- June 17, 2016
- 03:06 AM
- 230 views
Epilepsy begets autism?
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"Individuals with epilepsy are at increased risk of ASD [autism spectrum disorder], especially if epilepsy appears in childhood. Further, ASD is more common in the siblings and offspring of individuals with epilepsy, suggesting shared etiology."That was the research bottom-line from Heléne Sundelin and colleagues [1] reporting results based on examination of the "Swedish Patient Register" with regards to the "risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in individuals with epilepsy and in t........ Read more »
Sundelin, H., Larsson, H., Lichtenstein, P., Almqvist, C., Hultman, C., Tomson, T., & Ludvigsson, J. (2016) Autism and epilepsy. Neurology, 10. DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002836
- June 16, 2016
- 03:52 PM
- 313 views
Postpartum depression least severe form of depression in mothers
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Postpartum depression--a household term since actress Brooke Shields went public in 2005 about her struggle with it--is indeed serious. But depression that begins before or during pregnancy is often more severe because it lasts longer and usually goes undetected until the doctor screens for it after the birth of the baby.
... Read more »
Fisher, S., Wisner, K., Clark, C., Sit, D., Luther, J., & Wisniewski, S. (2016) Factors associated with onset timing, symptoms, and severity of depression identified in the postpartum period. Journal of Affective Disorders, 111-120. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.05.063
- June 16, 2016
- 02:40 PM
- 317 views
Zika Fast Track
by SciELO in SciELO in Perspective
How can scientific journals assist in the response to Public Health Emergencies? The journal Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz has innovated by creating a fast track for manuscripts submitted on the topic of the Zika Virus. The fast track procedure allows manuscripts to be posted on-line within 24 hours of submission making the data within them available to reader scrutiny and sharing while the manuscripts undergo peer-review. The journal is already reaping some benefits from this approa........ Read more »
Zanluca, C., Melo, V., Mosimann, A., Santos, G., Santos, C., & Luz, K. (2015) First report of autochthonous transmission of Zika virus in Brazil. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 110(4), 569-572. DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760150192
Noronha, L., Zanluca, C., Azevedo, M., Luz, K., & Santos, C. (2016) Zika virus damages the human placental barrier and presents marked fetal neurotropism. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 111(5), 287-293. DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760160085
Codeço, C., Villela, D., Gomes, M., Bastos, L., Cruz, O., Struchiner, C., Carvalho, L., & Coelho, F. (2016) Zika is not a reason for missing the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro: response to the open letter of Dr Attaran and colleagues to Dr Margaret Chan, Director - General, WHO, on the Zika threat to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 111(6), 414-415. DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760160003
- June 16, 2016
- 11:01 AM
- 224 views
Reflections On Voodoo Neuroscience
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic_Discover
Seven years ago, neuroscientists Ed Vul and colleagues made waves with their paper on 'voodoo correlations' in social neuroscience. Now, in a new paper, historian of medicine Cornelius Borck looks back on the voodoo correlations debate and asks whether neuroscience might be likened to voodoo in another sense.
Borck argues that neuroscience has something in common with animism, the religious belief that spirits inhabit various objects. In particular, he says, fMRI studies can be likened to... Read more »
Borck, C. (2016) Animating Brains. Medical History, 60(03), 308-324. DOI: 10.1017/mdh.2016.25
- June 16, 2016
- 08:30 AM
- 299 views
An omelette of extinction
by gdw in FictionalFieldwork
~50 000 years ago He wakes. The first sunrays slowly crawl over the horizon. As he gets up, the others in his family group stir. He surveys this new land. His stomach grumbles… # Present day Born in an African cradle, humanity has spread across the globe. And almost everywhere we went, we managed to […]... Read more »
Miller G, Magee J, Smith M, Spooner N, Baynes A, Lehman S, Fogel M, Johnston H, Williams D, Clark P.... (2016) Human predation contributed to the extinction of the Australian megafaunal bird Genyornis newtoni ∼47 ka. Nature communications, 10496. PMID: 26823193
- June 16, 2016
- 08:30 AM
- 303 views
Seven Reasons to Use Reward-Based Dog Training
by CAPB in Companion Animal Psychology Blog
It’s amazing what we can do when we use rewards to train our companion animals. Here are some reasons to give it a try.Positive reinforcement is recommended by professional organizationsMany professional organizations have spoken out against the use of punishment in dog training because the scientific evidence shows that it carries risks.For example, Dogs Trust recommend the use of rewards in dog training. “In order to be effective and to gain the best results, all training should be based a........ Read more »
Arhant, C., Bubna-Littitz, H., Bartels, A., Futschik, A., & Troxler, J. (2010) Behaviour of smaller and larger dogs: Effects of training methods, inconsistency of owner behaviour and level of engagement in activities with the dog. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 123(3-4), 131-142. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2010.01.003
Blackwell, E., Twells, C., Seawright, A., & Casey, R. (2008) The relationship between training methods and the occurrence of behavior problems, as reported by owners, in a population of domestic dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 3(5), 207-217. DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2007.10.008
Cooper, J., Cracknell, N., Hardiman, J., Wright, H., & Mills, D. (2014) The Welfare Consequences and Efficacy of Training Pet Dogs with Remote Electronic Training Collars in Comparison to Reward Based Training. PLoS ONE, 9(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102722
Gaunet, F. (2009) How do guide dogs and pet dogs (Canis familiaris) ask their owners for their toy and for playing?. Animal Cognition, 13(2), 311-323. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0279-z
Herron, M., Shofer, F., & Reisner, I. (2009) Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 117(1-2), 47-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2008.12.011
Hiby, E.F., Rooney, N.J., & Bradshaw, J.W.S. (2004) Dog training methods: Their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare. Animal Welfare, 63-69. info:/
McGowan, R., Rehn, T., Norling, Y., & Keeling, L. (2013) Positive affect and learning: exploring the “Eureka Effect” in dogs. Animal Cognition, 17(3), 577-587. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-013-0688-x
Rooney, N., & Cowan, S. (2011) Training methods and owner–dog interactions: Links with dog behaviour and learning ability. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 132(3-4), 169-177. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2011.03.007
- June 16, 2016
- 05:49 AM
- 338 views
Higgs or not Higgs, that is the question
by Marco Frasca in The Gauge Connection
LHCP2016 is running yet with further analysis on 2015 data by people at CERN. We all have seen the history unfolding since the epochal event on 4 July 2012 where the announcement of the great discovery happened. Since then, also Kibble passed away. What is still there is our need of a deep understanding of the […]... Read more »
Marco Frasca. (2015) A theorem on the Higgs sector of the Standard Model. Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2016) 131: 199. arXiv: 1504.02299v3
- June 16, 2016
- 04:35 AM
- 230 views
The psychology of why we tip some occupations but not others
by BPS Research Digest in BPS Research Digest
It's more about altruism than trying to win approvalWhy do I tip my taxi driver, but not my accountant? I mean, there’s a good reason I don’t - he would narrow his eyes at me and ask if I was feeling ok. But why, in general, do we tip in some service contexts and not others; is it simply due to a quirk of history or the result of broader psychological patterns? Cornell University’s Michael Lynn suspected the latter, and in his new study published in the Journal of Economic Psychology, he o........ Read more »
Lynn, M. (2016) Why are we more likely to tip some service occupations than others? Theory, evidence, and implications. Journal of Economic Psychology, 134-150. DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2016.04.001
- June 16, 2016
- 03:01 AM
- 213 views
Prevalence of learning disability and autism in Western Australia
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"The prevalence of ID [intellectual disability] in WA [Western Australia] has increased over the past 10 years compared with previous estimates... This increase is associated in a large part with an increased prevalence of ASDs [autism spectrum disorder] for whom 70% had comorbid ID or an unknown level of ID."Those were some of the findings reported by Jenny Bourke and colleagues [1] (open-access available here). Drawing on data derived from the Intellectual Di........ Read more »
Bourke J, de Klerk N, Smith T, & Leonard H. (2016) Population-Based Prevalence of Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Western Australia: A Comparison With Previous Estimates. Medicine, 95(21). PMID: 27227936
- June 15, 2016
- 10:32 AM
- 363 views
City Birds Are Smarter Than Rural Birds
by Jeffrey Daniels in United Academics
‘Street Smart’ finches are generally more intelligent than their rural kin.... Read more »
Audet, J., Ducatez, S., & Lefebvre, L. (2016) The town bird and the country bird: problem solving and immunocompetence vary with urbanization. Behavioral Ecology, 27(2), 637-644. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arv201
Tebbich, S., & Teschke, I. (2014) Coping with Uncertainty: Woodpecker Finches (Cactospiza pallida) from an Unpredictable Habitat Are More Flexible than Birds from a Stable Habitat. PLoS ONE, 9(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091718
Kozlovsky, D., Branch, C., & Pravosudov, V. (2015) Elevation-Related Differences in Parental Risk-Taking Behavior are Associated with Cognitive Variation in Mountain Chickadees. Ethology, 121(4), 383-394. DOI: 10.1111/eth.12350
- June 15, 2016
- 10:18 AM
- 303 views
Weird stuff found in recreational drugs: Meth edition
by Rosin Cerate in Rosin Cerate
As Breaking Bad has taught us, the clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine is a very dangerous undertaking. It involves the use of many harmful substances, which depending on the synthesis method include highly corrosive acids and bases, cancer-causing benzene, brain-damaging mercury and lead, jaw-wrecking phosphorus, and blood-breaking sodium cyanide. Blending these various substances together can produce noxious fumes, making gas masks and chemical suits a necessity if you want to avoid get........ Read more »
Cole C, Jones L, McVeigh J, Kicman A, Syed Q, & Bellis M. (2011) Adulterants in illicit drugs: A review of empirical evidence. Drug Testing and Analysis, 3(2), 89-96. PMID: 21322119
- June 15, 2016
- 09:37 AM
- 254 views
Video Tip of the Week: UCSC Genome Browser Exon-only Mode
The team at UCSC Genome Browser continues to update their resources and offer new ways to find and visualize features of interest to researchers. One of the newer features is the “multi-region” option. When it was first launched, I did a tip on how to use that, with some of the things that I noticed […]... Read more »
Speir, M., Zweig, A., Rosenbloom, K., Raney, B., Paten, B., Nejad, P., Lee, B., Learned, K., Karolchik, D., Hinrichs, A.... (2016) The UCSC Genome Browser database: 2016 update. Nucleic Acids Research, 44(D1). DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkv1275
- June 15, 2016
- 08:21 AM
- 301 views
When we draw a face, why do most of us put the eyes in the wrong place?
by BPS Research Digest in BPS Research Digest
Go ahead, sketch a face on your note paper. Use a photo of someone as a guide if you want. Unless you're a trained artist, the chances are that you've made an elementary error, placing the eyes too far up the head, when it fact they should be halfway. Research suggests about 95 per cent of us non-artists tend to make this mistake and in a new study in the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, psychologists in America have attempted to find out why. The answer it turns out is rather ........ Read more »
Ostrofsky, J., Kozbelt, A., Tumminia, M., & Cipriano, M. (2016) Why Do Non-Artists Draw the Eyes Too Far Up the Head? How Vertical Eye-Drawing Errors Relate to Schematic Knowledge, Pseudoneglect, and Context-Based Perceptual Biases. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. DOI: 10.1037/a0040368
- June 15, 2016
- 08:05 AM
- 330 views
Tricky Little Buggers
by Mark Lasbury in As Many Exceptions As Rules
Evolution brings wisdom with age – and bacteria are ancient. Bacteria have evolved defenses ranging from evasion or inhibition of immune systems to protecting crucial functions from environmental injury. New studies have identified spring-loaded spikes that can be assembled and disassembled for puncturing other bacteria and delivering toxins, while other work is focused on using those same toxins to kill antibiotic resistant organisms, with E. coli have been engineered to produce toxins ag........ Read more »
Basler, M., Pilhofer, M., Henderson, G., Jensen, G., & Mekalanos, J. (2012) Type VI secretion requires a dynamic contractile phage tail-like structure. Nature, 483(7388), 182-186. DOI: 10.1038/nature10846
Saeidi, N., Wong, C., Lo, T., Nguyen, H., Ling, H., Leong, S., Poh, C., & Chang, M. (2011) Engineering microbes to sense and eradicate Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a human pathogen. Molecular Systems Biology. DOI: 10.1038/msb.2011.55
- June 15, 2016
- 07:02 AM
- 337 views
The Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS)
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
We posted earlier this week about the new concept of “maladaptive daydreaming” and those researchers published a second article on an actual 14-item scale to assess whether a specific individual is a maladaptive daydreamer. Since it’s a strange area that may end up in the courtroom—we thought we’d share information and some of the items […]
Related posts:
The Motivation to Express Prejudice Scale
The Dirty Dozen Scale
The Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) Scale
... Read more »
Somer E, Lehrfeld J, Bigelsen J, & Jopp DS. (2016) Development and validation of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS). Consciousness and Cognition, 77-91. PMID: 26707384
- June 15, 2016
- 04:30 AM
- 244 views
Return to Sport and BMI are Associated with Quality of Life After an ACL Reconstruction
by Kyle Harris in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Lower overall quality of life after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction was associated with higher body mass index (BMI) and not returning to sport.... Read more »
Filbay, S., Ackerman, I., Russell, T., & Crossley, K. (2016) Return to sport matters-longer-term quality of life after ACL reconstruction in people with knee difficulties. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine . DOI: 10.1111/sms.12698
- June 15, 2016
- 03:10 AM
- 197 views
The stability of an Asperger syndrome diagnosis continued
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
"The subsample that no longer fulfilled an autism spectrum disorder had full-time jobs or studies (10/11), independent living (100%), and reported having two or more friends (100%)."So said the paper by Adam Helles and colleagues [1] continuing a research theme from this authorship group on what happens to autism, or rather Asperger syndrome, in the longer-term (see here). Indeed, if you have the time, the thesis from Helles covering this area of study is well worth a read (see here).This time a........ Read more »
Helles A, Gillberg IC, Gillberg C, & Billstedt E. (2016) Asperger syndrome in males over two decades: Quality of life in relation to diagnostic stability and psychiatric comorbidity. Autism : the international journal of research and practice. PMID: 27233289
- June 14, 2016
- 03:22 PM
- 286 views
Sheep on Valium Teach Scientists about Anxiety
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
How do you know when a farm animal is unhappy? Animal welfare researchers wish they had easy ways to measure malaise in pigs, or stress in cows. But those tools are lacking—which is why scientists in Australia studied sheep they'd dosed with Valium.
"Animals are not able to talk to express their emotions," says Caroline Lee, an animal welfare scientist at CSIRO in New South Wales. "We need to use other ways of understanding how they are feeling."
One such way is to look for changes in ... Read more »
Lee C, Verbeek E, Doyle R, & Bateson M. (2016) Attention bias to threat indicates anxiety differences in sheep. Biology letters, 12(6). PMID: 27277950
- June 14, 2016
- 03:16 PM
- 329 views
Even when help is just a click away, stigma is still a roadblock
by Dr. Jekyll in Lunatic Laboratories
Stigma is a major barrier preventing people with mental health issues from getting the help they need. Even in a private and anonymous setting online, someone with greater self-stigma is less likely to take that first step to get information about mental health concerns and counseling.
... Read more »
Lannin, D., Vogel, D., Brenner, R., Abraham, W., & Heath, P. (2016) Does self-stigma reduce the probability of seeking mental health information?. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(3), 351-358. DOI: 10.1037/cou0000108
- June 14, 2016
- 12:18 PM
- 288 views
Nurturing the Gifted
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
My photo of Mozart No one denies the importance of public education. Raising graduation rates and academic ability in the general population are highly accepted education system goals. Additionally, identification of learning disorders and the barriers to academic progress are the focus of many.However, the study of the gifted is perhaps no less important but this topic receives less attention and research.Matthew Makel and colleagues at Duke University and Vanderbi........ Read more »
Makel MC, Kell HJ, Lubinski D, Putallaz M, & Benbow CP. (2016) When Lightning Strikes Twice: Profoundly Gifted, Profoundly Accomplished. Psychological science. PMID: 27225220
Kell HJ, Lubinski D, Benbow CP, & Steiger JH. (2013) Creativity and technical innovation: spatial ability's unique role. Psychological science, 24(9), 1831-6. PMID: 23846718
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