Inhibition and Phineas Gage : repression and Sigmund Freud

The similarities between the theories of thinking as inhibited action developed by David Ferrier and Sigmund Freud are examined in the context of the changes in the behavior of Phineas Gage, which Ferrier tried to explain with his inhibitory-motor theory. Johannes Müller's concept of will, its development by Alexander Bain, and Bain's influence on Ferrier's conceptualization of inhibitory centers localized in the frontal lobes are traced. Elements of the Bain-Ferrier theory found in Freud's theory of thinking, which do not derive from Brücke, Meynert, or Jackson, are itemized, and the implications of Freud's opting for a mechanism of inhibition that was basically excitatory is examined. Possible reasons for Ferrier's abandoning his concept of inhibitory centers are discussed and are contrasted with the reasons that Freud had for keeping to an excitatory conceptualization. The sensory-motor physiology of the day and its application to willing and thinking as inhibited action provide reasonably certain connections between Phineas Gage, David Ferrier, and Sigmund Freud.

Lymphedema after complete axillary node dissection for melanoma: assessment using a new, objective definition

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to define appropriate criteria for assessing the presence of lymphedema, and to report the prevalence and risk factors for development of upper limb lymphedema after level I-III axillary dissection for melanoma.
Summary Background Data: The lack of a consistent and reliable objective definition for lymphedema remains a significant barrier to appreciating its prevalence after axillary dissection for melanoma (or breast carcinoma).
Methods: Lymphedema was assessed in 107 patients (82 male, 25 female) who had previously undergone complete level I-III axillary dissection. Of the 107 patients, 17 had also received postoperative axillary radiotherapy. Arm volume was measured using a water displacement technique. Change in volume of the arm on the side of the dissection was referenced to the volume of the other (control) arm. Volume measurements were corrected for the effect of handedness using corrections derived from a control group. Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was used to determine a threshold fractional arm volume increase above which volume changes were considered to indicate lymphedema.
Results: Based on the CART analysis results, lymphedema was defined as an increase in arm volume greater than 16% of the volume of the control arm. Using this definition, lymphedema prevalence for patients in the present study was 10% after complete level I-III axillary dissection for melanoma and 53% after additional axillary radiotherapy. Radiotherapy and wound complications were independent risk factors for the development of lymphedema.
Conclusions: A suggested objective definition for arm lymphedema after axillary dissection is an arm volume increase of greater than 16% of the volume of the control arm.

Unhealthy landscapes: policy recommendations on land use change and infectious disease emergence

Anthropogenic land use changes drive a range of infectious disease outbreaks and emergence events and modify the transmission of endemic infections. These drivers include agricultural encroachment, deforestation, road construction, dam building, irrigation, wetland modification, mining, the concentration or expansion of urban environments, coastal zone degradation, and other activities. These changes in turn cause a cascade of factors that exacerbate infectious disease emergence, such as forest fragmentation, disease introduction, pollution, poverty, and human migration. The Working Group on Land Use Change and Disease Emergence grew out of a special colloquium that convened international experts in infectious diseases, ecology, and environmental health to assess the current state of knowledge and to develop recommendations for addressing these environmental health challenges. The group established a systems model approach and priority lists of infectious diseases affected by ecologic degradation. Policy-relevant levels of the model include specific health risk factors, landscape or habitat change, and institutional (economic and behavioral) levels. The group recommended creating Centers of Excellence in Ecology and Health Research and Training, based at regional universities and/or research institutes with close links to the surrounding communities. The centers' objectives would be 3-fold: a) to provide information to local communities about the links between environmental change and public health ; b) to facilitate fully interdisciplinary research from a variety of natural, social, and health sciences and train professionals who can conduct interdisciplinary research ; and c) to engage in science-based communication and assessment for policy making toward sustainable health and ecosystems.

Fitting aggregation operators to data

Theoretical advances in modelling aggregation of information produced a wide range of aggregation operators, applicable to almost every practical problem. The most important classes of aggregation operators include triangular norms, uninorms, generalised means and OWA operators.
With such a variety, an important practical problem has emerged: how to fit the parameters/ weights of these families of aggregation operators to observed data? How to estimate quantitatively whether a given class of operators is suitable as a model in a given practical setting? Aggregation operators are rather special classes of functions, and thus they require specialised regression techniques, which would enforce important theoretical properties, like commutativity or associativity. My presentation will address this issue in detail, and will discuss various regression methods applicable specifically to t-norms, uninorms and generalised means. I will also demonstrate software implementing these regression techniques, which would allow practitioners to paste their data and obtain optimal parameters of the chosen family of operators.

The pleasure and pain of donations

Deakin University is only 25 years old but already has a library collection of over 1 million volumes thanks, in part, to judicious seeking and acceptance of donations. This paper provides a case study of how the University has been able to quickly establish teaching and research level collections for new disciplines as well as build breadth and depth in areas already covered by the collection. Donations of formed collections, in particular, have enabled the University to build a research reputation in a number of specialist areas and to make important links with its local communities. The benefits of donations are highlighted, as are the problems that come with being offered gifts of information resources.

The school food environment : associations with adolescent soft drink and snack consumption

Background
Because students may purchase food and drinks in and around their schools, the school food environment may be important for obesity-related eating behaviors such as soft drink and snack consumption. However, research exploring the associations between school environments and specific eating behaviors is sparse.

Methods
Associations of the availability of canteen food and drinks, the presence of food stores around schools, and individual cognitions (attitudes, norms, modeling, perceived behavioral control, and intentions) with soft drink and snack consumption were examined in a cross-sectional study (2005–2006) among 1293 adolescents aged 12–15 years. Soft drink and snack consumption and related cognitions were assessed with self-administered questionnaires. The presence of food stores and the distance to the nearest food store were calculated within a 500-meter buffer around each school. Data on the availability of soft drinks and snacks in school canteens were gathered by observation. In 2007, multilevel regression models were run to analyze associations and mediation pathways between cognitions, environmental factors, and behaviors.

Results
Adolescents' attitudes, subjective norms, parental and peer modeling, and intentions were positively associated with soft drink and snack consumption. There was an inverse association between the distance to the nearest store and the number of small food stores with soft drink consumption. These effects were mediated partly by cognitions.

Conclusions
This study provided little evidence for associations of environmental factors in the school environment with soft drink and snack consumption. Individual cognitions appeared to be stronger correlates of intake than physical school-environmental factors. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm these findings.

Environmental determinants of healthy eating : in need of theory and evidence

In order to promote healthful nutrition, insight is needed into the determinants of nutrition behaviours. Behavioural determinant research and behavioural nutrition interventions have focused mostly on individual-level motivational factors. It has been argued that the individual's socio-cultural and physical environments may be the main determinants of nutrition behaviours. However, the theoretical basis and empirical evidence for environmental determinants of nutrition behaviours are not strong. The present paper is a narrative review informed by a series of systematic reviews and recent original studies on associations between environmental factors and nutrition behaviours to provide an overview and discussion of the evidence for environmental correlates and predictors of nutrition behaviour. Although the number of studies on potential environmental determinants of nutrition behaviours has increased steeply over the last decades, they include only a few well-designed studies with validated measures and guided by sound theoretical frameworks. The preliminary evidence from the available systematic reviews indicates that socio-cultural environmental factors defining what is socially acceptable, desirable and appropriate to eat may be more important for healthful eating than physical environments that define the availability and accessibility of foods. It is concluded that there is a lack of well-designed studies on environmental determinants of healthful eating behaviours. Preliminary evidence indicates that social environmental factors may be more important than physical environmental factors for healthful eating. Better-designed studies are needed to further build evidence-based theory on environmental determinants to guide the development of interventions to promote healthful eating.

Inhibition of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase reduces adipogenesis and diet-induced obesity

We previously described a putative role for inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), a rate-limiting enzyme in de novo guanine nucleotide biosynthesis, in lipid accumulation. Here we present data which demonstrate that IMPDH activity is required for differentiation of preadipocytes into mature, lipid-laden adipocytes and maintenance of adipose tissue mass. In 3T3-L1 preadipocytes inhibition of IMPDH with mycophenolic acid (MPA) reduced intracellular GTP levels by 60% (p < 0.05) and blocked adipogenesis (p < 0.05). Co-treatment with guanosine, a substrate in the salvage pathway of nucleotide biosynthesis, restored GTP levels and adipogenesis demonstrating the specificity of these effects. Treatment of diet-induced obese mice with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), the prodrug of MPA, for 28 days did not affect food intake or lean body mass but reduced body fat content (by 36%, p = 0.002) and adipocyte size (p = 0.03) and number. These data suggest that inhibition of IMPDH may represent a novel strategy to reduce adipose tissue mass.

Dose-response associations between screen time and overweight among youth

Objective. To examine dose-response associations between screen time and overweight, independent of physical activity and dietary intake.

Methods. Participants were 580 Dutch youth (13 years; 48% boys). Body mass index, waist circumference and skinfold thickness at four sites determined weight status. Questionnaires examined television viewing and computer use, participation in organized sport and high caloric snack and sugar-containing beverage consumption.

Results. There were no significant associations among boys. Compared with girls spending less than two hours/day in screen time, those who spent three to four hours/day were more likely to be classified as overweight by waist circumference (odds ratio [OR]=3.4; 95% confidence intervals [CI]=1.1-10.7; p=0.03), and this likelihood increased substantially among those spending more than four hours/day (OR=5.5; 95% CI=2.1-14.1; p≤0.0001).

Conclusions. Girls who spend three or more hours/day in screen time are at increased risk of being classified as overweight by waist circumference.

Reconstruction of in vivo time-evolving neuroendocrine dose - response properties unveils admixed deterministic and stochastic elements

Homeostasis in the intact organism is achieved implicitly by repeated incremental feedback (inhibitory) and feedforward (stimulatory) adjustments enforced via intermittent signal exchange. In separated systems, neurohormone signals act deterministically on target cells via quantifiable effector-response functions. On the other hand, in vivo interglandular signaling dynamics have not been estimable to date. Indeed, experimentally isolating components of an interactive network definitionally disrupts time-sensitive linkages. We implement and validate analytical reconstruction of endogenous effector-response properties via a composite model comprising (i) a deterministic basic feedback and feedforward ensemble structure; (ii) judicious statistical allowance for possible stochastic variability in individual biologically interpretable dose–response properties; and (iii) the sole data requirement of serially observed concentrations of a paired signal (input) and response (output). Application of this analytical strategy to a prototypical neuroendocrine axis in the conscious uninjected horse, sheep, and human (i) illustrates probabilistic estimation of endogenous effector dose–response properties; and (ii) unmasks statistically vivid (2- to 5-fold) random fluctuations in inferred target-gland responsivity within any given pulse train. In conclusion, balanced mathematical formalism allows one to (i) reconstruct deterministic properties of interglandular signaling in the intact mammal and (ii) quantify apparent signal-response variability over short time scales in vivo. The present proof-of-principle experiments introduce a previously undescribed means to estimate time-evolving signal-response relationships without isotope infusion or pathway disruption.

Threats, fear, politics and the shaping of insecurity 1946-1955

Governments use fear to promote political objectives. Through the exaggeration of external threats, fear as conceptualised in the writings of Hobbes, Barry Buzan, David Campbell and others, became a major factor in shaping Australia's post-war foreign and defence policies which were also intended to serve the government's domestic political agenda.

Mid-Holocene vertebrate bone Concentration-Lagerstätte on oceanic island Mauritius provides a window into the ecosystem of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus)

Although the recent history of human colonisation and impact on Mauritius is well documented, virtually no records of the pre-human native ecosystem exist, making it difficult to assess the magnitude of the changes brought about by human settlement. Here, we describe a 4000-year-old fossil bed at Mare aux Songes (MAS) in south-eastern Mauritius that contains both macrofossils (vertebrate fauna, gastropods, insects and flora) and microfossils (diatoms, pollen, spores and phytoliths). With >250 bone fragments/m2 and comprising 50% of all known extinct and extant vertebrate species (ns = 44) of Mauritius, MAS may constitute the first Holocene vertebrate bone Concentration-Lagerstätte identified on an oceanic volcanic island. Fossil remains are dominated by extinct giant tortoises Cylindraspis spp. (63%), passerines (10%), small bats (7.8%) and dodo Raphus cucullatus (7.1%). Twelve radiocarbon ages [four of them duplicates] from bones and other material suggest that accumulation of fossils took place within several centuries. An exceptional combination of abiotic conditions led to preservation of bones, bone collagen, plant tissue and microfossils. Although bone collagen is well preserved, DNA from dodo and other Mauritian vertebrates has proved difficult. Our analysis suggests that from ca 4000 years ago (4 ka), rising sea levels created a freshwater lake at MAS, generating an oasis in an otherwise dry environment which attracted a diverse vertebrate fauna. Subsequent aridification in the south-west Indian Ocean region may have increased carcass accumulation during droughts, contributing to the exceptionally high fossil concentration. The abundance of floral and faunal remains in this Lagerstätte offers a unique opportunity to reconstruct a pre-human ecosystem on an oceanic island, providing a key foundation for assessing the vulnerability of island ecosystems to human impact.

Parental and home influences on adolescents' TV viewing : a mediation analysis

Objective. To explore the association between home environmental variables and television (TV) time, and the mediating pathways underlying this association.

Methods. The current study used data from the longitudinal ENDORSE study. Self-reported data was available for 1 265 adolescents (mean age of 12–15 years at baseline) on home environment (availability of a TV in the bedroom, perceived parental modelling, family rules), potential mediators (intention, attitude, perceived behavioural control, subjective norm towards TV viewing) and TV viewing time. Mediation analyses were conducted using General Estimating Equations and mediation effects were calculated as the product-of-coefficients.

Results. Significant overall positive associations were found for the presence of a TV in the bedroom and parental modelling with self-reported TV viewing. Controlling family rules showed an inverse association with reported TV time. Similarly, parental modelling and a TV in the bedroom were significantly positively associated with the Theory of Planned Behaviour variables and habit strength, while family rules showed an inverse association with these potential mediators. In turn, most potential mediators were positively associated with TV viewing. Intention, attitude and habit strength were the strongest mediators in all three associations explaining more than 55% of the overall association. Habit strength alone explained 38.2%–58.0% of the overall associations.

Conclusions. Home and family environmental predictors of TV time among adolescents may be strongly mediated by habit strength and other personal factors. Future intervention studies should explore if changes in home and family environments indeed lead to reductions in TV time through these mediators.

Availability of sports facilities as moderator of the intention - sports participation relationship among adolescents

This longitudinal study aimed to identify individual and environmental predictors of adolescents’ sports participation and to examine whether availability of sports facilities moderated the intention–behaviour relation. Data were obtained from the ENvironmental Determinants of Obesity in Rotterdam SchoolchildrEn study (2005/2006 to 2007/2008). A total of 247 adolescents (48% boys, mean age at follow-up 15 years) completed the surveys at baseline and follow-up. At baseline, adolescents completed a survey that assessed engagement in sports participation, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and intention towards sports participation. Availability of sports facilities (availability) was assessed using a geographic information system. At follow-up, sports participation was again examined. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to test associations between availability of sports facilities, theory of planned behaviour variables and the interaction of intention by availability of sports facilities, with sports participation at follow-up. Simple slopes analysis was conducted to decompose the interaction effect. A significant availability × intention interaction effect [odds ratio: 1.10; 95% confidence interval: 1.00–1.20] was found. Simple slopes analysis showed that intention was more strongly associated with sports participation when sports facilities were more readily available. The results of this study indicate that the intention–sports participation association appears to be stronger when more facilities are available.