Examining the relationship among genes, attention bias to emotion, and depression in youth

The investigation of biologically initiated pathways to psychological disorder is critical to advance our understanding of mental illness. Research has suggested that attention bias to emotion may be an intermediate trait for depression associated with biologically plausible candidate genes, such as the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and catechol-o-methyl-transferase (COMT) genes, yet there have been mixed findings in regards to the precise direction of effects. The experience of recent stressful life events (SLEs) may be an important, yet currently unstudied, moderator of the relationship between genes and attention bias as SLEs have been associated with both gene expression and attention to emotion. Additionally, although attention biases to emotion have been studied as a possible intermediate trait associated with depression, no study has examined whether attention biases within the context of measured genetic risk lead to increased risk for clinical depressive episodes over time. Therefore, this research investigated both whether SLEs moderate the link between genetic risk (5-HTTLPR and COMT) and attention bias to emotion and whether 5-HTTLPR and COMT moderated the relationship between attention biases to emotional faces and clinical depression onset prospectively across 18 months within a large community sample of youth (n= 467). Analyses revealed a differential effect of gene. Youth who were homozygous for the low expressing allele of 5-HTTLPR (S/S) and had experienced more recent SLEs within the last three months demonstrated preferential attention toward negative emotional faces (angry and sad). However, youth who were homozygous for the high expressing COMT genotype (Val/Val) and had experienced more recent SLEs showed attentional avoidance of positive facial expressions (happy). Additionally, youth who avoided negative emotion (i.e., anger) and were homozygous for the S allele of the 5-HTTLPR gene were at greater risk for prospective depressive episode onset. Increased risk for depression onset was specific to the 5-HTTLPR gene and was not found when examining moderation by COMT. These findings highlight the importance of examining risk for depression across multiple levels of analysis, such as combined genetic, environmental, and cognitive risk, and is the first study to demonstrate clear evidence of attention biases to emotion functioning as an intermediate trait predicting depression.

The Impact of Prefrontal Cortex "Warm Up" on Immediate Cognitive Reappraisal Ability in Older Adolescents with Elevated Symptoms of Depression

Cognitive Reappraisal (CR) is a central component of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for adolescent depression. Yet, previous research indicates that a brain region highly associated with successful CR in adults, the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC), is not fully developed until early adulthood. Thus, there is growing concern that CBT interventions directed at building CR abilities in depressed teens might be constrained by PFC immaturity. However, CR is an effective strategy for regulating affect. The current study evaluated an intervention aimed at enhancing CR performance through PFC “warm up” with a working memory task. Additionally, the study examined moderators of intervention response, as well as cognitive correlates of self-reported CR use. Participants included 48 older adolescents (mean age=19.1, 89% female) with elevated symptoms of depression who were randomly assigned to a lab-based WM or control activity followed by a CR task. Overall, results failed to support the effectiveness of “warm up” to augment CR performance. However, current level of depression predicted negative bias and sadness ratings after CR instructions, and this effect was qualified by an interaction with condition. The moderator analysis showed that depressive symptoms interacted with condition such that in the control condition, participants with higher depressive symptoms had significantly lower negative bias scores than individuals with lower depressive symptoms, but this pattern was not found in the experimental condition. Contrary to hypotheses, history of depression did not moderate treatment response. Additional analyses explored alternative explanations for the lack of intervention effects. There was some evidence to suggest that the WM task was frustrating and cognitively taxing. However, irritation scores and overall WM task accuracy did not predict subsequent CR performance. Lastly, multiple cognitive variables emerged as correlates of self-reported CR use, with cognitive flexibility contributing unique variance to self-reported CR use. Results pointed to new directions for improving CR performance among youth with elevated symptoms of depression.

Recommendation of Elisha Parmele as a candidate for ministry, July 3, 1781

This document describes Parmele's examination before an association of ministers in Berkshire County and records their subsequent decision to recommend him as a candidate for "the gospel ministry." Stephen West was the moderator of this meeting, and Daniel Collens was its scribe.

Clerk's Book, A.D. 1742

Handwritten volume containing the Articles, weekly orations, and clerk's journal for the Harvard Latin Society recorded by the club's clerk, Jonathan Mayhew (Harvard AB 1744). The Articles define the Society's mission as to "improve ourselves in the knowledge of the Latin Tongue." The ten articles are signed to by ten members of the classes of 1743 and 1744. The journal which records the weekly meetings from April 14, 1742 through June 17, 1742 includes a transcription of the weekly oration in Latin; the first two entries are also translated into English. On the last page of the book, the "clerk's journal" provides a summary of each meeting with the date, the moderator, and the orators.

Letters to Ebenezer Hancock from his mother, Mary Perkins, and his stepfather, Daniel Perkins, 1758 June 27 and 1758 November 16

These two letters were written to Ebenezer Hancock while he was an undergraduate at Harvard College. His stepfather, Daniel Perkins, wrote on June 27, 1758 and his mother, Mary Perkins, wrote on November 16, 1758. Both letters were sent from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where the Perkins lived. The letters contain general greetings and wishes for Hancock's well being, as well as parental advice regarding his behavior and comportment.

Team Building Interventions in Sport: A Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis of team building interventions in sport was completed. Seventeen studies containing 180 effect sizes were retrieved. The overall effect (Hedges g) was .427. Analyses of possible moderator variables showed the largest effect sizes were in interventions where: (a) non-experimental designs were used (g=.474); (b) the data were unpublished (g=.539); (c) goal setting only was used (g=.714); (d) the coach/manager directed the delivery (g=.446); and (e) the teams were at the university level (g=.482). Finally, team building had the greatest influence on cognitions (g=.799

Arginine vasotocin regulation of interspecific cooperative behaviour in a cleaner fish

In an interspecific cooperative context, individuals must be prepared to tolerate close interactive proximity to other species but also need to be able to respond to relevant social stimuli in the most appropriate manner. The neuropeptides vasopressin and oxytocin and their non-mammalian homologues have been implicated in the evolution of sociality and in the regulation of social behaviour across vertebrates. However, little is known about the underlying physiological mechanisms of interspecific cooperative interactions. In interspecific cleaning mutualisms, interactions functionally resemble most intraspecific social interactions. Here we provide the first empirical evidence that arginine vasotocin (AVT), a non-mammalian homologue of arginine vasopressin (AVP), plays a critical role as moderator of interspecific behaviour in the best studied and ubiquitous marine cleaning mutualism involving the Indo-Pacific bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus. Exogenous administration of AVT caused a substantial decrease of most interspecific cleaning activities, without similarly affecting the expression of conspecific directed behaviour, which suggests a differential effect of AVT on cleaning behaviour and not a general effect on social behaviour. Furthermore, the AVP-V1a receptor antagonist (manning compound) induced a higher likelihood for cleaners to engage in cleaning interactions and also to increase their levels of dishonesty towards clients. The present findings extend the knowledge of neuropeptide effects on social interactions beyond the study of their influence on conspecific social behaviour. Our evidence demonstrates that AVT pathways might play a pivotal role in the regulation of interspecific cooperative behaviour and conspecific social behaviour among stabilized pairs of cleaner fish. Moreover, our results suggest that the role of AVT as a neurochemical regulator of social behaviour may have been co-opted in the evolution of cooperative behaviour in an interspecific context, a hypothesis that is amenable to further testing on the potential direct central mechanism involved.

“Proximising” climate change reconsidered: A construal level theory perspective

Reducing the psychological distance of climate change has repeatedly been proposed as one strategy to increase individuals' motivation to respond to climate change. From the perspective of construal level theory, decreasing psychological distance should not itself influence people's willingness to act but change the processes that underlie individual decision-making. We conducted two experiments in which we manipulated the psychological distance of climate change. We found that participants with a distant focus relied more on scepticism to represent risks and make decisions about supporting climate change, whereas participants with a proximal perspective relied more on fear when making such judgements. However, the predicted Fear × Distance interaction was only found when self-reported fear rather than experimentally manipulated fear was used as a moderator. Our results suggest that simply proximising won't increase engagement and call for a more differentiated perspective on the effects of psychological distance in the context of climate change.

Krise statt Aufbruch. Das Konzil der Orthodoxen [Gespräch mit Norbert Bischofberger und Stefanos Athanasiou]

Interview zum Grossen und Heiligen Konzil der Orthodoxen Kirche. Moderator Norbert Bischofberger diskutiert zusammen mit Dr. Stefanos Athanasiou über das Konzil der Orthodoxen Kirchen auf Kreta.

Golden jubilee of the General Association of Colored Baptists in Kentucky : the story of 50 years' work from 1865-1915 /

"Including many photos and sketches, compiled from unpublished manuscripts and other sources, by C.H. Parrish, Moderator, and the Committee on Program and Jubilee Volume by order of the General Association."

Eddy covariance and environmental data of boreal bogs plant species

In boreal bogs plant species are low in number, but they differ greatly in their growth forms and photosynthetic properties. We assessed how ecosystem carbon (C) sink dynamics were affected by seasonal variations in photosynthetic rate and leaf area of different species. Photosynthetic properties (light-response parameters), leaf area development and areal cover (abundance) of the species were used to quantify species-specific net and gross photosynthesis rates (PN and PG, respectively), which were summed to express ecosystem-level PN and PG. The ecosystem-level PG was compared with a gross primary production (GPP) estimate derived from eddy covariance measurements (EC). Species areal cover rather than differences in photosynthetic properties determined the species with the highest PG of both vascular plants and Sphagna. Species-specific contributions to the ecosystem PG varied over the growing season, which in turn determined the seasonal variation in ecosystem PG. The upscaled growing-season PG estimate, 230 g C/m**2, agreed well with the GPP estimated by the EC, 243 g C/m**2. Sphagna were superior to vascular plants in ecosystem-level PG throughout the growing season but had a lower PN. PN results indicated that areal cover of the species together with their differences in photosynthetic parameters shape the ecosystem-level C balance. Species with low areal cover but high photosynthetic efficiency appear to be potentially important for the ecosystem C sink. Results imply that functional diversity may increase the stability of C sink of boreal bogs.

Moderating Variables Impacting Adherence to the Reducing Disability in Alzheimer's Disease (RDAD) Intervention

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Majority versus minority influence: When, not whether, source status instigates heuristic or systematic processing

Two experiments investigated the extent of message processing of a persuasive communication proposed by either a numerical majority or minority. Both experiments crossed source status (majority versus minority) with message quality (strong versus weak arguments) to determine which source condition is associated with systematic processing. The first experiment showed a reliable difference between strong and weak messages, indicating systematic processing had occurred, for a minority irrespective of message direction (pro- versus counter-attitudinal), but not for a majority. The second experiment showed that message outcome moderates when a majority or a minority leads to systematic processing. When the message argued for a negative personal outcome, there was systematic processing only for the majority source; but when the message did not argue for a negative personal outcome, there was systematic processing only for the minority source. Thus one key moderator of whether a majority or minority source leads to message processing is whether the topic induces defensive processing motivated by self-interest. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Comic relief: Subversion and catharsis in organizational comedic theatre

There has been a growth of interest in the role of humour in organizations from both practitioner and academic perspectives. Various claims for the functionality of humour have been made, ranging from stress reduction to helping form and cement corporate cultures. Latching on to these presumed benefits, businesses and consultants have begun to employ humour and comedy in a direct and explicit manner. However, there is a counterpoint, which suggests that humour cannot always be managed and in fact has subversive qualities. This article addresses the issue of the subversive potential of comedy in organizational contexts. It draws illustratively on the case of a successful corporate comedian to do so. The article argues, through an analysis of the case, the history and philosophy of comedy, and theories of the comedic, that while comedy has inherent subversive potential, it most often is contained. Indeed, it suggests that comedy works by intruding as a potential threat to mundane reality, but offers comic relief when it is apparent that the threat will not be actualized and the status quo ante prevails. Implications for using corporate comedy are drawn..

Perceived dissimilarity and work group involvement: The moderating effects of group openness to diversity

Perceived dissimilarity and its association with work group involvement were examined in this study. Additionally, perceived group openness to diversity was examined as a moderator of this relationship. A longitudinal study was conducted with nurses in four departments of a public hospital. Results revealed that visible dissimilarity was negatively associated with work group involvement at both times, and informational dissimilarity was negatively associated with work group involvement at Time 1. Openness to diversity interacted with visible and informational dissimilarity in the prediction of work group involvement at both times. This interaction pattern showed that there was a negative relationship between dissimilarity and work group involvement when individuals perceived low group openness to diversity, whereas there was no relationship when individuals perceived high group openness to diversity. Results highlight the importance of managing perceptions of difference and introducing norms that encourage the active involvement of group members.