EEG marker of inhibitory brain activity correlates with resting-state cerebral blood flow in the reward system in major depression

Frontal alpha band asymmetry (FAA) is a marker of altered reward processing in major depressive disorder (MDD), associated with reduced approach behavior and withdrawal. However, its association with brain metabolism remains unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate FAA and its correlation with resting – state cerebral blood flow (rCBF). We hypothesized an association of FAA with regional rCBF in brain regions relevant for reward processing and motivated behavior, such as the striatum. We enrolled 20 patients and 19 healthy subjects. FAA scores and rCBF were quantified with the use of EEG and arterial spin labeling. Correlations of the two were evaluated, as well as the association with FAA and psychometric assessments of motivated behavior and anhedonia. Patients showed a left – lateralized pattern of frontal alpha activity and a correlation of FAA lateralization with subscores of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale linked to motivated behavior. An association of rCBF and FAA scores was found in clusters in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally (patients) and in the left medial frontal gyrus, in the right caudate head and in the right inferior parietal lobule (whole group). No correlations were found in healthy controls. Higher inhibitory right – lateralized alpha power was associated with lower rCBF values in prefrontal and striatal regions, predominantly in the right hemisphere, which are involved in the processing of motivated behavior and reward. Inhibitory brain activity in the reward system may contribute to some of the motivational problems observed in MDD.

Video-based quantification of body movement indicates negative symptoms: a replication

Objective: In schizophrenia, abnormalities in nonverbal behaviors have always been considered as highly relevant. However, due to methodological limitations, nonverbal behavior was rarely quantified objectively. Recent methodological advances now allow a quantification of body movement from ordinary video recordings. We showed that patients’ objectively measured amount of movement in social role-play interactions was closely associated with their symptom profiles (Kupper, Ramseyer, Hoffmann, & Tschacher, Schizophrenia Research 2010). In the present study, a replication of these results in the context of semi-standardized PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) interviews was intended. Methods: 17 patients with schizophrenia were analyzed during the initial 15-min sequence of a videotaped PANSS interview using Motion Energy Analysis (MEA). The amount of patients’ movement was then correlated with their PANSS symptom scores. Results: Sizeable and significant correlations between negative symptoms and reduced movements (r = -.68, p<0.01) and reduced movement speed (r = -.80, p<0.001) were found. Moreover, cognitive symptoms were related to reduced movement speed (r = -.70, p<.01). Conclusion: Negative symptoms were reliably indicated by patients’ nonverbal behavior in psychopathology interviews. Hence, the main result of our earlier study, examining patients’ nonverbal behavior in role play tests, was replicated for the less structured interactions in psychopathological interviews. Results could encourage the use of MEA in a wide range of videotaped social interactions of patients with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders.

Productivity and Market Integration in American Communal Dairying, 1830-1875

In our late twentieth century experience, survival of an economy seems critically dependent on well established rights to private property and a return to labor that rewards greater effort. But that need not be so. History provides examples of micro-socialist economies that internally, at least, allow for little private property for participants and a constant return to labor that is independent of effort. Some such economies may even be termed 'successful,' if success is taken to mean survival over several generations. If these communities survived without conditions that are generally thought to be necessary for success, a question worth asking is how this occurred, for we can then shed some light on what really is necessary for economic survival. Addressing this issue emphasizes the critical role of time, for even if the microsocialist economies that we study here eventually became the merest shadow of their former selves, the fact that they did flourish for so long makes them a valuable counterexample, and hence, a phenomenon in need of explanation. We consider here the dairy industry of the Shakers, which was characterized by intensive efforts to increase productivity, in part through the use of market signals, but efforts that were also limited by the ideological goals of the community. The Shakers were (and are, but since it is the historical Shakers that concern this paper, the past tense will be used) a Christian communal group. Some of their distinctive beliefs included the existence of a male and female Godhead, from which followed sexual equality, and active communication between Believers (a Shaker term for members of the sect) and denizens of the spirit world. Practices of the Society (their official name is the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, the second appearing being in the body of their foundress, an illiterate Englishwoman named Ann Lee) included pacifism, celibacy, confession of sins to elders, and joint or communal ownership of the Society's assets. Each Shaker received the same return for his or her labor: room, board, clothing, and the experience of divine proximity in a community of like minded Believers (Stein 1992).

Design, Calibration, and Evaluation of Depth-of-Interaction-Capable PET Detector Modules

High-resolution, small-bore PET systems suffer from a tradeoff between system sensitivity, and image quality degradation. In these systems long crystals allow mispositioning of the line of response due to parallax error and this mispositioning causes resolution blurring, but long crystals are necessary for high system sensitivity. One means to allow long crystals without introducing parallax errors is to determine the depth of interaction (DOI) of the gamma ray interaction within the detector module. While DOI has been investigated previously, newly available solid state photomultipliers (SSPMs) well-suited to PET applications and allow new modules for investigation. Depth of interaction in full modules is a relatively new field, and so even if high performance DOI capable modules were available, the appropriate means to characterize and calibrate the modules are not. This work presents an investigation of DOI capable arrays and techniques for characterizing and calibrating those modules. The methods introduced here accurately and reliably characterize and calibrate energy, timing, and event interaction positioning. Additionally presented is a characterization of the spatial resolution of DOI capable modules and a measurement of DOI effects for different angles between detector modules. These arrays have been built into a prototype PET system that delivers better than 2.0 mm resolution with a single-sided-stopping-power in excess of 95% for 511 keV g's. The noise properties of SSPMs scale with the active area of the detector face, and so the best signal-to-noise ratio is possible with parallel readout of each SSPM photodetector pixel rather than multiplexing signals together. This work additionally investigates several algorithms for improving timing performance using timing information from multiple SSPM pixels when light is distributed among several photodetectors.

(Table 1) Composition of paraffin hydrocarbons at DSDP Site 56-434

Geochemical investigation of 18 samples of sediments from Site 434 involved determining the content of organic carbon, of bitumoid A (The chloroform A-chl and alcohol-benzene A-alb extracts) and its various fractions, and of individual hydrocarbons as well as the structural group composition of resins. We identified certain samples that differed sharply from the rest by their increased bitumen content and relatively low molecular hydrocarbons and by the fact that their resinous components were more neutral and aliphatic in composition. The distribution of bitumoid and its components seems to reflect migration processes in operation during the early stages of the transformation of organic matter.

La imagen del caudillo en Una pasión sudamericana, de Ricardo Monti

En el presente trabajo nos ocuparemos del personaje del Brigadier en la obra "Una pasión sudamericana", de Ricardo Monti, con el objeto de destacar su tratamiento en función de la caracterización de la particular imagen del caudillo latinoamericano y especialmente argentino. Para ello, en una primera parte tendremos en cuenta aspectos referidos a la historia argentina (siglo XIX), a las ideas imperantes de la época condensadas en la antinomia civilización o barbarie y a la figura del caudillo en la historiografía y en la literatura. En una segunda parte intentaremos demostrar los procedimientos de caracterización del personaje del Brigadier; en la doble enunciación del discurso dramático, observando cómo se genera una realidad ficticia mediante un discurso lingüístico pautado, tanto en el discurso inmediato de la didascalia como en el mediato de los personajes. Además, señalaremos los rasgos particulares del personaje en los signos visuales del vestuario y la escenografía.

Horizontal profiles of longwave and shortwave radiation components over sea ice near Barrow, Alaska during the 2011 melt

An integrated instrument package for measuring and understanding the surface radiation budget of sea ice is presented, along with results from its first deployment. The setup simultaneously measures broadband fluxes of upwelling and downwelling terrestrial and solar radiation (four components separately), spectral fluxes of incident and reflected solar radiation, and supporting data such as air temperature and humidity, surface temperature, and location (GPS), in addition to photographing the sky and observed surface during each measurement. The instruments are mounted on a small sled, allowing measurements of the radiation budget to be made at many locations in the study area to see the effect of small-scale surface processes on the large-scale radiation budget. Such observations have many applications, from calibration and validation of remote sensing products to improving our understanding of surface processes that affect atmosphere-snow-ice interactions and drive feedbacks, ultimately leading to the potential to improve climate modelling of ice-covered regions of the ocean. The photographs, spectral data, and other observations allow for improved analysis of the broadband data. An example of this is shown by using the observations made during a partly cloudy day, which show erratic variations due to passing clouds, and creating a careful estimate of what the radiation budget along the observed line would have been under uniform sky conditions, clear or overcast. Other data from the setup's first deployment, in June 2011 on fast ice near Point Barrow, Alaska, are also shown; these illustrate the rapid changes of the radiation budget during a cold period that led to refreezing and new snow well into the melt season.