Older adults encode-but do not always use-perceptual details: intentional versus unintentional effects of detail on memory judgments

Investigations of memory deficits in older individuals have concentrated on their increased likelihood of forgetting events or details of events that were actually encountered (errors of omission). However mounting evidence demonstrates that normal cognitive aging also is associated with an increased propensity for errors of commission-shown in false alarms or false recognition. The present study examined the origins of this age difference. Older and younger adults each performed three types of memory tasks in which details of encountered items might influence performance. Although older adults showed greater false recognition of related lures on a standard (identical) old/new episodic recognition task, older and younger adults showed parallel effects of detail on repetition priming and meaning-based episodic recognition (decreased priming and decreased meaning-based recognition for different relative to same exemplars). The results suggest that the older adults encoded details but used them less effectively than the younger adults in the recognition context requiring their deliberate, controlled use.

Inequalities in diet and nutrition

The inequality of nutrition and obesity re-focuses concern on who in society is consuming the worst diet. Identification of individuals with the worst of dietary habits permits for targeting interventions to assuage obesity among the population segment where it is most prevalent. We argue that the use of fiscal interventions does not appropriately take into account the economic, social and health circumstances of the intended beneficiaries of the policy. This paper reviews the influence of socio-demographic factors on nutrition and health status and considers the impacts of nutrition policy across the population drawing on methodologies from both public health and welfare economics. The effects of a fat tax on diet are found to be small and while other studies show that fat taxes saves lives, we show that average levels of disease risk do not change much: those consuming particularly bad diets continue to do so. Our results also suggest that the regressivity of the policy increases as the tax becomes focused on products with high saturated fat contents. A fiscally neutral policy that combines the fat tax with a subsidy on fruit and vegetables is actually more regressive because consumption of these foods tends to be concentrated in socially undeserving households. We argue that when inequality is of concern, population-based measures must reflect this and approaches that target vulnerable populations which have a shared propensity to adopt unhealthy behaviours are appropriate.

Substituent and counterion effects on the formation of p-dimer dications of end-capped heptathienoacenes

We have investigated the impact of the functionalization and the chemical nature of counterions on the p-dimer dications formation in two end-capped heptathienoacenes. Radical cations of an a-substituted heptathienoacene with triisopropylsilyl groups do not p-dimerize, while those of an a,b-substituted heptathienoacene with four n-decyl side chains show a high propensity toward p-dimerization, increased by PF6 ÿ counterions.

The impact of urban wind environments on natural ventilation

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the impact of urban wind environments when assessing the availability of natural ventilation. A numerical study of urban airflow for a complex of five building blocks located at the University of Reading, UK is presented. The computational fluid dynamics software package ANSYS was used to simulate six typical cases of urban wind environments and the potential for natural ventilation assessed. The study highlights the impact of three typical architectural forms (street canyons, semi-enclosures and courtyards) on the local wind environment. Simulation results have also been compared with experimental data collected from six locations on the building complex. The study demonstrates that ventilation strategies formed using regional weather data, may have a propensity to over-estimate the potential for natural ventilation and cooling, due to the impact of urban form which creates a unique microclimate. Characteristics of urban wind flow patterns are presented as a guideline and can be used to assess the design and performance of natural or hybrid ventilation and the opportunity for passive cooling.

Receptor binding profiles of avian influenza virus hemagglutinin subtypes on human cells as a predictor of pandemic potential

The host adaptation of influenza virus is partly dependent on the sialic acid (SA) isoform bound by the viral hemagglutinin (HA). Avian influenza viruses preferentially bind the α-2,3 SA and human influenza viruses the α-2,6 isoform. Each isoform is predominantly associated with different surface epithelial cell types of the human upper airway. Using recombinant HAs and human tracheal airway epithelial cells in vitro and ex vivo, we show that many avian HA subtypes do not adhere to this canonical view of SA specificity. The propensity of avian viruses to adapt to human receptors may thus be more widespread than previously supposed.

Development appraisal in practice: some evidence from the planning system

Due to the requirement to demonstrate financial feasibility of policy proposals and scheme-specific planning obligations, development viability and development appraisal have become core themes in the English planning system. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the application of development appraisal in practice. The paper reviews the literature and the models available to assess the viability of development and analyses a sample 19 development viability appraisals to identify practice. The paper concludes that the practice of development appraisal deviates significantly from the tenets of capital budgeting theory. In particular, in addition to a propensity to oversimplify the timing of income and expenditure, the way in which debt, developer’s return and value and cost change are handled in practice illustrates a major gap between mainstream capital budgeting theory and development appraisal in practice.

Oppositely charged polyelectrolytes: complex formation and effects of chain asymmetry

The formation of complexes in solutions of oppositely charged polyions has been studied by Monte Carlo simulations. The amount as well as the length, and thus, the absolute charge of one of the polyions have been varied. There is an increasing tendency to form large clusters as the excess of one kind of polyion decreases. When all polyions have the same length, this tendency reaches a maximum near, but off, equivalent amounts of the two types of polyions. When one kind of polyion is made shorter, the propensity to form large clusters decreases and the fluctuations in cluster charge increases. Simple free-energy expressions have been formulated on the basis of a set of simple rules that help rationalize the observations. By calculating cluster distributions in both grand canonical and canonical ensembles, it has been possible to show the extent of finite-size effects in the simulations.

Neural and psychological maturation of decision-making in adolescence and young adulthood

We examined the maturation of decision-making from early adolescence to mid-adulthood using fMRI of a variant of the Iowa gambling task. We have previously shown that performance in this task relies on sensitivity to accumulating negative outcomes in ventromedial PFC and dorsolateral PFC. Here, we further formalize outcome evaluation (as driven by prediction errors [PE], using a reinforcement learning model) and examine its development. Task performance improved significantly during adolescence, stabilizing in adulthood. Performance relied on greater impact of negative compared with positive PEs, the relative impact of which matured from adolescence into adulthood. Adolescents also showed increased exploratory behavior, expressed as a propensity to shift responding between options independently of outcome quality, whereas adults showed no systematic shifting patterns. The correlation between PE representation and improved performance strengthened with age for activation in ventral and dorsal PFC, ventral striatum, and temporal and parietal cortices. There was a medial-lateral distinction in the prefrontal substrates of effective PE utilization between adults and adolescents: Increased utilization of negative PEs, a hallmark of successful performance in the task, was associated with increased activation in ventromedial PFC in adults, but decreased activation in ventrolateral PFC and striatum in adolescents. These results suggest that adults and adolescents engage qualitatively distinct neural and psychological processes during decision-making, the development of which is not exclusively dependent on reward-processing maturation.

Nonlocal office investors: anchored by their markets and impaired by their distance

Nonlocal investors purchase and sell investment property in a distant metropolitan area. In this study, we identify capital value underperformance for nonlocal investors on both sides of the transaction, when they purchase and when they sell. The commercial real estate transactions data include a national sample of office property occurring in more than 100 U.S. markets. Using propensity-score matched sample to control for selection bias, we find that nonlocal investors overpay on the purchase by an estimated 13.8 % and sell at an estimated 7 % discount. These disadvantages relative to local investors expand with the geographic distance separating investor and asset. Nonlocal investors fundamentally overvalue similar assets sold to each other relative to assets transacted between locals, and are less patient as sellers. The positive bias in overpayment is directly tied to office rent differentials between the asset and investor markets.

The effect of the national setting on employment practice: the case of downsizing

Although there is now a sizeable body of academic literature that tries to explain cross-country differences in terms of corporate control, capital market development, investor protection and politics, there is as yet very little literature on the degrees of protection accorded to other corporate stakeholders such as employees, based on a systematic comparison of firm level evidence. We find that both theories of legal origin and the varieties of capitalism approach are poor predictors of the relative propensity of firms to make redundancies in different settings. However, the political orientation of the government in place and even more so the nature of the electoral system are relatively good explanators of this propensity. In other words, political structures and outcomes matter more than more rigid institutional features such as legal origin. We explore the reasons for this, drawing out the implications for both theory and practice.

Inflammatory modulation of exercise salience: using hormesis to return to a healthy lifestyle

Most of the human population in the western world has access to unlimited calories and leads an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. The propensity to undertake voluntary exercise or indulge in spontaneous physical exercise, which might be termed "exercise salience", is drawing increased scientific attention. Despite its genetic aspects, this complex behaviour is clearly modulated by the environment and influenced by physiological states. Inflammation is often overlooked as one of these conditions even though it is known to induce a state of reduced mobility. Chronic subclinical inflammation is associated with the metabolic syndrome; a largely lifestyle-induced disease which can lead to decreased exercise salience. The result is a vicious cycle that increases oxidative stress and reduces metabolic flexibility and perpetuates the disease state. In contrast, hormetic stimuli can induce an anti-inflammatory phenotype, thereby enhancing exercise salience, leading to greater biological fitness and improved functional longevity. One general consequence of hormesis is upregulation of mitochondrial function and resistance to oxidative stress. Examples of hormetic factors include calorie restriction, extreme environmental temperatures, physical activity and polyphenols. The hormetic modulation of inflammation, and thus, exercise salience, may help to explain the highly heterogeneous expression of voluntary exercise behaviour and therefore body composition phenotypes of humans living in similar obesogenic environments.

Lifestyle-induced metabolic inflexibility and accelerated ageing syndrome: insulin resistance, friend or foe?

The metabolic syndrome may have its origins in thriftiness, insulin resistance and one of the most ancient of all signalling systems, redox. Thriftiness results from an evolutionarily-driven propensity to minimise energy expenditure. This has to be balanced with the need to resist the oxidative stress from cellular signalling and pathogen resistance, giving rise to something we call 'redox-thriftiness'. This is based on the notion that mitochondria may be able to both amplify membrane-derived redox growth signals as well as negatively regulate them, resulting in an increased ATP/ROS ratio. We suggest that 'redox-thriftiness' leads to insulin resistance, which has the effect of both protecting the individual cell from excessive growth/inflammatory stress, while ensuring energy is channelled to the brain, the immune system, and for storage. We also suggest that fine tuning of redox-thriftiness is achieved by hormetic (mild stress) signals that stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis and resistance to oxidative stress, which improves metabolic flexibility. However, in a non-hormetic environment with excessive calories, the protective nature of this system may lead to escalating insulin resistance and rising oxidative stress due to metabolic inflexibility and mitochondrial overload. Thus, the mitochondrially-associated resistance to oxidative stress (and metabolic flexibility) may determine insulin resistance. Genetically and environmentally determined mitochondrial function may define a 'tipping point' where protective insulin resistance tips over to inflammatory insulin resistance. Many hormetic factors may induce mild mitochondrial stress and biogenesis, including exercise, fasting, temperature extremes, unsaturated fats, polyphenols, alcohol, and even metformin and statins. Without hormesis, a proposed redox-thriftiness tipping point might lead to a feed forward insulin resistance cycle in the presence of excess calories. We therefore suggest that as oxidative stress determines functional longevity, a rather more descriptive term for the metabolic syndrome is the 'lifestyle-induced metabolic inflexibility and accelerated ageing syndrome'. Ultimately, thriftiness is good for us as long as we have hormetic stimuli; unfortunately, mankind is attempting to remove all hormetic (stressful) stimuli from his environment.

Interregional migration 'wage premia': the case of creative and science and technology graduates in the UK

We analyze the migration behavior of graduates from UK universities with a focus on the salary benefits they receive from the migration process. We focus on sequential interregional migration and specifically examine the case of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Creative subject graduates. Our analysis differs from previous studies in that it accounts explicitly for migrant selectivity through propensity score matching, and it also classifies graduates into different migration behavior categories. Graduates were classified according to their sequential migration behavior first from their pre-university domicile to university and then from university to first job post-graduation. Our results show that ‘repeat migration’, as expected, is associated with the highest wage premium (around 15%). Other migration behaviors are also advantageous although this varies across different types of graduates. Creative graduates, for instance, do not benefit much from migration behaviors other than repeat migration. STEM graduates, on the contrary, benefit from both late migration and staying in the university area to work.

The effects of distraction on metacognition and metacognition on distraction: evidence from recognition memory

The effects of auditory distraction in memory tasks have been examined to date with procedures that minimize participants’ control over their own memory processes. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to metacognitive control factors which might affect memory performance. In this study, we investigate the effects of auditory distraction on metacognitive control of memory, examining the effects of auditory distraction in recognition tasks utilizing the metacognitive framework of Koriat and Goldsmith (1996), to determine whether strategic regulation of memory accuracy is impacted by auditory distraction. Results replicated previous findings in showing that auditory distraction impairs memory performance in tasks minimizing participants’ metacognitive control (forced-report test). However, the results revealed also that when metacognitive control is allowed (free-report tests), auditory distraction impacts upon a range of metacognitive indices. In the present study, auditory distraction undermined accuracy of metacognitive monitoring (resolution), reduced confidence in responses provided and, correspondingly, increased participants’ propensity to withhold responses in free-report recognition. Crucially, changes in metacognitive processes were related to impairment in free-report recognition performance, as the use of the ‘don’t know’ option under distraction led to a reduction in the number of correct responses volunteered in free-report tests. Overall, the present results show how auditory distraction exerts its influence on memory performance via both memory and metamemory processes.

Dysregulated circulating dendritic cell function in ulcerative colitis is partially restored by probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells regulate immune responses to microbial products and play a key role in ulcerative colitis (UC) pathology. We determined the immunomodulatory effects of probiotic strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota (LcS) on human DC from healthy controls and active UC patients. METHODS: Human blood DC from healthy controls (control-DC) and UC patients (UC-DC) were conditioned with heat-killed LcS and used to stimulate allogeneic T cells in a 5-day mixed leucocyte reaction. RESULTS: UC-DC displayed a reduced stimulatory capacity for T cells (P < 0.05) and enhanced expression of skin-homing markers CLA and CCR4 on stimulated T cells (P < 0.05) that were negative for gut-homing marker β7. LcS treatment restored the stimulatory capacity of UC-DC, reflecting that of control-DC. LcS treatment conditioned control-DC to induce CLA on T cells in conjunction with β7, generating a multihoming profile, but had no effects on UC-DC. Finally, LcS treatment enhanced DC ability to induce TGFβ production by T cells in controls but not UC patients. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate a systemic, dysregulated DC function in UC that may account for the propensity of UC patients to develop cutaneous manifestations. LcS has multifunctional immunoregulatory activities depending on the inflammatory state; therapeutic effects reported in UC may be due to promotion of homeostasis.