated exercise fosters academic performance. In addition, we found that habituated exercise buffers the combined effects of stress, anxiety and depression on academic performance. The finding also supports the roles of self-determination in promoting exercise habituation.

  9. Habituation contributes to the decline in wheel running within wheel-running reinforcement periods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belke, Terry W; McLaughlin, Ryan J

    2005-02-28

    Habituation appears to play a role in the decline in wheel running within an interval. Aoyama and McSweeney [Aoyama, K., McSweeney, F.K., 2001. Habituation contributes to within-session changes in free wheel running. J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 76, 289-302] showed that when a novel stimulus was presented during a 30-min interval, wheel-running rates following the stimulus increased to levels approximating those earlier in the interval. The present study sought to assess the role of habituation in the decline in running that occurs over a briefer interval. In two experiments, rats responded on fixed-interval 30-s schedules for the opportunity to run for 45 s. Forty reinforcers were completed in each session. In the first experiment, the brake and chamber lights were repeatedly activated and inactivated after 25 s of a reinforcement interval had elapsed to assess the effect on running within the remaining 20 s. Presentations of the brake/light stimulus occurred during nine randomly determined reinforcement intervals in a session. In the second experiment, a 110 dB tone was emitted after 25 s of the reinforcement interval. In both experiments, presentation of the stimulus produced an immediate decline in running that dissipated over sessions. No increase in running following the stimulus was observed in the first experiment until the stimulus-induced decline dissipated. In the second experiment, increases in running were observed following the tone in the first session as well as when data were averaged over several sessions. In general, the results concur with the assertion that habituation plays a role in the decline in wheel running that occurs within both long and short intervals. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Moral Education, Habituation, and Divine Assistance in View of Ghazali

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attaran, Mohammad

    2015-01-01

    This article describes the concept of moral education and its foundation according to Abu Hamid Ghazali as one of the most influential scholars in the world of Islam. Ghazali equates moral education with habituation. Causality holds a prominent place in philosophical foundations of his theory of moral education. Even though Ghazali recommends…

  11. A framework for targeting household energy savings through habitual behavioural change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pothitou, Mary; Kolios, Athanasios J.; Varga, Liz; Gu, Sai

    2016-08-01

    This paper reviews existing up-to-date literature related to individual household energy consumption. The how and why individual behaviour affects energy use are discussed, together with the principles and perspectives which have so far been considered in order to explain the habitual consuming behaviour. The research gaps, which are revealed from previous studies in terms of the limitations or assumptions on the methodology to alter individuals' energy usage, give insights for a conceptual framework to define a comprehensive approach. The proposed framework suggests that the individual energy perception gaps are affected by psychological, habitual, structural and cultural variables in a wider-contextual, meso-societal and micro-individual spectrum. All these factors need to be considered in order for a variety of combined intervention methods, which are discussed and recommended, to introduce a more effective shift in the conventional energy-consuming behaviour, advancing insights for successful energy policies.

  12. Habitual physical activity in mitochondrial disease.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shehnaz Apabhai

    Full Text Available Mitochondrial disease is the most common neuromuscular disease and has a profound impact upon daily life, disease and longevity. Exercise therapy has been shown to improve mitochondrial function in patients with mitochondrial disease. However, no information exists about the level of habitual physical activity of people with mitochondrial disease and its relationship with clinical phenotype.Habitual physical activity, genotype and clinical presentations were assessed in 100 patients with mitochondrial disease. Comparisons were made with a control group individually matched by age, gender and BMI.Patients with mitochondrial disease had significantly lower levels of physical activity in comparison to matched people without mitochondrial disease (steps/day; 6883±3944 vs. 9924±4088, p = 0.001. 78% of the mitochondrial disease cohort did not achieve 10,000 steps per day and 48% were classified as overweight or obese. Mitochondrial disease was associated with less breaks in sedentary activity (Sedentary to Active Transitions, % per day; 13±0.03 vs. 14±0.03, p = 0.001 and an increase in sedentary bout duration (bout lengths/fraction of total sedentary time; 0.206±0.044 vs. 0.187±0.026, p = 0.001. After adjusting for covariates, higher physical activity was moderately associated with lower clinical disease burden (steps/day; r(s = -0.49; 95% CI -0.33, -0.63, P<0.01. There were no systematic differences in physical activity between different genotypes mitochondrial disease.These results demonstrate for the first time that low levels of physical activity are prominent in mitochondrial disease. Combined with a high prevalence of obesity, physical activity may constitute a significant and potentially modifiable risk factor in mitochondrial disease.

  13. Long-term habituation of the gill-withdrawal reflex in Aplysia requires gene transcription, calcineurin and L-type voltage-gated calcium channels

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    Joseph eEsdin

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Although habituation is possibly the simplest form of learning, we still do not fully understand the neurobiological basis of habituation in any organism. To advance the goal of a comprehensive understanding of habituation, we have studied long-term habituation (LTH of the gill-withdrawal reflex (GWR in the marine snail Aplysia californica. Previously, we showed that habituation of the GWR in a reduced preparation lasts for up to 12 hr, and depends on protein synthesis, as well as activation of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A and postsynaptic glutamate receptors. Here, we have used the reduced preparation to further analyze the mechanisms of LTH in Aplysia. We found that LTH of the GWR depends on RNA synthesis because it was blocked by both the irreversible transcriptional inhibitor actinomycin-D and the reversible transcriptional inhibitor, 5,6-dichlorobenzimidazole riboside (DRB. In addition, LTH requires activation of protein phosphatase 2B (calcineurin, because it was disrupted by ascomycin. Finally, LTH was blocked by nitrendipine, which indicates that activation of L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channels is required for this form of learning. Together with our previous results, the present results indicate that exclusively presynaptic mechanisms, although possibly sufficient for short-term habituation, are insufficient for LTH. Rather, LTH must involve postsynaptic, as well as presynaptic, mechanisms.

  14. Recomendación basada en la evidencia para el manejo inicial del recién nacido con sospecha de sepsis neonatal temprana Utilidad del cuadro hemático en la estimación del riesgo de sepsis neonatal temprana

    OpenAIRE

    Villegas Rosales, Julieta

    2013-01-01

    Objetivo: Estimar las características operativas del recuento total de células blancas, recuento absoluto de neutrófilos y la razón de formas inmaduras a neutrófilos totales por medio de una revisión sistemática de la literatura, con el fin de asistir la formulación de una recomendación basada en evidencia, que utilice el modelo de umbral para el manejo del recién nacido con sospecha de sepsis neonatal temprana. Diseño: Recomendación basada en evidencia para asistir la toma de decisiones en l...

  15. Health benefits associated with exercise habituation in older Japanese men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanaka, Kiyoji; Sakai, Tomoaki; Nakamura, Yoichi; Umeda, Noriko; Lee, Dong-Jun; Nakata, Yoshio; Hayashi, Yoichi; Akutsu, Tomomi; Okura, Tomohiro; Yamabuki, Keisuke

    2004-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of exercise habituation (3-32 years, mean 13.2 years) on physical vitality among five different groups. One hundred and two independent, community-dwelling elderly Japanese men, aged 64.6 +/- 6.6 years, were recruited as subjects. The vital age test battery consisted of various coronary heart disease risk factors and physical fitness elements. The results of analysis of variance revealed that vital age as an index of physical vitality was youngest in joggers (47.9 yr, N=18), intermediate in trekkers (55.8 yr, N=20) and walkers (59.1 yr, N=18), and oldest (69.6 yr, N=20) in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD). The difference between chronological age and vital age was approximately 15 years (pexercising IHD patients. These results indicate that exercise habituation significantly affects the overall health status of most individuals, irrespective of mode of exercise. Among the three modes of exercise, jogging may be most beneficial. Furthermore, regularly exercising coronary patients may have physical vitality similar to that of sedentary men.

  16. Post-training scopolamine treatment induced maladaptive behavior in open field habituation task in rats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalija Popović

    Full Text Available The effects of scopolamine on memory consolidation are controversial and depend on several factors (i.e. site of administration, time of administration and testing, dose, cognitive task, experimental protocol, specie, strain, etc.. Generally, the range dose of systemic administered scopolamine, used in memory consolidation studies, has varied from 0.05 to 50 mg/kg. However, according to the literature, the most frequently used doses of scopolamine efficient on memory consolidation, are 1 and 30 mg/kg, low and high doses, respectively. In open field habituation studies only lower doses of scopolamine were used to test memory consolidation. Therefore, in the present study we compared the effects of low (1 mg/kg and high (30 mg/kg scopolamine dose, on the open field habituation task, in male Wistar rats. Scopolamine was administered immediately after the acquisition task and animals were retested 48 h later on. On the retested day, the ambulation and rearing in the open field decreased in the same manner in all tested groups. In saline- and 1 mg/kg scopolamine-treated animals, the time spent in grooming significantly decreased in the habituation task, while the same parameter significantly increased in animals treated with 30 mg/kg of scopolamine. The defecation rate significantly decreased (control group, maintained (1 mg/kg of scopolamine treated animals or significantly increased (30 mg/kg of scopolamine treated group on retention test. In conclusion, the present data suggest that post-training scopolamine administration does not affect locomotion neither exploration in the habituation to a novel environment, but increases defecation and grooming, two behaviours associated with fearful and stressful situations.

  17. Secular Trends in Habitual Physical Activities of Mozambican Children and Adolescents from Maputo City

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Karina dos Santos

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Social and economic changes occurring in the last two decades in Mozambique may have induced lifestyle changes among youth. This study aimed to document secular changes in habitual physical activities of Mozambican youth between 1992, 1999 and 2012. A total of 3393 youth (eight–15 years, were measured in three different time periods (1992, 1999, 2012. Habitual physical activity (PA was estimated with a questionnaire, including items related to household chores, sport participation, traditional games and walking activities. Biological maturation was assessed. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA was used to compare mean differences in PA across the years. Significant decreases between 1992–1999 and 1992–2012 were observed for boys in household chores, games and walking, and a significant decline between 1999 and 2012 was found in sport participation. Among girls, a significant and consistent decline (1992 > 1999 > 2012 was observed for household chores, a decline between 1992–1999 and 1992–2012 for games and walking, and a significant increase between 1992 and 1999 in sport participation. In general, a negative secular trend was found in habitual PA among Mozambican youth. Interventions aimed at increasing PA represent important educational and public health opportunities.

  18. A Case of Habitual Neck Compression Induced Electroencephalogram Abnormalities: Differentiating from Epileptic Seizures Using a Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Hongyoon; Seo, Minseok; Lee, Hoyoung; Kim, Youngsoo; Yun, Changho; Kim, Sangeun; Park, Sungho [Seoul National Univ. Bundang Hospital, Seongnam (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-06-15

    Self-induced hypoxia has been reported particularly in adolescents, and it can result in neurological injury. Here, we present a case of electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities induced by habitual neck compression differentiated from epileptic seizures by Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT. A 19-year-old male was admitted for evaluation of recurrent generalized tonic-clonic seizures. No interictal EEG abnormality was detected; however, abnormal slow delta waves were found immediately after habitual right neck compression. To differentiate EEG abnormalities due to a hemodynamic deficit induced by habitual neck compression from an epileptic seizure, Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT was performed immediately after right carotid artery compression. Abnormal delta waves were triggered, and cerebral hypoperfusion in the right internal carotid artery territory was detected on Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT. The slow delta wave detected on the EEG resulted from the cerebral hypoperfusion because of the habitual neck compression.

  19. A Case of Habitual Neck Compression Induced Electroencephalogram Abnormalities: Differentiating from Epileptic Seizures Using a Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Hongyoon; Seo, Minseok; Lee, Hoyoung; Kim, Youngsoo; Yun, Changho; Kim, Sangeun; Park, Sungho

    2014-01-01

    Self-induced hypoxia has been reported particularly in adolescents, and it can result in neurological injury. Here, we present a case of electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities induced by habitual neck compression differentiated from epileptic seizures by Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT. A 19-year-old male was admitted for evaluation of recurrent generalized tonic-clonic seizures. No interictal EEG abnormality was detected; however, abnormal slow delta waves were found immediately after habitual right neck compression. To differentiate EEG abnormalities due to a hemodynamic deficit induced by habitual neck compression from an epileptic seizure, Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT was performed immediately after right carotid artery compression. Abnormal delta waves were triggered, and cerebral hypoperfusion in the right internal carotid artery territory was detected on Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT. The slow delta wave detected on the EEG resulted from the cerebral hypoperfusion because of the habitual neck compression

  20. Habituation in non-neural organisms: evidence from slime moulds

    OpenAIRE

    Boisseau, Romain P.; Vogel, David; Dussutour, Audrey

    2016-01-01

    Learning, defined as a change in behaviour evoked by experience, has hitherto been investigated almost exclusively in multicellular neural organisms. Evidence for learning in non-neural multicellular organisms is scant, and only a few unequivocal reports of learning have been described in single-celled organisms. Here we demonstrate habituation, an unmistakable form of learning, in the non-neural organism Physarum polycephalum. In our experiment, using chemotaxis as the behavioural output and...

  1. Gene polymorphisms and oral cancer risk in tobacco habitués.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Multani, Shaleen; Pradhan, Sultan; Saranath, Dhananjaya

    2016-05-01

    Oral cancer incidence of 77,003 poses a major health concern in India, with 5-10 % tobacco habitués developing oral cancer. The current study examined the role of specific genomic variants in oral cancer. We examined five genomic variants represented as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes associated with cell proliferation and cellular invasion. The SNPs rs2124437 (RASGRP3), rs1335022 (GRIK2), rs4512367 (PREX2), rs4748011 (CCDC3), and rs1435218 (LNX1) were analyzed in 500 histopathologically confirmed oral cancers and 500 healthy controls with a minimum of 10 years of tobacco usage. Allelic discrimination real-time PCR SYBR Green assay was used. The genotypic and allelic frequencies between cases and controls were analyzed using SPSS software (version 19) and odds ratio (OR) using Hutchon.net, indicating increased risk to oral cancers. A significant association of the SNPs in oral cancer was observed in RASGRP3 AA (rs2124437) (p oral cancer in tobacco habitués.

  2. Pupil diameter, working distance and illumination during habitual tasks. Implications for simultaneous vision contact lenses for presbyopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardona, Genís; López, Sílvia

    2016-01-01

    To determine working distance, pupil diameter and illumination in real life conditions in a sample of presbyopic participants performing habitual tasks. A total of 59 presbyopic subjects (aged between 45 and 63 years) with different occupational backgrounds participated in the study. Participants were first interviewed regarding their habitual tasks with the aid of an ad hoc questionnaire, following which in-office photopic and mesopic pupil diameter was determined. Pupil diameter was also evaluated while participants conducted each of the self-reported habitual tasks by taking a photograph, which was later submitted to image analysis. In addition, working distance was determined with a measuring tape and the illumination that reached the pupil during each of the different tasks was measured, in lux, with a light meter. The four most common habitual tasks were computer use, reading, sewing and sports. A high intersubject variability was found in pupil diameter, working distance and illumination conditions while conducting the same task. Statistically significant differences were found between the in-office measured photopic and mesopic pupil diameters and those obtained while participants were conducting their habitual tasks in real life conditions (all p<0.001). Potential multifocal contact lens users may present with different ages, different jobs or hobbies and different preferences regarding lighting conditions and working distances. This results in different pupil size, even within the same task. This information may be critical when selecting a particular lens design and add power. Eye care practitioners are therefore advised to assess pupil diameter in real life conditions. Copyright © 2015 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  3. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTOIMMUNE ANTIBODIES AND HCG TREATMENT 1N HABITUAL ABORTION

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    TANGPei-Zhong; WUJin-Zhi; BAOChun-De; CHENShun-Le

    1989-01-01

    The antibodies to cardiolipin (aCL), double stranded DNA (aDNA) and to nuclear axttigcns(Sm, SSA, SSB, Ribonucleoprotein) were prospe, ctivcly investigated in 86 patients of habitual abortion without abilormaiity in their reprodutive system and karyotypes. All

  4. The hydrothermal alteration in the context of geologic evolution from Pocos de Caldas Alkaline Massif, MG-SP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garda, G.M.

    1990-01-01

    The Pocos de Caldas Alkaline Massif covers 800 km 2 , a quarter of which is hydrothermally altered. Such proportion is uncommon, when compared to the know alkaline massifs of the world. The hydrothermal alteration is associated with Zr, U and Mo mineralizations which are predominantly located in the central-southern portion of the massif, in the central-eastern circular structure. The colour of the altered rock (and its soil) in that area is typically whitish beige to yellowish white and is regionally called potassic rock. The Osamu Utsumi Mine, also referred to as the uranium ore of Campo do Cercado, is located 25 Km to the south of Pocos de Caldas City and was explored, from 1977 to 1989, through the open pit method. A sequence of alteration minerals adapted to lowering temperatures should be expected; however, only illite and alkaline feldspar are observed in the hydrothermally altered portions of the massif, and their formation must have been controlled mainly by kinetic, other than thermal factors. The irrestrict circulation of relatively hotter hydrothermal fluids must have happened at the beginning of the process, diminishing immediately after the cooling of the brecciated areas (and the subjacent magmatic body), leading the system to kinetics levels that made subsequent hydrothermal alteration impossible. (author)

  5. Characteristics of wild boar (Sus scrofa habituation to urban areas in the Collserola Natural Park (Barcelona and comparison with other locations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cahill, S.

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The parallel growth of urban areas and wild boar populations in recent years has increased the presence of this species around cities and in suburban areas, often leading to conflict with local people. In the Collserola Natural Park, situated within the metropolitan area of Barcelona, wild boar have become habituated to humans and urban settings because of direct feeding by local residents. Their attraction to these areas due to an abundance of anthropogenic food sources is especially strong during the warmer summer season when foraging conditions are poorer in their natural woodland habitat; the number of captures of habituated wild boar in peri–urban areas is significantly correlated with mean monthly temperatures. Habituated boar are primarily matriarchal groups, whereas adult and sub–adult (>1 year males are significantly less represented than in non–habituated boars. In Collserola, habituated sub–adult and adult females are significantly heavier than their non–habituated counterparts and these weight differences increase with age; in the > 3 year–old age class they may be 35% heavier. Conflicts generated by the presence of wild boar in peri–urban areas are complex, and the responses by authorities are similarly diverse and often exacerbated by ambivalent public attitudes, both towards wild boar presence and applied mitigation measures. By 2010, at least 44 cities in 15 countries had reported problems of some kind relating to the presence of wild boar or feral pigs.

  6. Only reappraisers profit from reappraisal instructions: Effects of instructed and habitual reappraisal on stress responses during interpersonal conflicts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mauersberger, Heidi; Hoppe, Annekatrin; Brockmann, Gudrun; Hess, Ursula

    2018-04-22

    Conflicts are an undesirable yet common aspect of daily interactions with wide-ranging negative consequences. The present research aimed to examine the buffering effect of experimentally instructed reappraisal on self-reported, physiological and behavioral stress indices during interpersonal conflicts, taking into account habitual emotion regulation strategies. For this, 145 participants experienced a standardized laboratory conflict with the instruction to either reappraise (n = 48), to suppress (n = 50), or with no instruction (n = 47) while cardiovascular and neuroendocrine measures were taken. Participants were allowed to eat sweet and salty snacks during the conflict situation. Prior to as well as after the conflict, participants reported on their subjective stress level. Reappraisal instructions were only effective for high habitual reappraisers who exhibited lower cardiovascular and cortisol reactivity and demonstrated fewer snack-eating behaviors under reappraisal instructions than under suppression or no instructions. The opposite pattern emerged for low habitual reappraisers. Neither experimentally instructed nor habitual reappraisal by itself reduced the negative effects of conflicts. Our findings complement the literature on the diverging effects of instructed reappraisal in tense social interactions. © 2018 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  7. Peripheral and central components of habituation of heat pain perception and evoked potentials in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greffrath, Wolfgang; Baumgärtner, Ulf; Treede, Rolf-Detlef

    2007-12-05

    For the neurophysiological examination of nociceptive pathways, contact-heat evoked potentials (contact-heat EPs) are elicited by repetitive brief noxious heat stimuli. Suppression of heat responses in primary nociceptive neurons during repetitive stimulation has been shown in animal models in vivo and in vitro. We now investigated whether heat pain and contact-heat EPs in humans display equivalent signs of habituation. Heat pain and EPs were elicited in 16 volunteers with a contact thermode (30 degrees Cs(-1)). Heat pulses at three intensities (pain threshold, moderate noxious and maximum available) were applied to the right forearm either by moving the thermode after each pulse to variable locations or when fixed to one location (inter-stimulus intervals 8-10s). Contact-heat EPs consisted of an early negativity in temporal leads (N1), followed by a biphasic response at the vertex (N2-P2). Pain ratings and contact-heat EPs (N1 and N2-P2 components) displayed significant temperature dependence. N2-P2 correlated positively with ratings. With stimulation at variable locations, both measures slowly decreased with time constants tau of 2 min (ratings) and 12 min (EPs). With stimulation at a fixed location, habituation was much faster for both, ratings (tau=10s) and EPs (tau=33 s). As a consequence, both measures were significantly reduced (pheat pain perception and contact-heat EPs display signs of rapid habituation when stimulation is restricted to a fixed location and thus, reflect fatigue of peripheral nociceptive neurons. Habituation within the central nervous system is slower and less pronounced.

  8. Investigating Habituation to Premonitory Urges in Behavior Therapy for Tic Disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houghton, David C; Capriotti, Matthew R; Scahill, Lawrence D; Wilhelm, Sabine; Peterson, Alan L; Walkup, John T; Piacentini, John; Woods, Douglas W

    2017-11-01

    Behavior therapy is effective for Persistent Tic Disorders (PTDs), but behavioral processes facilitating tic reduction are not well understood. One process, habituation, is thought to create tic reduction through decreases in premonitory urge severity. The current study tested whether premonitory urges decreased in youth with PTDs (N = 126) and adults with PTDs (N = 122) who participated in parallel randomized clinical trials comparing behavior therapy to psychoeducation and supportive therapy (PST). Trends in premonitory urges, tic severity, and treatment outcome were analyzed according to the predictions of a habituation model, whereby urge severity would be expected to decrease in those who responded to behavior therapy. Although adults who responded to behavior therapy showed a significant trend of declining premonitory urge severity across treatment, results failed to demonstrate that behavior therapy specifically caused changes in premonitory urge severity. In addition, reductions in premonitory urge severity in those who responded to behavior therapy were significant greater than those who did not respond to behavior therapy but no different than those who responded or did not respond to PST. Children with PTDs failed to show any significant changes in premonitory urges. Reductions in premonitory urge severity did not mediate the relationship between treatment and outcome in either adults or children. These results cast doubt on the notion that habituation is the therapeutic process underlying the effectiveness of behavior therapy, which has immediate implications for the psychoeducation and therapeutic rationale presented in clinical practice. Moreover, there may be important developmental changes in premonitory urges in PTDs, and alternative models of therapeutic change warrant investigation. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  9. Immunocytochemical characterization of the cell walls of bean cell suspensions during habituation and dehabituation to dichlobenil

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garcia-Angulo, P.; Willats, W. G. T.; Encina, A. E.

    2006-01-01

    The effects of the cellulose inhibitor dichlobenil on the cell wall composition and structure during the habituation/dehabituation process of suspension-cultured bean cells were assessed. A range of techniques were used including cell wall fractionation, sugar analysis, immunofluorescence...... and fluorochrome labelling of resin-embedded sections, and immunodot assays (IDAs) of cell wall fractions. The cell walls from bean cell suspensions with initial levels of habituation to dichlobenil had decreased levels of cellulose, but this effect lessened with increasing numbers of subcultures. All cell walls...

  10. The role of the habitual dispositions (????? in the constitution of practical identity under the Aristotelian perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana ROMERO

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Aristotelian ethics, being based on virtue, centers its attention on the dispositional aspect that motivates moral action, in other words, it explains the moral action from the habitual dispositions of agent. The reference to this dispositional component provides insights for the understanding of various philosophical topics, including the problem of practical identity. The aim of this paper is to describe the Aristotelian concept of e/(cij (habitual dispositions in order to highlight its role in the constitution of practical identity 

  11. Ronco habitual e apnéia obstrutiva observada em adultos: estudo de base populacional, Pelotas, RS Habitual snoring and obstructive sleep apnea in adults: population-based study in Southern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo B Noal

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Estimar a prevalência de ronco habitual e apnéia obstrutiva observada e fatores associados. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal com amostra representativa de 3.136 adultos, com 20 anos ou mais, residentes em Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, em 2005. Informações sobre os desfechos e variáveis demográficas, socioeconômicas, comportamentais e antropométricas foram coletadas por meio de questionário. A análise estatística bruta e ajustada foi realizada utilizando-se teste exato de Fisher ou qui-quadrado de tendência linear e regressão de Poisson, respectivamente. RESULTADOS: A prevalência encontrada de ronco habitual foi de 50,5% (IC 95%: 48,1;52,8 e de apnéia obstrutiva de 9,9% (IC 95%: 8,7;11,2. Na análise ajustada, o relato de ronco foi maior nos homens (Razão de Prevalências - RP=1,25; IC 95%: 1,16;1,34, nos idosos (RP=1,62; IC 95%: 1,46;1,80, nos tabagistas (RP=1,15; IC 95%: 1,07;1,25, nos alcoolistas (RP=1,17; IC 95%: 1,03;1,31 e nos obesos (RP 1,71, IC95% 1,55;1,88. O relato de apnéia obstrutiva foi maior nos homens (RP=2,05; IC 95%: 1,67;2,52, nos idosos (RP=2,23; IC 95%: 1,64;3,03, nos tabagistas (RP=1,60; IC 95%: 1,25;2,05 e nos obesos (RP=2,61; IC 95%: 1,97;3,47. CONCLUSÕES: Ronco habitual e apnéia obstrutiva foram sintomas comuns na população estudada. Fatores de risco conhecidos como sexo masculino e idade entre quarta e quinta décadas de vida não são modificáveis. Entretanto, tabagismo, alcoolismo e obesidade também associados aos desfechos, devem ser identificados e tratados na população geral.OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of habitual snoring and obstructive sleep apnea and their factors associated. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with a representative sample comprising 3,136 adults (>20 years living in the city of Pelotas, Southern Brazil, in 2005. A questionnaire was used to collect information on demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral and anthropometric variables and outcomes. Crude and adjusted

  12. Early enhanced processing and delayed habituation to deviance sounds in autism spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudac, Caitlin M; DesChamps, Trent D; Arnett, Anne B; Cairney, Brianna E; Ma, Ruqian; Webb, Sara Jane; Bernier, Raphael A

    2018-06-01

    Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties processing and encoding sensory information in daily life. Cognitive response to environmental change in control individuals is naturally dynamic, meaning it habituates or reduces over time as one becomes accustomed to the deviance. The origin of atypical response to deviance in ASD may relate to differences in this dynamic habituation. The current study of 133 children and young adults with and without ASD examined classic electrophysiological responses (MMN and P3a), as well as temporal patterns of habituation (i.e., N1 and P3a change over time) in response to a passive auditory oddball task. Individuals with ASD showed an overall heightened sensitivity to change as exhibited by greater P3a amplitude to novel sounds. Moreover, youth with ASD showed dynamic ERP differences, including slower attenuation of the N1 response to infrequent tones and the P3a response to novel sounds. Dynamic ERP responses were related to parent ratings of auditory sensory-seeking behaviors, but not general cognition. As the first large-scale study to characterize temporal dynamics of auditory ERPs in ASD, our results provide compelling evidence that heightened response to auditory deviance in ASD is largely driven by early sensitivity and prolonged processing of auditory deviance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Habitual biting of oral mucosa: A conservative treatment approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarabjot Kaur Bhatia

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Chronic biting of oral mucosa is an innocuous self inflicted injury, commonly seen in children suffering from developmental and psychological problems and has rarely been reported in normal unaffected individuals. The management strategies vary from counseling, prescription of sedatives to different prosthetic shields. The paper highlights the efficacy of a simple approach using soft mouth guard in the management of self inflicted lesions due to habitual biting of oral mucosa in two normal healthy children.

  14. Motivation and value influences in the relative balance of goal-directed and habitual behaviours in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voon, V; Baek, K; Enander, J; Worbe, Y; Morris, L S; Harrison, N A; Robbins, T W; Rück, C; Daw, N

    2015-11-03

    Our decisions are based on parallel and competing systems of goal-directed and habitual learning, systems which can be impaired in pathological behaviours. Here we focus on the influence of motivation and compare reward and loss outcomes in subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) on model-based goal-directed and model-free habitual behaviours using the two-step task. We further investigate the relationship with acquisition learning using a one-step probabilistic learning task. Forty-eight OCD subjects and 96 healthy volunteers were tested on a reward and 30 OCD subjects and 53 healthy volunteers on the loss version of the two-step task. Thirty-six OCD subjects and 72 healthy volunteers were also tested on a one-step reversal task. OCD subjects compared with healthy volunteers were less goal oriented (model-based) and more habitual (model-free) to reward outcomes with a shift towards greater model-based and lower habitual choices to loss outcomes. OCD subjects also had enhanced acquisition learning to loss outcomes on the one-step task, which correlated with goal-directed learning in the two-step task. OCD subjects had greater stay behaviours or perseveration in the one-step task irrespective of outcome. Compulsion severity was correlated with habitual learning in the reward condition. Obsession severity was correlated with greater switching after loss outcomes. In healthy volunteers, we further show that greater reward magnitudes are associated with a shift towards greater goal-directed learning further emphasizing the role of outcome salience. Our results highlight an important influence of motivation on learning processes in OCD and suggest that distinct clinical strategies based on valence may be warranted.

  15. Habitual caffeine consumption and its relation to memory, attention, planning capacity and psychomotor performance across multiple age groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hameleers, P. A. H. M; Van Boxtel, M. P. J; Hogervorst, E; Riedel, W. J; Houx, P. J; Buntinx, F; Jolles, J

    2000-12-01

    The present study evaluated the association between habitual caffeine intake via coffee and tea and cognitive performance. This was done as part of a larger research programme into the determinants of cognitive ageing (the Maastricht Aging Study: MAAS). Possible withdrawal effects that may have explained in part the positive association between performance and intake in an earlier study were controlled for. In addition, all cognitive tests in this study were administered under strict laboratory conditions. A group of 1875 healthy adults, stratified for age (range 24 - 81 years), sex, and general ability, were screened for habitual intake of coffee and tea and took part in extensive cognitive testing. Multiple regression analysis with control for age, sex, socio-demographic variables, and substance use showed that habitual caffeine consumption was significantly related to better long-term memory performance and faster locomotor speed. No relationships were found between habitual caffeine consumption and short-term memory, information processing, planning, and attention as measured with the Stroop Test. Moreover, no difference in sensitivity to caffeine intake between different age groups was found, suggesting that caffeine intake did not counteract age-related cognitive decline. Several recommendations are made to improve the design of future studies in this field. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  16. iDESWEB: Ejercicio: JavaScript: Una página web con un poco de código (encuesta de valoración)

    OpenAIRE

    Luján Mora, Sergio

    2013-01-01

    Solución del ejercicio "JavaScript: Una página web con un poco de código (encuesta de valoración)" del curso MOOC iDESWEB, Introducción al desarrollo web. Página web del curso: http://idesweb.es/

  17. Tolerance response of multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica strains to habituation to Origanum vulgare L. essential oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monte, Daniel F. M.; Tavares, Adassa G.; Albuquerque, Allan R.; Sampaio, Fábio C.; Oliveira, Tereza C. R. M.; Franco, Octavio L.; Souza, Evandro L.; Magnani, Marciane

    2014-01-01

    Multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica isolates from human outbreaks or from poultry origin were investigated for their ability to develop direct-tolerance or cross-tolerance to sodium chloride, potassium chloride, lactic acid, acetic acid, and ciprofloxacin after habituation in subinhibitory amounts ( of the minimum inhibitory concentration – (MIC) and of the minimum inhibitory concentration – MIC) of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil (OVEO) at different time intervals. The habituation of S. enterica to OVEO did not induce direct-tolerance or cross-tolerance in the tested strains, as assessed by the modulation of MIC values. However, cells habituated to OVEO maintained or increased susceptibility to the tested antimicrobials agents, with up to fourfold double dilution decrease from previously determined MIC values. This study reports for the first time the non-inductive effect of OVEO on the acquisition of direct-tolerance or cross-tolerance in multidrug-resistant S. enterica strains to antimicrobial agents that are largely used in food preservation, as well as to CIP, the therapeutic drug of salmonellosis. PMID:25566231

  18. Distribution of radioactive anomalies at Morro do Ferro hill in Pocos de Caldas Alkaline Complex, MG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujimori, K.

    1980-10-01

    Sistematic radiation intensity measurements were alone at Morro do Ferro hill in the Pocos de Caldas Alkaline Complex, using portable Scintrex spectrometer for U, Th, K and total counting (TC). Complementary geochemical analyses were alone on selected 26 samples. It was observed that there are many radiation focii in that place and they are oriented in the E-W direction. The geochemical analyses show that Uranium has participated also in the inicial mineralization of radioactive elements. The contribution of 238 U series daugher elements is relatively strong although Uranium was 'washed' by leaching. (Author) [pt

  19. Geoprocessing as a technical tool for radiological assessment in the urban area of Pocos de Caldas, MG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, Nivaldo C.; Macacini, Jose F.; Alberti, Heber L.C.

    2009-01-01

    The present study will introduce a methodology for spatial evaluation of external gamma dose throughout an urbanized region. As a case study, geoprocessing techniques were used to gather data, perform statistical and spatial data treatment related to natural gamma radioactivity throughout the Pocos de Caldas urban area. This information, which was initially punctual, could be correlated with the number of people exposed to natural radiation using the database from the census made available by IBGE (Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute). The census sector is the smallest piece of territory, with identifiable physical boundaries in the field, with adequate size for research operations. All 54,237 geoprocessed external dose values, within dosimetry ranges, presented a variation from 0.33 mSv year -1 to 3.51 mSv year -1 , with an average equal to 0.95 mSv year -1 . The results obtained, when compared to worldwide dose values (0.06 mSv year -1 to 1.23 mSv year -1 with an average of 0.48 mSv year -1 ) indicated that though the average value in Pocos de Caldas - 0.95 mSv year -1 - is almost twice the world average, it is within the dosimetry range found in other countries. Nevertheless, the region has some areas with values higher than those observed elsewhere in the world, though in areas with lower population density. (author)

  20. Visual shape recognition in crayfish as revealed by habituation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cinzia Chiandetti

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available To cope with the everyday challenges that they encounter in their evolutionary niche, crayfish are considered to rely mainly on chemical information or, alternatively, on tactile information, but not much on vision. Hence, research has focused on chemical communication, whereas crayfish visual abilities remain poorly understood and investigated. To fill in this gap, we tested whether crayfish (Procambarus clarkii can distinguish between two different visual shapes matched in terms of luminance. To this aim, we measured both the habituation response to a repeated presentation of a given shape, a downright Y, and the response recovery when a novel shape was presented. The novel shape could be either a Möbius or the same Y-shape but upright rotated. Our results demonstrate that, after habituation to the downright Y, crayfish showed a significantly higher response recovery to the Möbius as compared to the upright rotated Y. Hence, besides relying on chemo-haptic information, we found that crayfish can use sight alone to discriminate between different abstract geometrical shapes when macroscopically different. Failure to discriminate between the downright Y and its inversion or a generalization from the presence of a shape with three points creating a simple category, are both likely parsimonious explanations that should be investigated systematically in further studies. A future challenge will be understanding whether crayfish are capable of generalized shape recognition.

  1. Physical Educators' Habitual Physical Activity and Self-Efficacy for Regular Exercise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Xihe; Haegele, Justin A.; Davis, Summer

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine physical education teachers' habitual physical activity and self-efficacy for regular exercise. In-service physical education teachers (N = 168) voluntarily completed an online questionnaire that included items to collect demographic information (gender, race/ethnicity, years of teaching experience, and…

  2. A comparative biomechanical analysis of habitually unshod and shod runners based on a foot morphological difference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mei, Qichang; Fernandez, Justin; Fu, Weijie; Feng, Neng; Gu, Yaodong

    2015-08-01

    Running is one of the most accessible physical activities and running with and without footwear has attracted extensive attention in the past several years. In this study 18 habitually male unshod runners and 20 habitually male shod runners (all with dominant right feet) participated in a running test. A Vicon motion analysis system was used to capture the kinematics of each participant's lower limb. The in-shoe plantar pressure measurement system was employed to measure the pressure and force exerted on the pressure sensors of the insole. The function of a separate hallux in unshod runners is analyzed through the comparison of plantar pressure parameters. Owing to the different strike patterns in shod and unshod runners, peak dorsiflexion and plantarflexion angle were significantly different. Habitually shod runners exhibited a decreased foot strike angle (FSA) under unshod conditions; and the vertical average loading rate (VALR) of shod runners under unshod conditions was larger than that under shod conditions. This suggests that the foot strike pattern is more important than the shod or unshod running style and runners need to acquire the technique. It can be concluded that for habitually unshod runners the separate hallux takes part of the foot loading and reduces loading to the forefoot under shod conditions. The remaining toes of rearfoot strike (RFS) runners function similarly under unshod conditions. These morphological features of shod and unshod runners should be considered in footwear design to improve sport performance and reduce injury. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Characterization of potassic materials of Pocos de Caldas alkaline massif, Southeastern Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goncalves, P.; Navarro, F.C.; Roveri, C.D.; Bergerman, M.G.

    2016-01-01

    Potassium, which has featured in Brazil's agricultural sector and in the world's in the application of fertilizers, is present in magmatic rocks, such as nepheline syenite and phonolite, found in the Alkaline Massif of Pocos de Caldas (AMPC). The rare earth elements (REE), in turn, also occur in this region and have important uses in various industrial fields. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of potassic rocks of AMPC in the fertilizer and rare earths industry. Five samples were collected and characterized. It was observed that there was no preferential concentration by granulometric range of potassium oxide, alumina, silica and iron oxide. Feldspathic mass, potash feldspar, and muscovite were found in all samples. The samples show REE with amounts greater than those found in the earth's crust, except for lutetium and scandium and possessed average content of potassium oxide from 8.70 to 14.40%. (author)

  4. Comparison of Hypnotherapy with Systematic Relaxation in the Treatment of Cigarette Habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schubert, Donald K.

    1983-01-01

    Studied the effectiveness of hypnosis in the treatment of cigarette habituation. Volunteers (N=87) were randomly assigned to hypnosis, relaxation, or waiting list control groups. Hypnosis was found to be superior to relaxation only for subjects high in hypnotic susceptibility. Those who quit smoking increased food consumption. (Author/JAC)

  5. Speed/accuracy trade-off between the habitual and the goal-directed processes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehdi Keramati

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Instrumental responses are hypothesized to be of two kinds: habitual and goal-directed, mediated by the sensorimotor and the associative cortico-basal ganglia circuits, respectively. The existence of the two heterogeneous associative learning mechanisms can be hypothesized to arise from the comparative advantages that they have at different stages of learning. In this paper, we assume that the goal-directed system is behaviourally flexible, but slow in choice selection. The habitual system, in contrast, is fast in responding, but inflexible in adapting its behavioural strategy to new conditions. Based on these assumptions and using the computational theory of reinforcement learning, we propose a normative model for arbitration between the two processes that makes an approximately optimal balance between search-time and accuracy in decision making. Behaviourally, the model can explain experimental evidence on behavioural sensitivity to outcome at the early stages of learning, but insensitivity at the later stages. It also explains that when two choices with equal incentive values are available concurrently, the behaviour remains outcome-sensitive, even after extensive training. Moreover, the model can explain choice reaction time variations during the course of learning, as well as the experimental observation that as the number of choices increases, the reaction time also increases. Neurobiologically, by assuming that phasic and tonic activities of midbrain dopamine neurons carry the reward prediction error and the average reward signals used by the model, respectively, the model predicts that whereas phasic dopamine indirectly affects behaviour through reinforcing stimulus-response associations, tonic dopamine can directly affect behaviour through manipulating the competition between the habitual and the goal-directed systems and thus, affect reaction time.

  6. Habitual chocolate consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease among healthy men and women

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kwok, Chun Shing; Boekholdt, S. Matthijs; Lentjes, Marleen A. H.; Loke, Yoon K.; Luben, Robert N.; Yeong, Jessica K.; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Myint, Phyo K.; Khaw, Kay-Tee

    2015-01-01

    To examine the association between chocolate intake and the risk of future cardiovascular events. We conducted a prospective study using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort. Habitual chocolate intake was quantified using the baseline food frequency

  7. Aged Tg2576 mice are impaired on social memory and open field habituation tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deacon, R M J; Koros, E; Bornemann, K D; Rawlins, J N P

    2009-02-11

    In a previous publication [Deacon RMJ, Cholerton LL, Talbot K, Nair-Roberts RG, Sanderson DJ, Romberg C, et al. Age-dependent and -independent behavioral deficits in Tg2576 mice. Behav Brain Res 2008;189:126-38] we found that very few cognitive tests were suitable for demonstrating deficits in Tg2576 mice, an amyloid over-expression model of Alzheimer's disease, even at 23 months of age. However, in a retrospective analysis of a separate project on these mice, tests of social memory and open field habituation revealed large cognitive impairments. Controls showed good open field habituation, but Tg2576 mice were hyperactive and failed to habituate. In the test of social memory for a juvenile mouse, controls showed considerably less social investigation on the second meeting, indicating memory of the juvenile, whereas Tg2576 mice did not show this decrement.As a control for olfactory sensitivity, on which social memory relies, the ability to find a food pellet hidden under wood chip bedding was assessed. Tg2576 mice found the pellet as quickly as controls. As this test requires digging ability, this was independently assessed in tests of burrowing and directly observed digging. In line with previous results and the hippocampal dysfunction characteristic of aged Tg2576 mice, they both burrowed and dug less than controls.

  8. Keep calm! Gender differences in mental rotation performance are modulated by habitual expressive suppression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fladung, Anne-Katharina; Kiefer, Markus

    2016-11-01

    Men have been frequently found to perform more accurately than women in mental rotation tasks. However, men and women also differ with regard to the habitual use of emotion regulation strategies, particularly with regard to expressive suppression, i.e., the suppression of emotional expression in behavior. As emotional suppression is more often used by men, emotion regulation strategies might be a variable modulating gender differences in mental rotation performance. The present study, therefore, examined the influences of gender and emotion regulation strategies on mental rotation performance accuracy and feedback processing. Twenty-eight men and 28 women matched for relevant demographic variables performed mental rotation tasks of varying difficulty over a prolonged time. Emotional feedback was given immediately after each trial. Results showed that women reported to use expressive suppression less frequently than men. Women made more errors in the mental rotation task than men confirming earlier demonstrations of gender differences. Furthermore, women were more impaired by the negative feedback as indicated by the increased likelihood of subsequent errors compared with men. Task performance of women not habitually using expressive suppression was most inferior and most strongly influenced by failure feedback compared with men. Women using expressive suppression more habitually did not significantly differ in mental rotation accuracy and feedback processing from men. Hence, expressive suppression reduces gender differences in mental rotation accuracy by improving cognitive performance following failure feedback.

  9. Poderosa ignorancia: celos y pretensión de verdad en Dom Casmurro de Machado de Assis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rubén A. Sánchez-Godoy

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Este ensayo explora cómo las sospechas no comprobadas del protagonista de Dom Casmurro se articulan en un monólogo que pretende probar la infidelidad de su amada. Con base en el concepto de ideología de Žižek, proponemos que esta articulación es posible a partir de la construcción de una prueba que permite al narrador producir a su amada como objeto de deseo ambiguo, fascinante y poco confiable a la vez. Al reconstruir literariamente esta prueba, que convierte la incertidumbre y la sospecha en formas de empoderamiento epistemológico y moral, Machado expone e ironiza una perspectiva masculina que busca proteger privilegios de género en una sociedad con creciente movilidad femenina. This essay explores the way in which the unproven suspicions of the main character of Dom Casmurro become a monologue that aims to prove the infidelity of his beloved. Using Žižek’s concept of ideology, I propose that this monologue is possible on the basis of the elaboration of an argument that allows to the narrator to produce his object of desire as an ambiguous one, fascinating and unreliable at the same time. Through the literary reconstruction of this argument, that transforms incertitude and suspicion in possibilities of epistemological and moral empowering, Machado discusses and ironizes a masculine perspective that tries to maintain its gender related privileges in a society with increasing feminine mobility.

  10. [Influence of habitual chocolate consumption over the Mini-Mental State Examination in Spanish older adults].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orozco Arbelaez, Edilbeto; Banegas, José Ramón; Rodríguez Artalejo, Fernando; López García, Esther

    2017-07-28

    There are associations described between dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and foods with a high content of polyphenols. To assess the infl uence of habitual chocolate consumption over the MMSE in Spanish older adults. Cross-sectional study, using data of the follow-up of the Seniors-Study on Nutrition and Cardiovascular Risk in Spain (ENRICA) cohort. Habitual chocolate consumption in the last year was assessed with a computerized dietary history; differences between dark chocolate and milk chocolate were recorded. Chocolate intake was classified into the following categories: no consumption, chocolate consumption of ≥ 10 g/d had a better MMSE score (adjusted beta coefficient and 95% confidence interval: 0.26 (0.02-0.50; p trend = 0.05); for dark chocolate, the results were also statistically significant (0.48 [0.18-0.78]; p trend chocolate consumption was not associated with higher likelihood of having MCI. However, dark chocolate consumption was associated with less likelihood of MCI (OR and 95%CI for MMSE ≤ 25: 0.39 [0.20-0.77]; for MMSE ≤ 24: 0.26 [0.10-0.67]; and for MMSE ≤ 23: 0.25 [0.07-0.82]). Our results suggest that habitual dark chocolate consumption might improve cognitive function among the older population.

  11. Repeated exposure to two stressors in sequence demonstrates that corticosterone and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus interleukin-1β responses habituate independently.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lovelock, D F; Deak, T

    2017-09-01

    A wide range of stress-related pathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder are considered to arise from aberrant or maladaptive forms of stress adaptation. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis readily adapts to repeated stressor exposure, yet little is known about adaptation in neuroimmune responses to repeated or sequential stress challenges. In Experiment 1, rats were exposed to 10 days of restraint alone (60 minutes daily), forced swim alone (30 minutes daily) or daily sequential exposure to restraint (60 minutes) followed immediately by forced swim (30 minutes), termed sequential stress exposure. Habituation of the corticosterone (CORT) response occurred to restraint by 5 days and swim at 10 days, whereas rats exposed to sequential stress exposure failed to display habituation to the combined challenge. Experiment 2 compared 1 or 5 days of forced swim with sequential stress exposure and examined how each affected expression of several neuroimmune and cellular activation genes in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HPC). Sequential exposure to restraint and swim increased interleukin (IL)-1β in the PVN, an effect that was attenuated after 5 days. Sequential stress exposure also elicited IL-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α responses in the HPC and PFC, respectively, which did not habituate after 5 days. Experiment 3 tested whether prior habituation to restraint (5 days) would alter the IL-1β response evoked by swim exposure imposed immediately after the sixth day of restraint. Surprisingly, a history of repeated exposure to restraint attenuated the PVN IL-1β response after swim in comparison to acutely-exposed subjects despite an equivalent CORT response. Overall, these findings suggest that habituation of neuroimmune responses to stress proceeds: (i) independent of HPA axis habituation; (ii) likely requires more daily sessions of stress to develop; and (iii) IL-1β displays

  12. Amygdala Reactivity and Anterior Cingulate Habituation Predict Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Maintenance After Acute Civilian Trauma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Jennifer S; Kim, Ye Ji; Galatzer-Levy, Isaac R; Reddy, Renuka; Ely, Timothy D; Nemeroff, Charles B; Hudak, Lauren A; Jovanovic, Tanja; Rothbaum, Barbara O; Ressler, Kerry J

    2017-06-15

    Studies suggest that exaggerated amygdala reactivity is a vulnerability factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, our understanding is limited by a paucity of prospective, longitudinal studies. Recent studies in healthy samples indicate that, relative to reactivity, habituation is a more reliable biomarker of individual differences in amygdala function. We investigated reactivity of the amygdala and cortical areas to repeated threat presentations in a prospective study of PTSD. Participants were recruited from the emergency department of a large level I trauma center within 24 hours of trauma. PTSD symptoms were assessed at baseline and approximately 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after trauma. Growth curve modeling was used to estimate symptom recovery trajectories. Thirty-one individuals participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging around the 1-month assessment, passively viewing fearful and neutral face stimuli. Reactivity (fearful > neutral) and habituation to fearful faces was examined. Amygdala reactivity, but not habituation, 5 to 12 weeks after trauma was positively associated with the PTSD symptom intercept and predicted symptoms at 12 months after trauma. Habituation in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex was positively associated with the slope of PTSD symptoms, such that decreases in ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation over repeated presentations of fearful stimuli predicted increasing symptoms. Findings point to neural signatures of risk for maintaining PTSD symptoms after trauma exposure. Specifically, chronic symptoms were predicted by amygdala hyperreactivity, and poor recovery was predicted by a failure to maintain ventral anterior cingulate cortex activation in response to fearful stimuli. The importance of identifying patients at risk after trauma exposure is discussed. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Comparing different kinds of words and word-word relations to test an habituation model of priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rieth, Cory A; Huber, David E

    2017-06-01

    Huber and O'Reilly (2003) proposed that neural habituation exists to solve a temporal parsing problem, minimizing blending between one word and the next when words are visually presented in rapid succession. They developed a neural dynamics habituation model, explaining the finding that short duration primes produce positive priming whereas long duration primes produce negative repetition priming. The model contains three layers of processing, including a visual input layer, an orthographic layer, and a lexical-semantic layer. The predicted effect of prime duration depends both on this assumed representational hierarchy and the assumption that synaptic depression underlies habituation. The current study tested these assumptions by comparing different kinds of words (e.g., words versus non-words) and different kinds of word-word relations (e.g., associative versus repetition). For each experiment, the predictions of the original model were compared to an alternative model with different representational assumptions. Experiment 1 confirmed the prediction that non-words and inverted words require longer prime durations to eliminate positive repetition priming (i.e., a slower transition from positive to negative priming). Experiment 2 confirmed the prediction that associative priming increases and then decreases with increasing prime duration, but remains positive even with long duration primes. Experiment 3 replicated the effects of repetition and associative priming using a within-subjects design and combined these effects by examining target words that were expected to repeat (e.g., viewing the target word 'BACK' after the prime phrase 'back to'). These results support the originally assumed representational hierarchy and more generally the role of habituation in temporal parsing and priming. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Amygdala habituation to emotional faces in adolescents with internalizing disorders, adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related PTSD and healthy adolescents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bianca G. van den Bulk

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related post-traumatic stress disorder (CSA-related PTSD show a large overlap in symptomatology. In addition, brain research indicated hyper-responsiveness and sustained activation instead of habituation of amygdala activation to emotional faces in both groups. Little is known, however, about whether the same patterns of amygdala habituation are present in these two groups. The current study examined habituation patterns of amygdala activity to emotional faces (fearful, happy and neutral in adolescents with a DSM-IV depressive and/or anxiety disorder (N = 25, adolescents with CSA-related PTSD (N = 19 and healthy controls (N = 26. Behaviourally, the adolescents from the internalizing and CSA-related PTSD group reported more anxiety to fearful and neutral faces than adolescents from the control group and adolescents from the CSA-related PTSD group reacted slower compared to the internalizing group. At the whole brain level, there was a significant interaction between time and group within the left amygdala. Follow-up ROI analysis showed elevated initial activity in the amygdala and rapid habituation in the CSA-related PTSD group compared to the internalizing group. These findings suggest that habituation patterns of amygdala activation provide additional information on problems with emotional face processing. Furthermore, the results suggest there are differences in the underlying neurobiological mechanisms related to emotional face processing for adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with CSA-related PTSD. Possibly CSA-related PTSD is characterized by a stronger primary emotional response driven by the amygdala.

  15. The effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on suppression of habitual counting during random number generation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jahanshahi, M; Profice, P; Brown, R G; Ridding, M C; Dirnberger, G; Rothwell, J C

    1998-08-01

    Random number generation is an attention-demanding task that engages working memory and executive processes. Random number generation requires holding information 'on line', suppression of habitual counting, internally driven response generation and monitoring of responses. Evidence from PET studies suggests that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in the generation of random responses. We examined the effects of short trains of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the left or right DLPFC or medial frontal cortex on random number generation in healthy normal participants. As in previous evidence, in control trials without stimulation participants performed poorly on the random number generation task, showing repetition avoidance and a tendency to count. Brief disruption of processing with TMS over the left DLPFC changed the balance of the individuals' counting bias, increasing the most habitual counting in ones and reducing the lower probability response of counting in twos. This differential effect of TMS over the left DLPFC on the balance of the subject's counting bias was not obtained with TMS over the right DLPFC or the medial frontal cortex. The results suggest that, with disruption of the left DLPFC with TMS, habitual counting in ones that has previously been suppressed is released from inhibition. From these findings a network modulation model of random number generation is proposed, whereby suppression of habitual responses is achieved through the modulatory influence of the left DLPFC over a number-associative network in the superior temporal cortex. To allow emergence of appropriate random responses, the left DLPFC inhibits the superior temporal cortex to prevent spreading activation and habitual counting in ones.

  16. Amygdala habituation to emotional faces in adolescents with internalizing disorders, adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related PTSD and healthy adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van den Bulk, Bianca G; Somerville, Leah H; van Hoof, Marie-José; van Lang, Natasja D J; van der Wee, Nic J A; Crone, Eveline A; Vermeiren, Robert R J M

    2016-10-01

    Adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with childhood sexual abuse related post-traumatic stress disorder (CSA-related PTSD) show a large overlap in symptomatology. In addition, brain research indicated hyper-responsiveness and sustained activation instead of habituation of amygdala activation to emotional faces in both groups. Little is known, however, about whether the same patterns of amygdala habituation are present in these two groups. The current study examined habituation patterns of amygdala activity to emotional faces (fearful, happy and neutral) in adolescents with a DSM-IV depressive and/or anxiety disorder (N=25), adolescents with CSA-related PTSD (N=19) and healthy controls (N=26). Behaviourally, the adolescents from the internalizing and CSA-related PTSD group reported more anxiety to fearful and neutral faces than adolescents from the control group and adolescents from the CSA-related PTSD group reacted slower compared to the internalizing group. At the whole brain level, there was a significant interaction between time and group within the left amygdala. Follow-up ROI analysis showed elevated initial activity in the amygdala and rapid habituation in the CSA-related PTSD group compared to the internalizing group. These findings suggest that habituation patterns of amygdala activation provide additional information on problems with emotional face processing. Furthermore, the results suggest there are differences in the underlying neurobiological mechanisms related to emotional face processing for adolescents with internalizing disorders and adolescents with CSA-related PTSD. Possibly CSA-related PTSD is characterized by a stronger primary emotional response driven by the amygdala. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  17. The number of repeated observations needed to estimate the habitual physical activity of an individual to a given level of precision.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrick Bergman

    Full Text Available Physical activity behavior varies naturally from day to day, from week to week and even across seasons. In order to assess the habitual level of physical activity of a person, the person must be monitored for long enough so that the level can be identified, taking into account this natural within-person variation. An important question, and one whose answer has implications for study- and survey design, epidemiological research and population surveillance, is, for how long does an individual need to be monitored before such a habitual level or pattern can be identified to a desired level of precision? The aim of this study was to estimate the number of repeated observations needed to identify the habitual physical activity behaviour of an individual to a given degree of precision. A convenience sample of 50 Swedish adults wore accelerometers during four consecutive weeks. The number of days needed to come within 5-50% of an individual's usual physical activity 95% of the time was calculated. To get an idea of the uncertainty of the estimates all statistical estimates were bootstrapped 2000 times. The mean number of days of measurement needed for the observation to, with 95% confidence, be within 20% of the habitual physical activity of an individual is highest for vigorous physical activity, for which 182 days are needed. For sedentary behaviour the equivalent number of days is 2.4. To capture 80% of the sample to within ±20% of their habitual level of physical activity, 3.4 days is needed if sedentary behavior is the outcome of interest, and 34.8 days for MVPA. The present study shows that for analyses requiring accurate data at the individual level a longer measurement collection period than the traditional 7-day protocol should be used. In addition, the amount of MVPA was negatively associated with the number of days required to identify the habitual physical activity level indicating that the least active are also those whose habitual

  18. Habituation of the cold shock response may include a significant perceptual component.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barwood, Martin J; Corbett, Jo; Wagstaff, Christopher R D

    2014-02-01

    Accidental immersion in cold water is a risk factor for many occupations. Habituation to cold-water immersion (CWI) is one practical means of reducing the cold shock response (CSR) on immersion. We investigated whether repeated thermoneutral water immersion (TWI) induced a perceptual habituation (i.e., could lessen perceived threat and anxiety) and consequently reduce the CSR on subsequent CWI. There were 12 subjects who completed seven 7-min head-out immersions. Immersions one and seven were CWls [15.0 (0.1) degrees C], and immersions two to six were TWI [34.9 (0.10) degrees C]. Anxiety 120-cm visual analogue scale) and the cardiorespiratory responses [heart rate (f(C)), respiratory frequency (f(R)), tidal volume (V(T)), and minute ventilation (V(E))] to immersion were measured throughout. Data were compared within subject between conditions using ANOVA to an alpha level of 0.05. Acute anxiety was significantly reduced after repeated exposure to the immersion scenario (i.e., TWI): CWI-1: 6.3 (4.4) cm; and CWI-2: 4.5 (4.0) cm [condition mean (SD)]. These differences did not influence the peak in the CSR. The f(C), f(R), and V(E) responses were similar between CWI-1 and CWI-2. V(T) response was significantly lower in CWI-2; mean (SD) across the immersion: CWI-1 1.27 (0.17) vs. CWI-2 1.11 0.21 L. Repeated TWI lessened the anxiety associated with CWI (perceptual habituation). This had a negligible effect on the primary components of the CSR, but did lower VT, which may reduce the volume of any aspirated water in an emergency situation. Reducing the threat appraisal of an environmental stressor may be a useful biproduct of survival training, thereby minimizing psychophysiological strain.

  19. Distribution of uranium, thorium and potassium in the alkaline rocks of Pocos de Caldas massif

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rocha, E.B.

    1985-01-01

    The Pocos de Caldas massif, with area about 800 Km 2 , represents the greatest complex of alkaline rocks existent in the American continent. Although values of U and Th are well Known in the mineralized areas, few has been registered with respect to the distribution of those elements outside the ore deposits. The rocks of the massif, in general, present high contents of U and Th when confronted with the surrouding country rocks. The distribution of the U and Th appoint a relevant additional data in the discussion on the hypothesis of nepheline syenites bodies formation in Pocos de Caldas by crystal fractionation processes. In this work are provided results of the U, Th and K distribution in the main petrographic facies occurring in the several studies places of the massif, yielded by gamma-ray spectrometric analysis of the samples. Those analysis disclose that khibinites present average values about 38 ppm U and 120 ppm Th; lujavrites, about 14 ppm U and more than 70 ppm Th; U-Th depleted nepheline synites, about 12 ppm U and 38 ppm Th, Th/U ratios are close to 3,0 in the nepheline syenites, about 3,7 in the phonolites, reaching values close to 4,0 in the khibinites. These values are comparable with others Th/U ratios of selected series of alkaline rocks reported in the international literature. Uranium and Th comparative data, attained by delayed neutron counting activation analysis also are given. The results obtained for the fluorimetric analysis show loss of U leaching is greater in the fine-grained rocks (phonolites) than coarse-grained ones (lujavrites, Khibinites). The autoradiographic studies reveal that radioactive elements are found concentrated in mineral phases. A new assessment of the radiogenic heat production it is also available. (Author) [pt

  20. Habitual active transport, TV viewing and weight gain: a four year follow-up study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Ding; Sugiyama, Takemi; Owen, Neville

    2012-01-01

    To examine the associations of TV viewing time and domain-specific physical activity with weight change; to determine whether domain-specific physical activity moderates the potential association of TV viewing time with weight change. We used four-year longitudinal data (baseline: 2003-2004, follow-up: 2007-2008) on 969 adults from selected neighborhoods in Adelaide, Australia (Age: 48.6 ± 10.6 years, 61% females). Mixed models examined four-year weight change as the dependent variable, with TV viewing time, habitual transport and past week domain-specific physical activity at baseline as independent variables. On average, participants gained 1.6 kg over four years. TV viewing time at baseline was positively associated with weight gain at follow-up. Each additional hour of TV viewing was associated with 0.24-0.27 kg of extra weight gain. This relationship was not moderated by recent recall of transport, leisure-time, and occupational physical activity, but was moderated by habitual transport: an additional hour of TV viewing time at baseline was significantly associated with an extra weight gain of 0.65 kg at follow-up among those who were inactive in everyday transport; TV time was not significantly associated with weight change among those who were regularly active in transport. Habitual active transport may protect adults against risk of weight gain associated with prolonged TV viewing time. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. The joint impact of habitual exercise and glycemic control on the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in middle-aged and older males.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michishita, Ryoma; Matsuda, Takuro; Kawakami, Shotaro; Tanaka, Satoshi; Kiyonaga, Akira; Tanaka, Hiroaki; Morito, Natsumi; Higaki, Yasuki

    2017-11-06

    This retrospective study evaluated the influence of the joint impact of habitual exercise and glycemic control on the incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) during a 6-year follow-up period in middle-aged and older males. The study population included 303 males without a history of cardiovascular disease, stroke, renal dysfunction, or dialysis treatment. Their lifestyle behaviors regarding exercise and physical activity were evaluated using a standardized self-administered questionnaire. The participants were divided into four categories according to the performance or non-performance of habitual exercise and the presence or absence of hyperglycemia. After 6 years, 32 subjects (10.6%) developed CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate exercise and hyperglycemic subjects (log-rank test: p exercise (HR = 2.82, 95% confidence of interval (CI) = 1.07-7.36, p = 0.034) and that in hyperglycemic subjects who did not perform habitual exercise (HR = 5.89, 95% CI = 1.87-16.63, p = 0.003) were significantly higher in comparison to the subjects with a NGT who performed habitual exercise. These results suggest that the habitual exercise and good glycemic control and their combination were associated with the incidence of CKD.

  2. The effect of lateral decubitus position on nocturnal intraocular pressure over a habitual 24-hour period in healthy adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Jie; Zhen, Yi; Wang, Hao; Yang, Diya; Wang, Ningli

    2014-01-01

    To investigate the effect of lateral decubitus position (LDP) on nocturnal intraocular pressure (IOP) and the effect of LDP on 24-hour habitual IOP pattern in healthy subjects. Intraocular pressure was measured every 2-hours using an Accupen Applanation Tonometer (Accutome, USA). During the diurnal period (7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, and 9:30 pm), IOP was measured in the sitting position under bright light (500-1000 lux) after the subjects had been seated for 5 min. The nocturnal IOP was measured in the supine position, right LDP, and left LDP, with randomized sequences, under dim light (hour habitual IOP patterns were obtained according to the nocturnal position (supine, right LDP and left LDP) for either eye. Phour period, the effect of LDP on habitual IOP pattern was not statistically significant, although the mean nocturnal IOP and the diurnal-nocturnal IOP change for the right and the left eye in the LDP pattern was slightly higher than that in the sitting-supine pattern. Significant nocturnal IOP differences existed between the dependent eye and the supine, but did not occur consistently for all time points. Over a 24-hour period, the effect of LDP on habitual IOP pattern was not statistically significant in healthy subjects.

  3. Habitual diet assessment in adolescents with the down’s syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivandra Mari Roieski

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The eating habits formation of the individuals with the Down’s syndrome deserves special attention because, besides specific anatomical and physiological alterations, some aspects also interfere in this process. Among them, the parents’behavior is the one that counts most, and it’s essential to establish a healthy diet. Facing this, the objective in this study was to assess the habitual diet in eight overweight adolescents with the Down’s syndrome living in the South Region of Tocantins State. These adolescents are between 10 and 19 years of age. To instrumentalize the referred assessment, the Food Frequency Questionnaire for Adolescents was applied and it was compared with the Adapted Food Pyramid recommendations. It was observed 82% of the adolescents used to eat less than the recommended amount of the vegetables and cereal/bread/tubers/roots; 68% eat less fruits and 87% eat less milk/dairy products groups. It was also detected an exaggeration in the consumption of grains, meat/eggs and sugar/candy groups. It was concluded that the adolescents habitually keep a diet out of the pattern considered healthy. It’s predominantly easy chewing food and high in calories, what may bring risks of getting overweight and even obese. Thus, it’s vital to go through an eating re-education process, in whichthe family has participation, so that changes in the eating habits may be achieved.

  4. Differentiating neural systems mediating the acquisition versus expression of goal-directed and habitual behavioral control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liljeholm, Mimi; Dunne, Simon; O'Doherty, John P.

    2015-01-01

    Considerable behavioral data indicates that operant actions can become habitual, as evidenced by insensitivity to changes in the action-outcome contingency and in subjective outcome values. Notably, although several studies have investigated the neural substrates of habits, none has clearly differentiated the areas of the human brain that support habit formation from those that implement habitual control. We scanned participants with fMRI as they learned and performed an operant task in which the conditional structure of the environment encouraged either goal-directed encoding of the consequences of actions, or a habit-like mapping of actions to antecedent cues. Participants were also scanned during a subsequent assessment of insensitivity to outcome devaluation. We identified dissociable roles of the cerebellum and ventral striatum, across learning and test performance, in behavioral insensitivity to outcome devaluation. We also show that the inferior parietal lobule – an area previously implicated in several aspects of goal-directed action selection, including the attribution of intent and awareness of agency – predicts sensitivity to outcome devaluation. Finally, we reveal a potential functional homology between the human subgenual cortex and rodent infralimbic cortex in the implementation of habitual control. In summary, our findings suggest a broad systems division, at the cortical and subcortical levels, between brain areas mediating the encoding and expression of action-outcome and stimulus-response associations. PMID:25892332

  5. Concurrent and prospective associations of habitual overgeneral memory and prospection with symptoms of depression, general anxiety, obsessive compulsiveness, and post-traumatic stress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boelen, Paul A; Huntjens, Rafaele J C; van den Hout, Marcel A

    2014-01-01

    Reduced memory specificity is associated with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and some other forms of psychopathology. Reduced memory specificity is also associated with reduced specificity of envisioned future events. Research in this area has mostly relied on cue-word methods that include explicit instructions to develop specific memories of future events. These methods are limited in their ability to assess how participants habitually remember the past and imagine the future when the specificity constraints inherent in the cue-word task are removed. Sentence completions tasks have been developed that can be used to assess habitual patterns of memory and prospection. Little is known about the association of habitual memory and prospection with concurrently and prospectively assessed psychopathology. In the current study 142 participants completed sentence completion tasks tapping habitual memory and prospection at baseline and completed measures tapping psychological symptoms at baseline and 1 year later. Among other things, it was found that reduced memory specificity (but not reduced future specificity) was associated with concurrent and later depression, as well as with symptom levels of PTSD tapped 1 year beyond baseline.

  6. Frecuencia del consumo de alimentos industrializados modernos en la dieta habitual de comunidades mayas de Yucatán, México

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Odette Pérez Izquierdo

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available El objetivo del trabajo fue identificar la introducción de alimentos industrializados modernos en la dieta habitual de dos comunidades mayas de Yucatán, México, así como algunos factores que, en la escala comunitaria y la de los hogares, podrían explicar la inclusión. Se trata de un estudio de tipo transversal en el que participaron 51 familias seleccionadas a través de un muestreo sistemático sin reemplazo. La información se obtuvo de una entrevista estructurada que incluyó información de variables socioeconómicas, dieta habitual, frecuencia del consumo de alimentos, actividades productivas, disponibilidad de alimentos y apoyos gubernamentales. Se usaron pruebas estadísticas paramétricas para identificar diferencias entre comunidades y familias respecto al consumo de alimentos industrialzados modernos. Los resultados evidencian el consumo de alimentos industrializados de corte moderno en la dieta habitual de ambas comunidades, sin diferencias significativas en esta escala, pero se registraron diferencias en la escala de los hogares. Se discute el papel de la emigración y los programas sociales en la incorporación de alimentos industrializados modernos en la dieta habitual de los hogares mayas de estas comunidades.

  7. Habitual diet and diet quality in Irritable Bowel Syndrome : A case-control study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tigchelaar, E. F.; Mujagic, Z.; Zhernakova, A.; Hesselink, M. A. M.; Meijboom, S.; Perenboom, C. W. M.; Masclee, A. A. M.; Wijmenga, C.; Feskens, E. J. M.; Jonkers, D. M. A. E.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Diet is considered to be a key factor in symptom generation in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and patients tend to exclude food products from their diet in pursue of symptom relief, which may impair diet quality. Methods: We evaluated habitual dietary intake in IBS patients with regard

  8. Estudo eletromiográfico do músculo masseter durante o apertamento dentário e mastigação habitual em adultos com oclusão dentária normal Electromyographic study of the masseter muscle during maximal voluntary clenching and habitual chewing in adults with normal occlusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana Rahal

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Analisar a diferença entre os lados na atividade eletromiográfica do masseter em indivíduos adultos com oclusão dentária normal. MÉTODOS: Foram avaliados 30 indivíduos saudáveis entre 21 e 30 anos e realizou-se eletromiografia de superfície nos músculos masseteres direito e esquerdo, durante apertamento em máxima intercuspidação e mastigação habitual com uva passa. Foram computados os valores médios dos três apertamentos dentários e dos 15 segundos da mastigação habitual para cada indivíduo. Foram considerados para a análise: o lado de maior valor e o de menor valor eletromiográfico. RESULTADOS: Durante o apertamento dentário, a diferença média entre os dois lados foi de 20,0 microvolts (μV com intervalo de confiança (95% entre 14,0 e 26,0 μV e durante a mastigação habitual, a diferença média entre os dois lados foi de 10,3 μV com intervalo de confiança (95% entre 6,7 e 13,8 μV. CONCLUSÃO: Houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre os lados, com relação entre eles de 24% para o apertamento dentário e de 27% para a mastigação habitual, em indiv duos adultos saudáveis.PURPOSE: To analyze the difference between both sides of the face during the electromyographic activity of the masseter muscle in adults with normal occlusion. METHODS: Thirty healthy individuals with ages ranging from 21 to 30 years old were selected. Surface electromyography was performed on right and left masseter muscles during maximal voluntary clenching and habitual chewing with raisins. The mean values of three teeth clenching and fifteen seconds of habitual chewing were calculated for each subject. The analysis considered the sides with higher and lower electromyographic activity. RESULTS: During maximal voluntary clenching, the mean difference between sides was 20.0 microvolts (μV, with confidence interval (95% between 14.0 and 26.0 μV. During habitual chewing, the mean difference between sides was 10.3

  9. Evaluation of NORM concentration in water treatment of Pocos de Caldas municipality, MG, Brazil: preliminary results; Avaliacao da presenca de NORM no tratamento de agua do municipio de Pocos de Caldas: resultados preliminares

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferreira, Adriano Mota; Villegas, Raul A.S.; Fukuma, Henrique Takuji, E-mail: htfukuma@cnen.gov.br, E-mail: adrianomotaferreira@gmail.com [Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2014-07-01

    NORM is the acronym used to refer to naturally occurring radioactive materials. Besides being objects of study and monitoring such materials can be used as raw material or as by-products or waste of industrial activities. Oil and gas, mining and water treatment are examples of facilities that can handle NORM. In such cases, their concentration at significant levels from the perspective of environmental and occupational radiation protection may occur. This study aims to evaluate the presence of the natural radioactive {sup 238}U and {sup 232}Th series in the treatment of city water elements Pocos de Caldas - MG (water, materials and waste). The study can serve as an indication of the necessity of a more detailed review in the locally and in the country on this radiological issue. (author)

  10. A fully implantable telemetry system for the long-term measurement of habitual bone strain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, W. C.; Koolstra, J. H.; van Ruijven, L. J.; Korfage, J. A. M.; Langenbach, G. E. J.

    2010-01-01

    Long-term in-vivo recordings of habitual bone strain in freely moving animals are needed to better understand the everyday mechanical loading environment responsible for bone-tissue maintenance. However, wireless methods to make such recordings are scarce. We report on the successful customisation

  11. Foveal damage in habitual poppers users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Audo, Isabelle; El Sanharawi, Mohamed; Vignal-Clermont, Catherine; Villa, Antoine; Morin, Annie; Conrath, John; Fompeydie, Dominique; Sahel, José-Alain; Gocho-Nakashima, Kiyoko; Goureau, Olivier; Paques, Michel

    2011-06-01

    To describe foveal damage in habitual use of poppers, a popular recreational drug. Retrospective observational case series. Six patients with bilateral vision loss after chronic popper inhalation were seen in 4 university-based ophthalmology departments. Symptoms, medical history, ophthalmic examination, and functional and morphological tests are described. All patients experienced progressive bilateral vision loss, with central photopsia in 2 cases. Initial visual acuities ranged from 20/50 to 20/25. In all patients, a bilateral yellow foveal spot was present that, by optical coherence tomography, was associated with disruption of the outer segments of foveal cones. Functional and anatomical damage was restricted to the fovea. The poppers involved were identified as isopropyl nitrite in 3 cases. Four patients showed anatomical and/or functional improvement over several months after discontinuing popper inhalation. Repeated inhalation of poppers may be associated with prolonged bilateral vision loss due to the disruption of foveal cone outer segments. Retinal damage may progressively improve following drug discontinuation.

  12. Habitual physical activity and vascular aging in a young to middle-age population at low cardiovascular risk

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kozakova, Michaela; Palombo, Carlo; Mhamdi, Leila

    2007-01-01

    BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Regular endurance exercise has been shown to reduce the age-related increase in arterial stiffness that is thought to contribute to cardiovascular risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of age and habitual physical activity on carotid artery wall thickness...... physical activity was negatively related to indices of carotid stiffness (r from -0.20 to -0.25, Page...... and physical activity were independently related to carotid stiffness. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides cross-sectional evidence that habitual physical activity is inversely related to the age-dependent increase in carotid wall stiffness in a young to middle-age population at low risk...

  13. Habitual versus goal-directed action control in Parkinson disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Wit, Sanne; Barker, Roger A; Dickinson, Anthony D; Cools, Roshan

    2011-05-01

    This study presents the first direct investigation of the hypothesis that dopamine depletion of the dorsal striatum in mild Parkinson disease leads to impaired stimulus-response habit formation, thereby rendering behavior slow and effortful. However, using an instrumental conflict task, we show that patients are able to rely on direct stimulus-response associations when a goal-directed strategy causes response conflict, suggesting that habit formation is not impaired. If anything our results suggest a disease severity-dependent deficit in goal-directed behavior. These results are discussed in the context of Parkinson disease and the neurobiology of habitual and goal-directed behavior.

  14. Habituation of Premonitory Sensations during Exposure and Response Prevention Treatment in Tourette's Syndrome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verdellen, Cara W. J.; Hoogduin, Cees A. L.; Kato, Bernet S.; Keijsers, Ger P. J.; Cath, Danielle C.; Hoijtink, Herbert B.

    2008-01-01

    Exposure to premonitory sensations and response prevention of tics (ER) has been shown to be a promising new treatment for Tourette's syndrome (TS). The present study tested the hypothesis that habituation to unpleasant premonitory sensations associated with the tic is an underlying mechanism of change in ER. Patients rated the severity of…

  15. Predictive Value of Scintigraphy with Tc-99M IOR CEA1 in Asymptomatic Patients with Suspected Recurrent Colorectal Cancer; Valor predictivo de la gammagrafia con Tc-99M IOR CEA1 en pacientes asintomaticos con sospecha de cancer colorrectal recurrente

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Llamas Olier, A; De los Reyes, A [Grupo de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia, Bogota (Colombia)

    2008-07-15

    The early location of recurrent colorectal cancer can make timely interventions to improve patient survival. The immunoscintigraphy with the monoclonal antibody ior-CEA1 has shown useful for detecting tumors with expression of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). This study was done to evaluate their predictive value in asymptomatic patients with unexplained elevations of CEA in blood or suspicious or indeterminate findings on radiological images [Spanish] Objetivos: La localizacion temprana del cancer colorrectal recurrente permite hacer intervenciones oportunas para mejorar la supervivencia de los pacientes. La inmunogammagrafia con el anticuerpo monoclonal ior-CEA1 ha demostrado tener utilidad para detectar tumores con expresion de antigeno carcinoembrionario (ACE). Este estudio se hizo para evaluar su valor predictivo en pacientes asintomaticos con elevaciones inexplicables del ACE en sangre o con hallazgos sospechosos o indeterminados en las imagenes radiologicas. Diseno: se realizo la inmunogammagrafia en todos los pacientes que consultaron al servicio de gastroenterologia: asintomaticos, con sospecha de recaida de carcinoma colorrectal. Se interpreto el estudio y se realizaron varios analisis en el tiempo hasta completar criterios de seguimiento (6-12 meses despues del informe gammagrafico). Pacientes: entre junio de 1998 y julio de 2003 se estudiaron 30 pacientes (17 mujeres y 13 hombres) la mediana de edad + DS, 59+16 anos; con sospecha de cancer colorrectal recurrente por elevacion del ACE en sangre (n=27, rango: 5,2 - 357 ng/ml y mediana + DS: 13,4 + 80 ng/ml) o por hallazgos escanograficos inciertos (n=3). Todos fueron tratados inicialmente con cirugia y 19 recibieron tratamientos adyuvantes. Doce casos fueron estadificados como Dukes B y 18 como Dukes C. Intervenciones: la confirmacion del diagnostico final se hizo con criterios anatomo-patologicos o radiologicos y segun el seguimiento clinico a 1 ano. V einte horas despues de la administracion intravenosa

  16. Ground water chemical evolution of Pocos de Caldas - Minas Gerais State -Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cruz, W.B.; Peixoto, C.A.M.

    1991-01-01

    The chemical evolution and the origin of the groundwater, cold and thermal springs composition are analysed related to the geochemical environment of the Pocos de Caldas alkaline complex. The thermal waters origin are related to a large and deep open fracture system in three main directions: N14E, N50E and E-W. The tritium content when simultaneously analysed with the deuterium and oxygen-18 set show that thermal waters are old meteoric waters (30-40 years of age). On the other hand, the cold springs that circulate on the superficial levels are more recent, which is a characteristic of an acid oxidizing environment without sulfides and greater concentration of free CO 2 and Rn 222 . The pH increases slowly with depth and also the H C O 3 - , Na + , SO 4 2- and the Si O 2 content. High concentrations of fluoride follow this process. Reducing environment with an increase in the sulphide content and a decrease in radioactivity are trends in the system studied. (author)

  17. Estimative of alpha radiation dose due to natural concentration of Ra-226 in waters from Pocos de Caldas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sigaud, G.M.

    1979-01-01

    A dosimetric model for calculating the annual dose equivalent for an individual and the annual collective dose equivalent from 226 Ra is developed. This model is applied to the measured concentrations of 226 Ra in waters of the hydro graphic basins of the Pocos de Caldas plateau, using the pathways of drinking water and ingestion of food grown in irrigated fields. A linear model for simulating potential 226 Ra contamination of the waters of the region is also applied, and the doses from these contaminations are estimated using the dosimetric model developed. (author)

  18. Habituation of the orienting reflex and the development of Preliminary Process Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barry, Robert J

    2009-09-01

    The orienting reflex (OR), elicited by an innocuous stimulus, can be regarded as a model of the organism's interaction with its environment, and has been described as the unit of attentional processing. A major determinant of the OR is the novelty of the eliciting stimulus, generally operationalized in terms of its reduction with stimulus repetition, the effects of which are commonly described in habituation terms. This paper provides an overview of a research programme, spanning more than 30 years, investigating psychophysiological aspects of the OR in humans. The major complication in this research is that the numerous physiological measures used as dependent variables in the OR context fail to jointly covary with stimulus parameters. This has led to the development of the Preliminary Process Theory (PPT) of the OR to accommodate the complexity of the observed stimulus-response patterns. PPT is largely grounded in autonomic measures, and current work is attempting to integrate electroencephalographic measures, particularly components in the event-related brain potentials reflecting aspects of stimulus processing. The emphasis in the current presentation is on the use of the defining criteria of the habituation phenomenon, and Groves and Thompson's Dual-process Theory, in the development of PPT.

  19. Breath-hold time during cold water immersion: effects of habituation with psychological training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barwood, Martin J; Datta, Avijit K; Thelwell, Richard C; Tipton, Michael J

    2007-11-01

    The loss of the conscious control of respiration on whole body cold water immersion (CWI) can result in the aspiration of water and drowning. Repeated CWI reduces the respiratory drive evoked by CWI and should prolong breath-hold time on CWI (BHmax(CWI)). Psychological skills training (PST) can also increase BHmax(CWI) by improving the ability of individuals to consciously suppress the drive to breathe. This study tested the hypothesis that combining PST and repeated CWI would extend BHmax(CWI) beyond that seen following only repeated CWI. There were 20 male subjects who completed two 2.5-min, head-out breath-hold CWI (BH1 and BH2) in water at 12 degrees C. Following BH1, subjects were matched on BHmax(CWI) and allocated to a habituation (HAB) group or a habituation plus PST group (H+PST). Between BH1 and BH2 both experimental groups undertook five 2.5-min CWI on separate days, during which they breathed freely. The H+PST also received psychological training to help tolerate cold and suppress the drive to breathe on immersion to extend BHmax(CWI). During BH1, mean BHmax(CWI) (+/- SD) in the HAB group was 22.00 (10.33) s and 22.38 (10.65) s in the H+PST. After the five free-breathing CWI, both groups had a longer BHmax(CWI) in BH2. The HAB group improved by 14.13 (20.21) s, an increase of 73%. H+PST improved by 26.86 (24.70) s, a 120% increase. No significant differences were identified between the groups. Habituation significantly increases BHmax on CWI, the addition of PST did not result in statistically significant improvements in BHmax(CWI), but may have practical significance.

  20. HABITUAL DIET ASSESSMENT IN ADOLESCENTS WITH THE DOWN’S SYNDROME

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivandra Mari Roieski

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available The eating habits formation of the individuals with the Down’s syndrome deserves special attention because, besides specific anatomical and physiological alterations, some aspects also interfere in this process. Among them, the parents’ behavior is the one that counts most, and it’s essential to establish a healthy diet. Facing this, the objective in this study was to assess the habitual diet in eight overweight adolescents with the Down’s syndrome living in the South Region of Tocantins State. These adolescents are between 10 and 19 years of age. To instrumentalize the referred assessment, the Food Frequency Questionnaire for Dieta de adolescentes com Síndrome de Down Adolescents was applied and it was compared with the Adapted Food Pyramid recommendations. It was observed 82% of the adolescents used to eat less than the recommended amount of the vegetables and cereal/bread/tubers/roots; 68% eat less fruits and 87% eat less milk/dairy products groups. It was also detected an exaggeration in the consumption of grains, meat/eggs and sugar/candy groups. It was concluded that the adolescents habitually keep a diet out of the pattern considered healthy. It’s predominantly easy chewing food and high in calories, what may bring risks of getting overweight and even obese. Thus, it’s vital to go through an eating re-education process, in which the family has participation, so that changes in the eating habits may be achieved.

  1. Lowering the Risk of Rectal Cancer among Habitual Beer Drinkers by Dietary Means

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel Kune

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Whole-life beer consumption and a quantitative measurement of several dietary micronutrients consumed in adult life were obtained from the dietary and alcohol data of the case-control arm of the population-based Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study. There was a statistically significant risk, adjusted for other established risk factors, among habitual beer drinkers (AOR 1.75, 95% CI 1.28–2.41 with a significant positive dose-response effect (AOR trend 1.34, 95% CI 1.16–1.55. Among beer consumers the data were interpreted as showing an attenuation of this risk with consumption of the four micronutrients involved in methylation: folate, methionine, vitamins B6 and B12, and the four micronutrients examined with antioxidant properties: selenium, vitamins E, C, and lycopene. The strongest effects were noted with vitamins E, C, and lycopene, and the weakest with methionine and selenium. Whilst not condoning excessive beer drinking, the regular consumption of foods rich in these micronutrients may provide a simple and harmless preventative strategy among persistent habitual beer drinkers and deserves further study with larger study numbers.

  2. Music and Video Gaming during Breaks: Influence on Habitual versus Goal-Directed Decision Making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Shuyan; Schad, Daniel J; Kuschpel, Maxim S; Rapp, Michael A; Heinz, Andreas

    2016-01-01

    Different systems for habitual versus goal-directed control are thought to underlie human decision-making. Working memory is known to shape these decision-making systems and their interplay, and is known to support goal-directed decision making even under stress. Here, we investigated if and how decision systems are differentially influenced by breaks filled with diverse everyday life activities known to modulate working memory performance. We used a within-subject design where young adults listened to music and played a video game during breaks interleaved with trials of a sequential two-step Markov decision task, designed to assess habitual as well as goal-directed decision making. Based on a neurocomputational model of task performance, we observed that for individuals with a rather limited working memory capacity video gaming as compared to music reduced reliance on the goal-directed decision-making system, while a rather large working memory capacity prevented such a decline. Our findings suggest differential effects of everyday activities on key decision-making processes.

  3. Corticostriatal connectivity underlies individual differences in the balance between habitual and goal-directed action control

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wit, S. de; Watson, A.J.P.; Harsay, H.A.; Cohen, M.X.; Vijver, I. van de; Ridderinkhof, K.R.

    2012-01-01

    Why are some individuals more susceptible to the formation of inflexible habits than others? In the present study, we used diffusion tensor imaging to demonstrate that brain connectivity predicts individual differences in relative goal-directed and habitual behavioral control in humans.

  4. Habituation Model of Implementing Environmental Education in Elementary School

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zaenuri, Z.; Sudarmin, S.; Utomo, Y.

    2017-01-01

    is designed using a qualitative approach. This study is focused on the implementation of environmental education in primary schools. Data collection uses observation sheet instrument (observation), focused interview, and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The research data were analyzed descriptively. The results......The purpose of this study is to analyze the implementation of environmental education in Elementary School. The study was conducted at SDN 1 Kota Banda Aceh. The research subjects are school residents (students, teachers, education personnel, principals, and school committees). This research...... show that the implementation of environmental education can be realized in habituation to maintain personal hygiene, class cleanliness, and worship together according to his beliefs and sports....

  5. Longitudinal association between habitual walking and fall occurrences among community-dwelling older adults: analyzing the different risks of falling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okubo, Yoshiro; Seino, Satoshi; Yabushita, Noriko; Osuka, Yosuke; Jung, Songee; Nemoto, Miyuki; Figueroa, Rafael; Tanaka, Kiyoji

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the association between habitual walking and multiple or injurious falls (falls) among community-dwelling older adults, by considering the relative risk of falling. A cohort of Japanese community-dwelling older adults (n=535) aged 60-91 years (73.1±6.6 year, 157 men and 378 women) who underwent community-based health check-ups from 2008 to 2012 were followed until 2013. Incidence rate of falls between walkers and non-walkers was compared separately by the number of risk factors (Groups R0, R1, R2, R3 and R4+). The Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the association between habitual walking and falls separately by lower- (Rrisk groups. In Groups R0 and R1, the incidence of falls was lower in walkers than non-walkers; however, in Groups R2, R3, and R4+, the incidence of falls was higher in walkers. The Cox proportional hazard model showed that habitual walking was not significantly associated with falls (hazard ratio (HR): 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.48-1.62) among the lower risk group but that it was significantly associated with increased falls (HR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.04-3.43) among the higher risk group. The significant interaction between habitual walking and higher risk of falling was found (Prisk factors for falling, caution is needed when recommending walking because walking can actually increase their risk of experiencing multiple or injurious falls. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Habitual condom use across partner type and sexual position among younger gay and bisexual men: findings from New Zealand HIV behavioural surveillance 2006-2011.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lachowsky, N J; Dewey, C E; Dickson, N P; Saxton, P J W; Hughes, A J; Milhausen, R R; Summerlee, A J S

    2015-09-01

    Our objectives were to investigate demographic and behavioural factors associated with condom use and to examine how habitual condom use was across partner types and sexual positions among younger men who have sex with men (YMSM), aged 16-29, surveyed in New Zealand. We analysed the 2006-2011 national HIV behavioural surveillance data from YMSM who reported anal intercourse in four scenarios of partner type and sexual position: casual insertive, casual receptive, regular insertive and regular receptive. For each, respondents' condom use was classified as frequent (always/almost always) or otherwise, with associated factors identified with multivariate mixed-effect logistic regression. Habitual condom use across scenarios was examined using a latent variable technique that estimated the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Frequent condom use was reported for 63.6% of 5153 scenarios reported from 2412 YMSM. Frequent use increased from boyfriend to fuckbuddy to casual partners. Infrequent use was associated with online recruitment, Pacific ethnicity, less education, HIV positivity, sex with women, having ≥20 sexual partners versus 1 and reporting insertive and receptive sexual positions. Frequent condom use was associated with having two to five sexual partners versus one and shorter regular partnerships. The ICC=0.865 indicated highly habitual patterns of use; habitual infrequent condom use was most prevalent with regular partners (53.3%) and habitual frequent condom use was most prevalent with casual partners (70.2%) and for either sexual position (50.5% and 49.1%). Habitual condom use among YMSM highlights the value of early, engaging and sustained condom promotion. Public health should provide better and more compelling condom education, training and promotion for YMSM. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  7. Isotope disequilibria 4n series in the Morro do Ferro System, Pocos de Caldas (MG)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonotto, D.M.; Fujimori, K.

    1986-01-01

    Thorium isotopic analyses were performed on well spoils of the main ore body at Morro do Ferro, Pocos de Caldas (MG), on groundwaters from several boreholes in the area and surface waters from a stream that originates at the base of the hill. For extraction of thorium a long chemical process was applied to samples; activities of Th-228 and Th-232 isotopes (4n series) were determined by alpha spectrometry method. The rations Th-228/Th-232 determined for well spoils did not show marked disequilibria between these isotopes. In ground and surface waters, the ratios Th-228/Th-232 showed marked isotopic fractionation between these nuclides, not related to selective leaching of Th-228 in relation to Th-232 or recoil of Th-228 nucleons. (author) [pt

  8. Revisiting Pocos de Caldas. Application of the co-precipitation approach to establish realistic solubility limits for performance assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruno, J.; Duro, L.; Jordana, S.; Cera, E.

    1996-02-01

    Solubility limits constitute a critical parameter for the determination of the mobility of radionuclides in the near field and the geosphere, and consequently for the performance assessment of nuclear waste repositories. Mounting evidence from natural system studies indicate that trace elements, and consequently radionuclides, are associated to the dynamic cycling of major geochemical components. We have recently developed a thermodynamic approach to take into consideration the co-precipitation and co-dissolution processes that mainly control this linkage. The approach has been tested in various natural system studies with encouraging results. The Pocos de Caldas natural analogue was one of the sites where a full testing of our predictive geochemical modelling capabilities were done during the analogue project. We have revisited the Pocos de Caldas data and expanded the trace element solubility calculations by considering the documented trace metal/major ion interactions. This has been done by using the co-precipitation/co-dissolution approach. The outcome is as follows: A satisfactory modelling of the behaviour of U, Zn and REEs is achieved by assuming co-precipitation with ferrihydrite. Strontium concentrations are apparently controlled by its co-dissolution from Sr-rich fluorites. From the performance assessment point of view, the present work indicates that calculated solubility limits using the co-precipitation approach are in close agreement with the actual trace element concentrations. Furthermore, the calculated radionuclide concentrations are 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than conservative solubility limits calculated by assuming equilibrium with individual trace element phases. 34 refs, 18 figs, 13 tabs

  9. Revisiting Pocos de Caldas. Application of the co-precipitation approach to establish realistic solubility limits for performance assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bruno, J.; Duro, L.; Jordana, S.; Cera, E. [QuantiSci, Barcelona (Spain)

    1996-02-01

    Solubility limits constitute a critical parameter for the determination of the mobility of radionuclides in the near field and the geosphere, and consequently for the performance assessment of nuclear waste repositories. Mounting evidence from natural system studies indicate that trace elements, and consequently radionuclides, are associated to the dynamic cycling of major geochemical components. We have recently developed a thermodynamic approach to take into consideration the co-precipitation and co-dissolution processes that mainly control this linkage. The approach has been tested in various natural system studies with encouraging results. The Pocos de Caldas natural analogue was one of the sites where a full testing of our predictive geochemical modelling capabilities were done during the analogue project. We have revisited the Pocos de Caldas data and expanded the trace element solubility calculations by considering the documented trace metal/major ion interactions. This has been done by using the co-precipitation/co-dissolution approach. The outcome is as follows: A satisfactory modelling of the behaviour of U, Zn and REEs is achieved by assuming co-precipitation with ferrihydrite. Strontium concentrations are apparently controlled by its co-dissolution from Sr-rich fluorites. From the performance assessment point of view, the present work indicates that calculated solubility limits using the co-precipitation approach are in close agreement with the actual trace element concentrations. Furthermore, the calculated radionuclide concentrations are 2-4 orders of magnitude lower than conservative solubility limits calculated by assuming equilibrium with individual trace element phases. 34 refs, 18 figs, 13 tabs.

  10. Bringing up condom use and using condoms with new sexual partners : Intentional or habitual?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yzer, M.C; Siero, F.W.; Buunk, Abraham (Bram)

    2001-01-01

    A prospective study of 94 Dutch adults who have casual sexual partners examined whether two important aspects of safe sex. namely bringing up condom use (BCU) and actual condom use (ACU) are intentional or habitual. For each of these aspects, a model based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB:

  11. Articulaciones público-privada para la oferta educativa: encantamientos, sospechas, tensiones Public-private partnerships for provision of education: enchantments, suspicions, tensions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfredo Astorga

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available El tema de articulaciones público-privadas se ha extendido, especialmente en educación, con más discurso que prácticas. Entre los actores los desacuerdos superan todavía a las convergencias. La visión de lo público, como lo colectivo y no solo estatal, facilita las articulaciones al colocar a todos los actores como responsables, con roles particulares, insustituibles. En educación, bien público por excelencia, se abren caminos para una nueva cultura de diálogo entre actores del Estado, sector empresarial y sociedad civil. Es preciso disolver encantamientos y sospechas para afrontar las articulaciones, transparentando su dimensión política. La defensa de los derechos constituye el corazón de las articulaciones y la exigibilidad - que implica participación integral y permanente - su línea maestra. Este enfoque confiere a las articulaciones un carácter estratégico y posibilita encarnar los derechos en las grandes y cotidianas conquistas por la calidad-equidad en la educación.The theme of public-private partnerships, especially in education, has been disseminated much more through speeches than practice. Among players, disagreements far outnumber convergences. Seeing public as collective, not only state-owned, facilitates partnerships, since all players thus become responsible and are given particular, irreplaceable roles. In education, the common good par excellence, paths have been developed that allow for a new dialog culture among the State, entrepreneurs and the civil society. Enchantments and suspicions must be allayed to deal with these partnerships and reveal their political dimension. Defending rights is at the heart of such partnerships and enforceability - which implies total and permanent participation - is their master line. Such focus endows these partnerships with a strategic feature and allows to insert rights among the important, daily conquests towards quality-equity in education.

  12. Effects of Mat Pilates training and habitual physical activity on thoracoabdominal expansion during quiet and vital capacity breathing in healthy women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campos, Jeniffer L; Vancini, Rodrigo L; Zanoni, Graziely R; Barbosa DE Lira, Claudio A; Santos Andrade, Marilia; Sarro, Karine J

    2017-10-27

    Pilates is a body/mind method that requires different types of exercise (balance, endurance, strength, and flexibility) and attention to muscle control, posture, and breathing. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of 12 weeks of Mat Pilates training and habitual physical activity on thoracoabdominal motion of healthy and physically active women. Thirty-five women without experience in Pilates exercise, aged between 18 and 35 years, participated in the study (habitual physical activity group, n=14; and Mat Pilates group, n=21). Three- dimensional kinematic analysis was used to evaluate total and separate thoracoabdominal compartments' expansion (superior and inferior thorax and abdomen), contribution of each compartment to total thoracoabdominal expansion, and coordination between thoracoabdominal compartments. After 12 weeks of Mat Pilates training, thoracoabdominal expansion during quiet breathing was improved by increasing the expansion of abdomen by about 33% (P=0.01). Moreover, expansion of superior (P=0.04) and inferior thorax (P=0.02) and abdomen (P=0.01) was also improved in Pilates (35%, 33% and 37%, respectively) compared to the habitual physical activity group, after the experimental protocol. Finally, the habitual physical activity group presented a decrease of 13% in the expansion of abdomen (P = 0.002). The results suggest the capability of Mat Pilates in improving the action of respiratory and abdominal muscles during breathing and, thus, its benefits to breathing mechanics.

  13. The average concentrations of 226Ra and 210Pb in foodstuff cultivated in the Pocos de Caldas plateau

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hollanda Vasconcellos, L.M. de.

    1984-01-01

    The average concentrations of 226 Ra and 210 Pb in vegetables cultivated in the Pocos de Caldas plateau, mainly potatoes, carrots, beans and corn and the estimation of the average transfer factors soil-foodstuff for both radionuclides, were performed. The total 226 Ra and 210 Pb content in the soil was determined by gamma spectrometry. The exchangeable fraction was obtained by the classical radon emanation procedure and the 210 Pb was isolated by a radiochemical procedure and determined by radiometry of its daughter 210 Bi beta emissions with a Geiger Muller Counter. (M.A.C.) [pt

  14. Pre-test habituation improves the reliability of a handheld test of mechanical nociceptive threshold in dairy cows

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Raundal, P. M.; Andersen, P. H.; Toft, Nils

    2015-01-01

    Mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT) testing has been used to investigate aspects of painful states in bovine claws. We investigated a handheld tool, where the applied stimulation force was monitored continuously relative to a pre-encoded based target force. The effect on MNT of two pre-testing...... habituation procedures was performed in two different experiments comprising a total of 88 sound Holsteins dairy cows kept either inside or outside their home environment. MNT testing was performed using five consecutive mechanical nociceptive stimulations per cow per test at a fixed pre-encoded target rate...... of 2.1 N/s. The habituation procedure performed in dairy cows kept in their home environment led to lowered intra-individual coefficient of variation of MNT (P test...

  15. Not all mice are equal: welfare implications of behavioural habituation profiles in four 129 mouse substrains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hetty Boleij

    Full Text Available Safeguarding the welfare of animals is an important aim when defining housing and management standards in animal based, experimental research. While such standards are usually defined per animal species, it is known that considerable differences between laboratory mouse strains exist, for example with regard to their emotional traits. Following earlier experiments, in which we found that 129P3 mice show a lack of habituation of anxiety related behaviour after repeated exposure to an initially novel environment (non-adaptive profile, we here investigated four other 129 inbred mouse substrains (129S2/SvPas, 129S2/SvHsd (exp 1; 129P2 and 129X1 (exp 2 on habituation of anxiety related behaviour. Male mice of each strain were repeatedly placed in the modified hole board test, measuring anxiety-related behaviour, exploratory and locomotor behaviour. The results reveal that all four substrains show a lack of habituation behaviour throughout the period of testing. Although not in all of the substrains a possible confounding effect of general activity can be excluded, our findings suggest that the genetic background of the 129 substrains may increase their vulnerability to cope with environmental challenges, such as exposure to novelty. This vulnerability might negatively affect the welfare of these mice under standard laboratory conditions when compared with other strains. Based on our findings we suggest to consider (substrain-specific guidelines and protocols, taking the (substrain-specific adaptive capabilities into account.

  16. Does the habitual mastication side impact jaw muscle activity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turcio, Karina Helga Leal; Zuim, Paulo Renato Junqueira; Guiotti, Aimée Maria; Dos Santos, Daniela Micheline; Goiato, Marcelo Coelho; Brandini, Daniela Atili

    2016-07-01

    To compare electrical activity in the anterior temporal and masseter muscles on the habitual (HMS) and non-habitual mastication side (NHMS), during mastication and in the mandibular postural position. In addition, the increase in electrical activity during mastication was assessed for the HMS and NHMS, analysing both working (WSM) and non-working side during mastication (NWSM). A total of 28 healthy women (18-32 years) participated in the study. They were submitted to Kazazoglu's test to identify the HMS. Bioresearch 'Bio EMG' software and bipolar surface electrodes were used in the exams. The exams were conducted in the postural position and during the unilateral mastication of raisins, on both the HMS and NHMS. The working and non-working side on HMS and NHMS were assessed separately. The obtained data were then statistically analysed with SPSS 20.0, using the Paired Samples Test at a significance level of 95%. The differences in the average EMG values between HMS and NHMS were not statistically significant in the postural position (Temporal p=0.2; Masseter p=0.4) or during mastication (Temporal WSM p=0.8; Temporal NWSM p=0.8; Masseter WSM p=0.6; Masseter NWSM p=0.2). Differences in the increase in electrical activity between the masseter and temporal muscles occurred on the working side, on the HMS and NHMS (p=0.0), but not on the non-working side: HMS (p=0.9) and NHMS (p=0.3). The increase in electrical activity was about 35% higher in the masseter than in the temporal muscle. Mastication side preference does not significantly impact electrical activity of the anterior temporal and masseter muscles during mastication or in postural position. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  17. Modelling of redox front and uranium movement in a uranium mine at Pocos de Caldas, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cross, J.E.; Gabriel, D.S.; Haworth, A.; Sharland, S.M.; Tweed, C.J.

    1991-04-01

    A study of the migration of uranium at the Pocos de Caldas uranium mine in Brazil under the influence of the infiltration of oxidising groundwaters has been performed. The modelling was carried out using the coupled chemical equilibria/transport code CHEQMATE. The work presented in this paper extends a previous study. Results give some encouraging agreements with field data, generally increasing confidence in the use of such modelling techniques in problems associated with the migration of radionuclides away from a nuclear waste repository. For particular aspects of the problem where good agreement with field data was not obtained, a number of reasons have been suggested. This study also highlights the importance of accurate thermodynamic data and choice of solubility-limiting mineral phases for modelling such systems. (author)

  18. Habitual sugar intake and cognitive function among middle-aged and older Puerto Ricans without diabetes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Intake of added sugars, mainly fructose and sucrose, has been associated with risk factors for cognitive impairment, such as obesity, the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The objective of this analysis was to examine whether habitual intakes of total sugars, added sugars, sugar-sweetened bev...

  19. Dopamine Receptor DOP-4 Modulates Habituation to Repetitive Photoactivation of a "C. elegans" Polymodal Nociceptor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardiel, Evan L.; Giles, Andrew C.; Yu, Alex J.; Lindsay, Theodore H.; Lockery, Shawn R.; Rankin, Catharine H.

    2016-01-01

    Habituation is a highly conserved phenomenon that remains poorly understood at the molecular level. Invertebrate model systems, like "Caenorhabditis elegans," can be a powerful tool for investigating this fundamental process. Here we established a high-throughput learning assay that used real-time computer vision software for behavioral…

  20. Influence of long-term intake of alcohol on computed tomography. Chronic alcoholics and habitual drinkers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mikami, Akihiro; Watanabe, Hiroshi; Hashimoto, Hirosuke; Kato, Iwao; Watanabe, Eiiti [Watanabe Hospital, Hakodate, Hokkaido (Japan)

    1983-08-01

    CT findings of the head in 120 chronic alcoholics aged 30 to 69 yrs. were compared with those of 93 controls matched in age. The patient group showed a definitely higher incidence of dilatation of the brain surface and the ventricular system. The dilatation in the patients had no preferred site, both the brain surface and ventricular system being affected in most cases. In the patients no constant relation was noted between CT findings and the presence or absence of withdrawal symptoms, intellectual impairement, hepatic dysfunction or malnutrition. CT abnormality was not always reflected on EEG in the patients. The reversibility of abnormal CT could not be confirmed. CT findings of habitual drinkers (35 subjects in their 50s) living with no social or familial trouble were compared with those of non-drinkers (35 subjects in the same generation). The incidence of dilatation of various regions and the frequency of such cases in the habitual drinkers were definitely higher than those of the non-drinkers.

  1. Individual differences in the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal predict the reward-related processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sai, Liyang; Wang, Sisi; Ward, Anne; Ku, Yixuan; Sang, Biao

    2015-01-01

    Recent studies have shown that instructed cognitive reappraisal can regulate the neural processing of reward. However, it is still unclear whether the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal in everyday life is related to brain activity involved in reward processing. In the present study, participants' neural responses to reward were measured using electroencephalography (EEG) recorded during a gambling task and their tendency to use cognitive reappraisal was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that losses on the gambling task elicited greater negative reward-related feedback negativity (FN) than gains. The differential FN between losses and gains was significantly correlated with cognitive reappraisal scores across participants such that individuals with a higher tendency to use cognitive reappraisal showed stronger reward processing (i.e., amplified FN difference between losses and gains). This correlation remained significant after controlling for expressive suppression scores. However, expressive suppression per se was not correlated with FN differences. Taken together, these results suggest that the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal is associated with increased neural processing of reward.

  2. Music and Video Gaming during Breaks: Influence on Habitual versus Goal-Directed Decision Making.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuyan Liu

    Full Text Available Different systems for habitual versus goal-directed control are thought to underlie human decision-making. Working memory is known to shape these decision-making systems and their interplay, and is known to support goal-directed decision making even under stress. Here, we investigated if and how decision systems are differentially influenced by breaks filled with diverse everyday life activities known to modulate working memory performance. We used a within-subject design where young adults listened to music and played a video game during breaks interleaved with trials of a sequential two-step Markov decision task, designed to assess habitual as well as goal-directed decision making. Based on a neurocomputational model of task performance, we observed that for individuals with a rather limited working memory capacity video gaming as compared to music reduced reliance on the goal-directed decision-making system, while a rather large working memory capacity prevented such a decline. Our findings suggest differential effects of everyday activities on key decision-making processes.

  3. La visión fantasiosa/caballeresca de Don Quijote poco representada en la iconografía

    OpenAIRE

    Calabrese, Martín Ezequiel

    2017-01-01

    En el presente trabajo se analizará un aspecto un tanto curioso de la representación iconográfica del Quijote. En casi la totalidad de las ediciones de la obra se omite representar la “realidad” percibida por don Quijote, optando por graficar la representación realista de los hechos narrados. En los diferentes modelos iconográficos de las ediciones de la obra este aspecto es común, ya que ante el texto, la decisión habitual de los editores e ilustradores es mostrar a don Quijote como “es” den...

  4. Fourth natural analogue working group meeting and Pocos de Caldas project final workshop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Come, B.; Chapman, N.A.

    1991-01-01

    The fourth meeting of the CEC-sponsored natural analogue working group (NAWG) was held in Pitlochry, Scotland, from 18 to 22 June 1990, and also included the final workshop of the Pocos de Caldas (Brazil) natural analogue project, sponsored by Nagra (CH), SKB (S) UK-DOE and US-DOE. About 80 specialists attended this meeting, originating from EC Member States and also Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. The IAEA and OCDE-NEA were also represented. This plenary meeting was the opportunity to review and discuss five years of progress and activities of natural analogues in central areas of performance assessment: waste forms and engineered barriers, geochemistry and radionuclide speciation, radionuclide migration and the overall geological context of radwaste disposal. In addition, a feedback session provided the opportunity for regulators and those individuals who had advisory roles to give their views and impressions on the significance of natural analogue research. These proceedings, divided into two sessions, contain 32 technical papers and 14 abstracts of published papers

  5. Habituation of enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus to Origanum vulgare L. essential oil does not induce direct-tolerance and cross-tolerance to salts and organic acids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adassa Gama Tavares

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus strains that were isolated from foods were investigated for their ability to develop direct-tolerance and cross-tolerance to sodium chloride (NaCl, potassium chloride (KCl, lactic acid (LA and acetic acid (AA after habituation in sublethal amounts (1/2 of the minimum inhibitory concentration - 1/2 MIC and 1/4 of the minimum inhibitory concentration - 1/4 MIC of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil (OVEO. The habituation of S. aureus to 1/2 MIC and 1/4 MIC of OVEO did not induce direct-tolerance or cross-tolerance in the tested strains, as assessed by modulation of MIC values. Otherwise, exposing the strains to OVEO at sublethal concentrations maintained or increased the sensitivity of the cells to the tested stressing agents because the MIC values of OVEO, NaCl, KCl, LA and AA against the cells that were previously habituated to OVEO remained the same or decreased when compared with non-habituated cells. These data indicate that OVEO does not have an inductive effect on the acquisition of direct-tolerance or cross-tolerance in the tested enterotoxigenic strains of S. aureus to antimicrobial agents that are typically used in food preservation.

  6. Words to Sleep On: Naps Facilitate Verb Generalization in Habitually and Nonhabitually Napping Preschoolers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandoval, Michelle; Leclerc, Julia A.; Gómez, Rebecca L.

    2017-01-01

    A nap soon after encoding leads to better learning in infancy. However, whether napping plays the same role in preschoolers' learning is unclear. In Experiment 1 (N = 39), 3-year-old habitual and nonhabitual nappers learned novel verbs before a nap or a period of wakefulness and received a generalization test examining word extension to novel…

  7. Habitual plate-waste of 6- to 9-year-olds may not be associated with lower nutritional needs or taste acuity, but undesirable dietary factors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baik, Ji-Yoon; Lee, Hongmie

    2009-12-01

    Efforts to reduce plate-waste (PW) are limited to those by a dietitian who serves the entire school rather than a better characterization of individuals who are served. We tested the hypothesis that children reporting habitual PW would have different physical or dietary characteristics compared with children without PW. Participants were 407 children aged 6 to 9 years in elementary schools in Kyeonggi, Korea. Information on eating behavior and food preference was collected using a questionnaire administered by parents. Among them, 91 students participated further in anthropometry, step counting, taste acuity tests, and nutrition intake from school lunches. Participants were divided into tertiles according to total frequency of leaving PW from each meal on a typical day: no PW, moderate PW, and habitual PW. Children with habitual PW showed several undesirable characteristics: consuming less of various vegetables, eating only what they like, poor table manners, and frequent consumption of street foods and cookies/beverages/fast foods. Whereas height, weight, and obesity index as well as taste acuity and daily steps in the habitual PW group were not significantly different, intakes of potassium, niacin, and folate were significantly lower compared with the other groups. Therefore, habitual PW did not seem to result from having a lower energy requirement or different taste acuity, or result in observed slowed growth, but it could place children at a risk for insufficient nutritional intake, consequently impairing growth and general health. The results emphasize the parental role in shaping children's diet and provide information for developing strategies to reduce PW of individual children.

  8. Cocaine Conditioned Behavior: A Cocaine Memory Trace or an Anti-Habituation Effect

    OpenAIRE

    Carey, Robert J.; Damianopoulos, Ernest N.; Shanahan, Arielle B.

    2008-01-01

    Whether cocaine locomotor conditioning represents a cocaine positive effect; i.e., a Pavlovian cocaine conditioned response; or, a cocaine negative effect; i.e., interference with habituation to the test environment, is a subject of some controversy. Three separate experiments were conducted to compare the behavior (locomotion and grooming) of separate groups of rats given 1, 9 or 14 cocaine (10 mg/kg) treatments paired/unpaired with placement into an open-field arena. The behavior of the coc...

  9. Development, validation and implementation of a quantitative food frequency questionnaire to assess habitual vitamin D intake

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kiely, M.; Collins, A.; Lucey, A. J.

    2016-01-01

    Background A well-designed, validated quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) could offer an efficient and cost-effective method for assessing habitual vitamin D intake. The present study aimed to describe the development, validation and implementation of a vitamin D FFQ. Methods National...

  10. SHORT COMMUNICATION: Reduction of Spirometric Lung Function Tests in Habitually Smoking Healthy Young Adults: It’s Correlation with Pack Years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sumangala M Patil

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Adolescent smoking and the subsequent health problems are a major concern today. However there are very few studies done on spirometric lung functions and its relation with pack years in young adult habitual smokers who are apparently healthy. Aims and Objectives: The present study is undertaken to assess the change in lung functions in apparently healthy young adult habitual smokers compared to their age matched controls. Materials and Methods: A random sample of apparently healthy young adult habitual smokers (n=40 and nonsmokers (n=40 between age group17-35 years with history suggesting of pack years of 2-10 years were selected from students & employee’s of B.L.D.E.U’s Sri B.M. Patil Medical College,Hospital & Research Centre Bijapur (Karnataka, India. Spirometric lung functions recorded were forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1, FEV1%, Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR and Maximal expiratory pressure (MEP. Results: The results suggested that inapparently healthy habitual smokers there was significant decrease in FEV1 (L (-13.34%, p<0.001, FEV1 % (-10.76%, p<0.001, PEFR (-45.26%, p<0.0001 and MEP (-35.51%, p<0.0001 compared to nonsmokers and decrease in FEV1 was negatively correlated withpack years in smokers (r2=0.063, p=0.001. Reduced lung functions and negative correlation to pack years may be attributed todecreased airway diameter & reflex broncho- constriction in response to inhaled smoke particles. Conclusions: In conclusion young adulthabitual smokers who were apparently healthy are more prone for respiratory dysfunction than their nonsmoker counterparts. FEV1 reduction in relation to pack years acts as an important determinant for detecting lung dysfunction in the early stage of the disease. As the risk of having smoking related diseases depends mainly on number of pack years, it is suggested that quitting smoking earliest helps to get greatest health benefits in apparently healthy young adult habitual smokers.

  11. Gustatory Habituation in "Drosophila" Relies on "Rutabaga" (Adenylate Cyclase)-Dependent Plasticity of GABAergic Inhibitory Neurons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paranjpe, Pushkar; Rodrigues, Veronica; VijayRaghavan, K.; Ramaswami, Mani

    2012-01-01

    In some situations, animals seem to ignore stimuli which in other contexts elicit a robust response. This attenuation in behavior, which enables animals to ignore a familiar, unreinforced stimulus, is called habituation. Despite the ubiquity of this phenomenon, it is generally poorly understood in terms of the underlying neural circuitry. Hungry…

  12. Habitual physical activity and the risk for depressive and anxiety disorders among older men and women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasco, Julie A; Williams, Lana J; Jacka, Felice N; Henry, Margaret J; Coulson, Carolyn E; Brennan, Sharon L; Leslie, Eva; Nicholson, Geoffrey C; Kotowicz, Mark A; Berk, Michael

    2011-03-01

    Regular physical activity is generally associated with psychological well-being, although there are relatively few prospective studies in older adults. We investigated habitual physical activity as a risk factor for de novo depressive and anxiety disorders in older men and women from the general population. In this nested case-control study, subjects aged 60 years or more were identified from randomly selected cohorts being followed prospectively in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study. Cases were individuals with incident depressive or anxiety disorders, diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR (SCID-I/NP); controls had no history of these disorders. Habitual physical activity, measured using a validated questionnaire, and other exposures were documented at baseline, approximately four years prior to psychiatric interviews. Those with depressive or anxiety disorders that pre-dated baseline were excluded. Of 547 eligible subjects, 14 developed de novo depressive or anxiety disorders and were classified as cases; 533 controls remained free of disease. Physical activity was protective against the likelihood of depressive and anxiety disorders; OR = 0.55 (95% CI 0.32-0.94), p = 0.03; each standard deviation increase in the transformed physical activity score was associated with an approximate halving in the likelihood of developing depressive or anxiety disorders. Leisure-time physical activity contributed substantially to the overall physical activity score. Age, gender, smoking, alcohol consumption, weight and socioeconomic status did not substantially confound the association. This study provides evidence consistent with the notion that higher levels of habitual physical activity are protective against the subsequent risk of development of de novo depressive and anxiety disorders.

  13. Evaluation of NORM concentration in water treatment of Pocos de Caldas municipality, MG, Brazil: preliminary results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferreira, Adriano Mota; Villegas, Raul A.S.; Fukuma, Henrique Takuji

    2014-01-01

    NORM is the acronym used to refer to naturally occurring radioactive materials. Besides being objects of study and monitoring such materials can be used as raw material or as by-products or waste of industrial activities. Oil and gas, mining and water treatment are examples of facilities that can handle NORM. In such cases, their concentration at significant levels from the perspective of environmental and occupational radiation protection may occur. This study aims to evaluate the presence of the natural radioactive 238 U and 232 Th series in the treatment of city water elements Pocos de Caldas - MG (water, materials and waste). The study can serve as an indication of the necessity of a more detailed review in the locally and in the country on this radiological issue. (author)

  14. Habitual chocolate consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease among healthy men and women

    OpenAIRE

    Kwok, Chun Shing; Boekholdt, S Matthijs; Lentjes, Marleen A H; Loke, Yoon K; Luben, Robert N; Yeong, Jessica K; Wareham, Nicholas J; Myint, Phyo K; Khaw, Kay-Tee

    2015-01-01

    Objective: To examine the association between chocolate intake and the risk of future cardiovascular events. Methods: We conducted a prospective study using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort. Habitual chocolate intake was quantified using the baseline food frequency questionnaire (1993–1997) and cardiovascular end points were ascertained up to March 2008. A systematic review was performed to evaluate chocolate consumption and cardiovascular out...

  15. Association between habitual daytime napping and metabolic syndrome: a population-based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Diaozhu; Sun, Kan; Li, Feng; Qi, Yiqin; Ren, Meng; Huang, Chulin; Tang, Juying; Xue, Shengneng; Li, Yan; Yan, Li

    2014-12-01

    Our objective was to evaluate the association between habitual daytime napping and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. We conducted a population-based study of 8,547 subjects aged 40 years or older. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to a harmonized definition from a joint statement and the recommended thresholds for the Chinese population. Information about sleep duration was self-reported. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the no daytime napping group, the 0 to 1 hour daytime napping group and the more than 1 hour daytime napping group were 35.0%, 36.0% and 44.5% among the females (Pnapping hours were positively associated with parameters of metabolic syndrome in the female subjects, including waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides and fasting plasma glucose (Pnapping females, napping for more than 1 hour was independently associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio 1.39, 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.72). Compared to the female subjects in the no daytime napping group, those habitually napped for more than 1 hour exhibited 46% and 26% increases in the prevalence of central obesity and hypertriglyceridemia (all Pnapping hours and metabolic syndrome among the male subjects. Daytime napping is associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged non-obese Chinese women. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  16. Acute personalized habitual caffeine doses improve attention and have selective effects when considering the fractionation of executive functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lanini, Juliana; Galduróz, José Carlos Fernandes; Pompéia, Sabine

    2016-01-01

    Caffeine is widely used, often consumed with food, and improves simple and complex/executive attention under fasting conditions. We investigated whether these cognitive effects are observed when personalized habitual doses of caffeine are ingested by caffeine consumers, whether they are influenced by nutriments and if various executive domains are susceptible to improvement. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled study including 60 young, healthy, rested males randomly assigned to one of four treatments: placebo fasting, caffeine fasting, placebo meal and caffeine meal. Caffeine doses were individualized for each participant based on their self-reported caffeine consumption at the time of testing (morning). The test battery included measures of simple and sustained attention, executive domains (inhibiting, updating, shifting, dual tasking, planning and accessing long-term memory), control measures of subjective alterations, glucose and insulin levels, skin conductance, heart rate and pupil dilation. Regardless of meal intake, acute habitual doses of caffeine decreased fatigue, and improved simple and sustained attention and executive updating. This executive effect was not secondary to the habitual weekly dose consumed, changes in simple and sustained attention, mood, meal ingestion and increases in cognitive effort. We conclude that the morning caffeine "fix" has positive attentional effects and selectively improved executive updating whether or not caffeine is consumed with food. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  17. Association between habitual dietary intake and lipoprotein subclass profile in healthy young adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogl, L H; Pietiläinen, K H; Rissanen, A; Kangas, A J; Soininen, P; Rose, R J; Ala-Korpela, M; Kaprio, J

    2013-11-01

    Nutritional epidemiology is increasingly shifting its focus from studying single nutrients to the exploration of the whole diet utilizing dietary pattern analysis. We analyzed associations between habitual diet (including macronutrients, dietary patterns, biomarker of fish intake) and lipoprotein particle subclass profile in young adults. Complete dietary data (food-frequency questionnaire) and lipoprotein subclass profile (via nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) were available for 663 subjects from the population-based FinnTwin12 study (57% women, age: 21-25 y). The serum docosahexaenoic to total fatty acid ratio was used as a biomarker of habitual fish consumption. Factor analysis identified 5 dietary patterns: "Fruit and vegetables", "Meat", "Sweets and desserts", "Junk food" and "Fish". After adjustment for sex, age, body mass index, waist circumference, physical activity, smoking status and alcohol intake, the "Junk food" pattern was positively related to serum triglycerides (r = 0.12, P = 0.002), a shift in the subclass distribution of VLDL toward larger particles (r = 0.12 for VLDL size, P consumption is related to favorable subclass distributions of VLDL and HDL, while junk food intake is associated with unfavorable alterations in the distribution of all lipoprotein subclasses independent of adiposity and other lifestyle factors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Habituation of the C-start response in larval zebrafish exhibits several distinct phases and sensitivity to NMDA receptor blockade.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam C Roberts

    Full Text Available The zebrafish larva has been a valuable model system for genetic and molecular studies of development. More recently, biologists have begun to exploit the surprisingly rich behavioral repertoire of zebrafish larvae to investigate behavior. One prominent behavior exhibited by zebrafish early in development is a rapid escape reflex (the C-start. This reflex is mediated by a relatively simple neural circuit, and is therefore an attractive model behavior for neurobiological investigations of simple forms of learning and memory. Here, we describe two forms of short-lived habituation of the C-start in response to brief pulses of auditory stimuli. A rapid form, persisting for ≥1 min but <15 min, was induced by 120 pulses delivered at 0.5-2.0 Hz. A more extended form (termed "short-term habituation" here, which persisted for ≥25 min but <1 h, was induced by spaced training. The spaced training consisted of 10 blocks of auditory pulses delivered at 1 Hz (5 min interblock interval, 900 pulses per block. We found that these two temporally distinguishable forms of habituation are mediated by different cellular mechanisms. The short-term form depends on activation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs, whereas the rapid form does not.

  19. Loss of EphA4 impairs short-term spatial recognition memory performance and locomotor habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willi, R; Winter, C; Wieske, F; Kempf, A; Yee, B K; Schwab, M E; Singer, P

    2012-11-01

    EphA4 receptor (EphA4) tyrosine kinase is an important regulator of central nervous system development and synaptic plasticity in the mature brain, but its relevance to the control of normal behavior remains largely unexplored. This study is the first attempt to obtain a behavioral profile of constitutive homozygous and heterozygous EphA4 knockout mice. A deficit in locomotor habituation in the open field, impairment in spatial recognition in the Y-maze and reduced probability of spatial spontaneous alternation in the T-maze were identified in homozygous EphA4(-/-) mice, while heterozygo us EphA4(+/-) mice appeared normal on these tests in comparison with wild-type (WT) controls. The multiple phenotypes observed in EphA4(-/-) mice might stem from an underlying deficit in habituation learning, reflecting an elementary form of nonassociative learning that is in contrast to Pavlovian associative learning, which appeared unaffected by EphA4 disruption. A deficit in motor coordination on the accelerating rotarod was also demonstrated only in EphA4(-/-) mice--a finding in keeping with the presence of abnormal gait in EphA4(-/-) mice--although they were able to improve performance over training. There was no evidence for substantial changes in major neurochemical markers in various brain regions rich in EphA4 as shown by post-mortem analysis. This excludes the possibility of major neurochemical compensation in the brain of EphA4(-/-) mice. In summary, we have demonstrated for the first time the behavioral significance of EphA4 disruption, supporting further investigation of EphA4 as a possible target for behavioral interventions where habituation deficits are prominent. © 2012 The Authors. Genes, Brain and Behavior © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

  20. The relationship between habitual breakfast consumption frequency and academic performance in British adolescents

    OpenAIRE

    Adolphus, K; Lawton, CL; Dye, L

    2015-01-01

    Breakfast has been shown to be beneficial for cognitive and academic performance in school children. However, there is a paucity of studies which examine the relationship between breakfast consumption and academic performance and a complete absence of studies in UK school children. The aim of this study, therefore, was to examine the association between habitual breakfast consumption frequency and Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) performance, a reasoning test routinely used in UK schools. Adole...

  1. Individual Differences in the Habitual Use of Cognitive Reappraisal Predict the Reward-related Feedback Negativity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liyang eSai

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies have shown that instructed cognitive reappraisal can regulate the neural processing of reward. However, it is still unclear whether the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal in everyday life can influence brain activity associated with reward processing. In the present study, participant’s neural responses to reward were measured using electroencephalography (EEG recorded during a gambling task, while their tendency to use cognitive reappraisal was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ. Event-related potential (ERP results indicated that losses on the gambling task elicited greater negative reward-related feedback negativity (FN than gains. The differential FN between losses and gains was significantly correlated with cognitive reappraisal scores across participants, such that individuals with a higher tendency to use cognitive reappraisal showed stronger reward processing (i.e. amplified FN difference between losses and gains. This correlation remained significant after controlling for expressive suppression scores. However, expressive suppression per se was not correlated with FN differences. Taken together, these results suggest that the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal influences the neural processing of reward.

  2. Effects of Surface Inclination on the Vertical Loading Rates and Landing Pattern during the First Attempt of Barefoot Running in Habitual Shod Runners

    OpenAIRE

    An, W.; Rainbow, M. J.; Cheung, R. T. H.

    2015-01-01

    Barefoot running has been proposed to reduce vertical loading rates, which is a risk factor of running injuries. Most of the previous studies evaluated runners on level surfaces. This study examined the effect of surface inclination on vertical loading rates and landing pattern during the first attempt of barefoot running among habitual shod runners. Twenty habitual shod runners were asked to run on treadmill at 8.0?km/h at three inclination angles (0?; +10?; ?10?) with and without their usua...

  3. Reproducibility and validity of the food frequency questionnaire for estimating habitual dietary intake in children and adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background A previous study reported the development a 75-item food frequency questionnaire for Japanese children (CFFQ). The first aim was to examine the reproducibility and validity of the CFFQ in order to assess dietary intake among two groups; 3-11 year old children (YC group) and 12-16 year old children (AD group). The second aim was to use the CFFQ and the FFQ for adults (AFFQ), and to determine which was better suited for assessing the intake of children in each group. Methods A total of the 103 children participated in this study. The interval between the first CFFQ and AFFQ and the second CFFQ and AFFQ was one month. Four weighted dietary records (WDRs) were conducted once a week. Pearson's correlation coefficients between the first and second FFQs were calculated to test the reproducibility of each FFQ. Pearson's correlation coefficients between WDRs and the second FFQ were calculated for the unadjusted value and sex-, age-, and energy-adjusted values to determine the validity of each FFQ. Results The final number of subjects participating in the analysis was 89. The median correlation coefficients between the first and second CFFQs and AFFQs were 0.76 and 0.73, respectively. There was some over/underestimation of nutrients in the CFFQ of the YC group and in the AFFQ of the AD group. The medians of the sex-, age-, and energy-adjusted correlation coefficients were not different between the YC and AD groups for each FFQ. The correlation coefficient in sex-, age-, and energy-adjusted value revealed that the largest number of subject with high (0.50 or more) value was obtained by the CFFQ in the YC group. Conclusions This study indicated that the CFFQ might be a useful tool for assessing habitual dietary intake of children in the YC group. Although the CFFQ agreed moderately with habitual intake, it was found to underestimate intake in theAD group. However, for the AFFQ, the ability to rank habitual intake was low. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new

  4. Influence of Regularity of Exposure to Chronic Stress on the Pattern of Habituation of Pituitary-Adrenal Hormones, Prolactin and Glucose.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martí; Armario

    1997-05-01

    The effect of regularity of exposure to two different chronic stressors (noise or immobilization (IMO)) on the pattern of habituation of pituitary-adrenal (PA) hormones, prolactin and glucose was evaluated in adult male rats. Animals were chronically subjected to either regular or irregular time schedule of noise (30 min/day) or IMO (2 h/day) for two weeks. The day after the last stress session the rats were killed without stress or after having been subjected to 30 min of the homotypic stressor. Whereas regular noise did not affect food intake, body weight gain or adrenal weight, irregular noise decreased body weight gain and induced a moderate adrenal hypertrophy. In addition, previous daily exposure to regular but not to irregular noise reduced both prolactin and corticosterone responses to acute noise. In contrast, glucose response to acute noise was reduced after both regular and irregular exposure to chronic noise. Either regular or irregular exposure to chronic IMO decreased food intake and body weight and increased adrenal weight to the same extent. Likewise, no influence of regularity of exposure to chronic IMO on corticosterone and prolactin responses to acute IMO was observed. However, habituation of the ACTH response to acute IMO was observed in rats subjected to chronic regular IMO, but not in rats subjected to chronic irregular IMO. Finally, acute IMO-induced hyperglycemia diminished to the same extent after regular and irregular IMO. From these results we can conclude that: first, the process of habituation of the PA axis to chronic stress is greatly dependent upon factors such as regularity of exposure to the stressor and stressor intensity, and second, the influence of regularity on the pattern of habituation to a repeated stressor is dependent on the physiological variable we are dealing with.

  5. Ore reserve evalution, through geostatistical methods, in sector C-09, Pocos de Caldas, MG-Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guerra, P.A.G.; Censi, A.C.; Marques, J.P.M.; Huijbregts, Ch.

    1978-01-01

    In sector C-09, Pocos de Caldas in the state of Minas Gerais, geostatistical techniques have been used to evaluate the tonnage of U 3 O 8 and associated minerals and to delimit ore from sterile areas. The calculation of reserve was based on borehole information including the results of chemical and/or radiometric analysis. Two-and three dimensional evalutions were made following the existing geological models. Initially, the evaluation was based on chemical analysis using the more classical geostatistical technique of kriging. This was followed by a second evaluation using the more recent technique of co-kriging which permited the incorporation of radiometric information in the calculations. The correlation between ore grade and radiometric was studied using the method of cross-covariance. Following restrictions imposed by mining considerations, a probabilistic selection was made of blocks of appropriate dimensions so as to evaluate the grade tonnage curve for each panel. (Author) [pt

  6. Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lieberman, Daniel E; Venkadesan, Madhusudhan; Werbel, William A; Daoud, Adam I; D'Andrea, Susan; Davis, Irene S; Mang'eni, Robert Ojiambo; Pitsiladis, Yannis

    2010-01-28

    Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. For most of human evolutionary history, runners were either barefoot or wore minimal footwear such as sandals or moccasins with smaller heels and little cushioning relative to modern running shoes. We wondered how runners coped with the impact caused by the foot colliding with the ground before the invention of the modern shoe. Here we show that habitually barefoot endurance runners often land on the fore-foot (fore-foot strike) before bringing down the heel, but they sometimes land with a flat foot (mid-foot strike) or, less often, on the heel (rear-foot strike). In contrast, habitually shod runners mostly rear-foot strike, facilitated by the elevated and cushioned heel of the modern running shoe. Kinematic and kinetic analyses show that even on hard surfaces, barefoot runners who fore-foot strike generate smaller collision forces than shod rear-foot strikers. This difference results primarily from a more plantarflexed foot at landing and more ankle compliance during impact, decreasing the effective mass of the body that collides with the ground. Fore-foot- and mid-foot-strike gaits were probably more common when humans ran barefoot or in minimal shoes, and may protect the feet and lower limbs from some of the impact-related injuries now experienced by a high percentage of runners.

  7. Association between Hardness (Difficulty of Chewing of the Habitual Diet and Premenstrual Symptoms in Young Japanese Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kentaro Murakami

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent evidence suggests that voluntary rhythmic movements such as chewing may increase blood serotonin and subsequently brain serotonin, which in turn acts to alleviate premenstrual symptoms. In this observational cross-sectional study, we tested the hypothesis that hardness (difficulty of chewing of the habitual diet (i.e. dietary hardness is associated with decreased premenstrual symptoms. Subjects were 640 female Japanese dietetic students aged 18–22 years. Dietary hardness was assessed as an estimate of masticatory muscle activity for the habitual diet (i.e. the difficulty of chewing the food. The consumption of a total of 107 foods was estimated by means of a self-administered, comprehensive diet history questionnaire, and masticatory muscle activity during the ingestion of these foods was estimated according to published equations. Menstrual cycle symptoms were assessed using the retrospective version of the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, from which total score and subscale scores (i.e. pain, concentration, behavioral change, autonomic reactions, water retention, and negative affect in the premenstrual phase were calculated and expressed as percentages relative to those in the intermenstrual phase. Dietary hardness was not associated with total score in the premenstrual phase (P for trend = 0.48. Further, no association was seen for any subscale score in the premenstrual phase (P for trend = 0.18–0.91. In conclusion, this preliminary study failed to substantiate a hypothesized inverse relationship between hardness of the habitual diet and premenstrual symptoms. Considering the plausibility of the putative mechanism, however, further investigation using more relevant measures of chewing and premenstrual symptoms is warranted.

  8. Association between Hardness (Difficulty of Chewing of the Habitual Diet and Premenstrual Symptoms in Young Japanese Women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kentaro Murakami

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent evidence suggests that voluntary rhythmic movements such as chewing may increase blood serotonin and subsequently brain serotonin, which in turn acts to alleviate premenstrual symptoms. In this observational cross-sectional study, we tested the hypothesis that hardness (difficulty of chewing of the habitual diet (i.e. dietary hardness is associated with decreased premenstrual symptoms. Subjects were 640 female Japanese dietetic students aged 18-22 years. Dietary hardness was assessed as an estimate of masticatory muscle activity for the habitual diet (i.e. the difficulty of chewing the food. The consumption of a total of 107 foods was estimated by means of a self-administered, comprehensive diet history questionnaire, and masticatory muscle activity during the ingestion of these foods was estimated according to published equations. Menstrual cycle symptoms were assessed using the retrospective version of the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, from which total score and subscale scores (i.e. pain, concentration, behavioral change, autonomic reactions, water retention, and negative affect in the premenstrual phase were calculated and expressed as percentages relative to those in the intermenstrual phase. Dietary hardness was not associated with total score in the premenstrual phase ( P for trend = 0.48. Further, no association was seen for any subscale score in the premenstrual phase ( P for trend = 0.18-0.91. In conclusion, this preliminary study failed to substantiate a hypothesized inverse relationship between hardness of the habitual diet and premenstrual symptoms. Considering the plausibility of the putative mechanism, however, further investigation using more relevant measures of chewing and premenstrual symptoms is warranted.

  9. Sex difference in the association between habitual daytime napping and prevalence of diabetes: a population-based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Kan; Li, Feng; Qi, Yiqin; Lin, Diaozhu; Ren, Meng; Xu, Mingtong; Li, Fangping; Li, Yan; Yan, Li

    2016-05-01

    Our objective was to evaluate the associations between habitual daytime napping and diabetes and whether it varies by sex, menopause, and sleep quality. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study in 8621 eligible individuals aged 40 years or older. Information on daytime napping hours, night-time sleep duration, history of menstruation, and sleep quality was self-reported. Diabetes was diagnosed according to the 1999 World Health Organization diagnostic criteria. The prevalence of diabetes was 19.4 % in men and 15.6 % in women. Increased daytime napping hours were positively associated with parameters of glycometabolism in women, such as fasting plasma glucose, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) 2-h plasma glucose, and Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c, all P for trend napping group, 0-1-h daytime napping group, and more than 1-h daytime napping group were 14.5, 15.6, and 20.8 %, respectively (P for trend = 0.0004). A similar trend was detected in postmenopausal women (P for trend = 0.002). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, compared with no-habitual daytime napping postmenopausal women, those with daytime napping more than 1 h had higher prevalent diabetes (odds ratios 1.36, 95 % confidence interval, 1.04-1.77). In subgroup analysis of postmenopausal women, associations of daytime napping levels and prevalent diabetes were detected in older, overweight participants with good sleep quality who have not retired from work. In conclusion, our study suggests that habitual daytime napping is associated with prevalence of diabetes in postmenopausal women.

  10. "The rate of Chlamydia Trachomatis, Mycoplasma Hominis and Ureaplasma Urealyticum in females with habitual abortion and its comparison with control group "

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Salari MH

    2002-06-01

    Full Text Available Females abortion is one of the most important sequela of genital infection with chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum.In this study frequency of Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum was studied in 125 females with habitual abortion by direct and indirect immunofluorescence tests and culture method and compared with 250 normal population. The results obtained were as follow: Mycoplasma hominis was isolated from 18 (14.4% females with habitual abortion and 18 (7.2% normal population (P=0.0139. Ureaplasma urealyticum was isolated from 39(31.2% females with habitual aboration and 48 (19.2% normal population (P=0.0045. Chlamydia trachomatis was detected by direct immunofluorescence test in 9 (7.2% of cases and 2 (0.8% of control groups (P=0.0002. the antibody titer against D-K serotypes of Chlamydia trachomatis was also measured. The valuable titer of antibody (>1/16 was detected in 15 (12% of cases and 8 (3.2% of control groups (P=0.0004.The results show that chlamydia trachomatis and Ureaplasma urealyticum may be responsible for some cases of abortion.

  11. Validity and reliability of the Baecke questionnaire for the evaluation of habitual physical activity among people living with HIV/AIDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florindo Alex Antonio

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available This study evaluates the validity and reliability of the Baecke questionnaire on habitual physical activity when applied to a population of HIV/AIDS subjects. Validity was determined by comparing measurements for 30 subjects of peak oxygen uptake, peak workload, and energy expenditure with scores for occupational physical activity (OPA, physical exercise in leisure (PEL, leisure and locomotion activities (LLA, and total score (TS. Reliability was determined by testing and retesting 29 subjects at intervals of 15-30 days. Validity was evaluated with the Pearson correlation and reliability analyses were done using the intraclass correlation, paired Student t-test, and Bland-Altman methods. Peak VO2 and peak workload had significant correlation with PEL (r = 0.41; r = 0.43; respectively. Energy expenditure had a significant correlation with OPA (r = 0.64. The intraclass coefficients were 0.70 or more for OPA, PEL and TS. There was no difference in OPA, PEL, LLA and TS between the two evaluations. The Bland-Altman methods showed that there was good agreement between the measurements for all habitual physical activities scores. Results show that the Baecke questionnaire is valid for the evaluation of habitual physical activity among people living with HIV/AIDS.

  12. Inactivation of the infralimbic prefrontal cortex in rats reduces the influence of inappropriate habitual responding in a response-conflict task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haddon, J E; Killcross, S

    2011-12-29

    Previous research suggests the infralimbic cortex is important in situations when there is competition between goal-directed and habitual responding. Here we used a response conflict procedure to further explore the involvement of the infralimbic cortex in this relationship. Rats received training on two instrumental biconditional discriminations, one auditory and one visual, in two distinct contexts. One discrimination was "over-trained" relative to the other, "under-trained," discrimination in the ratio 3:1. At test, animals were presented with incongruent audiovisual stimulus compounds of the training stimuli in the under-trained context. The stimulus elements of these test compounds have previously dictated different lever press responses during training. Rats receiving control infusions into the infralimbic cortex showed a significant interference effect, producing more responses to the over-trained (habitual), but context-inappropriate, stimulus element of the incongruent compound. This interference effect was abolished by inactivation of the infralimbic cortex; animals showed a reduced tendency to produce the habitual but inappropriate response compared with animals receiving control infusions. This finding provides evidence that the infralimbic cortex is involved in attenuating the influence of goal-directed behavior, for example context-appropriate responding. Copyright © 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. INTERNATIONAL JURISDICTION RULES IN MATTERS OF PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: THE CONCEPT OF HABITUAL RESIDENCE V NATIONALITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jasmina Alihodzic

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The rules of jurisdiction in matters of parental responsibility contained in the Brussels II bis Regulation are based on the concept of habitual residence, while the legislation in B&H in this area gave priority to the principle of nationality. Analyzing these concepts, the author of the paper points to the importance of interpreting the concept of habitual residence by the European Court of Justice, and gives possible directions for reform of the relevant provisions of the PIL Act in terms of their compliance with EU law.

  14. The effect of lateral decubitus position on nocturnal intraocular pressure over a habitual 24-hour period in healthy adults.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jie Hao

    Full Text Available PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of lateral decubitus position (LDP on nocturnal intraocular pressure (IOP and the effect of LDP on 24-hour habitual IOP pattern in healthy subjects. METHODS: Intraocular pressure was measured every 2-hours using an Accupen Applanation Tonometer (Accutome, USA. During the diurnal period (7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 5:30 pm, 7:30 pm, and 9:30 pm, IOP was measured in the sitting position under bright light (500-1000 lux after the subjects had been seated for 5 min. The nocturnal IOP was measured in the supine position, right LDP, and left LDP, with randomized sequences, under dim light (<10 lux at 11:30 pm, 1:30 am, 3:30 am, and 5:30 am. The subjects were awakened and maintained each position for 5 min before the measurement. The 24-hour habitual IOP patterns were obtained according to the nocturnal position (supine, right LDP and left LDP for either eye. P<0.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTS: Nineteen healthy subjects were included with a mean age of 51.3±5.8 years. During the nocturnal period, a significant IOP difference was found between the dependent eye (the eye on the lower side of LDP and the supine position, but not for all the nocturnal time points. Over a 24-hour period, the effect of LDP on habitual IOP pattern was not statistically significant, although the mean nocturnal IOP and the diurnal-nocturnal IOP change for the right and the left eye in the LDP pattern was slightly higher than that in the sitting-supine pattern. CONCLUSION: Significant nocturnal IOP differences existed between the dependent eye and the supine, but did not occur consistently for all time points. Over a 24-hour period, the effect of LDP on habitual IOP pattern was not statistically significant in healthy subjects.

  15. A Comparison of the Habitual Landing Strategies from Differing Drop Heights of Parkour Practitioners (Traceurs and Recreationally Trained Individuals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Regan J. Standing, Peter S. Maulder

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Parkour is an activity that encompasses methods of jumping, climbing and vaulting. With landing being a pertinent part of this practise, Parkour participants (traceurs have devised their own habitual landing strategies, which are suggested to be a safer and more effective style of landing. The purpose of this study was to compare the habitual landing strategies of traceurs and recreationally trained individuals from differing drop heights. Comparisons between landing sound and mechanical parameters were also assessed to gauge the level of landing safety. Ten recreationally trained participants and ten traceurs performed three landings from 25% and 50% body height using their own habitual landing strategies. Results at 25% showed significantly lower maximal vertical force (39.9%, p < 0.0013, ES = -1.88, longer times to maximal vertical force (68.6%, p < 0.0015, ES = 1.72 and lower loading rates (65.1%, p < 0.0002, ES = -2.22 in the traceur group. Maximal sound was also shown to be lower (3.6%, with an effect size of -0.63, however this was not statistically significant (p < 0.1612. At 50%, traceurs exhibited significantly different values within all variables including maximal sound (8.6%, p < 0.03, ES = -1.04, maximal vertical force (49.0%, p < 0.0002, ES = -2.38, time to maximal vertical force (65.9%, p < 0.0067, ES = 1.32 and loading rates (66.3%, p < 0.0002, ES = -2.00. Foot strike analysis revealed traceurs landed using forefoot or forefoot-midfoot strategies in 93.2% of trials; whereas recreationally trained participants used these styles in only 8.3% of these landings. To conclude, the habitual landings of traceurs are more effective at lowering the kinetic landing variables associated with a higher injury risk in comparison to recreationally trained individuals. Sound as a measure of landing effectiveness and safety holds potential significance; however requires further research to confirm.

  16. Effects of habituation, research and ecotourism on faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in wild western lowland gorillas: Implications for conservation management

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Shutt, K.; Heistermann, M.; Kasim, A.; Kalousová, B.; Profousová, I.; Petrželková, Klára Judita; Fuh, T.; Dicky, J.-F.; Bopalanzognako, J.-B.; Setchell, J. M.

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 172, April (2014), s. 72-79 ISSN 0006-3207 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : Conservation * Ecotourism * Faecal-glucocorticoids * Habituation * Primate * Stress * Wildlife Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 3.762, year: 2014

  17. Effluent control for the uranium mine area at Pocos de Caldas, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rochedo, E.R.R.; Vasconcellos, L.M.H.

    2005-01-01

    Derived levels for effluents control for the Industrial Complex of Pocos de Caldas - CIPC, Brazil were set based on the IAEA recommendation for the dose assessment of critical groups. Although the industry has stopped the uranium extraction in 1988, the installation is kept under regulatory control, as it has not yet been decommissioned. A screening procedure was set to control the effluent releases from the three main areas, the open pit mine area, the tailings dam and the waste rock piles. To each one of these areas, the dose restriction of 0,3 mSv/a was adopted, since each effluent refers to a different critical group. Monthly-composed samples are collected weekly at each outflow and sent to IRD. The radionuclides analyzed are 238 U, 226 Ra, 210 Pb, 232 Th and 228 Ra. If the activity concentration for any of these nuclides surpasses the established reference level to that particular source, a complete dose assessment for the critical group is performed using the computer program, Monitor, built based on IAEA recommendations for dose assessment to critical groups. The results show that Brazilian regulations related to public exposure are being accomplished by the installation operation. It is pointed out the relevance of maintaining the current treatment to the acid drainages and effluents from the tailings dam, until the whole area is properly decommissioned. (author)

  18. [Association between evacuation condition and habitual physical activity in Great East Japan Earthquake evacuees: The Fukushima Health Management Survey].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagai, Masato; Ohira, Tetsuya; Yasumura, Seiji; Takahashi, Hideto; Yuki, Michiko; Nakano, Hironori; Wen, Zhang; Yabe, Hirooki; Ohtsuru, Akira; Maeda, Masaharu; Takase, Kanae

    2016-01-01

    Objectives: Prevalence of life-style disease has increased dramatically in evacuees due to the Great East Japan Earthquake. One reason may be that physical activity level decreased from life environment changes due to evacuation. However, associations between evacuation condition and habitual physical activity have not been studied. We examined this association in Fukushima residents who participated in the Fukushima Health Management Survey. Methods: In this study, 37,843 evacuees from 13 municipal evacuation zones from the nuclear-power accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, born before April 1, 1995, were included in the analysis. Evacuation condition was defined by disaster living place (13 zones), evacuation place (inside or outside the prefecture), and current living status (evacuation shelter or temporary housing, rental housing/ apartment, and relative's home or own home). Habitual physical activity was defined from self-administered questionnaires as participants who responded "almost every day" and "2-4 times/week" of regular exercise. In the analysis, habitual physical activity prevalence was aggregated by gender and variables (living place in the disaster, evacuation place, and current living status). Prevalence was adjusted for age, disaster living place, evacuation place, and current living status by standard analysis of covariance methods. Results: Adjusted prevalences of habitual physical activity were: men, 27.9-46.5%; women, 27.0-43.7% in each disaster living place. The differences were 18.6% point in men and 16.7% point in women. For evacuation place, physical activity outside the prefecture for men (37.7%) and inside the prefecture for women (32.1%) were higher, but those differences were only 2.2% point and 1.8% point in men and women, respectively. For current living status, physical activity of those in rental housing/ apartment was the lowest; evacuation shelter or temporary housing was the highest in both genders (men: 38

  19. Neural responsivity during soft drink intake, anticipation, and advertisement exposure in habitually consuming youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burger, Kyle S.; Stice, Eric

    2014-01-01

    OBJECTIVE Although soft drinks are heavily advertised, widely consumed, and have been associated with obesity, little is understood regarding neural responsivity to soft drink intake, anticipated intake, and advertisements. METHODS Functional MRI was used to assess examine neural response to carbonated soft drink intake, anticipated intake and advertisement exposure as well as milkshake intake in 27 adolescents that varied on soft drink consumer status. RESULTS Intake and anticipated intake of carbonated Coke® activated regions implicated in gustatory, oral somatosensory, and reward processing, yet high-fat/sugar milkshake intake elicited greater activation in these regions versus Coke intake. Advertisements highlighting the Coke product vs. non-food control advertisements, but not the Coke logo, activated gustatory and visual brain regions. Habitual Coke consumers vs. non-consumers showed greater posterior cingulate responsivity to Coke logo ads, suggesting that the logo is a conditioned cue. Coke consumers exhibited less ventrolateral prefrontal cortex responsivity during anticipated Coke intake relative to non-consumers. CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that soft drinks activate reward and gustatory regions, but are less potent in activating these regions than high-fat/sugar beverages, and imply that habitual soft drink intake promotes hyper-responsivity of regions encoding salience/attention toward brand specific cues and hypo-responsivity of inhibitory regions while anticipating intake. PMID:23836764

  20. Neural responsivity during soft drink intake, anticipation, and advertisement exposure in habitually consuming youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burger, Kyle S; Stice, Eric

    2014-02-01

    Although soft drinks are heavily advertised, widely consumed, and have been associated with obesity, little is understood regarding neural responsivity to soft drink intake, anticipated intake, and advertisements. Functional MRI was used to assess examine neural response to carbonated soft drink intake, anticipated intake and advertisement exposure as well as milkshake intake in 27 adolescents that varied on soft drink consumer status. Intake and anticipated intake of carbonated Coke® activated regions implicated in gustatory, oral somatosensory, and reward processing, yet high-fat/sugar milkshake intake elicited greater activation in these regions vs. Coke intake. Advertisements highlighting the Coke product vs. nonfood control advertisements, but not the Coke logo, activated gustatory and visual brain regions. Habitual Coke consumers vs. nonconsumers showed greater posterior cingulate responsivity to Coke logo ads, suggesting that the logo is a conditioned cue. Coke consumers exhibited less ventrolateral prefrontal cortex responsivity during anticipated Coke intake relative to nonconsumers. Results indicate that soft drinks activate reward and gustatory regions, but are less potent in activating these regions than high-fat/sugar beverages, and imply that habitual soft drink intake promotes hyper-responsivity of regions encoding salience/attention toward brand specific cues and hypo-responsivity of inhibitory regions while anticipating intake. Copyright © 2013 The Obesity Society.

  1. Nicotine enhances an auditory Event-Related Potential component which is inversely related to habituation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veltri, Theresa; Taroyan, Naira; Overton, Paul G

    2017-07-01

    Nicotine is a psychoactive substance that is commonly consumed in the context of music. However, the reason why music and nicotine are co-consumed is uncertain. One possibility is that nicotine affects cognitive processes relevant to aspects of music appreciation in a beneficial way. Here we investigated this possibility using Event-Related Potentials. Participants underwent a simple decision-making task (to maintain attentional focus), responses to which were signalled by auditory stimuli. Unlike previous research looking at the effects of nicotine on auditory processing, we used complex tones that varied in pitch, a fundamental element of music. In addition, unlike most other studies, we tested non-smoking subjects to avoid withdrawal-related complications. We found that nicotine (4.0 mg, administered as gum) increased P2 amplitude in the frontal region. Since a decrease in P2 amplitude and latency is related to habituation processes, and an enhanced ability to disengage from irrelevant stimuli, our findings suggest that nicotine may cause a reduction in habituation, resulting in non-smokers being less able to adapt to repeated stimuli. A corollary of that decrease in adaptation may be that nicotine extends the temporal window during which a listener is able and willing to engage with a piece of music.

  2. Advanced Parkinson’s disease effect on goal-directed and habitual processes involved in visuomotor associative learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fadila eHadj-Bouziane

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The present behavioral study readdresses the question of habit learning in Parkinson's disease. Patients were early onset, non-demented, dopa-responsive, candidates for surgical treatment, similar to those we found earlier as suffering greater dopamine depletion in the putamen than in the caudate nucleus. The task was the same conditional associative learning task as that used previously in monkeys and healthy humans to unveil the striatum involvement in habit learning. Sixteen patients and 20 age- and education-matched healthy control subjects learned sets of 3 visuo-motor associations between complex patterns and joystick displacements during two testing sessions separated by a few hours. We distinguished errors preceding versus following the first correct response to compare patients' performance during the earliest phase of learning dominated by goal-directed actions with that observed later on, when responses start to become habitual. The disease significantly retarded both learning phases, especially in patients under sixty years of age. However, only the late phase deficit was disease severity-dependent and persisted on the second testing session. These findings provide the first corroboration in Parkinson patients of two ideas well-established in the animal literature. The first is the idea that associating visual stimuli to motor acts is a form of habit learning that engages the striatum. It is confirmed here by the global impairment in visuo-motor learning induced by Parkinson's disease. The second idea is that goal-directed behaviors are predominantly caudate-dependent whereas habitual responses are primarily putamen-dependent. At the advanced Parkinson's disease stages tested here, dopamine depletion is greater in the putamen than in the caudate nucleus. Accordingly, the late phase of learning corresponding to the emergence of habitual responses was more vulnerable to the disease than the early phase dominated by goal

  3. Association of habitual dietary intake with morningness-eveningness and rotating shift work in Japanese female nurses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshizaki, Takahiro; Komatsu, Taiki; Tada, Yuki; Hida, Azumi; Kawano, Yukari; Togo, Fumiharu

    2018-03-01

    Rotating shift workers are associated with imbalanced dietary intakes. Rotating shift workers and dietary intakes in adults who do not engage in night work have also been shown to be associated with chronotype. However, no studies have examined associations between morningness-eveningness (i.e., the degree to which people prefer to be active in the morning or the evening), rotating shift work and dietary intakes. Therefore, our first purpose was to elucidate the association between morningness-eveningness and habitual food group intakes in rotating shift workers. The second purpose was to elucidate the association of morningness-eveningness and rotating shift work with food group intakes, considering habitual sleep durations. Japanese nurses (1095 day workers and 1464 rotating shift workers) were studied using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire covered habitual dietary intakes, morningness-eveningness and demographic characteristics of the participants. A Japanese version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) was used to measure self-rated morningness-eveningness. Dietary intakes over the previous 1 month were evaluated using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Intakes of pulses, green/yellow vegetables, white vegetables, fruits, algae, eggs, confectioneries/savory snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages were significantly (p food groups, intakes of green/yellow vegetables, white vegetables, fruits and algae were significantly (p food groups were also significantly (p food groups, while rotating shift work was associated only with confectioneries/savory snacks. These results suggest that morningness-eveningness is associated with unbalanced dietary intakes in rotating shift workers as well as day workers, which may partially explain associations between rotating shift work and unfavorable dietary intakes. These findings have important implications for the development of novel strategies for preventing poor health caused

  4. Thorium deposit of Morro do Ferro in Pocos de Caldas, Brazil: an analogue of a radioactive waste repository

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Franca, E.P.; Carlos, M.T.; Sachett, I.A.; Campos, M.J.M.T. de; Lei, W.; Eisenbud, M.; New York Univ., NY

    1986-01-01

    A highly weathered deposit of thorium and rare earth elements located near the summit of a hill (Morro do Ferro) in Pocos de Caldas M.G., is being studied as an analogue for a radioactive waste repository that, sometime in the distant future, may be eroded to the surface or intruded by groundwater. Th - serves as an analogue for Pu 4+ and La 3+ as an analogue for Cm 3+ and Am 3+ . The mobilization rates of the analogue elements by groundwater are so slow (10 -7 to 10 -9 per year), as to suggest that essentially complete radioactive decay of transuranic actinides would occur in place, even under the unfavorable conditions that exist at a site such as this. (Author) [pt

  5. Maladaptive perfectionism as mediator among psychological control, eating disorders, and exercise dependence symptoms in habitual exerciser.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, Sebastiano; Hausenblas, Heather A; Oliva, Patrizia; Cuzzocrea, Francesca; Larcan, Rosalba

    2016-03-01

    Background and aims The current study examined the mediating role of maladaptive perfectionism among parental psychological control, eating disorder symptoms, and exercise dependence symptoms by gender in habitual exercisers. Methods Participants were 348 Italian exercisers (n = 178 men and n = 170 women; M age = 20.57, SD = 1.13) who completed self-report questionnaires assessing their parental psychological control, maladaptive perfectionism, eating disorder symptoms, and exercise dependence symptoms. Results Results of the present study confirmed the mediating role of maladaptive perfectionism for eating disorder and exercise dependence symptoms for the male and female exercisers in the maternal data. In the paternal data, maladaptive perfectionism mediated the relationships between paternal psychological control and eating disorder and exercise dependence symptoms as full mediator for female participants and as partial mediator for male participants. Discussion Findings of the present study suggest that it may be beneficial to consider dimensions of maladaptive perfectionism and parental psychological control when studying eating disorder and exercise dependence symptoms in habitual exerciser.

  6. Relation of Habitual Chocolate Consumption to Arterial Stiffness in a Community-Based Sample: Preliminary Findings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crichton, Georgina E; Elias, Merrill F; Alkerwi, Ala'a; Stranges, Saverio; Abhayaratna, Walter P

    2016-07-01

    The consumption of chocolate and cocoa has established cardiovascular benefits. Less is known about the effects of chocolate on arterial stiffness, a marker of subclinical cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chocolate intakes are independently associated with pulse wave velocity (PWV), after adjustment for cardiovascular, lifestyle and dietary factors. Prospective analyses were undertaken on 508 community-dwelling participants (mean age 61 years, 60% women) from the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS). Habitual chocolate intakes, measured using a food frequency questionnaire, were related to PWV, measured approximately 5 years later. Chocolate intake was significantly associated with PWV in a non-linear fashion with the highest levels of PWV in those who never or rarely ate chocolate and lowest levels in those who consumed chocolate once a week. This pattern of results remained and was not attenuated after multivariate adjustment for diabetes, cardiovascular risk factors and dietary variables (p = 0.002). Weekly chocolate intake may be of benefit to arterial stiffness. Further studies are needed to explore the underlying mechanisms that may mediate the observed effects of habitual chocolate consumption on arterial stiffness.

  7. Relation of Habitual Chocolate Consumption to Arterial Stiffness in a Community-Based Sample: Preliminary Findings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crichton, Georgina E.; Elias, Merrill F.; Alkerwi, Ala'a; Stranges, Saverio; Abhayaratna, Walter P.

    2016-01-01

    Background The consumption of chocolate and cocoa has established cardiovascular benefits. Less is known about the effects of chocolate on arterial stiffness, a marker of subclinical cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chocolate intakes are independently associated with pulse wave velocity (PWV), after adjustment for cardiovascular, lifestyle and dietary factors. Methods Prospective analyses were undertaken on 508 community-dwelling participants (mean age 61 years, 60% women) from the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS). Habitual chocolate intakes, measured using a food frequency questionnaire, were related to PWV, measured approximately 5 years later. Results Chocolate intake was significantly associated with PWV in a non-linear fashion with the highest levels of PWV in those who never or rarely ate chocolate and lowest levels in those who consumed chocolate once a week. This pattern of results remained and was not attenuated after multivariate adjustment for diabetes, cardiovascular risk factors and dietary variables (p = 0.002). Conclusions Weekly chocolate intake may be of benefit to arterial stiffness. Further studies are needed to explore the underlying mechanisms that may mediate the observed effects of habitual chocolate consumption on arterial stiffness. PMID:27493901

  8. Early access to lexical-level phonological representations of Mandarin word-forms : evidence from auditory N1 habituation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yue, Jinxing; Alter, Kai; Howard, David; Bastiaanse, Roelien

    2017-01-01

    An auditory habituation design was used to investigate whether lexical-level phonological representations in the brain can be rapidly accessed after the onset of a spoken word. We studied the N1 component of the auditory event-related electrical potential, and measured the amplitude decrements of N1

  9. Odor-Specific Habituation Arises from Interaction of Afferent Synaptic Adaptation and Intrinsic Synaptic Potentiation in Olfactory Cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linster, Christiane; Menon, Alka V.; Singh, Christopher Y.; Wilson, Donald A.

    2009-01-01

    Segmentation of target odorants from background odorants is a fundamental computational requirement for the olfactory system and is thought to be behaviorally mediated by olfactory habituation memory. Data from our laboratory have shown that odor-specific adaptation in piriform neurons, mediated at least partially by synaptic adaptation between…

  10. Determination of Geogenic Radon Potential (GEORP) in Pocos de Caldas - Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, Marcelo T.; Silva, Nivaldo C.; Guerrero, Eder T.Z.; Navarro, Fabiano C.; Oliveira, Rodrigo J.

    2015-01-01

    The noble gas 222 Rn is a radioactive isotope of the element radon that can be found in atmospheric air, among others gases, at broad range of concentration. This isotope decays from 238 U series, which is normally found in soil and rocks, especially in fault zones and fractures, where uranium presents greater mobility. The atmospheric high concentration of this gas is frequently related to confined environments including dwellings and other buildings with low air ventilation rate. Inhalation of this gas is acknowledged by international agencies such as WHO, as the second leading cause of lung cancer, being the first among the non-smoker population. That is the reason why, some countries have defined their regions with high radon potential where it is justified the implementation of construction techniques to reduce indoor radon concentration. This paper uses the Geogenic Radon Potential (GEORP) approach aiming to identify radon prone areas in the urban zone of Pocos de Caldas - Brazil. GEORP encompasses simultaneous measurements of the soil gas permeability and radon soil gas concentration. This investigation was accomplished using RADON-JOK permeameter, a device specially developed for in situ soil gas permeability, and ALPHAGUARD, a professional radon monitor. A large variability was observed in both radon soil concentration and soil gas permeability. Some areas have presented low gas permeability due to clayey soil characteristics thus medium GEORP. The majority of the points in this paper have been identified with high radon soil gas concentration showing values that reached 1,000 kBq.m -3 and presenting high radon index. (author)

  11. Determination of Geogenic Radon Potential (GEORP) in Pocos de Caldas - Brazil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, Marcelo T.; Silva, Nivaldo C.; Guerrero, Eder T.Z., E-mail: apoc@cnen.gov.br [Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear (LAPOC/CNEN-MG), Pocos de Caldas, MG (Brazil). Laboratorio de Pocos de Caldas; Navarro, Fabiano C.; Oliveira, Rodrigo J., E-mail: campus.pcaldas@unifal-mg.edu.br [Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL), Pocos de Caldas, MG (Brazil). Instituto de Ciencia e Tecnologia

    2015-07-01

    The noble gas {sup 222}Rn is a radioactive isotope of the element radon that can be found in atmospheric air, among others gases, at broad range of concentration. This isotope decays from {sup 238}U series, which is normally found in soil and rocks, especially in fault zones and fractures, where uranium presents greater mobility. The atmospheric high concentration of this gas is frequently related to confined environments including dwellings and other buildings with low air ventilation rate. Inhalation of this gas is acknowledged by international agencies such as WHO, as the second leading cause of lung cancer, being the first among the non-smoker population. That is the reason why, some countries have defined their regions with high radon potential where it is justified the implementation of construction techniques to reduce indoor radon concentration. This paper uses the Geogenic Radon Potential (GEORP) approach aiming to identify radon prone areas in the urban zone of Pocos de Caldas - Brazil. GEORP encompasses simultaneous measurements of the soil gas permeability and radon soil gas concentration. This investigation was accomplished using RADON-JOK permeameter, a device specially developed for in situ soil gas permeability, and ALPHAGUARD, a professional radon monitor. A large variability was observed in both radon soil concentration and soil gas permeability. Some areas have presented low gas permeability due to clayey soil characteristics thus medium GEORP. The majority of the points in this paper have been identified with high radon soil gas concentration showing values that reached 1,000 kBq.m{sup -3} and presenting high radon index. (author)

  12. Comparison of Online Game Addiction in High School Students with Habitual Computer Use and Online Gaming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müezzin, Emre

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study is to compare the online game addiction in high school students with the habitual computer use and online gaming. The sample selected through the criterion sampling method, consists of 61.8% (n = 81) female, 38.2% (n = 50) male, 131 high school students. The "Online Game Addiction Scale" developed by Kaya and Basol…

  13. Tratamiento endovascular con estent de síndrome de vena cava superior asociado a cables de marcapasos. Revisión de la literatura

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Reyes Valdivia

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available La aparición de trombosis venosa asociada a cables de marcapasos no es una entidad infrecuente, cursando habitualmente de forma asintomática o con síntomas leves debido a la dificultad del retorno venoso. Esto debido a la colateralidad secundaria y progresiva que compensa dicho componente mecánico obstructivo. La presentación sintomática como síndrome de vena cava superior no es habitual y su aparición por tanto, poco frecuente; dada la extensa colateralidad venosa que asocian estos pacientes.

  14. Goal-directed, habitual and Pavlovian prosocial behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filip eGęsiarz

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Although prosocial behaviors have been widely studied across disciplines, the mechanisms underlying them are not fully understood. Evidence from psychology, biology and economics suggests that prosocial behaviors can be driven by a variety of seemingly opposing factors: altruism or egoism, intuition or deliberation, inborn instincts or learned dispositions, and utility derived from actions or their outcomes. Here we propose a framework inspired by research on reinforcement learning and decision making that links these processes and explains characteristics of prosocial behaviors in different contexts. More specifically, we suggest that prosocial behaviors inherit features of up to three decision-making systems employed to choose between self- and other- regarding acts: a goal-directed system that selects actions based on their predicted consequences, a habitual system that selects actions based on their reinforcement history, and a Pavlovian system that emits reflexive responses based on evolutionarily prescribed priors. This framework, initially described in the field of cognitive neuroscience and machine learning, provides insight into the potential neural circuits and computations shaping prosocial behaviors. Furthermore, it identifies specific conditions in which each of these three systems should dominate and promote other- or self- regarding behavior.

  15. Study of the application of non-plastic clays from Pocos de Caldas - part 1: chemical-mineralogic characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roveri, C.D.; Mariano, N.A.; Faustino, L.M.; Aielo, G.F.; Pinto, L.P.A.; Maestrelli, S.C.

    2011-01-01

    Pocos de Caldas is an important 'hidrotermomineral' center of Brazil, where can be found non-plastic clays deposits with no significant records about its characterization; this fact difficult the studies of industrial application. These nonplastic clays, not used, have been stored in sheds or open, which creates a high cost to the industry, and become an environmental liability. In the present work, the chemical-mineralogical study of six samples of non-plastic clays was realized, to expand the horizons of researches about such materials. This preliminary study showed that, overall, the samples are composed of refractory minerals such as kaolinite and gibbsite, with less significant amounts of other phases such as quartz, illite and vermiculite. The chemical analysis permitted the grouping of raw materials into two groups according to their refractories proprieties, guiding to the subsequent characterization. (author)

  16. Risk management in environmental pollution: a case study of the uranium mining and milling facilities at Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernandes, H.M.; Prado, V.C.S.; Veiga, L.H.S.; Amaral, E.C.S.; Freitas, P.; Bidone, E.D.

    1993-01-01

    Environmental risk management concept was adapted to uranium mining and milling facilities at Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Environmental radionuclide and metal concentration in surface waters, efficiency of the effluent treatment were evaluate. The data shows that the effluent treatment was effective to reduce pollutant releases in the environment but the benefit in the dose reduction may be questioned. In addition it's stressed the necessity of a metal exposure assessment due to vegetables consumption that has never been developed in that region. (B.C.A.). 07 refs, 02 figs, 02 tabs

  17. Pre-cancer risk assessment in habitual smokers from DIC images of oral exfoliative cells using active contour and SVM analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dey, Susmita; Sarkar, Ripon; Chatterjee, Kabita; Datta, Pallab; Barui, Ananya; Maity, Santi P

    2017-04-01

    Habitual smokers are known to be at higher risk for developing oral cancer, which is increasing at an alarming rate globally. Conventionally, oral cancer is associated with high mortality rates, although recent reports show the improved survival outcomes by early diagnosis of disease. An effective prediction system which will enable to identify the probability of cancer development amongst the habitual smokers, is thus expected to benefit sizable number of populations. Present work describes a non-invasive, integrated method for early detection of cellular abnormalities based on analysis of different cyto-morphological features of exfoliative oral epithelial cells. Differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy provides a potential optical tool as this mode provides a pseudo three dimensional (3-D) image with detailed morphological and textural features obtained from noninvasive, label free epithelial cells. For segmentation of DIC images, gradient vector flow snake model active contour process has been adopted. To evaluate cellular abnormalities amongst habitual smokers, the selected morphological and textural features of epithelial cells are compared with the non-smoker (-ve control group) group and clinically diagnosed pre-cancer patients (+ve control group) using support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Accuracy of the developed SVM based classification has been found to be 86% with 80% sensitivity and 89% specificity in classifying the features from the volunteers having smoking habit. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. The effect of habitual waterpipe tobacco smoking on pulmonary function and exercise capacity in young healthy males: A pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawari, F I; Obeidat, N A; Ghonimat, I M; Ayub, H S; Dawahreh, S S

    2017-01-01

    Evidence regarding the health effects of habitual waterpipe smoking is limited, particularly in young smokers. Respiratory health and cardiopulmonary exercise tests were compared in young male habitual waterpipe smokers (WPS) versus non-smokers. 69 WPS (≥3 times/week for three years) and 69 non-smokers were studied. Respiratory health was assessed through the American Thoracic Society and the Division of Lung Diseases (ATS-DLD-78) adult questionnaire. Pulmonary function and cardiopulmonary exercise tests were performed. Self-reported respiratory symptoms, forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV 1 ), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV 1 /FVC ratio, forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of FVC (FEF 25-75% ), peak expiratory flow (PEF), exercise time, peak end-tidal CO 2 tension (PetCO 2 ), subject-reported leg fatigue and dyspnea; peak O 2 uptake (VO 2 max), and end-expiratory lung volume (EELV) change from baseline (at peak exercise) were measured. WPS were more likely than non-smokers to report respiratory symptoms. WPS also demonstrated: shorter exercise time; lower peak VO 2 ; higher perceived dyspnea at mid-exercise; lower values of the following: FEV 1 , FVC, PEF, and EELV change. Habitual waterpipe tobacco smoking in young seemingly healthy individuals is associated with a greater burden of respiratory symptoms and impaired exercise capacity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Dieta habitual e fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Maria Cervato

    1997-06-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUÇÃO: Estudo descritivo por amostragem em munícípio do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil, em 1990, com objetivo de analisar, mediante entrevistas domiciliares, a dieta habitual e fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares em indivíduos maiores de 20 anos. METODOLOGIA: Foram entrevistados 557 indivíduos, de idade entre 20 e 88 anos, que fazem parte de subamostra de um estudo global na região. A dieta habitual, identificada pelo histórico alimentar foi comparada às recomendações da OMS e os fatores de risco estudados (obesidade, dislipidemias, diabetes melito diagnosticados pelo Índice de Massa Corpórea e dosagens bioquímicas. RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÕES: Observou-se que 60% da população consome dieta com energia total abaixo da estimativa das necessidades e que a contribuição calórica dos carboidratos foi de 56%, dos lipídios de 29% e das proteínas de 15%. Entretanto, na análise por percentil, a contribuição calórica dos lipídios e das proteínas encontra-se muito acima dos padrões recomendados em detrimento dos carboidratos. A energia, distribuição calórica e quantidade de colesterol foi adequada em apenas 5% das dietas. Dentre os fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares estudados observou-se a prevalência de obesidade em 38% dos indivíduos, de dislipidemias em 26% e de diabetes melito em 5%. A atividade física leve preponderante com dieta inadequada, tanto em termos de qualitativos quanto quantitativos, agravam ainda mais esse quadro.

  20. High Habitual Physical Activity Improves Acute Energy Compensation in Nonobese Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beaulieu, Kristine; Hopkins, Mark; Long, Cecilia; Blundell, John; Finlayson, Graham

    2017-11-01

    Evidence suggests that homeostatic satiety signaling is enhanced with higher levels of physical activity (PA), with active individuals demonstrating an improved ability to compensate for previous energy intake (EI). However, prior studies lacked objective assessment of both PA level and EI. This study examined the effect of objectively measured PA level on homeostatic (energy compensation) and hedonic (liking and wanting) responses to high-energy (HEP), low-energy (LEP), and control preloads. Thirty-four nonobese individuals were grouped by tertiles of accelerometry-measured habitual moderate-to-vigorous PA (low, LoMVPA; moderate, ModMVPA; high, HiMVPA), similar in age, sex, and body mass index. After a preliminary assessment, EI (fixed-energy breakfast and ad libitum lunch, dinner, and evening snack box meals) was determined for three probe meal days in which preloads varying in energy content (HEP, 699 kcal; LEP, 258 kcal; control, 0 kcal) were consumed before the lunch meal. Liking and wanting were assessed before and after preload consumption (Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire), and appetite ratings were taken throughout the day. Relative to control, EI at lunch was reduced to a greater extent after consumption of HEP compared with LEP in ModMVPA (P reflecting more accurate energy compensation in HiMVPA and ModMVPA. There were no effects on cumulative EI after preload consumption of (lunch, dinner, and snack box combined). HEP led to a greater suppression of hunger, liking, and wanting compared with LEP in all MVPA tertiles. Nonobese individuals with lower levels of measured PA were insensitive to the nutritional manipulation of the preloads, suggesting a weaker satiety response to food. This study provides objective evidence that higher habitual PA improves acute homeostatic appetite control.

  1. Lumbar diskectomy in a human-habituated mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aryan, Henry E; Jandial, Rahul; Nakaji, Peter; Greenberg, Mark S; Janssen, Don L; Huang, Johnson; Taylor, William R

    2006-02-01

    The authors report a case of a human-habituated mountain gorilla, Alvila, resident at the San Diego Zoo, who was found to have a herniated intervertebral lumbar disc after being attacked by the gorilla troop's silverback male gorilla. Ultimately, the gorilla required surgical intervention for her disease and made a full recovery. To our knowledge, this is the only known case of spine surgery. A 36-year-old female human-habituated mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), resident at the San Diego Zoo, was noticed by caregivers to walk with a substantial limp after being attacked by the gorilla troop's silverback male gorilla. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of her lumbar spine revealed a large herniated disk at the L1-2 level on the right. This finding appeared to correlate well with the gorilla's symptoms. The gorilla underwent a lumbar diskectomy under loupe. Post-operatively the gorilla did very well. The right leg weakness was immediately improved post-operatively. The gorilla continued to "crutch walk" initially, swinging on the upper extremities and not bearing weight on the lowers. However, by 2 weeks the limp was no longer noticeable to the zoo caregivers. The wound healed well and there was no evidence of wound infection or CSF leak. The gorilla was reunited with her troop and has reintegrated well socially. With 10 months of follow-up, the gorilla continues to do well. This is the only known case of spine surgery in a gorilla. For best surgical results, one needs to consider the similarities and differences between the gorilla and human vertebral anatomy. We believe that careful pre-operative planning contributed to the good early post-operative result. Ultimate assessment of the long-term outcome will require additional follow-up.

  2. Ra-226 collective dosimetry for surface waters in the uranium mining region of Pocos de Caldas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paschoa, A.S.; Sigaud, G.M.; Montenegro, E.C.; Baptista, G.B.

    1980-01-01

    Graphs of the collective dose equivalent for the whole body, bone, gastro-intestinal tract (lower large intestine), kidneys, and liver, via the pathways of drinking water and ingestion of food grown in irrigated fields are presented as a function of the 226 Ra concentrations in the surface waters of the Pocos de Caldas region. The collective dose equivalent calculated from the 226 Ra concentrations measured in the baseline studies are compared with those collective dose equivalent estimated from the projected higher 226 Ra concentrations in the river waters. The 226 Ra concentrations in river waters of the region are expected to be enhanced due to 226 Ra releases from uranium mining and milling operations. The dose equivalent commitment for the exposed population for the referred pathways is also estimated for the contribution of the mine during its predicted time of operation. The assumptions for the dose calculations are presented and the results obtained are discussed. (H.K.)

  3. Rearfoot and midfoot or forefoot impacts in habitually shod runners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyer, Elizabeth R; Rooney, Brandon D; Derrick, Timothy R

    2014-07-01

    Shear loading rates (LR) have not been investigated in runners with a mid- or forefoot strike (FFS) versus rearfoot strike (RFS). The purpose of this study was to compare three-dimensional ground reaction forces (GRF) and LR during impact in habitual rearfoot strikers (hRF) and habitual forefoot strikers (hFF) strikers. Thirty competitive runners performed 10 overground running trials with both foot strike styles. Peak three-dimensional and resultant GRF and instantaneous LR during impact were compared. Vertical LR significantly decreased for hRF using an FFS (RFS = 148 ± 36 body weight [BW]·s(-1), FFS = 98 ± 31 BW·s(-1)) but was similar for hFF running with either foot strike (FFS = 136 ± 35 BW·s(-1), RFS = 135 ± 28 BW·s(-1)). Posterior impact forces were present during FFS but not during RFS, and posterior LR was significantly greater for both groups during FFS (-58 ± 17 vs -19 ± 6 BW·s(-1)). Medial impact forces were also present during FFS but not during RFS, and medial LR was significantly larger for both groups during FFS (-21 ± 7 vs -6 ± 6 BW·s(-1)). Interestingly, hFF had greater impact peaks and LR in all directions compared with hRF during FFS. This may be explained by hFF using a smaller strike index (hFF = 62% ± 9%, hRF = 67% ± 9%; P = 0.02), which was significantly inversely related to vertical LR and impact peak. Peak resultant and vertical LR are not ubiquitously lower when using a shod FFS versus RFS despite an absence of resultant and vertical impact peaks. Furthermore, there were impact peaks in the posterior and medial directions, leading also to greater LR in these directions during FFS. Therefore, transitioning from RFS to FFS in traditional running shoes may not offer long-term protection against impact-related running injuries because hFF running with an FFS demonstrated many GRF and LR similar to or greater than RFS.

  4. Standard object recognition memory and "what" and "where" components: Improvement by post-training epinephrine in highly habituated rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurado-Berbel, Patricia; Costa-Miserachs, David; Torras-Garcia, Meritxell; Coll-Andreu, Margalida; Portell-Cortés, Isabel

    2010-02-11

    The present work examined whether post-training systemic epinephrine (EPI) is able to modulate short-term (3h) and long-term (24 h and 48 h) memory of standard object recognition, as well as long-term (24 h) memory of separate "what" (object identity) and "where" (object location) components of object recognition. Although object recognition training is associated to low arousal levels, all the animals received habituation to the training box in order to further reduce emotional arousal. Post-training EPI improved long-term (24 h and 48 h), but not short-term (3 h), memory in the standard object recognition task, as well as 24 h memory for both object identity and object location. These data indicate that post-training epinephrine: (1) facilitates long-term memory for standard object recognition; (2) exerts separate facilitatory effects on "what" (object identity) and "where" (object location) components of object recognition; and (3) is capable of improving memory for a low arousing task even in highly habituated rats.

  5. Habitual biting of a finger in a child

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K N Sarveswari

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A 3-year-old male child was brought by his parents with a nonhealing ulcer on the right middle finger having no significant history except for an injury sustained to the right elbow in December 2013. On further probing, the mother revealed that the child used to indulge in habitual biting of his right middle finger while watching TV. Initially he was investigated extensively by a vascular surgeon and no abnormality was detected. He was later referred to the dermatology department and on examination, the patient was attentive with normal behaviour. The right upper limb was slightly larger than left. There was no deformity of the right elbow. The right third fingertip was enlarged and mutilated. There was no nerve thickening or hypopigmented patch. There was loss of sensation on the right hand and arm. Differential diagnosis of Lesch–Nyhan syndrome and congenital sensory neuropathy were considered. The patient was referred to a neurologist who investigated further with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, and the final diagnosis of syringomyelia was made based on MRI findings.

  6. Contribution to the study of uranium migration and some trace elements in solution from Pocos de Caldas uranium mining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zenaro, R.

    1989-01-01

    It was studied the chemical composition of ground water from four boreholes as a contribution to the hydrogeochemical studies in the Pocos de Caldas uranium mining. Methods for water analyses were selected and optimized in order to determine the main anions, specially the ones which form stable complexes with uranium ions. Fluoride and chloride were determined by potentiometry; phosphate, nitrate and silicate by spectrophotometry. Cations were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry flame emission and argon plasma emission excited by continuous current arch (DCP). Uranium was determined by fluorimetry with a concentration range from 3 to 7 ppb and its distribution calculated among the different species into solution through the measures of pH, Eh, anion amounts and stability of their respective complexes. (author) [pt

  7. Pharmacological differences between memory consolidation of habituation to an open field and inhibitory avoidance learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vianna M.R.M.

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available Rats implanted bilaterally with cannulae in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus or the entorhinal cortex were submitted to either a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task, or to 5 min of habituation to an open field. Immediately after training, they received intrahippocampal or intraentorhinal 0.5-µl infusions of saline, of a vehicle (2% dimethylsulfoxide in saline, of the glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA receptor antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphono pentanoic acid (AP5, of the protein kinase A inhibitor Rp-cAMPs (0.5 µg/side, of the calcium-calmodulin protein kinase II inhibitor KN-62, of the dopaminergic D1 antagonist SCH23390, or of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor PD098059. Animals were tested in each task 24 h after training. Intrahippocampal KN-62 was amnestic for habituation; none of the other treatments had any effect on the retention of this task. In contrast, all of them strongly affected memory of the avoidance task. Intrahippocampal Rp-cAMPs, KN-62 and AP5, and intraentorhinal Rp-cAMPs, KN-62, PD098059 and SCH23390 caused retrograde amnesia. In view of the known actions of the treatments used, the present findings point to important biochemical differences in memory consolidation processes of the two tasks.

  8. Prática de atividade física habitual entre adolescentes com deficiência visual La actividad física habitual entre los adolescentes con discapacidad visual Habitual physical activity among adolescents with visual impairments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruna Barboza Seron

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available A prática de atividade física é reconhecida como uma potente ferramenta na prevenção de doenças crônico-degenerativas, entretanto ainda se observa um elevado índice de sedentarismo na população, especialmente na parcela composta por pessoas com deficiência. O objetivo desse estudo foi analisar a prática habitual de atividade física em adolescentes com deficiência visual. Para tanto, 16 adolescentes com deficiência visual (idade = 12,81 ± 2,07 anos responderam a questionários e utilizaram pedômetro por quatro dias. Foi utilizada estatística descritiva, teste t independente e correlação, adotando-se em todas as situações significância de alfa La actividad física es reconocida como una herramienta en la prevención de las enfermedades crónicas degenerativas, sin embargo, ha observado una alta tasa de inactividad de la población, sobre todo en la parte compuesta por personas con discapacidad. El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la práctica de actividad física en adolescentes con discapacidad visual. Para ello, 16 adolescentes con discapacidad visual (edad = 12,81 ± 2,07 años completaron cuestionarios y se utilizó podómetro durante 4 días. Fue utilizada estadística descriptiva, prueba t independiente y correlación, importancia de la alfa Physical activity practice is known as a great tool in chronic diseases prevention, however we can observe a high prevalence of sedentary habits, especially among people with disability. The purpose of this study was to analyze habitual physical activity practice in adolescents with visual impairment. For that, 16 adolescents with visual impairment (age = 12.81 ± 2.07 years old answered a questionnaire and used pedometer for four days. It was used descriptive statistic, independent T test and correlation, in every case with significance level alpha < 0.05. Results showed that physical activity level among adolescents was often below the recommended parameters. Girls and those

  9. Dermatomyositis as the first manifestation of small cell carcinoma: case report and literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Herman Ahumada Piña

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Resumen La dermatomiositis es una miopatía inflamatoria autoinmune, asociada a manifestaciones dermatológicas. Su vinculación con neoplasias está ampliamente reportada, siendo más común en el cáncer pulmonar, especialmente en carcinoma de células pequeñas probablemente por su origen en precursores de células neuroendocrinas, así como también en cáncer de mama y ovario. La baja frecuencia de dermatomiositis dificulta la sospecha de las lesiones subyacentes entre las posibilidades diagnósticas de las enfermedades sistémicas con manifestaciones cutáneas. Por ello siempre se debe considerar la alta probabilidad de una neoplasia, con reportes de hasta 75% en la población oriental y cerca de 40% en general. En este artículo se presenta un caso poco frecuente de dermatomiositis con lesiones de distribución en chal, como debut sintomático de un carcinoma pulmonar de células pequeñas.

  10. Eminectomy for Habitual Luxation of the Temporomandibular Joint with Sedation and Local Anesthesia: A Case Series

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joe Iwanaga

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Eminectomy which is one of the popular and most effective treatments for habitual temporomandibular joint luxation was first described by Myrhaug in 1951. There are few reports which described eminectomy being performed under local anesthesia and conscious sedation. We present a case series of habitual luxation of the TMJ treated by eminectomy performed under local anesthesia and conscious sedation and general anesthesia. Five patients were examined and found to have recurrent luxation of the TMJ. The age of patients ranged from 18 to 93 years. Bilateral eminectomy of the TMJ was performed for two patients, and unilateral eminectomy was performed for three patients. Two were examined under intravenous propofol sedation and local anesthesia, while three patients were examined under general anesthesia. One patient died from ileus one month after surgery. The follow-up period except for the case that died from ileus ranged from 12 to 33 months. No recurrent dislocation of the TMJ has been identified. Based on our experience and two other series in the literature, eminectomy with sedation and local anesthesia can be considered and might be a good option in elderly patients.

  11. The tinnitus intensive therapy habituation program: a 2-year follow-up pilot study on subjective tinnitus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bessman, Peter; Heider, Tom; Watten, Veslemøy P; Watten, Reidulf G

    2009-05-01

    To explore the effects of a new tinnitus treatment program (tinnitus intensive therapy [TIT]) based on auditory perception principles and neural habituation. A follow-up study with measurement of treatment effects every third month over a 2-year period in which the cases were their own controls. There were 25 participants with a mean age 50.1 years (SD = 16.1); 10 women (52.7 years; SD = 16.8) and 15 men (48.3 years; SD = 15.9). The participants were recruited from clinical population admitted to a polyclinic tinnitus treatment program in western Germany. There was a significant reduction of tinnitus in the follow-up period. Mean baseline tinnitus scores (Tinnitus Fragebogen; Goebel & Hiller, 1998) at the start of the treatment were 50.9 (SD = 14.5) and the final scores were 14.2 (SD = 5.9). In total, the clinical improvement over the follow-up period was 72.1%. The TIT program showed a significant clinical treatment effect and should be tested further in a multicenter treatment project. The findings support the Jastreboff habituation model of tinnitus, but social cognitive factors should also be taken into account. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Petrography, structure and geochemistry of nepheline syenites from the Pocos de Caldas alkaline massif, states of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ulbrich, H.H.

    1984-01-01

    The subcircular Mid-Cretaceous Pocos de Caldas alkaline massif, states of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, southern Brazil, covers over 800 Km 2 , and has as its main rock types phonolites and nepheline syenites, with subordinate amounts of pyroclastic rocks. Nepheline syenites consist mainly of K-feldspar, nepheline and pyroxene, varying both in texture and 'rare-metal silicates' content. A useful petrographic division is that which classifies the rocks into agpaitic and non-agpaitic (miaskitic or intermediate) types. The latter varieties, characterized by the absence of rare-metal silicates, are predominant by far; agpaitic types are easily recognized by the presence of eudialyte and other rare-metal silicates. Both petrographic and, as far as possible, structural descriptions as well are given for most of the mapped nepheline syenite bodies; many bodies show subhorizontal or moderately-dipping contacts with their country rocks. Chemically, these rocks show, on the whole, high alkaline contents (12-15%) and commonly very high K 2 O abundances. Chemical as well as additional isotopic and geochronological (Rb/Sr) data suggest that the asthenosphere is the source of parental magmas for the Pocos de Caldas nepheline syenites. The same arguments are used to reject, as unlikely, the magmatic activity interval (over 30 m.y.) given by previously published K/Ar ages. Simple structural models of the crust lithosphre in the Parana Basin area, coupled with the westward plate movement, suggest that irregularities at the asthenosphere-lithosphere decoupling surface are probable sites for melting of asthenospheric (and lithospheric) rocks induced by pressure relief. (D.J.M.) [pt

  13. Dissociating the effects of habituation, black walls, buspirone and ethanol on anxiety-like behavioral responses in shoaling zebrafish. A 3D approach to social behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maaswinkel, Hans; Le, Xi; He, Lucy; Zhu, Liqun; Weng, Wei

    2013-07-01

    Understanding the different patterns of anxiety-like behavioral responses is of great interest for pharmacological and genetic research. Here we report the effects of 3.5-hr habituation, buspirone and ethanol on those responses in shoaling zebrafish (Danio rerio). Since in these experiments we used a container with white walls, the effects of black-vs.-white walls were tested in a separate experiment. An important objective was to determine whether factors unrelated to anxiety played a role in modulating the responses. The anxiety-like behavioral responses studied here are social cohesion, distance from bottom and bottom-dwell time, radial distribution (to study thigmotaxis), transparent-wall preference (to study escape responses), locomotion and freezing. The experimental conditions yielded distinctly different response patterns. Thigmotaxis was the most obvious response to white walls and it was significantly reduced after 3.5-hr habituation. It was not affected by any of the drugs. The reduction of social cohesion after 3.5-hr habituation and in the 0.5% ethanol group was probably the most interesting effect seen in this study. A role of anxiety herein was suggested but could not be established with certainty. Other hypotheses were also discussed. The large increase of distance-from-bottom resulting in swimming close to the water surface, which occurred in both buspirone groups and in the 0.5%-ethanol group, is most likely not an anxiolytic response, because of the discrepancy with the in the literature well-established time-course and the absence of any effect of 3.5-hr habituation or black walls on vertical measures. Finally, locomotion and duration freezing could not be specifically taken as indicators for the state of anxiety and the results concerning transparent-wall preference were not sufficient clear. We conclude that the neuronal and ethological mechanisms underlying the effects of habituation, white-aversion, buspirone and ethanol on anxiety

  14. Independent and combined relationship of habitual unhealthy eating behaviors with depressive symptoms: A prospective study

    OpenAIRE

    Huang, Cong; Momma, Haruki; Cui, Yufei; Chujo, Masahiko; Otomo, Atsushi; Sugiyama, Shota; Ren, Zhongyu; Niu, Kaijun; Nagatomi, Ryoichi

    2016-01-01

    Background: Unhealthy eating has been found to be associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms. However, prospective evidence of the combined effects of unhealthy eating and depressive symptoms has not been reported. This study aimed to elucidate the prospective relationship between habitual unhealthy eating habits and depressive symptoms. Methods: A 2-year prospective cohort study of 376 Japanese adults aged 24–83 years without depressive symptoms at baseline was conducted. Infor...

  15. Acute Ingestion of Caffeinated Chewing Gum Improves Repeated Sprint Performance of Team Sport Athletes With Low Habitual Caffeine Consumption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Mark; Tierney, Peter; Gray, Nicola; Hawe, Greg; Macken, Maria; Egan, Brendan

    2018-04-23

    The effects of acute ingestion of caffeine on short-duration high-intensity performance are equivocal, while studies of novel modes of delivery and the efficacy of low doses of caffeine are warranted. The aims of the present study were to investigate the effect of acute ingestion of caffeinated chewing gum on repeated sprint performance (RSP) in team sport athletes, and whether habitual caffeine consumption alters the ergogenic effect, if any, on RSP. A total of 18 male team sport athletes undertook four RSP trials using a 40-m maximum shuttle run test, which incorporates 10 × 40-m sprints with 30 s between the start of each sprint. Each participant completed two familiarization sessions, followed by caffeine (CAF; caffeinated chewing gum; 200 mg caffeine) and placebo (PLA; noncaffeinated chewing gum) trials in a randomized, double-blind manner. RSP, assessed by sprint performance decrement (%), did not differ (p = .209; effect size = 0.16; N = 18) between CAF (5.00 ± 2.84%) and PLA (5.43 ± 2.68%). Secondary analysis revealed that low habitual caffeine consumers (130 mg/day, n = 6; 3.98 ± 2.57% vs. 3.80 ± 1.79%, respectively; p = .684; effect size = 0.08). The data suggest that a low dose of caffeine in the form of caffeinated chewing gum attenuates the sprint performance decrement during RSP by team sport athletes with low, but not moderate-to-high, habitual consumption of caffeine.

  16. Duration of pregnancy in relation to fish oil supplementation and habitual fish intake: a randomised clinical trial with fish oil

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsen, Sjurdur Frodi; Østerdal, M L; Salvig, J D

    2007-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of fish oil supplementation on duration of pregnancy, conditional on the woman's habitual fish intake. DESIGN: Multicentre 1:1 randomised clinical trial of effect of fish oil in a high-risk population of pregnant women in whom habitual fish intake was assessed...... at randomisation. SETTING: Nineteen university delivery wards in seven European countries. SUBJECTS: Pregnant women with preterm delivery, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), or pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) in a previous pregnancy (group 1, n=495); with twin pregnancies (group 2, n=367......); or with suspicion of IUGR or threatening preeclampsia in the current pregnancy (group 3, n=106). Women were stratified into low, middle, or high fish consumers. METHODS: The intervention group received fish oil capsules providing 2.7 g long-chain n-3 fatty acids per day (n-3 poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA...

  17. Habitual sleep durations and subjective sleep quality predict white matter differences in the human brain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sakh Khalsa

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Self-imposed short sleep durations are increasingly commonplace in society, and have considerable health and performance implications for individuals. Reduced sleep duration over multiple nights has similar behavioural effects to those observed following acute total sleep deprivation, suggesting that lack of sleep affects brain function cumulatively. A link between habitual sleep patterns and functional connectivity has previously been observed, and the effect of sleep duration on the brain's intrinsic functional architecture may provide a link between sleep status and cognition. However, it is currently not known whether differences in habitual sleep patterns across individuals are related to changes in the brain's white matter, which underlies structural connectivity. In the present study we use diffusion–weighted imaging and a group comparison application of tract based spatial statistics (TBSS to investigate changes to fractional anisotropy (FA and mean diffusivity (MD in relation to sleep duration and quality, hypothesising that white matter metrics would be positively associated with sleep duration and quality. Diffusion weighted imaging data was acquired from a final cohort of 33 (23–29 years, 10 female, mean 25.4 years participants. Sleep patterns were assessed for a 14 day period using wrist actigraphs and sleep diaries, and subjective sleep quality with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI. Median splits based on total sleep time and PSQI were used to create groups of shorter/longer and poorer/better sleepers, whose imaging data was compared using TBSS followed by post-hoc correlation analysis in regions identified as significantly different between the groups. There were significant positive correlations between sleep duration and FA in the left orbito-frontal region and the right superior corona radiata, and significant negative correlations between sleep duration and MD in right orbito-frontal white matter and the right

  18. Nasopharyngeal (Tornwaldt’s Cyst: Rare Finding in a Habitual Snorer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ng WSJ

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available A nasopharyngeal (tornwaldt’s cyst is uncommon. It is often asymptomotic; however it may cause problem if it too big becomes. We present a case of a 24-year-old Malay girl who had been a habitual snorer for years but was unaware of the significance of her problem. opportunities for an earlier referral and assessment were missed since we were not aware of her history despite previous related but non-specific consultations at our primary healthcare centre. she was referred to us a few years later when her nasopharyngeal cyst became infected. After a course of antibiotics, she proceeded with an endoscopic resection of the nasopharyngeal cyst. A follow-up visit six months later did not reveal a recurrence. this case highlights the importance of a good history for the diagnosis of a nasopharyngeal cyst.

  19. PREVALENCIA DE SENSIBILIZACIÓN EN PACIENTES PEDIÁTRICOS CON SOSPECHA O DIAGNÓSTICO DE ENFERMEDAD ALÉRGICA. ESTUDIO PRESPPENAL(1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Claudia Ortega López

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Introducción. Las enfermedades alérgicas vienen en aumento en los últimos años tanto en prevalencia como en morbilidad y mortalidad. Se conoce que la sensibilización a uno o varios alérgenos es un factor de riesgo importante para enfermedad alérgica; sin embargo, cuantificar cómo el hecho de estar sensibilizado determina los síntomas clínicos para determinada enfermedad y rango de edad aún es motivo de controversia. Metodología: Presentamos los datos de los resultados de las pruebas positivas de alergia o pruebas de puntura realizadas a 671 de un total de 798 pacientes pediátricos de 1 a 18 años de edad con sospecha o diagnóstico clínico de enfermedad alérgica, con el fin de obtener la prevalencia de la sensibilización para aeroalérgenos y alérgenos alimentarios en tres hospitales de la ciudad de Bogotá; ciudad tropical ubicada a 2.600 metros de altura sobre el nivel del mar, con temperatura de 15°C y humedad relativa en promedio anual de 75%. Resultados: La edad promedio fue de 9.9 años, 369 (55% fueron de sexo masculino. De los aeroalérgenos, el más prevalente fue el Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, en 493 pacientes (73.5% (IC 95% 70.1-76.8. De los alérgenos alimentarios se encontró resultado positivo en mayor proporción a la yema de huevo en el 4.9%, (IC 95% 3.2-6.3. De las patologías reportadas, la más prevalente fue la rinitis alérgica en 319 (47.5% de los pacientes. Conclusiones: En la población estudiada con patología alérgica definida por diagnóstico clínico se encontró una mayor sensibilización a aeroalérgenos por ácaros del polvo domiciliario. La patología más prevalente asociada a sensibilización con aeroalérgenos fue la rinitis alérgica seguida de asma y dermatitis atópica; en nuestro medio, la sensibilización a pólenes es relativamente baja y por alérgenos alimentarios es muy baja.

  20. Dissociable corticostriatal circuits underlie goal-directed vs. cue-elicited habitual food seeking after satiation : Evidence from a multimodal MRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Steenbergen, H.; Watson, P.; Wiers, R.W.; Hommel, B.; de Wit, S.

    The present multimodal MRI study advances our understanding of the corticostriatal circuits underlying goal-directed vs. cue-driven, habitual food seeking. To this end, we employed a computerized Pavlovian-instrumental transfer paradigm. During the test phase, participants were free to perform

  1. Association of the Anxiogenic and Alerting Effects of Caffeine with ADORA2A and ADORA1 Polymorphisms and Habitual Level of Caffeine Consumption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Peter J; Hohoff, Christa; Heatherley, Susan V; Mullings, Emma L; Maxfield, Peter J; Evershed, Richard P; Deckert, Jürgen; Nutt, David J

    2010-01-01

    Caffeine, a widely consumed adenosine A1 and A2A receptor antagonist, is valued as a psychostimulant, but it is also anxiogenic. An association between a variant within the ADORA2A gene (rs5751876) and caffeine-induced anxiety has been reported for individuals who habitually consume little caffeine. This study investigated whether this single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) might also affect habitual caffeine intake, and whether habitual intake might moderate the anxiogenic effect of caffeine. Participants were 162 non-/low (NL) and 217 medium/high (MH) caffeine consumers. In a randomized, double-blind, parallel groups design they rated anxiety, alertness, and headache before and after 100 mg caffeine and again after another 150 mg caffeine given 90 min later, or after placebo on both occasions. Caffeine intake was prohibited for 16 h before the first dose of caffeine/placebo. Results showed greater susceptibility to caffeine-induced anxiety, but not lower habitual caffeine intake (indeed coffee intake was higher), in the rs5751876 TT genotype group, and a reduced anxiety response in MH vs NL participants irrespective of genotype. Apart from the almost completely linked ADORA2A SNP rs3761422, no other of eight ADORA2A and seven ADORA1 SNPs studied were found to be clearly associated with effects of caffeine on anxiety, alertness, or headache. Placebo administration in MH participants decreased alertness and increased headache. Caffeine did not increase alertness in NL participants. With frequent consumption, substantial tolerance develops to the anxiogenic effect of caffeine, even in genetically susceptible individuals, but no net benefit for alertness is gained, as caffeine abstinence reduces alertness and consumption merely returns it to baseline. PMID:20520601

  2. Do reef fish habituate to diver presence? Evidence from two reef sites with contrasting historical levels of SCUBA intensity in the Bay Islands, Honduras.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Titus, Benjamin M; Daly, Marymegan; Exton, Dan A

    2015-01-01

    Contact between humans and the marine environment is increasing, but the capacity of communities to adapt to human presence remains largely unknown. The popularization of SCUBA diving has added a new dimension to human impacts in aquatic systems and, although individual-level impacts have been identified, cumulative effects on ecosystem function and community-wide responses are unclear. In principle, habituation may mitigate the consequences of human presence on the biology of an individual and allow the quick resumption of its ecological roles, but this has not been documented in aquatic systems. Here, we investigate the short-term impact of human presence and the long-term habituation potential of reef-fish communities to recreational SCUBA divers by studying symbiotic cleaning interactions on coral reefs with differing levels of historical contact with divers. We show that incidences of human contact result in a smaller decline in ecosystem function and more rapid resumption of baseline services on a reef in Utila, Honduras that has heavy historical levels of SCUBA diver presence, compared to an un-dived reef site in the Cayos Cochinos Marine Protected Area (CCMPA). Nonetheless, despite the generally smaller change in ecosystem function and decades of regular contact with divers, cleaning behavior is suppressed by >50% at Utila when divers are present. We hypothesize that community-wide habituation of reef fish is not fully achievable and may be biologically restricted to only partial habituation. Differential responses to human presence impacts the interpretation and execution of behavioral research where SCUBA is the predominant means of data collection, and provides an important rationale for future research investigating the interplay between human presence, ecosystem function, and community structure on coral reefs.

  3. Habitual sugar intake and cognitive function among middle-aged and older Puerto Ricans without diabetes

    OpenAIRE

    Ye, Xingwang; Gao, Xiang; Scott, Tammy; Tucker, Katherine L.

    2011-01-01

    Intake of added sugars, mainly fructose and sucrose, has been associated with risk factors for cognitive impairment, such as obesity, the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The objective of this analysis was to examine whether habitual intakes of total sugars, added sugars, sugar-sweetened beverages or sweetened solid foods are associated with cognitive function. The present study included 737 participants without diabetes, aged 45–75 years, from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, 200...

  4. Effect of habitual arecanut chewing on resting whole mouth salivary flow rate and pH

    OpenAIRE

    Rooban T; Mishra G; Elizabeth J; Ranganathan K; Saraswathi T

    2006-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Resting whole mouth salivary flow rate (SFR) and pH play a significant role in pathogenesis of various oral diseases and conditions. AIM: To observe the effect of habitual use of arecanut and various arecanut containing products (AN) on SFR and pH. DESIGN: Cross sectional. SETTING: Outpatient Department of Dental College. PARTICIPANTS: AN chewers and non-chewers attending Dental college. MEASUREMENTS: SFR and pH. VARIABLES: Type, frequency, duration and exposure time of AN, Smokin...

  5. Gastrointestinal protists and helminths of habituated agile mangabeys (Cercocebus agilis) at Bai Hokou, Central African Republic

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pafčo, B.; Tehlárová, Z.; Jirků-Pomajbíková, K.; Todd, A.; Hasegawa, H.; Petrželková, Klára Judita; Modrý, D.

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 80, č. 2 (2018), č. článku e22736. ISSN 0275-2565 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-05180S Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : Pan-troglodytes-schweinfurthii * western lowland gorillas * colobus procolobus-rufomitratus * Ndoki national-park * great apes * nonhuman-primates * parasite prevalence * Tana river * chimpanzees * wild * Balantioides * habituation * mangabey * parasite Subject RIV: EG - Zoology OBOR OECD: Zoology Impact factor: 2.005, year: 2016

  6. "An army of reformed drunkards and clergymen": the medicalization of habitual drunkenness, 1857-1910.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chavigny, Katherine A

    2014-07-01

    Historians have recognized that men with drinking problems were not simply the passive subjects of medical reform and urban social control in Gilded Age and Progressive Era America but also actively shaped the partial medicalization of habitual drunkenness. The role played by evangelical religion in constituting their agency and in the historical process of medicalization has not been adequately explored, however. A post-Civil War evangelical reform culture supported institutions that treated inebriates along voluntary, religious lines and lionized former drunkards who publicly promoted a spiritual cure for habitual drunkenness. This article documents the historical development and characteristic practices of this reform culture, the voluntarist treatment institutions associated with it, and the hostile reaction that developed among medical reformers who sought to treat intemperance as a disease called inebriety. Those physicians' attempts to promote therapeutic coercion for inebriates as medical orthodoxy and to deprive voluntarist institutions of public recognition failed, as did their efforts to characterize reformed drunkards who endorsed voluntary cures as suffering from delusions arising from their disease. Instead, evangelical traditions continued to empower reformed drunkards to publicize their own views on their malady which laid the groundwork for continued public interest in alcoholics' personal narratives in the twentieth century. Meanwhile, institutions that accommodated inebriates' voluntarist preferences proliferated after 1890, marginalizing the medical inebriety movement and its coercive therapeutics. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. A detailed analysis of open-field habituation and behavioral and neurochemical antidepressant-like effects in postweaning enriched rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenes, Juan C; Padilla, Michael; Fornaguera, Jaime

    2009-01-30

    Our previous work has shown that male Sprague-Dawley rats reared in social isolation, standard housing and environmental enrichment differ in their spontaneous open-field activity and in some neurobehavioral depressive-like parameters. Here, we extended this evidence by using a shorter postweaning rearing period (1 month) and including additional evaluations. First, in order to obtain a better characterization of the exploratory strategies among rearing conditions we analyzed in detail the spontaneous activity at the first minute and during the 10-min session. Second, we asked whether the changes in open-field activity were related with basal anxiety levels in the elevated plus-maze. Third, behavior in the forced-swimming test was analyzed and afterward, the tissue levels of hippocampal norepinephrine and serotonin were assessed. The possible relationship between neurotransmitters and forced-swimming behavior were explored through correlation analyses. We found that rearing conditions (i) differed on locomotor habituation and on sensory-motor exploration at the first minute and during the 10-min session without modifying the plus-maze behavior; (ii) affected differentially the grooming time, its sequential components, and the relationship between grooming and locomotor parameters; (iii) modified forced-swimming behavior and the hippocampal concentration of norepinephrine, serotonin, and its turnover; and (iv) produced different correlation patterns between both neurotransmitters and forced-swimming behaviors. Overall, environmental enrichment accelerated open-field habituation and led to behavioral and neurochemical antidepressant-like effects. In contract, isolation rearing strongly impaired habituation and simple information processing, but showed marginal effects on depressive-like behavior and on hippocampal neurochemistry. The current results suggest that differential rearing is not only a useful procedure to study behavioral plasticity or rigidity in response

  8. Las voces limpio y poco en el habla sur Andina de Nariño, Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Ramírez Bravo

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Este trabajo examina la dimensión sociolingü.stica del uso de las voces limpio y poco en el habla sur andina nariñense; describe las singularidades fonéticas, morfosintácticas, léxico-semánticas y pragmáticas de las voces en cuestión, en diferentes contextos comunicativos; explica la convencionalidad de las mismas, en estructuras lingü.sticas complejas y cotidianas. Para el logro de los propósitos, el estudio se apoya en la etnografía de la comunicación; en este sentido, la recolección de la información se lleva a efecto a través de la observación directa de conversaciones formales e informales y del diario de campo; se realizan grabaciones consentidas y anónimas en contextos de intercomunicación espontánea. Finalmente, se genera un conversatorio con los integrantes del Grupo de Investigación en Argumentación (GIA,2 con la intención de triangular los datos obtenidos y confrontar las estructuras sociolectales de los enunciados analizados.

  9. Thorium - humic compound interaction in the water of Morro do Ferro (Pocos de Caldas, MG, Brazil)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuechler, I.L.

    1986-01-01

    Experimental procedures and results are presented on the determination of thorium and organic dissolved carbon (DOC) in natural waters (bore hole and surface waters) from the Morro de Ferro, a thorium - rare earth occurrence situated in the Pocos de Caldas Plateau in Minas Gerais (Brazil). A positive correlation between Th-232 and humic compounds content was abserved. Utilizing ultrafiltration techniques with Amicon membranes (XM-300, PM-10, UM-10 and YM-2), organic compounds with molecular weights above 1000 units were separated and concentrated from waters. Percolation waters rich in organic material concentrate DOC and Th-232 in the high molecular weight fractions ( > 10.000 MW units). Humic acid was separated from a percolation water sample and characterized by elemental and infrared spectroscopic analysis. The distribution coefficient of Th-232 between water and sediment was shown to be inversely correlated to DOC concentration, as reported by other authors for different environments. These results were also confirmed by laboratory experiments, which indicated additionally that low concentrations of humic acid ( [pt

  10. Migration of radium from the thorium ore deposit of Morro do Ferro, Pocos de Caldas, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campos, M.J.; Penna-Franca, E.; Lobao, N.; Trindade, H.; Sachett, I.

    1986-01-01

    A large thorium ore deposit is located in Morro de Ferro, a hill in the Pocos de Caldas Plateau, Minas Gerais, Brazil, which contains an estimated 30 000 t of Th and 100 t of U in a highly weathered matrix exposed to erosion and leaching. 228 Ra and 226 Ra were analyzed in surface waters collected at various points in the drainage basin and in groundwaters from wells drilled through and around the ore body. The concentrations in groundwater demonstrated that radium is markedly leached by rainwater percolating through the ore body. In its transit underground, radium is removed from groundwater by sorption on soil particles and this natural process greatly reduces the radium discharged to the environment. In dry weather, the concentration of dissolved 228 Ra in the main stream draining the Morro do Ferro is 7.0+-1.1 mBq litre -1 and in a control stream 1.6+-0.3 mBq litre -1 . The estimated 228 Ra mobilization rate by solubilization is of the order of 10 -7 y -1 . (author)

  11. A realistic neural mass model of the cortex with laminar-specific connections and synaptic plasticity - evaluation with auditory habituation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Wang

    Full Text Available In this work we propose a biologically realistic local cortical circuit model (LCCM, based on neural masses, that incorporates important aspects of the functional organization of the brain that have not been covered by previous models: (1 activity dependent plasticity of excitatory synaptic couplings via depleting and recycling of neurotransmitters and (2 realistic inter-laminar dynamics via laminar-specific distribution of and connections between neural populations. The potential of the LCCM was demonstrated by accounting for the process of auditory habituation. The model parameters were specified using Bayesian inference. It was found that: (1 besides the major serial excitatory information pathway (layer 4 to layer 2/3 to layer 5/6, there exists a parallel "short-cut" pathway (layer 4 to layer 5/6, (2 the excitatory signal flow from the pyramidal cells to the inhibitory interneurons seems to be more intra-laminar while, in contrast, the inhibitory signal flow from inhibitory interneurons to the pyramidal cells seems to be both intra- and inter-laminar, and (3 the habituation rates of the connections are unsymmetrical: forward connections (from layer 4 to layer 2/3 are more strongly habituated than backward connections (from Layer 5/6 to layer 4. Our evaluation demonstrates that the novel features of the LCCM are of crucial importance for mechanistic explanations of brain function. The incorporation of these features into a mass model makes them applicable to modeling based on macroscopic data (like EEG or MEG, which are usually available in human experiments. Our LCCM is therefore a valuable building block for future realistic models of human cognitive function.

  12. El Hombre y la Técnica 19 columnas y 3 artículos de sociotecnología

    OpenAIRE

    Sáez Vacas, Fernando

    1994-01-01

    El autor nos alerta, en la presentación, sobre su no pertenencia a la familia de apologistas de la técnica, pero ¡que nadie se confunda!, ello no quiere decir que milite en el campo opuesto de los apocalípticos, de los que nos anuncian el fin del mundo racional. Por el contrario, su mérito está en aportar en cada uno de los asuntos que tratan un punto de vista nuevo,en iluminar el cuadro desde un ángulo poco habitual que permite descubrir rincones insospechados, en introducir la duda donde to...

  13. Leucemia Cutis de presentación atípica An atypical presentation of Leukemia Cutis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F Pulgar Martín

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available El trabajo aporta un nuevo caso de leucemia cutis, raro en frecuencia, que presenta un comienzo clínico muy poco habitual, a tener en cuenta. Fueron necesarias varias biopsias para llegar al diagnóstico de la paciente. La supervivencia de la paciente está por encima de la media en estos casos.The work presents a new case of leukemia cutis, rare in frequency, which has a very unusual clinical onset to take into account. It took several biopsies for the diagnosis of the patient. The survival of the patient is above average in these cases.

  14. Homogeneidad y diversidad en la escuela : Los límites difusos entre imposición e integración

    OpenAIRE

    Lopreto, Gladys; Rosboch, María Eugenia; Rezzónico, Luciana

    2006-01-01

    Elegimos iniciar el presente trabajo con el relato de una situación vivida en una escuela de la zona Oeste de La Plata, aunque no justamente por su condición de anómala o poco habitual. La tomamos de las notas de nuestro trabajo de campo, que fue llevado a cabo en un espacio geográfico que se caracteriza por una población con importante afluencia migratoria, tanto del interior del país como de países limítrofes. Allí seleccionamos una escuela a la que concurren niños en situaciones de extrema...

  15. Influencia del estrés académico en el sistema binocular en universitarios de la UVA

    OpenAIRE

    López Gómez, Alejandra

    2017-01-01

    Objetivo: El estrés visual, tras trabajo prolongado en cerca, produce modificaciones en el sistema binocular. Esta hipótesis ha sido poco contrastada experimentalmente. El objetivo principal es medir la influencia del estrés académico en estudiantes universitarios de la UVA mediante la medida de la foria. Métodos: Se ha medido la foria en 22 estudiantes, con su corrección habitual, antes y después de un examen, mediante tres métodos: técnica de la varilla de Maddox, técnica de Von Graefe y...

  16. El acoso sexual en el trabajo: el caso de las empresas del sector turístico

    OpenAIRE

    García García, Vanessa

    2016-01-01

    En los últimos años, hemos visto como se han incrementado los casos de acoso sexual en las empresas de cualquier sector. Hacemos hincapié en las empresas del sector turístico, puesto que mantienen un contacto más directo con el cliente y hay mayor presencia femenina. Sin embargo, no sólo nos vamos centrar en casos de acoso sexual hacía mujeres, sino también hacía hombres aunque sea algo más minoritario y poco habitual, como según se ha demostrado en varias investigaciones....

  17. Evaluation of Myoelectric Activity of Paraspinal Muscles in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis during Habitual Standing and Sitting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Garcia Kwok

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available There is a number of research work in the literature that have applied sEMG biofeedback as an instrument for muscle rehabilitation. Therefore, sEMG is a good tool for this research work and is used to record the myoelectric activity in the paraspinal muscles of those with AIS during habitual standing and sitting. After the sEMG evaluation, the root-mean-square (RMS sEMG values of the paraspinal muscles in the habitual postures reflect the spinal curvature situation of the PUMC Type Ia and IIc subjects. Both groups have a stronger average RMS sEMG value on the convex side of the affected muscle regions. Correction to posture as instructed by the physiotherapist has helped the subjects to achieve a more balanced RMS sEMG ratio in the trapezius and latissimus dorsi regions; the erector spinae in the thoracic region and/or erector spinae in the lumbar region. It is, therefore, considered that with regular practice of the suggested positions, those with AIS can use motor learning to achieve a more balanced posture. Consequently, the findings can be used in less intrusive early orthotic intervention and provision of care to those with AIS.

  18. Evaluation of Myoelectric Activity of Paraspinal Muscles in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis during Habitual Standing and Sitting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwok, Garcia; Yip, Joanne; Cheung, Mei-Chun; Yick, Kit-Lun

    2015-01-01

    There is a number of research work in the literature that have applied sEMG biofeedback as an instrument for muscle rehabilitation. Therefore, sEMG is a good tool for this research work and is used to record the myoelectric activity in the paraspinal muscles of those with AIS during habitual standing and sitting. After the sEMG evaluation, the root-mean-square (RMS) sEMG values of the paraspinal muscles in the habitual postures reflect the spinal curvature situation of the PUMC Type Ia and IIc subjects. Both groups have a stronger average RMS sEMG value on the convex side of the affected muscle regions. Correction to posture as instructed by the physiotherapist has helped the subjects to achieve a more balanced RMS sEMG ratio in the trapezius and latissimus dorsi regions; the erector spinae in the thoracic region and/or erector spinae in the lumbar region. It is, therefore, considered that with regular practice of the suggested positions, those with AIS can use motor learning to achieve a more balanced posture. Consequently, the findings can be used in less intrusive early orthotic intervention and provision of care to those with AIS.

  19. Modulation of Energy Intake and Expenditure Due to Habitual Physical Exercise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Matoulek; Krystof, Slaby; Jiri, Radvansky; Martina, Dankova; Renata, Vetrovska; Ondrej, Mikes; Stepan, Svacina; Vladimir, Tuka

    2016-01-01

    The 20th and 21st centuries are marked by an increase in life expectancy on one hand and on the other hand by the increase of so called civilization diseases. Their share one common trait: the energy metabolism imbalance, with low energy expenditure and high energy uptake. Our age can be viewed as the age of inactivity and wealth. The aim of the present review is to highlight the influence of habitual physical activity on energy metabolism and balance. Energy balance is the difference between energy intake and energy expenditure, where energy expenditure further divides into resting metabolic rate, thermic effect of feeding and energy used by physical activity. In general population, resting metabolic rate remains constant and proportional to muscle body mass. Muscle mass increases with exercise, especially resistance exercise, concomitantly with increasing energy expenditure. The effect of exercise on appetite is very strong, proportional to exercise intensity. An acute bout of aerobic exercise suppresses appetite by decreasing ghrelin plasma levels, and increasing gut hormones. Different subgroups of patients respond differently to the same exercise or habitual activity and have thus distinct effects on energy balance. Different myokines plasma levels after exercise could explain these different reactions although most of their effect is still unclear. Physical activity plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of many disorders, like obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, psychiatric and neurologic disorders. It is evident, that physical activity has an effect not only on energy balance but also has a direct effect on other body organ via its own molecules - myokines. The pharmacological effect of myokines gives hope that one day we could have a "myokine drug" that could be used in patients who are unable to exercise. Until then we should use our "muscle-pharmacy" and try to convince

  20. Accuracy of Buccal Scan Procedures for the Registration of Habitual Intercuspation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmermann, M; Ender, A; Attin, T; Mehl, A

    2018-04-09

    Accurate reproduction of the jaw relationship is important in many fields of dentistry. Maximum intercuspation can be registered with digital buccal scan procedures implemented in the workflow of many intraoral scanning systems. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of buccal scan procedures with intraoral scanning devices for the registration of habitual intercuspation in vivo. The hypothesis was that there is no statistically significant difference for buccal scan procedures compared to registration methods with poured model casts. Ten individuals (full dentition, no dental rehabilitations) were subjects for five different habitual intercuspation registration methods: (CI) poured model casts, manual hand registration, buccal scan with inEOS X5; (BC) intraoral scan, buccal scan with CEREC Bluecam; (OC4.2) intraoral scan, buccal scan with CEREC Omnicam software version 4.2; (OC4.5β) intraoral scan, buccal scan with CEREC Omnicam version 4.5β; and (TR) intraoral scan, buccal scan with Trios 3. Buccal scan was repeated three times. Analysis of rotation (Rot) and translation (Trans) parameters was performed with difference analysis software (OraCheck). Statistical analysis was performed with one-way analysis of variance and the post hoc Scheffé test ( p0.05) differences in terms of translation between groups CI_Trans (98.74±112.01 μm), BC_Trans (84.12±64.95 μm), OC4.2_Trans (60.70±35.08 μm), OC4.5β_Trans (68.36±36.67 μm), and TR_Trans (66.60±64.39 μm). For rotation, there were no significant differences ( p>0.05) for groups CI_Rot (0.23±0.25°), BC_Rot (0.73±0.52°), OC4.2_Rot (0.45±0.31°), OC4.5β_Rot (0.50±0.36°), and TR_Rot (0.47±0.65°). Intraoral scanning devices allow the reproduction of the static relationship of the maxillary and mandibular teeth with the same accuracy as registration methods with poured model casts.

  1. Increased whole grain consumption does not affect blood biochemistry, body composition, or gut microbiology in healthy, low-habitual whole grain consumers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ampatzoglou, Antonios; Atwal, Kiranjit K; Maidens, Catherine M; Williams, Charlotte L; Ross, Alastair B; Thielecke, Frank; Jonnalagadda, Satya S; Kennedy, Orla B; Yaqoob, Parveen

    2015-02-01

    Whole-grain (WG) foods have been suggested to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but studies are inconsistent and effects on cardiovascular risk markers are not clear. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of increasing WG consumption to at least 80 g/d on overall dietary intake, body composition, blood pressure (BP), blood lipids, blood glucose, gastrointestinal microbiology, and gastrointestinal symptoms in healthy, middle-aged adults with habitual WG intake food frequency questionnaires and subsequently completed 3-day food diaries (3DFDs) to confirm habitual WG consumption. Subjects consumed diets high in WG (>80 g/d) or low in WG [range of cereal food products. The 3DFDs, diet compliance diaries, and plasma alkylresorcinols were used to verify compliance. During the WG intervention, consumption increased from 28 g/d to 168 g/d (P increase in plasma alkylresorcinols (P increased 24-h fecal weight (P = 0.08) and reduction in body weight (P = 0.10) and BMI (P = 0.08) during the WG intervention compared with the RG period. A combination of dietary advice and provision of commercially available food items enabled subjects with a low-moderate habitual consumption of WG to substantially increase their WG intake, but there was little effect on blood biochemical markers, body composition, BP, fecal measurements, or gut microbiology. This trial was registered at www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN36521837. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

  2. Butter increased total and LDL cholesterol compared with olive oil but resulted in higher HDL cholesterol compared with a habitual diet

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Engel, Sara; Tholstrup, Tine

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Butter is known to have a cholesterol-raising effect and, therefore, has often been included as a negative control in dietary studies, whereas the effect of moderate butter intake has not been elucidated to our knowledge. OBJECTIVE: We compared the effects of moderate butter intake...... their habitual diets. The study included 47 healthy men and women (mean ± SD total cholesterol: 5.22 ± 0.90 mmol/L) who substituted a part of their habitual diets with 4.5% of energy from butter or refined olive oil. RESULTS: Study subjects were 70% women with a mean age and body mass index (in kg/m(2)) of 40.......4 y and 23.5, respectively. Butter intake increased total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol more than did olive oil intake (P cholesterol compared with the run-in period (P

  3. Habitual micronutrient intake during and after pregnancy in Caucasian Londoners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Derbyshire, E; Davies, G J; Costarelli, V; Dettmar, P W

    2009-01-01

    Micronutrient status is of fundamental importance both upon conception and throughout pregnancy. There is an abundance of literature investigating nutrient intakes during individual trimesters of pregnancy but few studies have investigated baseline intakes of nutrients throughout gestation as a continuum. The current investigation set out to measure habitual micronutrient intakes at weeks 13, 25, 35 of pregnancy and 6 weeks postpartum using a prospective background information questionnaire, 4-7-day weighed food diary and postnatal questionnaire. Seventy-two primiparous, Caucasian Londoners were recruited at the study start with 42 completing the first, second, third trimester and postpartum study stages respectively. Study findings indicated that sodium intakes were significantly higher than UK guidelines throughout and after pregnancy (P pregnancy, but to varying levels of statistical significance (P health interventions may be required to help expectant mothers achieve an optimal diet, particularly after birth when dietary recommendations increase for some micronutrients.

  4. Do habituation, host traits and seasonality have an impact on protist and helminth infections of wild western lowland gorillas?

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pafčo, B.; Benavides, J. A.; Pšenková-Profousová, I.; Modrý, D.; Červená, B.; Shutt, K. A.; Hasegawa, H.; Fuh, T.; Todd, A. F.; Petrželková, Klára Judita

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 116, č. 12 (2017), s. 3401-3410 ISSN 0932-0113 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-05180S Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : Western lowland gorilla * Parasite * Habituation * Human impact Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine OBOR OECD: Parasitology Impact factor: 2.329, year: 2016

  5. Adolescent habitual caffeine consumption and hemodynamic reactivity during rest, psychosocial stress, and recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, Jack E; Baldursdottir, Birna; Johannsdottir, Kamilla R; Valdimarsdottir, Heiddis B; Sigfusdottir, Inga Dora

    2018-07-01

    Most adolescents regularly consume caffeine. Whereas observational studies have suggested that coffee may be cardio-protective, pharmacological experimentation with adults shows that caffeine at dietary doses increases blood pressure, thereby implicating regular caffeine consumption as a potential source of harm for cardiovascular health. The present study was in response to the dearth of caffeine research among younger consumers. It was hypothesised that compared to the consumption of little or no caffeine, adolescents who habitually consume caffeine have overall higher blood pressure and increased vascular resistance. Using a quasi-experimental design, continuous measurements of blood pressure, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were taken non-invasively from adolescents (n = 333) aged 14-15 years and 18-19 years who reported "low", "moderate", or "high" levels of caffeine intake. Measurements were conducted when participants generally had negligible or low systematic caffeine levels while at rest, during stress, and during recovery from stress. Whereas habitual caffeine consumption did not predict blood pressure level, higher caffeine intake was associated with modestly increased vascular resistance during all phases of the experiment (i.e., at rest, during stress, and during recovery from stress). Present findings are important because they suggest that early exposure to caffeine may lead to persistent increases in vascular resistance, which in turn is an acknowledged risk factor for the development of hypertension. These results highlight the need for further studies of adolescents to determine the robustness of any persistent caffeine-related hemodynamic effects, and the implications such effects could have for long-term cardiovascular health. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Do reef fish habituate to diver presence? Evidence from two reef sites with contrasting historical levels of SCUBA intensity in the Bay Islands, Honduras.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin M Titus

    Full Text Available Contact between humans and the marine environment is increasing, but the capacity of communities to adapt to human presence remains largely unknown. The popularization of SCUBA diving has added a new dimension to human impacts in aquatic systems and, although individual-level impacts have been identified, cumulative effects on ecosystem function and community-wide responses are unclear. In principle, habituation may mitigate the consequences of human presence on the biology of an individual and allow the quick resumption of its ecological roles, but this has not been documented in aquatic systems. Here, we investigate the short-term impact of human presence and the long-term habituation potential of reef-fish communities to recreational SCUBA divers by studying symbiotic cleaning interactions on coral reefs with differing levels of historical contact with divers. We show that incidences of human contact result in a smaller decline in ecosystem function and more rapid resumption of baseline services on a reef in Utila, Honduras that has heavy historical levels of SCUBA diver presence, compared to an un-dived reef site in the Cayos Cochinos Marine Protected Area (CCMPA. Nonetheless, despite the generally smaller change in ecosystem function and decades of regular contact with divers, cleaning behavior is suppressed by >50% at Utila when divers are present. We hypothesize that community-wide habituation of reef fish is not fully achievable and may be biologically restricted to only partial habituation. Differential responses to human presence impacts the interpretation and execution of behavioral research where SCUBA is the predominant means of data collection, and provides an important rationale for future research investigating the interplay between human presence, ecosystem function, and community structure on coral reefs.

  7. Modeling habitual and addictive smartphone behavior: The role of smartphone usage types, emotional intelligence, social stress, self-regulation, age, and gender

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Deursen, Alexander Johannes Aloysius Maria; Bolle, Colin L.; Hegner, Sabrina M.; Hegner, Sabrina; Kommers, Petrus A.M.

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigates the role of process and social oriented smartphone usage, emotional intelligence, social stress, self-regulation, gender, and age in relation to habitual and addictive smartphone behavior. We conducted an online survey among 386 respondents. The results revealed that

  8. Costo-efectividad de la radiografía de tórax en lactantes con sospecha clínica de bronquiolitis viral en Colombia Cost-effectiveness of chest x-rays in infants with clinically suspected viral bronchiolitis in Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos E. Rodríguez Martínez

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Estimar el costo-efectividad de no realizar radiografía de tórax a ningún lactante con sospecha clínica de bronquiolitis viral versus realizarla en todos estos pacientes de manera rutinaria, que es la práctica más utilizada hoy en Colombia. MÉTODOS: Se realizó un estudio de costo-efectividad en el que se compararon las estrategias consistentes en tomar radiografía a todos y no tomar radiografía de tórax a ningún lactante con sospecha clínica de bronquiolitis viral. El desenlace principal fue la proporción de diagnósticos correctos. El horizonte temporal fue la evolución de la bronquiolitis. La perspectiva fue la del tercer pagador y los costos se obtuvieron de las tarifas vigentes en una clínica en la ciudad de Bogotá. Se realizaron análisis de sensibilidad determinísticos y probabilísticos. RESULTADOS: La estrategia de no realizar radiografía de tórax a ningún paciente fue dominante en relación con realizarla en todos los casos de manera rutinaria, con un costo promedio de US$ 111,0 y una tasa de diagnósticos correctos de 0,8020, comparados con los valores correspondientes de US$ 129,0 y 0,7873 para la estrategia de tomar radiografía rutinaria a todos estos pacientes. La variable más influyente fue el costo hospitalario de la neumonía. En el análisis de sensibilidad probabilístico, la estrategia de no radiografiar a ningún lactante fue dominante en 61,1% de las simulaciones. CONCLUSIONES: Los resultados sugieren que no realizar radiografía de tórax de rutina a lactantes con sospecha clínica de bronquiolitis viral es una estrategia costo-efectiva respecto a la práctica común de realizarla en todos estos casos, dado que arroja una mayor proporción de diagnósticos correctos a un menor costo promedio por paciente. No obstante, harán falta nuevos estudios con muestras más representativas de todos los establecimientos de salud e incluir la estrategia de tomar radiografía de tórax únicamente a

  9. Una causa poco frecuente de hipertrabeculación exclusiva del ventrículo derecho: ventrículo derecho no compacto

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan C. Díaz, MD

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available La cardiopatía por falta de compactación ventricular es una entidad infrecuente, que generalmente compromete el ventrículo izquierdo ocasionando falla cardíaca, arritmias ventriculares, embolismo periférico y muerte súbita. Hasta el momento, se han descrito muy pocos casos de ventrículo derecho no compacto, por lo cual no hay criterios diagnósticos establecidos y se desconoce como es la evolución clínica y la respuesta al tratamiento de este grupo de pacientes. Se describe el caso de un paciente con hipertrabeculación marcada del ventrículo derecho en quien se descartó un origen estructural de la misma, haciéndose diagnóstico de ventrículo derecho no compacto.

  10. Una causa poco frecuente de hipertrabeculación exclusiva del ventrículo derecho: ventrículo derecho no compacto

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan C Díaz

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available La cardiopatía por falta de compactación ventricular es una entidad infrecuente, que generalmente compromete el ventrículo izquierdo ocasionando falla cardíaca, arritmias ventriculares, embolismo periférico y muerte súbita. Hasta el momento, se han descrito muy pocos casos de ventrículo derecho no compacto, por lo cual no hay criterios diagnósticos establecidos y se desconoce como es la evolución clínica y la respuesta al tratamiento de este grupo de pacientes. Se describe el caso de un paciente con hipertrabeculación marcada del ventrículo derecho en quien se descartó un origen estructural de la misma, haciéndose diagnóstico de ventrículo derecho no compacto.

  11. El concepto de género como hermenéutica de la sospecha: de la Biología a la Filosofía Moral y Política

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Puleo, Alicia H.

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This article discusses the concept of gender as a paradigmatic case of the boundary between Biology and Culture. It examines the forgotten historical origins of the idea of gender as social construction during the Enlightenment, its definition in the twentieth century in opposition to Biology and its influence on the development of legislation geared towards equality between women and men. Also covers the increasing absorption of the concept of sex by gender in the most recent discussions. Finally, it suggests that the hermeneutics of suspicion must continue to play a huge role in implementing gender equality policies and, at the same time, to unveil androcentric biais in culture.Este artículo trata sobre el concepto de género como un caso paradigmático de frontera entre lo biológico y lo cultural. Examina los orígenes históricos olvidados de la idea de género como construcción social durante la Ilustración, su definición en el siglo XX por oposición a lo biológico y su influencia en la elaboración de leyes orientadas hacia la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres. Atiende también a la creciente absorción del concepto de sexo por el de género en los debates más recientes. Para finalizar, plantea la necesidad de que la hermenéutica de la sospecha de género continúe utilizándose para implementar políticas de igualdad y, al mismo tiempo, sirva para desvelar el sesgo androcéntrico en la cultura.

  12. Initiating running barefoot: Effects on muscle activation and impact accelerations in habitually rearfoot shod runners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas-Cuevas, Angel Gabriel; Priego Quesada, José Ignacio; Giménez, José Vicente; Aparicio, Inma; Jimenez-Perez, Irene; Pérez-Soriano, Pedro

    2016-11-01

    Runners tend to shift from a rearfoot to a forefoot strike pattern when running barefoot. However, it is unclear how the first attempts at running barefoot affect habitually rearfoot shod runners. Due to the inconsistency of their recently adopted barefoot technique, a number of new barefoot-related running injuries are emerging among novice barefoot runners. The aim of this study was therefore to analyse the influence of three running conditions (natural barefoot [BF], barefoot with a forced rearfoot strike [BRS], and shod [SH]) on muscle activity and impact accelerations in habitually rearfoot shod runners. Twenty-two participants ran at 60% of their maximal aerobic speed while foot strike, tibial and head impact accelerations, and tibialis anterior (TA), peroneus longus (PL), gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) muscle activity were registered. Only 68% of the runners adopted a non-rearfoot strike pattern during BF. Running BF led to a reduction of TA activity as well as to an increase of GL and GM activity compared to BRS and SH. Furthermore, BRS increased tibial peak acceleration, tibial magnitude and tibial acceleration rate compared to SH and BF. In conclusion, 32% of our runners showed a rearfoot strike pattern at the first attempts at running barefoot, which corresponds to a running style (BRS) that led to increased muscle activation and impact accelerations and thereby to a potentially higher risk of injury compared to running shod.

  13. Development and validation of a self-administered food frequency questionnaire to assess habitual dietary intake and quality of diet in healthy adults in the Republic of Croatia. .

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabić, Dora; Sindik, Joško; Missoni, Saša

    2014-09-01

    Food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) are designed to assess habitual diet by asking about the frequency with which food items or specific food groups are consumed over a reference period. In this study, we have developed a FFQ to assess habitual dietary intake of healthy adults to estimate the quality of their nutrition and conducted a study to validate the developed FFQ against a three-day 24-hour recall. Second aim of the study is to establish the correlation between the FFQ to assess habitual dietary intake and a three-day 24-hour recall, in relation with participants' age and education level. FFQ used in our study was adapted from the Harvard Semiquantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire, consisted of 101 food items, divided into 9 groups. The 24-hour recalls were collected during one week (the same week when the FFQ was completed) and on each different day of the week (two weekdays and one weekend day). Both the FFQ and three day 24-hour recall were distributed to 100 healthy, employed subjects, 32 males (aged 39.73 +/- 14.02) and 36 females (aged 34.20 +/- 10.63). The results indicated that the developed FFQ is valid instrument to assess the habitual intake of energy and most of the nutrients in healthy adults in the Republic of Croatia, while men tended to have higher correlation coefficients than women and therefore a higher correlation of the FFQ with the three 24-hour recalls. Statistically significant correlations are not found between energy and nutrient intake based on the education level of the participants.

  14. Roles femeninos en el cine de migraciones en España

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Jesús Alonso Seoane

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available El estudio del cine como medio para el análisis sociológico es poco frecuente todavía en nuestro país. Existen numerosos artículos analizando el cine desde diversos ángulos, también el femenino, especialmente roles como el de la mujer fatal en el cine negro. Pero es menos habitual emplear este formato como parte de un método analítico del que extraer un reflejo social de lo que las pantallas proyectan y, a un tiempo, contribuyen a legitimar como base de una sociedad futura. No obstante, existen pocos medios que sean capaces de reflejar el gran cambio acaecido en la historia reciente de la sociedad española. Este interés documental incrementa su potencial al enfocar en primer plano a las mujeres. Este artículo es una contribución a estudiar un campo tan atractivo como es el cine de migraciones a través de la óptica de los imaginarios sociales.

  15. Anxiety and Depression in Tinnitus Patients: 5-Year Follow-Up Assessment after Completion of Habituation Therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva-Signe Falkenberg

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Treatment programs based on a neurophysiological model have shown a positive effect on anxiety and depression in tinnitus patients. The aim of this paper was to assess the long-term effect of tinnitus habituation therapy. Sixty-eight individuals were treated with a comprehensive therapy program. The degree of anxiety and depression was assessed before, after, and five years after intervention using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The positive and significant changes achieved after habituation therapy (pre = 1.10, post = 0.92 for anxiety and pre = 0.77, post = 0.62 for depression were maintained five years after treatment ended (0.87 for anxiety and 0.52 for depression. A regression analysis revealed that individual evaluation of the treatment lectures, self-reported health condition, individual experiences of hyperacusis, and hearing loss could explain 44.3% of the variation in anxiety and 30.5% of the variation in depression posttreatment. Five years after, individual evaluation of the treatment lectures and self-reported health condition explained 22.2% of the variation in anxiety. These factors and individual experiences of hyperacusis could further explain 34.9% of the variation in depression. The effect of a neurophysiologic-based management treatment was maintained five years after treatment ended, indicating that the patients continued the improvement process without becoming dependent on professionals.

  16. Associations between longer habitual day napping and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in an elderly Chinese population.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hua Qu

    Full Text Available Both longer habitual day napping and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD are associated with diabetes and inflammation, but the association between day napping and NAFLD remains unexplored.To investigate the association between the duration of habitual day napping and NAFLD in an elderly Chinese population and to gain insight into the role of inflammatory cytokines in this association.We conducted a series of cross-sectional studies of the community population in Chongqing, China, from 2011 to 2012.Among 6998 participants aged 40 to 75 years, 6438 eligible participants were included in the first study and analyzed to observe the association between day napping duration and NAFLD. In a separate study, 80 non-nappers and 90 nappers were selected to identify the role of inflammatory cytokines in this association. Logistic regression models were used to examine the odds ratios (ORs of day nap duration with NAFLD.Day nappers had a significantly higher prevalence of NAFLD (P1 h of day napping compared with individuals who did not take day naps (all P0.05.Longer day napping duration is associated with a higher prevalence of NAFLD, and inflammatory cytokines may be an essential link between day napping and NAFLD.

  17. A case-control field study on the relationships among type 2 diabetes, sleepiness and habitual caffeine intake.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urry, Emily; Jetter, Alexander; Holst, Sebastian C; Berger, Wolfgang; Spinas, Giatgen A; Langhans, Wolfgang; Landolt, Hans-Peter

    2017-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the possible links between type 2 diabetes, daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and caffeine consumption. In this case-control field study, comparing type 2 diabetic ( n=134) and non-type 2 diabetic ( n=230) participants, subjects completed detailed and validated questionnaires to assess demographic status, health, daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and timing, diurnal preference, mistimed circadian rhythms and habitual caffeine intake. All participants gave saliva under standardised conditions for CYP1A2 genotyping and quantification of caffeine concentration. Hierarchical linear regression analyses examined whether type 2 diabetes status was associated with caffeine consumption. Type 2 diabetic participants reported greater daytime sleepiness ( p=0.001), a higher prevalence of sleep apnoea ( p=0.005) and napping ( p=0.008), and greater habitual caffeine intake ( pcaffeine concentration at bedtime ( p=0.01). Multiple regression analyses revealed that type 2 diabetes status was associated with higher self-reported caffeine consumption ( pcaffeine ( pcaffeine intake. Subjective sleep and circadian estimates were similar between case and control groups. Type 2 diabetic patients may self-medicate with caffeine to alleviate daytime sleepiness. High caffeine intake reflects a lifestyle factor that may be considered when promoting type 2 diabetes management.

  18. Pesquisaje activo de sospechas de reacciones adversas a medicamentos en el Hospital "Dr. Salvador Allende: Primer semestre 2006 Active screening of suspicions of adverse reactions to drugs in "Dr. Salvador Allende" Hospital: First semester 2006

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José de Jesús Rego Hernández

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Se realizó un estudio descriptivo mediante la revisión diaria del movimiento hospitalario, obtenido en el Departamento de Registros Médicos del Hospital "Dr. Salvador Allende" desde enero hasta junio de 2006 a fin de poder identificar los ingresos susceptibles de ser reacciones adversas a medicamentos, con el objetivo de detectar la frecuencia de ingresos por sospechas de reacciones adversas a medicamentos, así como de caracterizar a estos pacientes. Se llenó una planilla de notificación para cada sospecha de reacción adversa y se analizaron los datos contenidos en las historias clínicas respectivas. Se utilizó una base de Excel diseñada al efecto por el Centro para el Desarrollo de la Farmacoepidemiología. Ingresaron 6 201 pacientes, de los cuales 384 eran susceptibles de tener una reacción adversa a medicamentos (6,2 % y finalmente, se consideraron 57 pacientes cuyo motivo de ingreso se relacionó con algún medicamento (0,9 %. El 66,7 % de los casos eran mayores de 60 años de edad, sin diferencias en cuanto al sexo. Los grupos farmacológicos con mayores afectaciones fueron los analgésicos no opiodes (59,7 % y los antibacterianos (19,4 %. El sangramiento digestivo alto resultó la reacción adversa que más se encontró (57,9 %, con predominio en mayores de 60 años de edad (72,7 %; el ácido acetilsalicílico estuvo presente en el 66,7 % de los casos con este diagnóstico. En el75,5 % de los casos la reacción se consideró como graveA descriptive study was conducted by the daily revision of hospital movement obtained in the Department of Medical Registries of "Dr. Salvador Allende" Hospital from January to June, 2006, aimed at identifying the admissions susceptible to adverse reactions to drugs to detect the frequency of admissions due to suspicions of adverse reactions to drugs, as well as to characterize these patients. A notification form was filled in per each suspicion of adverse reaction, and the data contained in the

  19. Adaptation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis to daily repeated stress does not follow the rules of habituation: A new perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabasa, Cristina; Gagliano, Humberto; Pastor-Ciurana, Jordi; Fuentes, Silvia; Belda, Xavier; Nadal, Roser; Armario, Antonio

    2015-09-01

    Repeated exposure to a wide range of stressors differing in nature and intensity results in a reduced response of prototypical stress markers (i.e. plasma levels of ACTH and adrenaline) after an acute challenge with the same (homotypic) stressor. This reduction has been considered to be a habituation-like phenomenon. However, direct experimental evidence for this assumption is scarce. In the present work we demonstrate in adult male rats that adaptation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to repeated stress does not follow some of the critical rules of habituation. Briefly, adaptation was stronger and faster with more severe stressors, maximally observed even with a single exposure to severe stressors, extremely long-lasting, negatively related to the interval between the exposures and positively related to the length of daily exposure. We offer a new theoretical view to explain adaptation to daily repeated stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Videoradiography of patients with habitual snoring and/or sleep apnea. Technical description and presentation of videoradiographic results during sleep concerning occurrence of apnea, type of apnea, and site of obstruction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hillarp, B.; Nylander, G.; Rosen, I.; Wickstroem, O.

    1995-01-01

    The videoradiographic examination described was designed for habitual snorers and sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) patients and was performed during wakefulness and sleep. During wakefulness the purpose was to reveal any dysfunction in deglutiton and speech as well as morphologic abnormalities. The purpose during sleep, which usually was induced by low-dose midazolam intravenously, was to reveal the site and form of obstruction in obstructive sleep apnea patients and the site of snoring in habitual snorers. The preoperative results of 104 patients are presented. In 57 patients who had apneas, the occurrence and type of apnea could be determined. A continuous recording over some minutes gave a rough estimate of the degree of SAS and mean duration of apnea. Although much information on SAS can be obtained by this method, it cannot replace polygraphic sleep recording in the investigation of habitual snorers and SAS patients. However, these 2 methods are complementary and can be performed simultaneously as polygraphic videoradiography. (orig.)

  1. Habituation of adult sea lamprey repeatedly exposed to damage-released alarm and predator cues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imre, Istvan; Di Rocco, Richard T.; Brown, Grant E.; Johnson, Nicholas

    2016-01-01

    Predation is an unforgiving selective pressure affecting the life history, morphology and behaviour of prey organisms. Selection should favour organisms that have the ability to correctly assess the information content of alarm cues. This study investigated whether adult sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus habituate to conspecific damage-released alarm cues (fresh and decayed sea lamprey extract), a heterospecific damage-released alarm cue (white sucker Catostomus commersoniiextract), predator cues (Northern water snake Nerodia sipedon washing, human saliva and 2-phenylethylamine hydrochloride (PEA HCl)) and a conspecific damage-released alarm cue and predator cue combination (fresh sea lamprey extract and human saliva) after they were pre-exposed 4 times or 8 times, respectively, to a given stimulus the previous night. Consistent with our prediction, adult sea lamprey maintained an avoidance response to conspecific damage-released alarm cues (fresh and decayed sea lamprey extract), a predator cue presented at high relative concentration (PEA HCl) and a conspecific damage-released alarm cue and predator cue combination (fresh sea lamprey extract plus human saliva), irrespective of previous exposure level. As expected, adult sea lamprey habituated to a sympatric heterospecific damage-released alarm cue (white sucker extract) and a predator cue presented at lower relative concentration (human saliva). Adult sea lamprey did not show any avoidance of the Northern water snake washing and the Amazon sailfin catfish extract (heterospecific control). This study suggests that conspecific damage-released alarm cues and PEA HCl present the best options as natural repellents in an integrated management program aimed at controlling the abundance of sea lamprey in the Laurentian Great Lakes.

  2. Effects of Afternoon Nap Deprivation on Adult Habitual Nappers’ Inhibition Functions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qingwei Chen

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Multiple studies have established the effects of afternoon naps on cognition. However, relatively few studies have investigated the domain of executive functions. Moreover, the effects of napping on inhibition are far from conclusive. The present study employed adult habitual nappers to investigate the effects of afternoon nap deprivation on response-based inhibition assessed by a Go/No-go task and stimulus-based inhibition assessed by a Flanker task and on alertness assessed by a psychomotor vigilance test (PVT and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS. The results showed that afternoon nap deprivation significantly decreased participants’ accuracy and reaction speed for the Go/No-go task but not for the Flanker task. In addition, participants’ alertness was significantly impaired after nap deprivation in terms of increased subjective sleepiness and worse PVT performance. Task-specific effects of napping on inhibition were demonstrated. The implications of the results are discussed.

  3. The role of oxytocin in familiarization-habituation responses to social novelty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mattie eTops

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Stress or arousal responses to novel social contexts ease off when individuals get familiar with the social context. In the present study we investigated whether oxytocin is involved in this process of familiarization-habituation, as oxytocin is known to increase trust and decrease anxiety. Fifty-nine healthy female subjects took part in the same experimental procedure in two sessions separated by four weeks. In the first (novelty session state trust scores were significantly positively correlated with salivary oxytocin levels, while in the second (familiarity session state trust scores were significantly negatively correlated with salivary oxytocin levels. In a path model, oxytocin was associated with increased trust in the novelty session and trust was associated with decreased oxytocin levels in the familiarity session. The results are consistent with the idea that oxytocin decreases stress-to-novelty responses by promoting familiarization to novel social contexts.

  4. Sources of variation in habitual physical activity of children and adolescents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Peter Lund; Korsholm, L; Møller, N C

    2007-01-01

    The present study examined the influence of gender, maturity state, seasonality, type of measurement day and socioeconomic status (SES) on habitual physical activity in 8-10-year-old children and 14-16-year-old adolescents (n=1318). Physical activity was assessed objectively by accelerometry....... The results showed a significant effect of the type of measurement day on physical activity with a general pattern of lower activity levels in weekends compared with weekdays. Furthermore, higher physical activity levels were observed during the months of spring/summer compared with the months of autumn....../winter for the 8-10-year-olds, whereas no significant effect of months was observed for the 14-16-year-olds, possibly due to exam preparations and lack of physical activity registration during the months of summer for this cohort. SES was unrelated to physical activity in the 8-10-year-olds, whereas an inverse...

  5. Habitual 'sleep credit' is associated with greater grey matter volume of the medial prefrontal cortex, higher emotional intelligence and better mental health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber, Mareen; Webb, Christian A; Deldonno, Sophie R; Kipman, Maia; Schwab, Zachary J; Weiner, Melissa R; Killgore, William D S

    2013-10-01

    In modern society, people often fail to obtain the amount of sleep that experts recommend for good health and performance. Insufficient sleep can lead to degraded cognitive performance and alterations in emotional functioning. However, most people also acknowledge that on a regular basis they obtain more sleep than they subjectively perceive they need at a minimum to stave off performance decrements, a construct we describe as subjective 'sleep credit'. Few people would contest the notion that getting more sleep is better, but data on both behavioural and neuroanatomical correlates of 'sleep credit' are surprisingly limited. We conducted a voxel-based morphometric study to assess cerebral grey matter correlates of habitually sleeping more than one's subjective requirements. We further tested whether these structural correlates are associated with perceived emotional intelligence and indices of psychopathology while controlling for age, gender, and total intracranial volume. In a sample of 55 healthy adults aged 18-45 years (28 males, 27 females), whole-brain multiple regression showed that habitual subjective 'sleep credit' was correlated positively with grey matter volume within regions of the left medial prefrontal cortex and right orbitofrontal gyrus. Volumes were extracted and regressed against self-report emotion and psychopathology indices. Only grey matter volume of the medial prefrontal cortex cluster correlated with greater emotional intelligence and lower scores on several indices of psychopathology. Findings converge with previous evidence of the role of the medial prefrontal cortex in the relationship between sleep and emotional functioning, and suggest that behaviour and brain structure vary with habitual 'sleep credit'. © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.

  6. Self-reported exposure to traffic pollution in relation to daytime sleepiness and habitual snoring: a questionnaire study in seven North-European cities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gislason, Thorarinn; Bertelsen, Randi J; Real, Francisco Gomez; Sigsgaard, Torben; Franklin, Karl A; Lindberg, Eva; Janson, Christer; Arnardottir, Erna Sif; Hellgren, Johan; Benediktsdottir, Bryndis; Forsberg, Bertil; Johannessen, Ane

    2016-08-01

    Little is known about associations between traffic exposure and sleep disturbances. We examined if self-reported exposure to traffic is associated with habitual snoring and daytime sleepiness in a general population. In the RHINE III study, 12184 adults answered questions on sleep disturbances and traffic exposure. We analysed bedrooms near roads with traffic, bedrooms with traffic noise, and travelling regularly along busy roads as proxies for traffic exposures, using logistic regression. Adjustment factors were study centre, gender, age, smoking habits, educational level, body mass index, physical activity, obstructive sleep apnoea, and sleep duration. One in ten lived near a busy road, 6% slept in a bedroom with traffic noise, and 11% travelled regularly along busy roads. Habitual snoring affected 25% and daytime sleepiness 21%. More men reported snoring and more women reported daytime sleepiness. Having a bedroom with traffic noise was associated with snoring (adjusted OR 1.29, [95% CI 1.12, 1.48]). For daytime sleepiness, on the other hand, bedroom with traffic noise and high exposure to traffic pollution have significant risk factors (adjusted ORs 1.46 [1.11, 1.92] and 1.65 [1.11, 2.45]). Results were consistent across study centres. Daytime sleepiness is associated with traffic pollution and traffic noise, while habitual snoring is only associated with traffic noise. Self-reported traffic exposure should be taken into account when diagnosing and planning treatment for patients with sleep disturbances, because reducing noise and pollution exposure in the bedroom may have a beneficial effect. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Esofagitis necrotizante aguda: Una entidad inusual

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvana E. Pramparo

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available La esofagitis necrotizante aguda (ENA, también denominada esófago negro, es una rara enfermedad poco descripta en la literatura médica. Describimos el caso de un hombre de 80 años, con hemorragia digestiva alta quien desarrolló un esófago negro luego de un episodio de hipotensión. La necrosis fue confirmada histológicamente. Los pacientes se presentan con hematemesis y melena en más del 70% de los casos. Los hallazgos endoscópicos muestran una coloración negruzca de la mucosa esofágica. El diagnóstico se realiza con endoscopia y confirmación histológica. La mortalidad es alta (más del 50% aunque relacionada a las enfermedades de base del paciente. Por último, podemos decir que la sospecha es muy importante en el diagnóstico de ENA, particularmente en pacientes ancianos con enfermedades asociadas y evidencia de hemorragia digestiva alta. En este trabajo describimos las características clínicas, endoscópicas e histopatológicas de un paciente con ENA.

  8. The Effects of Caffeine Use on Driving Safety Among Truck Drivers Who Are Habitual Caffeine Users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heaton, Karen; Griffin, Russell

    2015-08-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe caffeine use among a group of habitual caffeine users, truck drivers, and to explore the associations between caffeine use and critical safety events by age in the naturalistic work setting. A secondary analysis of existing data from the Naturalistic Truck Driving Study was conducted. Analyses focused on the association between sleep and caffeine consumption by duty status, comparisons of sleep and caffeine use by age, and the associations between caffeine use and safety-critical events (SCEs). Findings indicated differences in caffeine use by duty status. However, no difference in sleep time by duty status, or between sleep time and caffeine use was found regardless of when the caffeine was consumed during the 5 hours prior to sleep. Sleep time did not vary significantly by age, although increasing age was associated with decreased caffeine use. Overall, a 6% reduction in the rate of SCEs per eight ounces of caffeinated beverage consumed was found. This study makes a unique scientific contribution because it uses real-time observations of truckers in the naturalistic work setting. It also does not involve caffeine withdrawal but rather an investigation of the effects of the naturalistic consumption of caffeine on sleep and driving performance. Findings suggest that caffeine use among habitual users offers a protective effect for safety-critical driving events. Occupational health nurses may use this information to counsel workers in the use of caffeine to enhance driving safety. © 2015 The Author(s).

  9. Openness to experience and adapting to change: Cardiovascular stress habituation to change in acute stress exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ó Súilleabháin, Páraic S; Howard, Siobhán; Hughes, Brian M

    2018-05-01

    Underlying psychophysiological mechanisms of effect linking openness to experience to health outcomes, and particularly cardiovascular well-being, are unknown. This study examined the role of openness in the context of cardiovascular responsivity to acute psychological stress. Continuous cardiovascular response data were collected for 74 healthy young female adults across an experimental protocol, including differing counterbalanced acute stressors. Openness was measured via self-report questionnaire. Analysis of covariance revealed openness was associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP; p = .016), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP; p = .036) responsivity across the protocol. Openness was also associated with heart rate (HR) responding to the initial stress exposure (p = .044). Examination of cardiovascular adaptation revealed that higher openness was associated with significant SBP (p = .001), DBP (p = .009), and HR (p = .002) habituation in response to the second differing acute stress exposure. Taken together, the findings suggest persons higher in openness are characterized by an adaptive cardiovascular stress response profile within the context of changing acute stress exposures. This study is also the first to demonstrate individual differences in cardiovascular adaptation across a protocol consisting of differing stress exposures. More broadly, this research also suggests that future research may benefit from conceptualizing an adaptive fitness of openness within the context of change. In summary, the present study provides evidence that higher openness stimulates short-term stress responsivity, while ensuring cardiovascular habituation to change in stress across time. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  10. Study of the feasibility of the utilization of clays from Poco Fundo (MG) for its use in bricks fabrication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaspar Junior, L.A.; Souza, M.H.O.; Moreno, M.M.T.

    2012-01-01

    This work aimed to make an analysis of mineralogical (Macroscopic Description and X-Ray Diffraction), chemical (X-Ray Fluorescence and Organic Carbon Analysis) and ceramic (Particle Size Distribution, Mechanical Resistance, Water Absorption, Apparent Porosity, among others) properties of the alluvial clays collected in Poco Fundo county - Minas Gerais State, Brazil - in order to confirm the feasibility of these clays for bricks manufacturing. There were collected 4 samples from the main potteries of the county, and they were nominated PF-01, PF-02, PF-03 and MAC-01. The clays from these region display high content of quartz, kaolinite and present refractory behavior, and the alkalis content (Na 2 O and K 2 O) is low, because the studied area suffered an intense weathering process. The sample PF-03 presented the most promising ceramic results, mainly due to the lower content in silica and higher amounts of organic matter, denoting a clay coming from a swampy area. (author)

  11. Associations between longer habitual day napping and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in an elderly Chinese population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qu, Hua; Wang, Hang; Deng, Min; Wei, Huili; Deng, Huacong

    2014-01-01

    Both longer habitual day napping and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) are associated with diabetes and inflammation, but the association between day napping and NAFLD remains unexplored. To investigate the association between the duration of habitual day napping and NAFLD in an elderly Chinese population and to gain insight into the role of inflammatory cytokines in this association. We conducted a series of cross-sectional studies of the community population in Chongqing, China, from 2011 to 2012. Among 6998 participants aged 40 to 75 years, 6438 eligible participants were included in the first study and analyzed to observe the association between day napping duration and NAFLD. In a separate study, 80 non-nappers and 90 nappers were selected to identify the role of inflammatory cytokines in this association. Logistic regression models were used to examine the odds ratios (ORs) of day nap duration with NAFLD. Day nappers had a significantly higher prevalence of NAFLD (Pnapping duration was associated in a dose-dependent manner with NAFLD (P trend 1 h of day napping compared with individuals who did not take day naps (all Pnapping duration and NAFLD disappeared (all P>0.05). Longer day napping duration is associated with a higher prevalence of NAFLD, and inflammatory cytokines may be an essential link between day napping and NAFLD.

  12. Effects of habitual anger on employees' behavior during organizational change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bönigk, Mareike; Steffgen, Georges

    2013-11-25

    Organizational change is a particularly emotional event for those being confronted with it. Anger is a frequently experienced emotion under these conditions. This study analyses the influence of employees' habitual anger reactions on their reported behavior during organizational change. It was explored whether anger reactions conducive to recovering or increasing individual well-being will enhance the likelihood of functional change behavior. Dysfunctional regulation strategies in terms of individual well-being are expected to decrease the likelihood of functional change behavior-mediated by the commitment to change. Four hundred and twelve employees of different organizations in Luxembourg undergoing organizational change participated in the study. Findings indicate that the anger regulation strategy venting, and humor increase the likelihood of deviant resistance to change. Downplaying the incident's negative impact and feedback increase the likelihood of active support for change. The mediating effect of commitment to change has been found for humor and submission. The empirical findings suggest that a differentiated conceptualization of resistance to change is required. Specific implications for practical change management and for future research are discussed.

  13. Uso de la punción lumbar en la evaluación de sepsis neonatal tardía en recién nacidos de bajo peso al nacer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zea-Vera, A; Turín, CG; Rueda, MS; Guillén-Pinto, D; Medina-Alva, P; Tori, A; Rivas, M; Zegarra, J; Castañeda, A; Cam, L; Ochoa, TJ

    2017-01-01

    RESUMEN El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar el uso de la punción lumbar (PL) en las sospechas de sepsis neonatal tardía. Se recomienda realizar una PL en la evaluación de toda sospecha de sepsis neonatal tardía. Se utilizó una cohorte de 414 neonatos con peso al nacer <2000g en tres hospitales de Lima. Se realizó la PL en 45/214 (21,0%) sospechas de sepsis y en 13/48 (27,1%) sepsis confirmadas por hemocultivo. Se diagnosticó meningitis en 8/214 (3,7%) sospechas y en 8/45 (17,5%) episodios en los que se realizó la PL. El tiempo de tratamiento de los episodios sin PL fue similar a los episodios de sepsis con meningitis descartada y menor a los episodios de meningitis. El uso de la PL es bajo, lo que puede resultar en meningitis no diagnosticadas y tratadas inadecuadamente. Es necesario reforzar la importancia de la PL en la evaluación de sepsis neonatal. PMID:27656928

  14. Effects of Habitual Physical Activity and Fitness on Tibial Cortical Bone Mass, Structure and Mass Distribution in Pre-pubertal Boys and Girls: The Look Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duckham, Rachel L; Rantalainen, Timo; Ducher, Gaele; Hill, Briony; Telford, Richard D; Telford, Rohan M; Daly, Robin M

    2016-07-01

    Targeted weight-bearing activities during the pre-pubertal years can improve cortical bone mass, structure and distribution, but less is known about the influence of habitual physical activity (PA) and fitness. This study examined the effects of contrasting habitual PA and fitness levels on cortical bone density, geometry and mass distribution in pre-pubertal children. Boys (n = 241) and girls (n = 245) aged 7-9 years had a pQCT scan to measure tibial mid-shaft total, cortical and medullary area, cortical thickness, density, polar strength strain index (SSIpolar) and the mass/density distribution through the bone cortex (radial distribution divided into endo-, mid- and pericortical regions) and around the centre of mass (polar distribution). Four contrasting PA and fitness groups (inactive-unfit, inactive-fit, active-unfit, active-fit) were generated based on daily step counts (pedometer, 7-days) and fitness levels (20-m shuttle test and vertical jump) for boys and girls separately. Active-fit boys had 7.3-7.7 % greater cortical area and thickness compared to inactive-unfit boys (P girls, but active-fit girls had 6.1 % (P girls, which was likely due to their 6.7 % (P active-fit girls. Higher levels of habitual PA-fitness were associated with small regional-specific gains in 66 % tibial cortical bone mass in pre-pubertal children, particularly boys.

  15. Habitual coffee and tea drinkers experienced increases in blood pressure after consuming low to moderate doses of caffeine; these increases were larger upright than in the supine posture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMullen, Michael K; Whitehouse, Julie M; Shine, Gillian; Towell, Anthony

    2011-04-01

    Caffeine users have been encouraged to consume caffeine regularly to maintain their caffeine tolerance and so avoid caffeine's acute pressor effects. In controlled conditions complete caffeine tolerance to intervention doses of 250 mg develops rapidly following several days of caffeine ingestion, nevertheless, complete tolerance is not evident for lower intervention doses. Similarly complete caffeine tolerance to 250 mg intervention doses has been demonstrated in habitual coffee and tea drinkers' but for lower intervention doses complete tolerance is not evident. This study investigated a group of habitual caffeine users following their self-determined consumption pattern involving two to six servings daily. Cardiovascular responses following the ingestion of low to moderate amounts caffeine (67, 133 and 200 mg) were compared with placebo in a double-blind, randomised design without caffeine abstinence. Pre-intervention and post-intervention (30 and 60 min) 90 s continuous cardiovascular recordings were obtained with the Finometer in both the supine and upright postures. Participants were 12 healthy habitual coffee and tea drinkers (10 female, mean age 36). Doses of 67 and 133 mg increased systolic pressure in both postures while in the upright posture diastolic pressure and aortic impedance increased while arterial compliance decreased. These vascular changes were larger upright than supine for 133 mg caffeine. Additionally 67 mg caffeine increased dp/dt and indexed peripheral resistance in the upright posture. For 200 mg caffeine there was complete caffeine tolerance. Cardiovascular responses to caffeine appear to be associated with the size of the intervention dose. Habitual tea and coffee drinking does not generate complete tolerance to caffeine as has been previously suggested. Both the type and the extent of caffeine induced cardiovascular changes were influenced by posture.

  16. Acute effects of chewing tobacco on coronary microcirculation and hemodynamics in habitual tobacco chewers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vikas Thakran

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Long-term adverse cardiovascular effects of smokeless tobacco are well established, however, the effect of chewing tobacco on coronary microcirculation and hemodynamic have not been studied. We intended to analyze the acute effect of chewing tobacco on coronary microcirculation and hemodynamics in habitual tobacco chewers with stable coronary artery disease undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI. Materials and Methods: We prospectively enrolled seven habitual tobacco chewers with stable coronary artery disease with single vessel disease or double vessel disease satisfying the criteria for elective PCI. Patients were instructed to keep 1 g of crushed dried tobacco leaves in the mouth after a successful PCI. Lesion in last stented vessels was evaluated for fractional flow reserve (FFR, coronary flow reserve (CFR, and index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR post-PCI, after 15 min and 30 min of tobacco chewing along with the measurement of serum cotinine levels. Results: Oral tobacco led to high levels of cotinine in the majority of patients. There was an insignificant rise in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure following tobacco consumption. Baseline CFR (median 1.6, range 1.1–5.5 was low in tobacco chewers after PCI even after optimum FFR (0.9 ± 0.05 in the majority of patients suggesting abnormal microvascular hemodynamics (high IMR in 3 patients, overall median 14.2, range 7–36.2. However, there was no significant change in the estimated CFR or IMR values following tobacco chewing. One patient had bradycardia and hypotension which may be related to vagal reaction or acute nicotine poisoning. Conclusion: Tobacco chewers have abnormal coronary microcirculation hemodynamics even following a successful PCI. However, the coronary micocirculation and hemodynamics do not change acutely following tobacco chewing despite high serum cotinine concentrations.

  17. The experience of Electricity Municipal Department of Pocos de Caldas, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in conception and construction of Antas 2 hydroelectric power plant: a hand-made power plant; A experiencia do Departamento Municipal de Eletricidade de Pocos de Caldas na concepcao e construcao da Usina Hidreletrica Antas 2: uma usina concebida e realizada na ponta do lapis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moraes, Cicero Machado de [Departamento Municipal de Eletricidade de Pocos de Caldas, MG (Brazil); Nasseh, Oscar [Mecanica Pesada S.A., Taubate, SP (Brazil); Hellmuth, Harald [Siemens S.A. (Brazil)

    1993-12-31

    The Antas 2 hydroelectric power plant, located in Pocos de Caldas, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, is under construction and have deadline to start operation in the beginning of 1994. Considered a high-head plant, with 165,05 m of fall, Antas 2 have three generation units of 5,7 MW and will supply a residential and industry demand of electric energy. This paper presents that the construction of an energy profit with this capacity can be performed under the mostly updated technologies with low costs, resulting in a high productivity, with reliance and asserted rentability profit 1 tab.

  18. Independent and combined relationship of habitual unhealthy eating behaviors with depressive symptoms: A prospective study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cong Huang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Unhealthy eating has been found to be associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms. However, prospective evidence of the combined effects of unhealthy eating and depressive symptoms has not been reported. This study aimed to elucidate the prospective relationship between habitual unhealthy eating habits and depressive symptoms. Methods: A 2-year prospective cohort study of 376 Japanese adults aged 24–83 years without depressive symptoms at baseline was conducted. Information about participants' eating behaviors was obtained via a self-administered questionnaire, in which skipping breakfast, eating dinner shortly before bedtime, and snacking after dinner were recorded. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Japanese version of the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale. Results: The 2-year incidence of depressive symptoms was found to be 23.7% (89/376. Covariate-adjusted multivariate Poisson regression analyses showed that habitual snacking after dinner was significantly associated with the incidence of depressive symptoms (relative risk [RR] 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00–3.14, p = 0.049, whereas no relationship was found between skipping breakfast or eating dinner shortly before bedtime and depressive symptoms. On the other hand, there was an interaction effect of snacking after dinner and dinner before bedtime on depressive symptoms (p for the interaction = 0.044. Participants with more than two unhealthy eating behaviors had a higher incidence of depressive symptoms compared to those with fewer than two unhealthy eating behaviors (RR 1.71; 95% CI, 1.06–2.77, p = 0.028. Conclusions: This prospective study is the first to reveal the combined relationship between unhealthy eating and the incidence of depressive symptoms.

  19. Independent and combined relationship of habitual unhealthy eating behaviors with depressive symptoms: A prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Cong; Momma, Haruki; Cui, Yufei; Chujo, Masahiko; Otomo, Atsushi; Sugiyama, Shota; Ren, Zhongyu; Niu, Kaijun; Nagatomi, Ryoichi

    2017-01-01

    Unhealthy eating has been found to be associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms. However, prospective evidence of the combined effects of unhealthy eating and depressive symptoms has not been reported. This study aimed to elucidate the prospective relationship between habitual unhealthy eating habits and depressive symptoms. A 2-year prospective cohort study of 376 Japanese adults aged 24-83 years without depressive symptoms at baseline was conducted. Information about participants' eating behaviors was obtained via a self-administered questionnaire, in which skipping breakfast, eating dinner shortly before bedtime, and snacking after dinner were recorded. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Japanese version of the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale. The 2-year incidence of depressive symptoms was found to be 23.7% (89/376). Covariate-adjusted multivariate Poisson regression analyses showed that habitual snacking after dinner was significantly associated with the incidence of depressive symptoms (relative risk [RR] 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00-3.14, p = 0.049), whereas no relationship was found between skipping breakfast or eating dinner shortly before bedtime and depressive symptoms. On the other hand, there was an interaction effect of snacking after dinner and dinner before bedtime on depressive symptoms (p for the interaction = 0.044). Participants with more than two unhealthy eating behaviors had a higher incidence of depressive symptoms compared to those with fewer than two unhealthy eating behaviors (RR 1.71; 95% CI, 1.06-2.77, p = 0.028). This prospective study is the first to reveal the combined relationship between unhealthy eating and the incidence of depressive symptoms. Copyright © 2016. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

  20. Genetic variation of habitual coffee consumption and glycemic changes in response to weight-loss diet intervention: the Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies (POUNDS LOST) trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Liyuan; Ma, Wenjie; Sun, Dianjianyi; Heianza, Yoriko; Wang, Tiange; Zheng, Yan; Huang, Tao; Duan, Donghui; Bray, J George A; Champagne, Catherine M; Sacks, Frank M; Qi, Lu

    2017-11-01

    Background: Coffee consumption has been associated with glucose metabolism and risk of type 2 diabetes. Objective: We examined whether the genetic variation determining habitual coffee consumption affected glycemic changes in response to weight-loss dietary intervention. Design: A genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated based on 8 habitual coffee consumption-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms. We used general linear models to test changes in glycemic traits in groups randomly assigned to high- and low-fat diets according to tertiles of the GRS. Results: We observed significant interactions between the GRS and low compared with high dietary fat intake on 6-mo changes in fasting insulin and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) ( P -interaction = 0.023 and 0.022, respectively), adjusting for age, sex, race, physical activity, smoking, alcohol, seasonal variation, and baseline values of the respective outcomes. Participants with a higher GRS of habitual coffee consumption showed a greater reduction in fasting insulin and a marginally greater decrease in HOMA-IR in the low-fat diet intervention group. Conclusions: Our data suggest that participants with genetically determined high coffee consumption may benefit more by eating a low-fat diet in improving fasting insulin and HOMA-IR in a short term. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00072995 and NCT03258203. © 2017 American Society for Nutrition.

  1. Object habituation in horses: The effect of voluntary vs. negatively reinforced approach to frightening stimuli

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Janne Winther

    2013-01-01

    of the horses (NR group) were negatively reinforced by a familiar human handler to approach a collection of novel objects in a test arena. The other half were individually released in the arena and were free to explore the objects (VOL group). On the next day, the horses were exposed to the objects again...... without a human handler, to investigate the rate of habituation. Behavioural and heart rate responses were recorded. Results: All VOL horses initially avoided the unknown objects, whereas the handler was able to get all NR horses to approach and stand next to the objects within the first 2 min session...

  2. Getting used to academic public speaking: global self-esteem predicts habituation in blood pressure response to repeated thesis presentations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elfering, Achim; Grebner, Simone

    2012-06-01

    Global self-esteem was tested to predict quicker cardiovascular adaptation during stressful oral thesis presentation and faster habituation from the first to the second and third thesis presentations. Nineteen graduate students initially rated their global self-esteem and afterwards orally presented their theses proposals in 20-min presentations to their thesis supervisor and peers. A second and third presentation of the revised thesis concepts took place at 4-weeks intervals. Ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate were assessed repeatedly during the presentations. Post-talk self ratings of stressfulness indicated presentations to be a strong public speaking stressor. One hundred and thirty-eight measurements of systolic (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) showed a significant adaptation (decrease) during presentations. There was an overall mean level decrease from the first to the second, and the second to the third presentations in HR, but not in SBP and DBP. However, habituation in SBP and DBP across three presentations was significantly faster (p < .05) in those participants who initially reported higher levels of global self-esteem. Higher global self-esteem did not foster adaptation within the presentations. Self-esteem is discussed as an important individual resource that allows successful coping with recurring evaluative threats.

  3. Leishmaniasis cutánea zosteriforme causada por Leishmania (Viannia panamensis y Leishmania (Viannia braziliensis: reporte de tres casos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camilo Andrés Morales

    2014-09-01

    Se presentan tres casos de leishmaniasis cutánea zosteriforme en los que se identificaron Leishmania panamensis y Leishmania braziliensis como especies infectantes. La sospecha epidemiológica derivada de la procedencia de los pacientes, así como la sospecha clínica a partir del reconocimiento de una presentación infrecuente de la enfermedad, permitieron hacer el diagnóstico.

  4. Aqueous speciation and the importance of particulate phase in hydro-geochemistry behaviour of U,Th and REE from uranium mine and Morro do Ferro, Pocos de Caldas - Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jesus, Honerio Coutinho de

    1996-04-01

    This work, which was realized within the Natural Analogue Project Pocos de Caldas, had as its main objective the study of the colloidal behavior of U, Th, REE and some other elements of geochemical interest, in surface and groundwaters from the Osamu Utsumi mine and the Morro do ferro in Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais. Ultrafiltration techniques with flat membranes of different molecular mass exclusion limits (100 K, 10 K e 1K daltons) were used for this purpose. In addition, suspended matter (>0,45 μm), retained during pre-filtering of the waters, was analysed mineralogically and chemically (U, Th, REE, isotopic composition of U and Th, etc). Studies of the chemical composition of colloidal particles (<0,45 μm) and their size distributions were performed using ESCA and SEM, respectively. In addition, speciation studies by means of the MINEQL computation program were made to obtain information about the principal complexed species of relevant elements and the formation of solid phases. All the above mentioned investigations were aimed at better understanding of the migration and sorption behavior of U, Th and REE in both environments. The data obtained in this work indicate a low importance of particulate phases (colloids or suspended particles) for the migration behavior of U, Th and REE in waters from the Osumu Utsumi uranium mine and the Morro do ferro. However, these particles, composed mainly of ferric oxyhydrates and humic compounds, play an important role in sorption and immobilization processes. (author)

  5. Long-term habituation (LTH in the crab Chasmagnathus: a model for behavioral and mechanistic studies of memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. Maldonado

    1997-07-01

    Full Text Available A decade of studies on long-term habituation (LTH in the crab Chasmagnathus is reviewed. Upon sudden presentation of a passing object overhead, the crab reacts with an escape response that habituates promptly and for at least five days. LTH proved to be an instance of associative memory and showed context, stimulus frequency and circadian phase specificity. A strong training protocol (STP (³15 trials, intertrial interval (ITI of 171 s invariably yielded LTH, while a weak training protocol (WTP (£10 trials, ITI = 171 s invariably failed. STP was used with a presumably amnestic agent and WTP with a presumably hypermnestic agent. Remarkably, systemic administration of low doses was effective, which is likely to be due to the lack of an endothelial blood-brain barrier. LTH was blocked by inhibitors of protein and RNA synthesis, enhanced by protein kinase A (PKA activators and reduced by PKA inhibitors, facilitated by angiotensin II and IV and disrupted by saralasin. The presence of angiotensins and related compounds in the crab brain was demonstrated. Diverse results suggest that LTH includes two components: an initial memory produced by spaced training and mainly expressed at an initial phase of testing, and a retraining memory produced by massed training and expressed at a later phase of testing (retraining. The initial memory would be associative, context specific and sensitive to cycloheximide, while the retraining memory would be nonassociative, context independent and insensitive to cycloheximide

  6. Habitual chocolate intake and type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study: (1975-2010): Prospective observations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crichton, Georgina E; Elias, Merrill F; Dearborn, Peter; Robbins, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Compounds in cocoa and chocolate have established cardiovascular benefits, including beneficial effects on insulin resistance, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aims of this study was to investigate relations between habitual chocolate intakes and diabetes mellitus. Cross-sectional and prospective analyses were undertaken on 953 community-dwelling participants (mean age 62 years, 59% women) from the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS). Habitual chocolate intakes, measured using a food frequency questionnaire, were related to prevalence of diabetes mellitus (cross-sectionally) and with risk of diabetes measured approximately five years later (prospectively). We also examined the relation between diabetes (the predictor) and chocolate consumption (the outcome) up to 30 years later. Chocolate intake was inversely associated with type 2 diabetes. Compared to participants who consumed chocolate more than once per week, those who never or rarely ate chocolate exhibited a significantly higher odds of having type 2 diabetes 5 years later (OR: 1.91, 95% CI: 1.03, 3.55, p = 0.04), after adjustment for cardiovascular, lifestyle and dietary factors including other polyphenol-rich beverages. However, individuals diagnosed with diabetes prior to the nutritional assessment consumed lower amounts of chocolate at the time of the dietary assessment. Our findings suggest that relations between chocolate and type 2 diabetes may be bi-directional. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Transfer of radon-222 from rocks of the Pocos de Caldas plateau to the waters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonotto, Daniel Marcos; Lima, Jorge Luis Nepomuceno de

    1997-01-01

    The analytical procedures developed at the Sector of Unstable Isotopes of the Laboratory of Geochemistry, which belongs to the Department of Petrology and Metallogeny located at the Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences - Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP) to measure the release of 222 Rn from rocks to the waters is described. The methodology established was used to evaluate the emanation coefficient of 222 Rn from experiments of water-rock interaction under controlled conditions in the laboratory, which is an important parameter necessary to interpret the radioactivity related to dissolved 222 Rn content in waters. Four typical rocks from Pocos de Caldas Plateau were sampled for the experiments: phonolite, nepheline syenite, pseudoleucite tinguaite and silicified sandstone. The 226 Ra content of these rocks was evaluated by gamma-ray spectrometry using a Nal(TI) scintillation detector, a method that has been currently utilized in nuclear geophysics or isotope geochemistry to measure the equivalent uranium (e U). The 226 Ra content in the studied rocks and the 222 Rn transferred to the waters due to its generation by its 226 Ra progenitor allowed an estimation of the emanation coefficient of 222 Rn. A preliminary investigation on the influence of the mass of the rock in contact with water, of the surface area of the rock in contact with water and of the 226 Ra content in rocks on the amount of 222 Rn released to the water was also performed. (Author)

  8. The Mixed Instrumental Controller: Using Value of Information to Combine Habitual Choice and Mental Simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanni ePezzulo

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Instrumental behavior depends on both goal-directed and habitual mechanisms of choice. Normative views cast these mechanisms in terms of model-free and model-based methods of reinforcement learning, respectively. An influential proposal hypothesizes that model-free and model-based mechanisms coexist and compete in the brain according to their relative uncertainty. In this paper we propose a novel view in which a single Mixed Instrumental Controller produces both goal-directed and habitual behavior by flexibly balancing and combining model-based and model-free computations. The Mixed Instrumental Controller performs a cost-benefits analysis to decide whether to chose an action immediately based on the available "cached" value of actions (linked to model-free mechanisms or to improve value estimation by mentally simulating the expected outcome values (linked to model-based mechanisms. Since mental simulation entails cognitive effort and increases the reward delay, it is activated only when the associated "Value of Information" exceeds its costs. The model proposes a method to compute the Value of Information, based on the uncertainty of action values and on the distance of alternative cached action values. Overall, the model by default chooses on the basis of lighter model-free estimates, and integrates them with costly model-based predictions only when useful. Mental simulation uses a sampling method to produce reward expectancies, which are used to update the cached value of one or more actions; in turn, this updated value is used for the choice. The key predictions of the model are tested in different settings of a double T-maze scenario. Results are discussed in relation with neurobiological evidence on the hippocampus - ventral striatum circuit in rodents, which has been linked to goal-directed spatial navigation.

  9. The mixed instrumental controller: using value of information to combine habitual choice and mental simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pezzulo, Giovanni; Rigoli, Francesco; Chersi, Fabian

    2013-01-01

    Instrumental behavior depends on both goal-directed and habitual mechanisms of choice. Normative views cast these mechanisms in terms of model-free and model-based methods of reinforcement learning, respectively. An influential proposal hypothesizes that model-free and model-based mechanisms coexist and compete in the brain according to their relative uncertainty. In this paper we propose a novel view in which a single Mixed Instrumental Controller produces both goal-directed and habitual behavior by flexibly balancing and combining model-based and model-free computations. The Mixed Instrumental Controller performs a cost-benefits analysis to decide whether to chose an action immediately based on the available "cached" value of actions (linked to model-free mechanisms) or to improve value estimation by mentally simulating the expected outcome values (linked to model-based mechanisms). Since mental simulation entails cognitive effort and increases the reward delay, it is activated only when the associated "Value of Information" exceeds its costs. The model proposes a method to compute the Value of Information, based on the uncertainty of action values and on the distance of alternative cached action values. Overall, the model by default chooses on the basis of lighter model-free estimates, and integrates them with costly model-based predictions only when useful. Mental simulation uses a sampling method to produce reward expectancies, which are used to update the cached value of one or more actions; in turn, this updated value is used for the choice. The key predictions of the model are tested in different settings of a double T-maze scenario. Results are discussed in relation with neurobiological evidence on the hippocampus - ventral striatum circuit in rodents, which has been linked to goal-directed spatial navigation.

  10. Acid rock drainage in the uranium mining and milling site of Pocos de Caldas, Brazil -- duration assessment, pollutant generation modelling and remediation strategies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fernandes, H.M.; Franklin, M.R.

    2002-01-01

    This geochemical modeling work was carried out to simulate the acid drainage generation from one of the waste-rock piles at the Pocos de Caldas uranium mining site. The mathematical code STEADQYL was used. The estimated results were in good agreement for sulphate and uranium concentrations and the duration of the acid water generation was estimated to be about 500 years. The effect of covering the dump with a material that minimized oxygen diffusion was assessed. Projections indicated that covering the dump with a 1.0 m thickness of a material (like clay), which had an oxygen diffusion coefficient of 10 9 m 2 ·s 1 , would reduce the pollutant concentrations to acceptable values. The estimated cost, when using this strategy, would be about US $10 million. (author)

  11. Orientaciones para la inclusión de las estrategias en el programa habitual de ELE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martín Leralta, Susana

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Pese a haberse convertido en uno de los objetivos del currículo, el desarrollo de la competencia estratégica en el aula de idiomas presenta aún dificultades relacionadas con el concepto y naturaleza de las estrategias, y con la metodología de instrucción. De cara a favorecer la labor docente, el presente artículo parte de las premisas que permiten abogar por la integración de las estrategias en la enseñanza de la lengua, revisa los fundamentos metodológicos para la actuación didáctica y propone unas pautas encaminadas a incluir las estrategias en el programa habitual de ELE.

  12. Effect of iron status on iron absorption in different habitual meals in young south Indian women

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suneeta Kalasuramath

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Background & objectives: Iron deficiency (ID affects a large number of women in India. An inverse relationship exists between iron (Fe status and Fe absorption. Dietary inhibitory and enhancing factors exert a profound influence on bioavailability of Fe. Although the current recommended dietary allowance (RDA for Fe is based on 8 per cent bioavailability, it is not clear if this holds good for the usual highly inhibitory Indian diet matrix. This study was aimed to determine Fe absorption from several habitually consumed south Indian food and to evaluate the interaction of Fe status with absorption. Methods: Four Fe absorption studies were performed on 60 apparently healthy young women, aged 18-35 years. Based on blood biochemistry, 45 of them were ID and 15 were iron replete (IR. The habitual meals assessed were rice, millet and wheat based meals in the ID subjects and rice based meal alone in the IR subjects. Each subject received the test meal labelled with 3 mg of [57] Fe and Fe absorption was measured based on erythrocyte incorporation of isotope label 14 days following administration. Results: Mean fractional Fe absorption from the rice, wheat and millet based meals in the ID subjects were 8.3, 11.2 and 4.6 per cent, respectively. Fe absorption from the rice-based meals was 2.5 per cent in IR subjects. Interpretation & conclusions: Fe absorption is dictated by Fe status from low bioavailability meals. Millet based meals have the lowest bioavailability, while the rice and wheat based meals had moderate to good bioavailability. In millet based meals, it is prudent to consider ways to improve Fe absorption.

  13. In healthy elderly postmenopausal women variations in BMD and BMC at various skeletal sites are associated with differences in weight and lean body mass rather than by variations in habitual physical activity, strength or VO2max.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schöffl, I; Kemmler, W; Kladny, B; Vonstengel, S; Kalender, W A; Engelke, K

    2008-01-01

    The objective of this study was an integrated cross-sectional investigation for answering the question whether differences in bone mineral density in elderly postmenopausal women are associated with differences in habitual physical activity and unspecific exercise levels. Two hundred and ninety nine elderly women (69-/+3 years), without diseases or medication affecting bone metabolism were investigated. The influence of weight, body composition and physical activity on BMD was measured at multiple sites using different techniques (DXA, QCT, and QUS). Physical activity and exercise level were assessed by questionnaire, maximum strength of the legs and aerobic capacity. Variations in physical activity or habitual exercise had no effect on bone. The only significant univariate relation between strength/VO(2)max and BMD/BMC that remained after adjusting for confounding variables was between arm BMD (DXA) and hand-grip strength. The most important variable for explaining BMD was weight and for cortical BMC of the femur (QCT) lean body mass. Weight and lean body mass emerge as predominant predictors of BMD in normal elderly women, whereas the isolated effect of habitual physical activity, unspecific exercise participation, and muscle strength on bone parameters is negligible. Thus, an increase in the amount of habitual physical activity will probably have no beneficial impact on bone.

  14. Betting on Illusory Patterns: Probability Matching in Habitual Gamblers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaissmaier, Wolfgang; Wilke, Andreas; Scheibehenne, Benjamin; McCanney, Paige; Barrett, H Clark

    2016-03-01

    Why do people gamble? A large body of research suggests that cognitive distortions play an important role in pathological gambling. Many of these distortions are specific cases of a more general misperception of randomness, specifically of an illusory perception of patterns in random sequences. In this article, we provide further evidence for the assumption that gamblers are particularly prone to perceiving illusory patterns. In particular, we compared habitual gamblers to a matched sample of community members with regard to how much they exhibit the choice anomaly 'probability matching'. Probability matching describes the tendency to match response proportions to outcome probabilities when predicting binary outcomes. It leads to a lower expected accuracy than the maximizing strategy of predicting the most likely event on each trial. Previous research has shown that an illusory perception of patterns in random sequences fuels probability matching. So does impulsivity, which is also reported to be higher in gamblers. We therefore hypothesized that gamblers will exhibit more probability matching than non-gamblers, which was confirmed in a controlled laboratory experiment. Additionally, gamblers scored much lower than community members on the cognitive reflection task, which indicates higher impulsivity. This difference could account for the difference in probability matching between the samples. These results suggest that gamblers are more willing to bet impulsively on perceived illusory patterns.

  15. Effects of clinically relevant doses of methyphenidate on spatial memory, behavioral sensitization and open field habituation: a time related study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haleem, Darakhshan Jabeen; Inam, Qurrat-ul-Aen; Haleem, Muhammad Abdul

    2015-03-15

    The psychostimulant methylphenidate (MPD) is a first-line drug for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Despite acceptable therapeutic efficacy, there is limited data regarding the long-term consequences of MPD exposure over extended periods. The present study concerns effects of clinically relevant doses of MPD, administered orally to rats for an extended period, on spatial memory, behavioral sensitization and habituation to an open field. Water maze test was used to monitor memory acquisition (2 h after training), retention (day next to training), extinction (1 week after training) and reconsolidation (weekly for 4 weeks). Administration of MPD at doses of 0.25-1.0 mg/kg improved memory acquisition, retention, reconsolidation and impaired memory extinction. Treatment with 0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg MPD for 6 weeks produced a sustained increase in motor activity but higher dose (1.0 mg/kg) elicited behavioral sensitization. High as well as low doses MPD impaired open field habituation. We conclude that clinically relevant doses of MPD enhance memory even if used for extended period. It is suggested that higher (1.0 mg/kg) clinically relevant doses of MPD, if used for extended period, may exacerbate hyperactivity and impulsivity associated with the disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Recessive multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (rMED with homozygosity for C653S mutation in the DTDST gene - Phenotype, molecular diagnosis and surgical treatment of habitual dislocation of multilayered patella: Case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bonafé Luisa

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED is one of the more common generalised skeletal dysplasias. Due to its clinical heterogeneity diagnosis may be difficult. Mutations of at least six separate genes can cause MED. Joint deformities, joint pain and gait disorders are common symptoms. Case Presentation We report on a 27-year-old male patient suffering from clinical symptoms of autosomal recessive MED with habitual dislocation of a multilayered patella on both sides, on the surgical treatment and on short-term clinical outcome. Clinical findings were: bilateral hip and knee pain, instability of femorotibial and patellofemoral joints with habitual patella dislocation on both sides, contractures of hip, elbow and second metacarpophalangeal joints. Main radiographic findings were: bilateral dislocated multilayered patella, dysplastic medial tibial plateaus, deformity of both femoral heads and osteoarthritis of the hip joints, and deformity of both radial heads. In the molecular genetic analysis, the DTDST mutation g.1984T > A (p.C653S was found at the homozygote state. Carrier status was confirmed in the DNA of the patient's parents. The mutation could be considered to be the reason for the patient's disease. Surgical treatment of habitual patella dislocation with medialisation of the tibial tuberosity led to an excellent clinical outcome. Conclusions The knowledge of different phenotypes of skeletal dysplasias helps to select genes for genetic analysis. Compared to other DTDST mutations, this is a rather mild phenotype. Molecular diagnosis is important for genetic counselling and for an accurate prognosis. Even in case of a multilayered patella in MED, habitual patella dislocation could be managed successfully by medialisation of the tibial tuberosity.

  17. Evaluation of habitual behavior related to genital hygiene in women living in a health care center area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mine E. Ocaktan; Emine Baran; Recep Akdur

    2010-01-01

    To evaluate that habitual behaviors related to genital hygiene in women living in a Health Care Center Area. In this cross-sectional study, 400 women were sampled to represent women in reproductive ages (15-49 ages) living in the Park Health Care Center Area, Ankara, Turkey between June and September 2008. Three hundred and eighty-six (96.5%) women were interviewed for evaluation of habitual behaviors related to genital hygiene. The chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. The mean age of the study group was 32.19+/-9.54 (15-49) years. Of the study group, 21.5% had daily baths, 77.2% used cotton underwear, and 71.8% wiped front to back after using the toilet. Of those who menstruated, 83.4% used hygienic pads during menstrual periods, and 42.1% of the 321 married women confirmed practicing vaginal douching. The education level p=0.001, p=0.000, income level p=0.034, p=0.005, employment p=0.022, p=0.000, and house type p=0.005, p=0.006 were found as factors affecting general frequency of bathing and type of pad used during the menstrual period. Frequency of vaginal douching was higher in housewives than employed women p=0.000. The rate of women who had appropriate behaviors related to genital hygiene among the study group was found to be low, particularly within groups with a low socioeconomic level. Thus, it will be useful for health care employers to emphasize this issue at every opportunity (Author).

  18. Validation and reliability of the Baecke questionnaire for the evaluation of habitual physical activity in adult men

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex Antonio Florindo

    2003-06-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to verify validity and reliability of the scores for physical exercise in leisure (PEL, leisure and locomotion activities (LLA, and total score (TS of the Baecke habitual physical activity questionnaire in adult males. Twenty-one students of Physical Education were evaluated. For validation, the maximum oxygen uptake (O2max and the decrease of the heart rate in percentile (%DHR were measured through the Cooper's 12-minute walk or run test, and an annual index of physical exercise (IPE, and a week index of locomotion activities (ILA. The reliability was verified through test-retest with interval of 45 days. The Pearson correlation coefficient, and partial correlation adjusted for age and body mass index were used for validation. The intraclass correlation and paired t-test were used for reliability. The results indicated that %DHR was correlated with LLA and TS (r = 0.47 and p = 0.030; r = 0.48 and p = 0.027, respectively. IPE was correlated with PEL and TS (r = 0.56 and p = 0.008; r = 0.46 and p = 0.036, respectively. ILA was correlated with LLA and TS (r = 0.64 and p = 0.002 and r = 0.51 and p = 0.017, respectively. There was no significant difference in PEL, LLA and TS means in test-retest. The intraclass correlations were r = 0.69; r = 0.80 and r = 0.77, respectively for PEL, LLA and TS. In conclusion, the Baecke questionnaire is valid and reliable to measure habitual physical activity in Brazilian adult men.

  19. Psychological correlates of habitual diet in healthy adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevenson, Richard J

    2017-01-01

    There are 3 motivations for studying the psychological correlates of habitual diet. First, diet is a major but modifiable cause of morbidity and mortality, and dietary interventions could be improved by knowing the psychological characteristics of consumers of healthy/unhealthy diets. Second, animal studies indicate that diet can impair cognition, stress responsiveness, and affective processing, but it is unclear whether this also happens in humans. Third, certain psychological traits are associated with obesity, but it is not known whether these precede and thus contribute to weight gain. Although many psychological correlates of diet have been identified, the literature is highly dispersed, and there has been no previous comprehensive narrative review. Organized here by psychological domain, studies linking diet with individual differences in perception, cognition, impulsivity, personality, affective processing, mental health, and attitudes, beliefs and values-in healthy adults-are reviewed. Although there is a growing literature on the psychological correlates of fruit/vegetable intake-the core of a healthy diet-consumers of unhealthy diets have characteristics that probably make them less responsive to education-based interventions. Diet may be a causal contributor to depression, and diet is consistently linked to impulsivity and certain personality traits. There are inconsistent and less explored links to perceptual, affective and cognitive processes, with several emerging parallels to the animal literature. Impulsivity and personality traits common to obese individuals also occur in lean consumers of unhealthy diets, suggesting these may contribute to weight gain. Diet-psychology correlates remain understudied even though this could significantly benefit human health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Lower extremity joint loads in habitual rearfoot and mid/forefoot strike runners with normal and shortened stride lengths.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyer, Elizabeth R; Derrick, Timothy R

    2018-03-01

    Our purpose was to compare joint loads between habitual rearfoot (hRF) and habitual mid/forefoot strikers (hFF), rearfoot (RFS) and mid/forefoot strike (FFS) patterns, and shorter stride lengths (SLs). Thirty-eight hRF and hFF ran at their normal SL, 5% and 10% shorter, as well as with the opposite foot strike. Three-dimensional ankle, knee, patellofemoral (PF) and hip contact forces were calculated. Nearly all contact forces decreased with a shorter SL (1.2-14.9% relative to preferred SL). In general, hRF had higher PF (hRF-RFS: 10.8 ± 1.4, hFF-FFS: 9.9 ± 2.0 BWs) and hip loads (axial hRF-RFS: -9.9 ± 0.9, hFF-FFS: -9.6 ± 1.0 BWs) than hFF. Many loads were similar between foot strike styles for the two groups, including axial and lateral hip, PF, posterior knee and shear ankle contact forces. Lateral knee and posterior hip contact forces were greater for RFS, and axial ankle and knee contact forces were greater for FFS. The tibia may be under greater loading with a FFS because of these greater axial forces. Summarising, a particular foot strike style does not universally decrease joint contact forces. However, shortening one's SL 10% decreased nearly all lower extremity contact forces, so it may hold potential to decrease overuse injuries associated with excessive joint loads.

  1. A study on the critical factors which influence habitual entrepreneurs' success in networking from the perspective of social captial theory

    OpenAIRE

    Li, SiQi

    2012-01-01

    The aim of the research is to provide an insight on the critical factors which influence habitual entrepreneurs’ success in networking through which effective networking strategies may lead to increased business performance. The perspective of explaining the factors adopts social capital theory and social dimensions of entrepreneurs’ network. The key findings suggest that social capital is in a form of non-linear pattern that the interactions are complex. Network configuration influences effe...

  2. The household energy gap: examining the divide between habitual- and purchase-related conservation behaviours

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barr, Stewart; Gilg, A.W.; Ford, Nicholas

    2005-01-01

    This paper examines the conceptual divide between energy saving behaviours in the home, relating to purchase-oriented behaviours and habitual action to conserve energy. Considerable empirical research indicates that this divide is of utility when characterising energy saving behaviour. However, little attention has been focused around the association between energy saving behaviours and other environmental actions. Accordingly, this paper examines the structural bases of energy conservation behaviours in the wider context of environmental behaviour. These findings are then used to examine the characteristics of energy savers as they relate to other environmental actions. Using cluster analysis, the paper defines a range of behavioural characteristics that transcend energy saving and other environmental actions. The use of such an approach to policy makers seeking to encourage energy conservation practices is discussed at the end of the paper

  3. Evaluation of radiological impact of habitual atmospheric releases in the surroundings of the Juragua nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodriguez Rodriguez, J.M.; Rosales, I.

    1993-01-01

    The considerations and fundamental data used to evaluate the individual doses to the population living within an area of 40 km in the surroundings of Juragua nuclear power plant are presented. Recognized dispersion models (Pasquill modified) and models of dose calculations due to continuous habitual air releases composed of gases and aerosols (47 radionuclides) are used for the calculations.The following ways are taken into account for evaluation: a)irradiation of the cloud, b)irradiation of contaminated ground, c)inhalation, d) ingestion of agro-products. The iso line maps of concentrations and fundamental doses for the site are shown

  4. Radium-226 and head-210 in agriculture products produced on the environs of the uranium mine and mill at the Pocos de Caldas plateau in Minas Gerais

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vasconcellos, L.M.H.; Amaral, E.C.S.; Vianna, M.E.C.M.; Franca, E.P.

    1986-01-01

    Radium-226 and Lead-210 in agriculture products produced on the environs of the uranium mine and mill at the Pocos de Caldas Plateau in Minas Gerais. As a complement to the pre-operational environmental monitoring program of the Brazilian first uranium mine and mill, a survey of 226 Ra and 210 Pb in agriculture products, and in the corresponding soils, were carried out in the Pocos de Caldas Plateu. The survey intended to determine site specific transfer factors, in order to better estimate radiation doses on the population, resulting from the plant operation. In local soils, 226 Ra and 210 Pb have similar concentrations. The average contents are comparable to the values found in areas of normal radioactivity, but the maximum values are higher by one order of magnitude. In the vegetables analyzed (beans, carrot, corn and potato), 226 Ra concentrations are slightly higher than those of 210 Pb, and the maximum values are also one order of magnitude greater than in normal regions. For both radionuclides, the average soil-to-plant transfer factors are of the order of 10 -3 and 10 -2 when related to total and to exchangeable content soil, respectively. These results led to the conclusion that 226 Ra and 210 Pb have similar importance, concerning the population exposure via the foodstuff ingestion pathway. Therefore, it was recommended to carry on routine monitoring program for both radionuclides in the main agriculture crops. However, the naturally elevated radionuclide concentrations, in some local vegetables, will decrease the sensivity for detecting for detecting small increments resulting from the plant operation. (Author) [pt

  5. Gluconeogenesis during endurance exercise in cyclists habituated to a long‐term low carbohydrate high‐fat diet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webster, Christopher C.; Noakes, Timothy D.; Chacko, Shaji K.; Swart, Jeroen; Kohn, Tertius A.

    2016-01-01

    Key points Blood glucose is an important fuel for endurance exercise. It can be derived from ingested carbohydrate, stored liver glycogen and newly synthesized glucose (gluconeogenesis).We hypothesized that athletes habitually following a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet would have higher rates of gluconeogenesis during exercise compared to those who follow a mixed macronutrient diet.We used stable isotope tracers to study glucose production kinetics during a 2 h ride in cyclists habituated to either a LCHF or mixed macronutrient diet.The LCHF cyclists had lower rates of total glucose production and hepatic glycogenolysis but similar rates of gluconeogenesis compared to those on the mixed diet.The LCHF cyclists did not compensate for reduced dietary carbohydrate availability by increasing glucose synthesis during exercise but rather adapted by altering whole body substrate utilization. Abstract Endogenous glucose production (EGP) occurs via hepatic glycogenolysis (GLY) and gluconeogenesis (GNG) and plays an important role in maintaining euglycaemia. Rates of GLY and GNG increase during exercise in athletes following a mixed macronutrient diet; however, these processes have not been investigated in athletes following a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet. Therefore, we studied seven well‐trained male cyclists that were habituated to either a LCHF (7% carbohydrate, 72% fat, 21% protein) or a mixed diet (51% carbohydrate, 33% fat, 16% protein) for longer than 8 months. After an overnight fast, participants performed a 2 h laboratory ride at 72% of maximal oxygen consumption. Glucose kinetics were measured at rest and during the final 30 min of exercise by infusion of [6,6‐2H2]‐glucose and the ingestion of 2H2O tracers. Rates of EGP and GLY both at rest and during exercise were significantly lower in the LCHF group than the mixed diet group (Exercise EGP: LCHF, 6.0 ± 0.9 mg kg−1 min−1, Mixed, 7.8 ± 1.1 mg kg−1 min−1, P Exercise GLY

  6. A New Group-Training Procedure for Habituation Demonstrates That Presynaptic Glutamate Release Contributes to Long-Term Memory in Caenorhabditis elegans

    OpenAIRE

    Rose, Jacqueline K.; Kaun, Karla R.; Rankin, Catharine H.

    2002-01-01

    In the experiments reported here we have developed a new group-training protocol for assessing long-term memory for habituation in Caenorhabditis elegans. We have replicated all of the major findings of the original single-worm protocol using the new protocol: (1) distributed training produced long-term retention of training, massed training did not; (2) distributed training at long interstimulus intervals (ISIs) produced long-term retention, short ISIs did not; and (3) long-term memory for d...

  7. The International intraval project. Phase 1, case 7. The Pocos de Caldas natural analogue: studies of redox front movement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chapman, N.

    1992-01-01

    The study of natural analogues is an important means of validating models of the geochemical processes affecting radionuclide behaviour. This test case, which is one aspect taken from the much broader geochemical studies carried out in the Pocos de Caldas Project, concerns the nature and behaviour of redox fronts, such as might be generated in the near-field of a spent-fuel repository. A redox front is potentially important in terms of the movements and speciation of certain radionuclides close to the waste package. The natural redox fronts in Osamu Utsumi uranium mine display many of the features which may occur in a repository, and influence the movement of natural series radionuclides, and other elements, through the rock/groundwater system. This report, describes the geological, hydrogeological and geochemical nature of the site, and of the redox fronts. Emphasis is placed on the mineralogy of the fronts, and the concentration profiles of various elements across them. The project involved a number of different modelling approaches which attempted to describe the generation and movement of the fronts through the rock. These included mass balance, reaction-diffusion models, fissure flow models, thermodynamic models, and kinetic models. 21 refs., 36 figs., 1 tab

  8. Behavior of 226Ra in the aquatic environment of the uranium mine region of Pocos de Caldas, MG, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva Amaral, E.C. da.

    1979-08-01

    A sampling and analytical program for 238 U, 226 Ra and 210 Pb was started, at first, in the uranium mine region, at Pocos de Caldas, MG, Brazil. Afterwards, the interaction was studied between 226 Ra and local river sediments and waters. Peliminary studies were also done on the mobility of 226 Ra retained on solid matter or soil, induced by local waters. Above normal concentrations of 238 U, 226 Ra and 210 Pb were found in local waters, sediments and plants collected on the imediate vicinity of the mine. 226 Ra distribution coefficients are on the order of 10 3 for the different samples assayed. It was concluded that, in the future, 226 Ra discharged into liquid environment should be only temporarily retained by sediments. Its transport by surface waters should be predominantly in the soluble form. 226 Ra should become the critical radionuclide in terms of internal radiation dose on the local population, due to its ingestion with water. 226 Ra retained on solid supports is mobilized by local waters and its solubilization is dependent on the volume of water passed through. (M.A.) [pt

  9. Rotura de la pared libre del ventrículo izquierdo secundaria a infarto agudo de miocardio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudio Solís

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available RESUMENAunque la terapia trombolítica y la angioplastia primaria han cambiado radicalmente elmanejo, la evolución y el pronóstico del infarto agudo de miocardio, la rotura de la paredlibre del ventrículo izquierdo todavía implica una tasa elevada de mortalidad.Si bien la mayoría de los pacientes con esta complicación presentan un cuadro agudo ycatastrófico, que se caracteriza por taponamiento cardíaco, disociación electromecánica ymuerte en pocos minutos, aproximadamente un tercio de ellos tienen una evolución subagudacon hipotensión sostenida y diversos grados de derrame pericárdico, lo que posibilita laimplementación de medidas terapéuticas necesarias como puente al tratamiento quirúrgicoresolutivo.En este trabajo se presenta una revisión actualizada de las características clínicas yecocardiográficas de los pacientes con rotura de la pared libre del ventrículo izquierdo asociadacon infarto agudo de miocardio, con el objetivo de destacar los puntos clave del diagnóstico e incrementar la sospecha clínica de una entidad grave, no siempre fatal.REV ARGENT CARDIOL 2009;77:395-404.

  10. Hippocampus lipid peroxidation induced by residual oil fly ash intranasal instillation versus habituation to the open field.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zanchi, Ana Claudia; Saiki, Mitiko; Saldiva, Paulo Hilário Nascimento; Barros, Helena Maria Tannhauser; Rhoden, Claudia Ramos

    2010-01-01

    Epidemiological studies have demonstrated the adverse effects of particulate matter (PM) inhalation on the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. It has been reported that air pollution may affect the central nervous system and decrease cognitive function. In rats, residual oil fly ash (ROFA) instillation causes decreased motor activity and increased lipid peroxidation in the striatum and the cerebellum. Our objective was to determine whether chronic instillation of particles induces changes in learning and memory in rats and whether oxidants in the hippocampus may contribute to these adverse effects. Forty-five-day-old male Wistar rats were exposed to ROFA by intranasal instillation and were treated with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) at 150 mg/kg i.p. for 30 days. Control groups were exposed to ROFA, NAC, or neither. On days 1, 8, and 30 of the protocol, rats were submitted to the open field test to evaluate habituation. After the last open field session, the rats were killed by decapitation. The hippocampus was used to determine lipid peroxidation (LP) by the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances test. ROFA instillation induced an increase in LP in the hippocampus compared to all treatment groups (p = .012). NAC treatment blocked these changes. All of the treatment groups presented a decrease in the frequency of peripheral walking (p = .001), rearing (p = .001), and exploration (p = .001) over time. Our study demonstrates that exposure to particles for 30 days and/or NAC treatment do not modify habituation to an open field, a simple form of learning and memory in rats, and that oxidative damage induced by ROFA does not modulate these processes.

  11. Campylobacter troglodytis sp. nov., isolated from feces of human-habituated wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Tanzania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaur, Taranjit; Singh, Jatinder; Huffman, Michael A; Petrzelková, Klára J; Taylor, Nancy S; Xu, Shilu; Dewhirst, Floyd E; Paster, Bruce J; Debruyne, Lies; Vandamme, Peter; Fox, James G

    2011-04-01

    The transmission of simian immunodeficiency and Ebola viruses to humans in recent years has heightened awareness of the public health significance of zoonotic diseases of primate origin, particularly from chimpanzees. In this study, we analyzed 71 fecal samples collected from 2 different wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) populations with different histories in relation to their proximity to humans. Campylobacter spp. were detected by culture in 19/56 (34%) group 1 (human habituated for research and tourism purposes at Mahale Mountains National Park) and 0/15 (0%) group 2 (not human habituated but propagated from an introduced population released from captivity over 30 years ago at Rubondo Island National Park) chimpanzees, respectively. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, all isolates were virtually identical (at most a single base difference), and the chimpanzee isolates were most closely related to Campylobacter helveticus and Campylobacter upsaliensis (94.7% and 95.9% similarity, respectively). Whole-cell protein profiling, amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis of genomic DNA, hsp60 sequence analysis, and determination of the mol% G+C content revealed two subgroups among the chimpanzee isolates. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments confirmed that both subgroups represented distinct genomic species. In the absence of differential biochemical characteristics and morphology and identical 16S rRNA gene sequences, we propose to classify all isolates into a single novel nomenspecies, Campylobacter troglodytis, with strain MIT 05-9149 as the type strain; strain MIT 05-9157 is suggested as the reference strain for the second C. troglodytis genomovar. Further studies are required to determine whether the organism is pathogenic to chimpanzees and whether this novel Campylobacter colonizes humans and causes enteric disease.

  12. Long-term monitoring of microsporidia, Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections in western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at different stages of habituation in Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas, Central African Republic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sak, Bohumil; Petrzelkova, Klara J; Kvetonova, Dana; Mynarova, Anna; Shutt, Kathryn A; Pomajbikova, Katerina; Kalousova, Barbora; Modry, David; Benavides, Julio; Todd, Angelique; Kvac, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Infectious diseases pose one of the greatest threats to endangered species, and a risk of gastrointestinal parasite transmission from humans to wildlife has always been considered as a major concern of tourism. Increased anthropogenic impact on primate populations may result in general changes in communities of their parasites, and also in a direct exchange of parasites between humans and primates. To evaluate the impact of close contact with humans on the occurrence of potentially zoonotic protists in great apes, we conducted a long-term monitoring of microsporidia, Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections in western lowland gorillas at different stages of the habituation process, humans, and other wildlife in Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas in the Central African Republic. We detected Encephalitozoon cuniculi genotypes I and II (7.5%), Enterocytozoon bieneusi genotype D and three novel genotypes (gorilla 1-3) (4.0%), Giardia intestinalis subgroup A II (2.0%) and Cryptosporidium bovis (0.5%) in gorillas, whereas in humans we found only G. intestinalis subgroup A II (2.1%). In other wild and domestic animals we recorded E. cuniculi genotypes I and II (2.1%), G. intestinalis assemblage E (0.5%) and C. muris TS03 (0.5%). Due to the non-specificity of E. cuniculi genotypes we conclude that detection of the exact source of E. cuniculi infection is problematic. As Giardia intestinalis was recorded primarily in gorilla groups with closer human contact, we suggest that human-gorilla transmission has occurred. We call attention to a potentially negative impact of habituation on selected pathogens which might occur as a result of the more frequent presence of humans in the vicinity of both gorillas under habituation and habituated gorillas, rather than as a consequence of the close contact with humans, which might be a more traditional assumption. We encourage to observe the sections concerning hygiene from the IUCN best practice guidelines for all sites where increased human

  13. Long-term monitoring of microsporidia, Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections in western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla at different stages of habituation in Dzanga Sangha Protected Areas, Central African Republic.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bohumil Sak

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Infectious diseases pose one of the greatest threats to endangered species, and a risk of gastrointestinal parasite transmission from humans to wildlife has always been considered as a major concern of tourism. Increased anthropogenic impact on primate populations may result in general changes in communities of their parasites, and also in a direct exchange of parasites between humans and primates. AIMS: To evaluate the impact of close contact with humans on the occurrence of potentially zoonotic protists in great apes, we conducted a long-term monitoring of microsporidia, Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections in western lowland gorillas at different stages of the habituation process, humans, and other wildlife in Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas in the Central African Republic. RESULTS: We detected Encephalitozoon cuniculi genotypes I and II (7.5%, Enterocytozoon bieneusi genotype D and three novel genotypes (gorilla 1-3 (4.0%, Giardia intestinalis subgroup A II (2.0% and Cryptosporidium bovis (0.5% in gorillas, whereas in humans we found only G. intestinalis subgroup A II (2.1%. In other wild and domestic animals we recorded E. cuniculi genotypes I and II (2.1%, G. intestinalis assemblage E (0.5% and C. muris TS03 (0.5%. CONCLUSION: Due to the non-specificity of E. cuniculi genotypes we conclude that detection of the exact source of E. cuniculi infection is problematic. As Giardia intestinalis was recorded primarily in gorilla groups with closer human contact, we suggest that human-gorilla transmission has occurred. We call attention to a potentially negative impact of habituation on selected pathogens which might occur as a result of the more frequent presence of humans in the vicinity of both gorillas under habituation and habituated gorillas, rather than as a consequence of the close contact with humans, which might be a more traditional assumption. We encourage to observe the sections concerning hygiene from the IUCN best

  14. Habitual Physical Activity After Total Knee Replacement : analysis in 830 patients and comparison with a sex-and age-matched normative population (vol 92, pg 1109, 2012)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kersten, Roel F. M. R.; Stevens, Martin; van Raay, Jos J. A. M.; Bulstra, Sjoerd K.; van den Akker-Scheek, Inge

    Background. Previous studies on physical activity after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) concentrated mainly on a return to sports activities. Objective. The objectives of this study were to determine the habitual physical activity behavior of people who had undergone TKA (TKA group) 1 to 5 years after

  15. Cardiovascular and cortisol reactivity and habituation to a virtual reality version of the Trier Social Stress Test: a pilot study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jönsson, Peter; Wallergård, Mattias; Osterberg, Kai

    2010-01-01

    reactivity and habituation to repeated stress provocations using a virtual reality (VR) version of TSST. The VR system was a CAVE™ system with three rear projected walls (4 m×3 m), and one floor projection. The system also included a head tracking system and passive stereoscopy. The virtual audience...... studies using the real-life TSST. If these results can be replicated with larger samples, VR technology may be used as a simple and standardized tool for social stress induction in experimental settings....

  16. The effect of habitual and experimental antiperspirant and deodorant product use on the armpit microbiome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julie Urban

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available An ever expanding body of research investigates the human microbiome in general and the skin microbiome in particular. Microbiomes vary greatly from individual to individual. Understanding the factors that account for this variation, however, has proven challenging, with many studies able to account statistically for just a small proportion of the inter-individual variation in the abundance, species richness or composition of bacteria. The human armpit has long been noted to host a high biomass bacterial community, and recent studies have highlighted substantial inter-individual variation in armpit bacteria, even relative to variation among individuals for other body habitats. One obvious potential explanation for this variation has to do with the use of personal hygiene products, particularly deodorants and antiperspirants. Here we experimentally manipulate product use to examine the abundance, species richness, and composition of bacterial communities that recolonize the armpits of people with different product use habits. In doing so, we find that when deodorant and antiperspirant use were stopped, culturable bacterial density increased and approached that found on individuals who regularly do not use any product. In addition, when antiperspirants were subsequently applied, bacterial density dramatically declined. These culture-based results are in line with sequence-based comparisons of the effects of long-term product use on bacterial species richness and composition. Sequence-based analyses suggested that individuals who habitually use antiperspirant tended to have a greater richness of bacterial OTUs in their armpits than those who use deodorant. In addition, individuals who used antiperspirants or deodorants long-term, but who stopped using product for two or more days as part of this study, had armpit communities dominated by Staphylococcaceae, whereas those of individuals in our study who habitually used no products were dominated by

  17. The effects of imipramine on P50 suppression, prepulse inhibition and habituation of the startle response in humans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hammer, Trine Bjørg; Oranje, Bob; Glenthoj, Birte Y

    2007-01-01

    Schizophrenic patients exhibit impairments in filtering of sensory information, as can be assessed by use of prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response and P50 suppression paradigms. In the treatment of negative symptoms or depressive syndromes during the course of schizophrenia...... as well as P50 suppression. No significant differences between the two treatments were observed on habituation of the acoustic startle reflex. Since sensory filtering is usually already reduced in patients with schizophrenia, the current results call for caution in the widespread use of dual......-acting antidepressants in the treatment of depressed or negative symptoms in these patients....

  18. Effects of a 12-week intervention period with football and running for habitually active men with mild hypertension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knoepfli-Lenzin, C.; Sennhauser, C.; Toigo, M.

    2010-01-01

    /L) but was not altered in R and C. We conclude that football training, consisting of high-intensity intermittent exercise, results in positive effects on blood pressure, body composition, stroke volume and supine heart rate variability, and elicits at least the same cardiovascular health benefits as continuous running......The present study examined the effect of football (F, n=15) training on the health profile of habitually active 25-45-year-old men with mild hypertension and compared it with running (R, n=15) training and no additional activity (controls, C, n=17). The participants in F and R completed a 1-h...

  19. «La teoría del todo». Neurología: Esclerosis lateral amiotrófica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Elías GARCÍA SÁNCHEZ

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Recreación de la vida de Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne desde 1963, cuando se encontraba en Cambridge para realizar su tesis doctoral, hasta que fue nombrado caballero por Isabel II y se vislumbra el fin de su primer matrimonio. En 1963 conoce a la que sería su pri? mera mujer, contrapunto femenino de la historia, y se le manifiesta la enfermedad. Este proceso, que comenzó tempranamente, no acabó con su existencia en poco tiem? po, como suele ser habitual, sino que ha sobrevivido.Premios: Óscar al Mejor Actor (Eddie Redmayne y nomi? nada a la Mejor Película, Mejor Actriz (Felicity Jones, Mejor Guión Adaptado y Mejor Banda Sonora (2015.

  20. Effects of Surface Inclination on the Vertical Loading Rates and Landing Pattern during the First Attempt of Barefoot Running in Habitual Shod Runners

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, W.; Rainbow, M. J.; Cheung, R. T. H.

    2015-01-01

    Barefoot running has been proposed to reduce vertical loading rates, which is a risk factor of running injuries. Most of the previous studies evaluated runners on level surfaces. This study examined the effect of surface inclination on vertical loading rates and landing pattern during the first attempt of barefoot running among habitual shod runners. Twenty habitual shod runners were asked to run on treadmill at 8.0 km/h at three inclination angles (0°; +10°; −10°) with and without their usual running shoes. Vertical average rate (VALR) and instantaneous loading rate (VILR) were obtained by established methods. Landing pattern was decided using high-speed camera. VALR and VILR in shod condition were significantly higher (p running, but not in barefoot condition (p > 0.382). There was no difference (p > 0.413) in the landing pattern among all surface inclinations. Only one runner demonstrated complete transition to non-heel strike landing in all slope conditions. Reducing heel strike ratio in barefoot running did not ensure a decrease in loading rates (p > 0.15). Conversely, non-heel strike landing, regardless of footwear condition, would result in a softer landing (p < 0.011). PMID:26258133

  1. Effects of Surface Inclination on the Vertical Loading Rates and Landing Pattern during the First Attempt of Barefoot Running in Habitual Shod Runners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    W. An

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Barefoot running has been proposed to reduce vertical loading rates, which is a risk factor of running injuries. Most of the previous studies evaluated runners on level surfaces. This study examined the effect of surface inclination on vertical loading rates and landing pattern during the first attempt of barefoot running among habitual shod runners. Twenty habitual shod runners were asked to run on treadmill at 8.0 km/h at three inclination angles (0°; +10°; −10° with and without their usual running shoes. Vertical average rate (VALR and instantaneous loading rate (VILR were obtained by established methods. Landing pattern was decided using high-speed camera. VALR and VILR in shod condition were significantly higher (p0.382. There was no difference (p>0.413 in the landing pattern among all surface inclinations. Only one runner demonstrated complete transition to non-heel strike landing in all slope conditions. Reducing heel strike ratio in barefoot running did not ensure a decrease in loading rates (p>0.15. Conversely, non-heel strike landing, regardless of footwear condition, would result in a softer landing (p<0.011.

  2. Effects of Surface Inclination on the Vertical Loading Rates and Landing Pattern during the First Attempt of Barefoot Running in Habitual Shod Runners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, W; Rainbow, M J; Cheung, R T H

    2015-01-01

    Barefoot running has been proposed to reduce vertical loading rates, which is a risk factor of running injuries. Most of the previous studies evaluated runners on level surfaces. This study examined the effect of surface inclination on vertical loading rates and landing pattern during the first attempt of barefoot running among habitual shod runners. Twenty habitual shod runners were asked to run on treadmill at 8.0 km/h at three inclination angles (0°; +10°; -10°) with and without their usual running shoes. Vertical average rate (VALR) and instantaneous loading rate (VILR) were obtained by established methods. Landing pattern was decided using high-speed camera. VALR and VILR in shod condition were significantly higher (p running, but not in barefoot condition (p > 0.382). There was no difference (p > 0.413) in the landing pattern among all surface inclinations. Only one runner demonstrated complete transition to non-heel strike landing in all slope conditions. Reducing heel strike ratio in barefoot running did not ensure a decrease in loading rates (p > 0.15). Conversely, non-heel strike landing, regardless of footwear condition, would result in a softer landing (p < 0.011).

  3. Hydrogeochemical utilization of natural isotopes from U(4n+2) and Th(4n) series at Morro do Ferro, Pocos de Caldas (MG)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonotto, D.M.

    1991-01-01

    Uranium and thorium isotopic analysis were performed on well spoils of the main ore body at Morro do Ferro, Pocos de Caldas (MG), using groundwater from several boreholes in the area and surface water from a steam that originates at the base of the hill. For extraction of uranium and thorium a long chemical process was applied to samples; activities of 228Th and 232 Th isotopes (4n series) and also of 238U, 234U and 230Th isotopes (4n+2 series)were determined by the alpha spectrometry method. The ratios 234U?238U determined for well spoils did not show marked disequilibria between these isotopes. However, the ratios 228Th/232Th and 230Th/234U obtained in some samples showed a high disequilibrium between these isotopes, associated with the presence of possible zones of removal of uranium and precipitation of radium.(author)

  4. Acid drainages of the pyritic sterile from the Pocos de Caldas uranium mine: environmental interpretation and implications; Drenagens acidas do esteril piritoso da mina de uranio de Pocos de Caldas: interpretacao e implicacoes ambientais

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza, Vicente Paulo de

    1995-12-01

    Considering the planned closure of the first uranium mine and milling plant operating in Brazil, located in the Pocos de Caldas Plateau, in the State of Minas Gerais, in the next two years, there is the need to obtain basic information for its decommissioning. Special attention has been directed to the following critical areas: open pit, tailing, dam and waste rock piles, because these are the main sources of acid drainage generation. These waters cannot be allowed to flow in the external environment because in addition to sulphuric acid, there is a number of elements in concentration above those allowed by regulations. Among the waste piles (bota-foras BF) two of them BF-4 and BF-8, are in a process of acid generation, thus requiring more attention. The objective of this work was to simulate at the laboratory scale the oxidation and the reduction zones of BF-4. The experiments were conducted in acrylic columns, where the waste sample was kept under aerated and saturated conditions, in different columns. The control of the chemical (solubilized chemical species), physico-chemical (redox potential, pH, conductivity) and biological (bacterial activity) parameters has been carried out on the acid solutions generated by the chemical and biological reactions that occur at the waste. Although the results refer to a four month period, some relevant points can be highlighted, which will serve as a basis for further research. The mineralogical characterization identified the existence of other sulphides associated to pyrite with lower oxidation potential than the latter. The results obtained with the biological characterization for the two conditions studied revealed that the bacterial activity is more intense in the region in contact with air, than in saturated region. (author) 30 refs., 29 figs., 8 tabs.

  5. Gluconeogenesis during endurance exercise in cyclists habituated to a long-term low carbohydrate high-fat diet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webster, Christopher C; Noakes, Timothy D; Chacko, Shaji K; Swart, Jeroen; Kohn, Tertius A; Smith, James A H

    2016-08-01

    Blood glucose is an important fuel for endurance exercise. It can be derived from ingested carbohydrate, stored liver glycogen and newly synthesized glucose (gluconeogenesis). We hypothesized that athletes habitually following a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet would have higher rates of gluconeogenesis during exercise compared to those who follow a mixed macronutrient diet. We used stable isotope tracers to study glucose production kinetics during a 2 h ride in cyclists habituated to either a LCHF or mixed macronutrient diet. The LCHF cyclists had lower rates of total glucose production and hepatic glycogenolysis but similar rates of gluconeogenesis compared to those on the mixed diet. The LCHF cyclists did not compensate for reduced dietary carbohydrate availability by increasing glucose synthesis during exercise but rather adapted by altering whole body substrate utilization. Endogenous glucose production (EGP) occurs via hepatic glycogenolysis (GLY) and gluconeogenesis (GNG) and plays an important role in maintaining euglycaemia. Rates of GLY and GNG increase during exercise in athletes following a mixed macronutrient diet; however, these processes have not been investigated in athletes following a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet. Therefore, we studied seven well-trained male cyclists that were habituated to either a LCHF (7% carbohydrate, 72% fat, 21% protein) or a mixed diet (51% carbohydrate, 33% fat, 16% protein) for longer than 8 months. After an overnight fast, participants performed a 2 h laboratory ride at 72% of maximal oxygen consumption. Glucose kinetics were measured at rest and during the final 30 min of exercise by infusion of [6,6-(2) H2 ]-glucose and the ingestion of (2) H2 O tracers. Rates of EGP and GLY both at rest and during exercise were significantly lower in the LCHF group than the mixed diet group (Exercise EGP: LCHF, 6.0 ± 0.9 mg kg(-1)  min(-1) , Mixed, 7.8 ± 1.1 mg kg(-1)  min(-1) , P < 0.01; Exercise GLY

  6. Habituation in the tail withdrawal reflex circuit is impaired during aging in Aplysia californica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew T Kempsell

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The relevance of putative contributors to age-related memory loss are poorly understood. The tail withdrawal circuit of the sea hare, a straightforward neural model, was used to investigate the aging characteristics of rudimentary learning. The simplicity of this neuronal circuit permits attribution of declines in the function of specific neurons to aging declines. Memory was impaired in advanced age animals compared to their performance at the peak of sexual maturity, with habituation training failing to attenuate the tail withdrawal response or to reduce tail motoneuron excitability, as occurred in peak maturity siblings. Baseline motoneuron excitability of aged animals was significantly lower, perhaps contributing to a smaller scope for attenuation. Conduction velocity in afferent fibers to tail sensory neurons decreased during aging. The findings suggest that age-related changes in tail sensory and motor neurons result in deterioration of a simple form of learning in Aplysia.

  7. Objectively measured habitual physical activity in 1997/1998 vs 2003/2004 in Danish children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller, N C; Kristensen, Peter Lund; Wedderkopp, N

    2008-01-01

    -Thu in 2003/2004 when compared with 1997/1998. Gender differences in the level of HPA were found to be more distinct during Mon-Thu than during Fri-Sun. This study does not support the idea that Danish children are becoming less physically active. However, a limited statistical power should be considered when......Based on two cross-sectional studies conducted in 8-10-year-old third-grade children living in the municipality of Odense, potential differences were examined in the level of habitual physical activity (HPA) in Danish children between 1997/1998 and 2003/2004. HPA was assessed objectively...... by accelerometry. Primarily, overall differences were analyzed as gender and day type specific (i.e. Mon-Thu vs Fri-Sun) levels in HPA. Secondarily, differences were analyzed across socioeconomic gradients defined according to parents' occupation. Data were expressed as total counts per registered time. During...

  8. Mangifera indica extract (Vimang) impairs aversive memory without affecting open field behaviour or habituation in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preissler, Thales; Martins, Márcio Rodrigo; Pardo-Andreu, Gilberto L; Henriques, João Antônio Pêgas; Quevedo, João; Delgado, Rene; Roesler, Rafael

    2009-06-01

    Vimang is an aqueous extract of Mangifera indica L, used in Cuba for the treatment of immunopathological disorders. Increasing evidence from preclinical studies indicates that Vimang displays antioxidant, antiallergic, analgesic and antiinflammatory actions. The present study investigated the effects of systemic administration of Vimang on behavioural outcomes of neurological function in rats. A single oral administration of Vimang produced an impairment of short- and long-term retention of memory for aversive training when given either 1 h pretraining or immediately posttraining, but not 8 h posttraining. Vimang did not affect open field behaviour or habituation. The results indicate that Vimang might induce deficits of emotionally motivated memory without affecting nonassociative memory, locomotion, exploratory behaviour or anxiety. (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. LEVEL OF HABITUAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND BEHAVIORS RELATED TO THE HEALTH OF BANK CLERKS OF THE MUNICIPAL DISTRICT OF IPIAÚ - BA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malú Oliveira Freire

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available The present study left of the interest in researching on one of the more affected workers' groups for the modifications that it is happening in the world of the work. Starting from this, the objective was to identify as the behaviors related to the health (smoking, consumption of alcoholic drink, stress level, alimentary habits they are related with the level of those workers' habitual physical activity. The sample selected by convenience it was composed of 30 workers bank clerks of the municipal district of Ipiaú-BA, with the average of 42,6 year-old age (DP=10,5, being 20 women and 10 men. For collection of the information an interview was used, applied in an individual way in the interviewee's home. The results indicated that most of the interviewees was classified as physically assets (average of 23,6 METs diaries and with behaviors related to the health inside of the parameters recommended to the health, and of the analyzed variables, only the alimentary habits were associated as the level of habitual physical activity (χ 2 =6,16 p=0,01. It is necessary that the information the about of such a problem they continue being transmitted to several population groups, besides to the bank workers for these are motivated always to obtain and to maintain healthy lifestyles.

  10. Campylobacter troglodytis sp. nov., Isolated from Feces of Human-Habituated Wild Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in Tanzania ▿

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaur, Taranjit; Singh, Jatinder; Huffman, Michael A.; Petrželková, Klára J.; Taylor, Nancy S.; Xu, Shilu; Dewhirst, Floyd E.; Paster, Bruce J.; Debruyne, Lies; Vandamme, Peter; Fox, James G.

    2011-01-01

    The transmission of simian immunodeficiency and Ebola viruses to humans in recent years has heightened awareness of the public health significance of zoonotic diseases of primate origin, particularly from chimpanzees. In this study, we analyzed 71 fecal samples collected from 2 different wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) populations with different histories in relation to their proximity to humans. Campylobacter spp. were detected by culture in 19/56 (34%) group 1 (human habituated for research and tourism purposes at Mahale Mountains National Park) and 0/15 (0%) group 2 (not human habituated but propagated from an introduced population released from captivity over 30 years ago at Rubondo Island National Park) chimpanzees, respectively. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, all isolates were virtually identical (at most a single base difference), and the chimpanzee isolates were most closely related to Campylobacter helveticus and Campylobacter upsaliensis (94.7% and 95.9% similarity, respectively). Whole-cell protein profiling, amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis of genomic DNA, hsp60 sequence analysis, and determination of the mol% G+C content revealed two subgroups among the chimpanzee isolates. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments confirmed that both subgroups represented distinct genomic species. In the absence of differential biochemical characteristics and morphology and identical 16S rRNA gene sequences, we propose to classify all isolates into a single novel nomenspecies, Campylobacter troglodytis, with strain MIT 05-9149 as the type strain; strain MIT 05-9157 is suggested as the reference strain for the second C. troglodytis genomovar. Further studies are required to determine whether the organism is pathogenic to chimpanzees and whether this novel Campylobacter colonizes humans and causes enteric disease. PMID:21278267

  11. Habitual aerobic exercise does not protect against micro- or macrovascular endothelial dysfunction in healthy estrogen-deficient postmenopausal women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos-Parker, Jessica R; Strahler, Talia R; Vorwald, Victoria M; Pierce, Gary L; Seals, Douglas R

    2017-01-01

    Aging causes micro- and macrovascular endothelial dysfunction, as assessed by endothelium-dependent dilation (EDD), which can be prevented and reversed by habitual aerobic exercise (AE) in men. However, in estrogen-deficient postmenopausal women, whole forearm microvascular EDD has not been studied, and a beneficial effect of AE on macrovascular EDD has not been consistently shown. We assessed forearm blood flow in response to brachial artery infusions of acetylcholine (FBF ACh ), a measure of whole forearm microvascular EDD, and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), a measure of macrovascular EDD, in 12 premenopausal sedentary women (Pre-S; 24 ± 1 yr; V̇o 2max = 37.5 ± 1.6 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 ), 25 estrogen-deficient postmenopausal sedentary women (Post-S; 62 ± 1 yr; V̇o 2max = 24.7 ± 0.9 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 ), and 16 estrogen-deficient postmenopausal AE-trained women (Post-AE; 59 ± 1 yr; V̇o 2max = 40.4 ± 1.4 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 ). FBF ACh was lower in Post-S and Post-AE compared with Pre-S women (135 ± 9 and 116 ± 17 vs. 193 ± 21 AUC, respectively, both P stress. This is the first study to demonstrate that habitual aerobic exercise may not protect against age/menopause-related whole forearm microvascular endothelial dysfunction in healthy nonobese estrogen-deficient postmenopausal women, consistent with recent findings regarding macrovascular endothelial function. This is in contrast to what is observed in healthy middle-aged and older aerobic exercise-trained men. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  12. Embryogenesis in gamma-irradiated habituated ovular callus of the 'Shamouti' orange as affected by auxin and by tissue age

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kochba, J.; Spiegel-Roy, P.

    1977-01-01

    The response of habituated embryogenic ovular callus of the 'Shamouti' orange, Citrus sinensis, to gamma irradiation was studied. Stimulation of embryogenesis was observed when only callus, but not when the medium was irradiated. Age of callus prior to subculture modified the response to irradiation as regards optimal dose for embryogenesis and radiosensitivity. Radiation intensities also modified callus response to radiation dose. Addition of unirradiated IAA to irradiated callus cultures increased embryo formation and furthered development of embryos into plantlets, with some combinations of radiation dose and IAA concentration. Addition of IAA also decreased radiosensitivity at high doses (32 kR). (author)

  13. Accumulation of sup 210 Po in foodstuffs cultivated in farms around the Brazilian mining and milling facilities on Pocos de Caldas plateau

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, P L; Gouvea, R C; Dutra, I R [Universidade Federal, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Inst. de Biologia; Gouvea, V A [Brazilian Energy Commission, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Int. of Radioprotection and Dosimetry

    1990-01-01

    Several sample types from the environment of the uranium mining and milling facilities of Pocos de Caldas plateau (CIPC) in Minas Gerais state, Brazil have been assayed for their concentrations of uranium and its daughters. This paper presents the data for {sup 210}Po in food, soils and fertilizers in the CIPC region and, for comparison, the corresponding results from a vegetable garden in a control region in Joinville, in the state of Santa Catarina. The results show that vegetables from two gardens near the CIPC region have no significance differences in Po content, despite the closeness of one of the sites to a uranium mine. For some species of vegetables, however, nearsite values were twice those in the control region. Superphosphate fertilizers influence the accumulation of {sup 210}Po by plants, as well as the concentrations in soils, and their contribution is more evident than the local deposition. The major concentration in the leaf and stem suggests that the accumulation of {sup 210}Po in vegetables is due chiefly to its deposition on and absorption by their leaves. (author).

  14. Study of radon and thoron gas behaviour in the air at the commercial centers in Rio de Janeiro and Pocos de Caldas city; Estudo do comportamento dos gases radonio e toronio presentes no ar em centro comercial do Rio de Janeiro e Pocos de Caldas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Castro, Carlos A.C. [Minas Gerais Univ., Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Mecanica. Lab. de Robotica, Soldagem e Simulacao; Morales, Rudnei K; Santos, Victor C. dos . [Instituto Militar de Engenharia (IME), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); br, victorcs@ime eb; Cardoso, Domingos D [Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2005-07-01

    The radon is a radioactive gas. It occurs naturally in the atmosphere coming from the decay of radium, with emission of alpha particles. There are three radon isotopes more known, of which the most important under the environmental point of view is the Rn-222, whose half life is 3.82 days. The radon and their descendants are responsible by more than 40 % of the natural radioactive dose received for the human beings inside the building. In doses above 4 pCi/l, given as occupational dose, can cause among other diseases, the lung cancer. The main source of radon inside the building is the soil. The incidence of radon inside the building varies according to the soil composition, the materials employed in its construction, the inside air temperature and humidity, time during the day, season and the ventilation process designed. The work was realized at the commercial centers in Rio de Janeiro and Pocos de Caldas, for methodology confirmation. It was utilized the passive (track detectors) and active (two filters technique. Kusnetz technique, Tsivoglou technique and alpha spectrometry technique) methods. The objective of this work was to analyze the radon and thoron concentrations levels in order to supply parameters upon the quality of the air in those commercial centers. (author)

  15. Foot Morphological Difference between Habitually Shod and Unshod Runners.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Shu

    Full Text Available Foot morphology and function has received increasing attention from both biomechanics researchers and footwear manufacturers. In this study, 168 habitually unshod runners (90 males whose age, weight & height were 23±2.4 years, 66±7.1 kg & 1.68±0.13 m and 78 females whose age, weight & height were 22±1.8 years, 55±4.7 kg & 1.6±0.11 m (Indians and 196 shod runners (130 males whose age, weight & height were 24±2.6 years, 66±8.2 kg & 1.72±0.18 m and 66 females whose age, weight & height were 23±1.5 years, 54±5.6 kg & 1.62±0.15 m (Chinese participated in a foot scanning test using the easy-foot-scan (a three-dimensional foot scanning system to obtain 3D foot surface data and 2D footprint imaging. Foot length, foot width, hallux angle and minimal distance from hallux to second toe were calculated to analyze foot morphological differences. This study found that significant differences exist between groups (shod Chinese and unshod Indians for foot length (female p = 0.001, width (female p = 0.001, hallux angle (male and female p = 0.001 and the minimal distance (male and female p = 0.001 from hallux to second toe. This study suggests that significant differences in morphology between different ethnicities could be considered for future investigation of locomotion biomechanics characteristics between ethnicities and inform last shape and design so as to reduce injury risks and poor performance from mal-fit shoes.

  16. Level of habitual physical activity and behaviors related to the health of bank clerks of the municipal district of Ipiaú - BA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jair Sindra Virtuoso Júnior

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The present study left of the interest in researching on one of the more affected workers' groups for the modifications that it is happening in the world of the work. Starting from this, the objective was to identify as the behaviors related to the health (smoking, consumption of alcoholic drink, stress level, alimentary habits they are related with the level of those workers' habitual physical activity. The sample selected by convenience it was composed of 30 workers bank clerks of the municipal district of Ipiaú-BA, with the average of 42,6 year-old age (DP=10,5, being 20 women and 10 men. For collection of the information an interview was used, applied in an individual way in the interviewee's home. The results indicated that most of the interviewees was classified as physically assets (average of 23,6 METs diaries and with behaviors related to the health inside of the parameters recommended to the health, and of the analyzed variables, only the alimentary habits were associated as the level of habitual physical activity (2=6,16 p=0,01. It is necessary that the information the about of such a problem they continue being transmitted to several population groups, besides to the bank workers for these are motivated always to obtain and to maintain healthy lifestyles.

  17. Enhancement of a visual reinforcer by D-amphetamine and nicotine in adult rats: relation to habituation and food restriction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Jennifer M; Ren, Suelynn; Constantin, Annie; Clarke, Paul B S

    2018-03-01

    Nicotine and D-amphetamine can strengthen reinforcing effects of unconditioned visual stimuli. We investigated whether these reinforcement-enhancing effects reflect a slowing of stimulus habituation and depend on food restriction. Adult male rats pressed an active lever to illuminate a cue light during daily 60-min sessions. Depending on the experiment, rats were challenged with fixed or varying doses of D-amphetamine (0.25-2 mg/kg IP) and nicotine (0.025-0.2 mg/kg SC) or with the tobacco constituent norharman (0.03-10 μg/kg IV). Experiment 1 tested for possible reinforcement-enhancing effects of D-amphetamine and norharman. Experiment 2 investigated whether nicotine and amphetamine inhibited the spontaneous within-session decline in lever pressing. Experiment 3 assessed the effects of food restriction. Amphetamine (0.25-1 mg/kg) and nicotine (0.1 mg/kg) increased active lever pressing specifically (two- to threefold increase). The highest doses of nicotine and amphetamine also affected inactive lever responding (increase and decrease, respectively). With the visual reinforcer omitted, responding was largely extinguished. Neither drug appeared to slow habituation, as assessed by the within-session decline in lever pressing, and reinforcement-enhancing effects still occurred if the drugs were given after this decline had occurred. Food restriction enhanced the reinforcement-enhancing effect of amphetamine but not that of nicotine. Responding remained goal-directed after several weeks of testing. Low doses of D-amphetamine and nicotine produced reinforcement enhancement even in free-feeding subjects, independent of the spontaneous within-session decline in responding. Reinforcement enhancement by amphetamine, but not nicotine, was enhanced by concurrent subchronic food restriction.

  18. Effects of habitual exercise on the eHsp72-induced release of inflammatory cytokines by macrophages from obese Zucker rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, J J; Martin-Cordero, L; Hinchado, M D; Bote, M E; Ortega, E

    2013-06-01

    Regular exercise is a good non-pharmacological treatment of metabolic syndrome in that it improves obesity, diabetes, and inflammation. The 72 kDa extracellular heat shock protein (eHsp72) is released during exercise, thus stimulating the inflammatory responses. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of regular exercise on the eHsp72-induced release of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα by macrophages from genetically obese Zucker rats (fa/fa) (ObZ), using lean Zucker (LZ) rats (Fa/fa) to provide reference values. ObZ presented a higher plasma concentration of eHsp72 than LZ, and exercise increased that concentration. In response to eHsp72, the macrophages from ObZ released less IL-1β and TNFα, but more IL-6, than macrophages from LZ. While eHsp72 stimulated the release of IL-1β, TNFα, and IL-6 in the macrophages from healthy LZ (with respect to the constitutive release), it inhibited the release of IL-1β and IL-6 in macrophages from ObZ. The habitual exercise improved the release of inflammatory cytokines by macrophages from ObZ in response to eHsp72 (it increased IL-1β and TNFα, and decreased IL-6), tending to values closer to those determined in healthy LZ. A deregulated macrophage inflammatory and stress response induced by eHsp72 underlies MS, and this is improved by habitual exercise. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  19. Gliosarcoma: un tumor cerebral poco común (Gliosarcoma, a rare brain tumor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edison Vega

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Resumen (español El Gliosarcoma (GS es una neoplasia primaria agresiva y poco frecuente del Sistema Nervioso Central (SNC, compuesta de elementos astrocíticos anaplásicos y mesenquimales claramente malignos. El cuadro clínico se caracteriza por cefalea y convulsiones, que se presentan como parte de los síntomas iniciales en el 30% de los pacientes y cuyo porcentaje aumenta conforme avanza la enfermedad. Dentro de las manifestaciones secundarias, se describen cambios como alteración de la concentración y la personalidad; de manera particular las lesiones que afectan al lóbulo parietal se asocian a déficit motor o sensitivo. En cuanto al diagnóstico imagenológico por RMN, los gliomas malignos se observan bien circunscritos con edema focal y captan el contraste en la periferia con un centro hipointenso. Se reporta el caso de paciente Masculino de 45 años de edad, cuyos hallazgos clínico-imagenológicos concuerdan con los previamente descritos por lo que se plantea el diagnóstico de glioma parietooccipital derecho. Al realizar exeresis del tumor, se practicó estudio histopatológico, el cual fue reportado como un glioblastoma multiforme, y posterior al análisis inmunohistoquímico, se concluyó definitivamente como un gliosarcoma. La baja frecuencia de esta entidad patológica y la repercusión en la morbimortalidad de los pacientes que la padecen motivaron a la presentación de este caso. Abstract (english The Gliosarcoma (GS is an aggressive primary neoplasm and rare in central nervous system (CNS, composed of anaplastic astrocytic and mesenchymal elements clearly malignant. The clinical picture is characterized by headaches and seizures, presented as part of the initial symptoms in 30% of patients whose percentage increases as the disease progresses. Among the secondary manifestations, described changes as impaired concentration and personality of lesions particularly affecting the parietal lobe is associated with motor or sensory

  20. Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas sobre maltrato infantil en odontólogos de Cartagena (Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine Arrieta Vergara

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Objetivos:Describir conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas (CAP sobre maltrato infantil (MIen odontólogos de Cartagena (Colombia.Materiales y métodos:Estudio descriptivo de corte transversal en 149 odontólogos, querespondieron un cuestionario estructurado anónimo de autorreporte para evaluar variablessociodemográficas, reporte de sospecha deMIyCAPfrente a este. Los datos fueron analizadosa través de frecuencia y proporciones. Para establecer relaciones entre la sospecha deMIconalgunas variables de interés (sociodemográficas,CAP se utilizó la pruebaχ2con un nivel deconfianza del 95 %.Resultados:La ocurrencia actual de casos de sospecha deMIfue 5,3 % y alguna vez durante supráctica profesional del 34,4 %. Para el nivel deCAPsobreMIse obtuvieron puntajes promediode 16,8/26 8,7/12 y 2,4/8, respectivamente. Al relacionar el nivel de conocimientos y variablessociodemográficas, las actitudes y prácticas, solo se encontró significancia estadística para elestrato socioeconómico (p=0,001, y entre las actitudes, con el lugar de procedencia (p=0,04y edad (p=0,002.Conclusiones:El nivel de conocimiento sobreMIfue deficiente, mientras las actitudes fueronfavorables; sin embargo, al momento de presentarse un caso de sospecha, sus prácticas son inade-cuadas, al no realizar descripción de lesiones, anotaciones en la historia clínica y reporte de casos.

  1. Hydrogeochemical applications of natural isotope of the U (4n+2) and Th(4n) series in Morro do Ferro, Pocos de Caldas (MG), Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bonotto, D.M.

    1987-01-01

    Uranium and thorium isotopic analysis were performed on well spoils of the ore body at Morro do Ferro, Pocos de Caldas (MG), Brazil, using groundwater from several boreholes in the area and surface water from a stream and that originates at the base of the hill. For uranium and thorium extraction, a chemical process was applied to samples; activites of 228 Th and 232 Th radioisotopes (4n+2 series) were determined by alpha spectrometry. The uranium concentration and 234 U/ 238 U isotope ratio in groundwater were applied to developed models for deducing proportions of water in a mixture and for characterizing uranium accumulation. The correlation between variability in concentration of uranium dissolved in groundwater and alteration of the level of the water table due to infiltration of rainfall was observed. Chemical analysis of the major and minor compounds for groundwater of the ore body zone were done. (Author) [pt

  2. Inestabilidad de microsatélites en pacientes con diagnóstico de cáncer colorrectal

    OpenAIRE

    Ortiz, César; Dongo-Pflucker, Kenny; Martín-Cruz, Luis; Barletta Carrillo, Claudia; Mora-Alferez, Pamela; Arias, Abelardo

    2016-01-01

    Objetivo: Determinar la presencia de inestabilidad de microsatélites en pacientes con cáncer colorrectal usando el panel molecular Bethesda y discutir su importancia en pacientes con sospecha de cáncer colorrectal hereditario no polipósico (HNPCC) o con sospecha de síndrome de Lynch. Materiales y métodos: Se trabajó con muestras de sangre periférica y tejido tumoral de 28 pacientes con diagnóstico de cáncer colorrectal remitidos al laboratorio de Biología Molecular del Instituto Nacional de E...

  3. Attentional asymmetry between visual hemifields is related to habitual direction of reading and its implications for debate on cause and effects of dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kermani, Mojtaba; Verghese, Ashika; Vidyasagar, Trichur R

    2018-02-01

    A major controversy regarding dyslexia is whether any of the many visual and phonological deficits found to be correlated with reading difficulty cause the impairment or result from the reduced amount of reading done by dyslexics. We studied this question by comparing a visual capacity in the left and right visual hemifields in people habitually reading scripts written right-to-left or left-to-right. Selective visual attention is necessary for efficient visual search and also for the sequential recognition of letters in words. Because such attentional allocation during reading depends on the direction in which one is reading, asymmetries in search efficiency may reflect biases arising from the habitual direction of reading. We studied this by examining search performance in three cohorts: (a) left-to-right readers who read English fluently; (b) right-to-left readers fluent in reading Farsi but not any left-to-right script; and (c) bilingual readers fluent in English and in Farsi, Arabic, or Hebrew. Left-to-right readers showed better search performance in the right hemifield and right-to-left readers in the left hemifield, but bilingual readers showed no such asymmetries. Thus, reading experience biases search performance in the direction of reading, which has implications for the cause and effect relationships between reading and cognitive functions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. RecA-independent resistance to irradiation with u.v. light in acid-habituated Escherichia coli

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodson, M.; Rowbury, R.J.

    1991-01-01

    Growth of Escherichia coli 1829 ColV, I-K94 at pH 5.0 led to an increase in u.v. resistance compared with cells grown at pH 7.0. This was due to a phenotypic change, since organisms grown at pH 7.0 showed increased resistance after only 2.5-5.0 min incubation at the mildly acid pH. Other E. coli K12 derivatives became more u.v.-resistant at pH 5.0 including uvrA, recA and polAl mutants. Organisms grown at pH 5.0 also showed increased Weigle reactivation of u.v. irradiated λ phage and this applied to the repair-deficient mutants as well as the parent strains. Both the increased u.v. resistance of acid-habituated cells and their increased ability to bring about Weigle reactivation appear to involve RecA-independent processes and are presumably, therefore, independent of the SOS response. (author)

  5. Effects of melatonin on prepulse inhibition, habituation and sensitization of the human startle reflex in healthy volunteers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lehtinen, Emilia K; Ucar, Ebru; Glenthøj, Birte Y

    2014-01-01

    Prepulse inhibition of the startle reflex (PPI) is an operational measure of sensorimotor gating, which is demonstrated to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia. In addition, a disruption of the circadian rhythm together with blunted melatonin secretion is regularly found in patients...... with schizophrenia and it is theorized that these may contribute to their attentional deficits. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of acute melatonin on healthy human sensorimotor gating. Twenty-one healthy male volunteers were administered melatonin or placebo after which their levels of PPI were...... assessed. Melatonin significantly reduced startle magnitude and ratings of alertness, but did not influence PPI, nor sensitization and habituation. However, when taking baseline scores in consideration, melatonin significantly increased PPI in low scoring individuals while significantly decreasing...

  6. Habitual dietary intake of fatty acids are associated with leptin gene expression in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue of patients without diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rostami, Hosein; Samadi, Mohammad; Yuzbashian, Emad; Zarkesh, Maryam; Asghari, Golaleh; Hedayati, Mehdi; Daneshafrooz, Afsoon; Mirmiran, Parvin; Khalaj, Alireza

    2017-11-01

    The purpose of the study was to investigate the association of leptin gene expression in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues with habitual fatty acid intake and its subtypes in adults. Visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues were gathered from 97 participants aged ≥ 20, who had undergone elective abdominal surgery. Dietary fatty acid intakes including total fatty acids (TFA), saturated fatty acid (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), n-3, n-6, and n-9 fatty acids were collected using a valid and reliable food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The leptin gene expression in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues was measured by Real-Time PCR. After controlling for body mass index (BMI) and insulin, energy-adjusted dietary intake of SFA was positively and MUFA and n-3 fatty acids were negatively associated with subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissues leptin gene expression. Besides, a significant negative association of PUFA, n-6, and n-9 fatty acids with leptin mRNA from visceral adipose tissue were observed. In order to better interpretations of the results, the participants were allocated two groups including non-obese (BMI fatty acids had a negative association with visceral leptin gene expression. Habitual intake of SFA, MUFA, and n-3 fatty acids were associated with leptin gene expression in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues, suggesting an important role of quality and quantity of fatty acids intake in adipose tissue to regulate leptin expression. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Parent-delivered early intervention in infants at risk for ASD: Effects on electrophysiological and habituation measures of social attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Emily J H; Dawson, Geraldine; Kelly, Jean; Estes, Annette; Jane Webb, Sara

    2017-05-01

    Prospective longitudinal studies of infants with older siblings with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have indicated that differences in the neurocognitive systems underlying social attention may emerge prior to the child meeting ASD diagnostic criteria. Thus, targeting social attention with early intervention might have the potential to alter developmental trajectories for infants at high risk for ASD. Electrophysiological and habituation measures of social attention were collected at 6, 12, and 18 months in a group of high-risk infant siblings of children with ASD (N = 33). Between 9 and 11 months of age, infant siblings received a parent-delivered intervention, promoting first relationships (PFR), (n = 19) or on-going assessment without intervention (n = 14). PFR has been previously shown to increase parental responsivity to infant social communicative cues and infant contingent responding. Compared to infants who only received assessment and monitoring, infants who received the intervention showed improvements in neurocognitive metrics of social attention, as reflected in a greater reduction in habituation times to face versus object stimuli between 6 and 12 months, maintained at 18 months; a greater increase in frontal EEG theta power between 6 and 12 months; and a more comparable P400 response to faces and objects at 12 months. The high-risk infants who received the intervention showed a pattern of responses that appeared closer to the normative responses of two groups of age-matched low-risk control participants. Though replication is necessary, these results suggest that early parent-mediated intervention has the potential to impact the brain systems underpinning social attention in infants at familial risk for ASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 961-972. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. A cGMP-dependent protein kinase gene, foraging, modifies habituation-like response decrement of the giant fiber escape circuit in Drosophila.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engel, J E; Xie, X J; Sokolowski, M B; Wu, C F

    2000-01-01

    The Drosophila giant fiber jump-and-flight escape response is a model for genetic analysis of both the physiology and the plasticity of a sensorimotor behavioral pathway. We previously established the electrically induced giant fiber response in intact tethered flies as a model for habituation, a form of nonassociative learning. Here, we show that the rate of stimulus-dependent response decrement of this neural pathway in a habituation protocol is correlated with PKG (cGMP-Dependent Protein Kinase) activity and foraging behavior. We assayed response decrement for natural and mutant rover and sitter alleles of the foraging (for) gene that encodes a Drosophila PKG. Rover larvae and adults, which have higher PKG activities, travel significantly farther while foraging than sitters with lower PKG activities. Response decrement was most rapid in genotypes previously shown to have low PKG activities and sitter-like foraging behavior. We also found differences in spontaneous recovery (the reversal of response decrement during a rest from stimulation) and a dishabituation-like phenomenon (the reversal of response decrement evoked by a novel stimulus). This electrophysiological study in an intact animal preparation provides one of the first direct demonstrations that PKG can affect plasticity in a simple learning paradigm. It increases our understanding of the complex interplay of factors that can modulate the sensitivity of the giant fiber escape response, and it defines a new adult-stage phenotype of the foraging locus. Finally, these results show that behaviorally relevant neural plasticity in an identified circuit can be influenced by a single-locus genetic polymorphism existing in a natural population of Drosophila.

  9. Habitual sleep duration is associated with BMI and macronutrient intake and may be modified by CLOCK genetic variants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dashti, Hassan S; Follis, Jack L; Smith, Caren E

    2015-01-01

    examined associations between habitual sleep duration, body mass index (BMI), and macronutrient intake and assessed whether CLOCK variants modify these associations. DESIGN: We conducted inverse-variance weighted, fixed-effect meta-analyses of results of adjusted associations of sleep duration and BMI...... and macronutrient intake as percentages of total energy as well as interactions with CLOCK variants from 9 cohort studies including up to 14,906 participants of European descent from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Consortium. RESULTS: We observed a significant association between...... sleep duration and lower BMI (β ± SE = 0.16 ± 0.04, P macronutrient intake were evident in age- and sex-stratified analyses only. We observed a significant association between sleep duration and lower saturated...

  10. Prevention of age-related endothelial dysfunction by habitual aerobic exercise in healthy humans: possible role of nuclear factor κB.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Ashley E; Kaplon, Rachelle E; Pierce, Gary L; Nowlan, Molly J; Seals, Douglas R

    2014-12-01

    Habitual aerobic exercise prevents age-related impairments in endothelium-dependent dilation (EDD). We have hypothesized that the pro-inflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) impairs EDD with sedentary aging, and habitual aerobic exercise prevents this age-related suppression of EDD by NF-κB. To test this hypothesis, we have inhibited NF-κB signalling via oral salsalate administration in healthy older aerobic exercise-trained adults (OT, n=14, 58 ± 2 years), older non-exercising adults (ON, n=16, 61 ± 1 years) and young non-exercising controls (YN, n=8, 23 ± 1 years). Salsalate reduced endothelial cell expression of NF-κB p65 by ~25% in ON (P0.05). EDD, assessed by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), was improved by salsalate in ON (4.0 ± 0.7% compared with 6.8 ± 0.7%, placebo compared with salsalate, P0.05). Endothelium-independent dilation was not affected by salsalate in any group (P>0.05). In ON, vitamin C infusion improved FMD by ~30% during placebo (P0.05). In OT and YN, vitamin C infusion did not affect FMD during either placebo or salsalate (P>0.05). Salsalate reduced endothelial cell nitrotyrosine content by ~25% and NADPH oxidase p47phox expression by ~30% in ON (P0.05). Our results suggest that endothelial NF-κB signalling is associated with oxidative stress-related impairment of EDD in healthy non-exercising but not aerobically exercising older adults. This may be a key mechanism by which regular aerobic exercise preserves endothelial function and reduces cardiovascular risk with aging.

  11. Alcaligenes is Commensal Bacteria Habituating in the Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue for the Regulation of Intestinal IgA Responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunisawa, Jun; Kiyono, Hiroshi

    2012-01-01

    Secretory-immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) plays an important role in immunological defense in the intestine. It has been known for a long time that microbial stimulation is required for the development and maintenance of intestinal IgA production. Recent advances in genomic technology have made it possible to detect uncultivable commensal bacteria in the intestine and identify key bacteria in the regulation of innate and acquired mucosal immune responses. In this review, we focus on the immunological function of Peyer's patches (PPs), a major gut-associated lymphoid tissue, in the induction of intestinal IgA responses and the unique immunological interaction of PPs with commensal bacteria, especially Alcaligenes, a unique indigenous bacteria habituating inside PPs.

  12. Microbiological analysis at the Osamu Utsumi mine and Morro do Ferro analogue study sites, Pocos de Caldas, Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    West, J.M.; Vialta, A.; McKinley, I.G.

    1990-01-01

    The Pocos de Caldas project is a wide-ranging natural analogue study focussed on a number of areas of concern in the performance assessment of the disposal of radioactive waste. Part of the work has involved characterising microbial populations and their influence in various processes. Core material and groundwaters have been sampled for microbiological content at various depths form boreholes at the Osamu Utsumi open pit uranium mine and Morro do Ferro Th/REE ore body. Microbes were found in all samples but numbers do not appear to be related to depth. Analyses of groundwaters gave higher numbers than with solid material and demonstrated the presence of sulphur cycle bacteria. These observations have been compared with predictions of a model used in performance assessment to calculate the maximum biomass/microbial activity based on constraints set by available nutrients and energy. The main conclusions of this analysis are: 1. Low microbial activities can be supported by the energy and nutrients supplied by alteration processes at or around the redox front. The maximum annual production of approximately equal to 0.01 - 0.1 g biomass (dry)/m 2 of redox front is in reasonable agreement with observed standing populations. 2. The presence of high concentrations of sulphate reducing bacteria around the redox front indicate a complex sulphur geochemistry which may be predominantly microbially catalysed and could explain the nodular form of pitchblende concretions and the presence of secondary pyrite. 3. There is little trace element mobilisation by organic byproducts and the main role of microbes in this system is to catalyse specific redox reactions. (au)

  13. Habitual dietary fibre intake influences gut microbiota response to an inulin-type fructan prebiotic:a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over, human intervention study

    OpenAIRE

    Healey, Genelle; Murphy, Rinki; Butts, Chrissie; Brough, Louise; Whelan, Kevin; Coad, Jane

    2018-01-01

    Dysbiotic gut microbiota have been implicated in human disease. Diet-based therapeutic strategies have been used to manipulate the gut microbiota towards a more favourable profile. However, it has been demonstrated that large inter-individual variability exists in gut microbiota response to a dietary intervention. The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether habitually low dietary fibre (LDF) v. high dietary fibre (HDF) intakes influence gut microbiota response to an inulin-...

  14. Gas-phase organics in environmental tobacco smoke: 2. Exposure-relevant emission factors and indirect exposures from habitual smoking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singer, Brett C.; Hodgson, Alfred T.; Nazaroff, William W.

    Sorption of emitted gas-phase organic compounds onto material surfaces affects environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) composition and exposures indoors. We have introduced a new metric, the exposure relevant emission factor (EREF) that accounts for sorptive uptake and reemission to give the mass of individual ETS constituents available for exposure over a day in which smoking occurs. This paper describes month-long experiments to investigate sorption effects on EREFs and potential ETS exposures under habitual smoking conditions. Cigarettes were smoked in a 50-m 3 furnished room over a 3-h period 6-7 days per week, with continuous ventilation at 0.3, 0.6, or 2.1 h -1. Organic gas concentrations were measured every few days over 4-h "smoking", 10-h "post-smoking" and 10-h "background" periods. Concentration patterns of volatile ETS components including 1,3-butadiene, benzene and acrolein were similar to those calculated for a theoretical non-sorbing tracer, indicating limited sorption. Concentrations of ETS tracers, e.g. 3-ethenylpyridine (3-EP) and nicotine, and lower volatility toxic air contaminants including phenol, cresols, and naphthalene increased as experiments progressed, indicating mass accumulation on surfaces and higher desorption rates. Daily patterns stabilized after week 2, yielding a steady daily cycle of ETS concentrations associated with habitual smoking. EREFs for sorbing compounds were higher under steady cycle versus single-day smoking conditions by ˜50% for 3-EP, and by 2-3 times for nicotine, phenol, cresols, naphthalene, and methylnaphthalenes. Our results provide relevant information about potential indirect exposures from residual ETS (non-smoker enters room shortly after smoker finishes) and from reemission, and their importance relative to direct exposures (non-smoker present during smoking). Under the conditions examined, indirect exposures accounted for a larger fraction of total potential exposures for sorbing versus non-sorbing compounds

  15. Endothelial cell senescence with aging in healthy humans: prevention by habitual exercise and relation to vascular endothelial function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossman, Matthew J; Kaplon, Rachelle E; Hill, Sierra D; McNamara, Molly N; Santos-Parker, Jessica R; Pierce, Gary L; Seals, Douglas R; Donato, Anthony J

    2017-11-01

    Cellular senescence is emerging as a key mechanism of age-related vascular endothelial dysfunction, but evidence in healthy humans is lacking. Moreover, the influence of lifestyle factors such as habitual exercise on endothelial cell (EC) senescence is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that EC senescence increases with sedentary, but not physically active, aging and is associated with vascular endothelial dysfunction. Protein expression (quantitative immunofluorescence) of p53, a transcription factor related to increased cellular senescence, and the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p21 and p16 were 116%, 119%, and 128% greater (all P age-related differences were not present (all P > 0.05) in venous ECs from older exercising adults (57 ± 1 yr, n = 13). Furthermore, venous EC protein levels of p53 ( r  = -0.49, P = 0.003), p21 ( r  = -0.38, P = 0.03), and p16 ( r  = -0.58, P = 0.002) were inversely associated with vascular endothelial function (brachial artery flow-mediated dilation). Similarly, protein expression of p53 and p21 was 26% and 23% higher (both P healthy older sedentary (63 ± 1 yr, n = 18) versus young sedentary (25 ± 1 yr, n = 9) adults; age-related changes in arterial EC p53 and p21 expression were not observed ( P > 0.05) in older habitually exercising adults (59 ± 1 yr, n = 14). These data indicate that EC senescence is associated with sedentary aging and is linked to endothelial dysfunction. Moreover, these data suggest that prevention of EC senescence may be one mechanism by which aerobic exercise protects against endothelial dysfunction with age. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our study provides novel evidence in humans of increased endothelial cell senescence with sedentary aging, which is associated with impaired vascular endothelial function. Furthermore, our data suggest an absence of age-related increases in endothelial cell senescence in older exercising adults, which is linked with preserved vascular endothelial function

  16. Bajo índice de sospecha para deficiencia de anticuerpos en niños sometidos a procedimientos quirúrgicos de Otorrinolaringología

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AB Ramírez-López

    2016-06-01

    G elevada en 8/18, IgG baja 1/18, IgM elevada 3/17 e IgA elevada en 5/17. Dos niños con enfermedad granulomatosa crónica fueron identificados a través de esta búsqueda electrónica.   CONCLUSIONES: describimos 37 pacientes sometidos a cirugía de otorrinolaringología por una historia de infecciones respiratorias recurrentes, complicadas o refractarias, de los cuales al menos nueve eran alérgicos y al menos dos tenían una inmunodeficiencia primaria. Sólo 18 de esos 37 tenían determinación de IgG como parte de su evaluación preoperatoria; un índice alarmantemente bajo de sospecha para defectos de anticuerpos. Estudios previos en adultos con rinosinusitis crónica han encontrado defectos de anticuerpos. Planeamos completar la evaluación inmunológica de los 37 pacientes, incluyendo para deficiencia específica de anticuerpos (SAD. Banderas rojas como IgE >2,000 IU/mL, neumonía complicada o cultivo de Aspergillus pueden ser útiles para detectar pacientes con inmunodeficiencia primaria no diagnosticada.

  17. Association between habitual coffee consumption and metabolic syndrome in type 1 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stutz, B; Ahola, A J; Harjutsalo, V; Forsblom, C; Groop, P-H

    2018-05-01

    In the general population, habitual coffee consumption is inversely associated with the metabolic syndrome, a syndrome that is rather common also in patients with type 1 diabetes. However, whether coffee intake is beneficially related to the metabolic syndrome also in type 1 diabetes, is not known. We, therefore, studied the potential association between coffee consumption and the metabolic syndrome in a large population of individuals with type 1 diabetes. Furthermore, we investigated whether coffee consumption is associated with insulin resistance (estimated glucose disposal rate, eGDR), kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate, eGFR), and low-grade chronic inflammation (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, hsCRP). Data from 1040 participants in the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy Study were included in these cross-sectional analyses. Metabolic syndrome was assumed if at least 3 of the following cardiovascular risk factors were present: central obesity, high blood pressure, low HDL-cholesterol concentration, high triglyceride concentration, and hyperglycaemia. Subjects were categorized based on self-reported daily coffee intake: non-consumers (metabolic syndrome. Moreover, any level of coffee consumption was associated with increased risk of the blood pressure-component. An increasing trend was observed in the eGFR with increasing coffee consumption. In type 1 diabetes, high coffee intake is associated with the metabolic syndrome, and especially its blood pressure-component. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  18. Acid drainages of the pyritic sterile from the Pocos de Caldas uranium mine: environmental interpretation and implications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Souza, Vicente Paulo de

    1995-12-01

    Considering the planned closure of the first uranium mine and milling plant operating in Brazil, located in the Pocos de Caldas Plateau, in the State of Minas Gerais, in the next two years, there is the need to obtain basic information for its decommissioning. Special attention has been directed to the following critical areas: open pit, tailing, dam and waste rock piles, because these are the main sources of acid drainage generation. These waters cannot be allowed to flow in the external environment because in addition to sulphuric acid, there is a number of elements in concentration above those allowed by regulations. Among the waste piles (bota-foras BF) two of them BF-4 and BF-8, are in a process of acid generation, thus requiring more attention. The objective of this work was to simulate at the laboratory scale the oxidation and the reduction zones of BF-4. The experiments were conducted in acrylic columns, where the waste sample was kept under aerated and saturated conditions, in different columns. The control of the chemical (solubilized chemical species), physico-chemical (redox potential, pH, conductivity) and biological (bacterial activity) parameters has been carried out on the acid solutions generated by the chemical and biological reactions that occur at the waste. Although the results refer to a four month period, some relevant points can be highlighted, which will serve as a basis for further research. The mineralogical characterization identified the existence of other sulphides associated to pyrite with lower oxidation potential than the latter. The results obtained with the biological characterization for the two conditions studied revealed that the bacterial activity is more intense in the region in contact with air, than in saturated region. (author)

  19. Correlates of habitual physical activity and organized sports in German primary school children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobel, S; Kettner, S; Kesztyüs, D; Erkelenz, N; Drenowatz, C; Steinacker, J M

    2015-03-01

    The increased prevalence of childhood obesity has also been attributed to low physical activity (PA) levels. Understanding factors affecting child PA levels is especially important considering the benefits PA offers to youth. This study therefore examined different correlates affecting habitual PA and sports participation in primary school children. Height and weight were measured during a school visit in 1714 children (7.1 ± .6 years). PA and behavioural correlates were assessed by parental questionnaire. The effect of various correlates on PA as well as participation in organized sports was assessed using logistic regression analysis. Significant correlates of PA and sports participation were engagement in sporting activities outside of clubs and children's weight status. Playing outdoors for more than 60 min/day was significant for PA, having well educated parents and being male. Participation in sports was influenced by children's media consumption, active travel to school and having active parents. No influence was found for migration, income, parental weight status and health consciousness. In this study, a multiplicity of independent correlates of PA and sports participation, which require a broad approach to promote an active lifestyle, have been considered. Understanding these factors might support the development of effective health-promoting interventions. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  20. LEVEL OF HABITUAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN 8-9 YEARS OLD SCHOOLCHILDREN FROM SPAIN AND INDIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillermo Felipe López Sánchez

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The level of physical activity of people is a very important issue internationally. The aim of this study was to analyze and compare the level of habitual physical activity in 8-9 years old schoolchildren from Spain and India. With this purpose, it was administered the questionnaire PACE (Physician-based Assessment and Counseling for Exercise in a sample of 85 schoolchildren (44 from Spain and 41 from India. The results showed that the sample studied does not do enough physical activity, according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, as they do at least 60 minutes of physical activity; only an average of 3.13 days/week (SD=1.91. 8-year-old schoolchildren do more physical activity than 9-year-old schoolchildren in both countries; boys do more physical activity than girls in both countries; schoolchildren from India do more physical activity than schoolchildren from Spain. Therefore, it is concluded that the level of physical activity is insufficient, decreases slightly with the age and is higher in India.