Warm Soil, Westerly Wind, and Wet Feet: Feeling and Measuring Ecological Time in the Roman World.

Although climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation are contemporary problems, these are also challenges with deep historic roots in antiquity. 2,000 years ago, during the Roman Climate Optimum, a period of unusually warm, wet, and stable temperatures in the Mediterranean from roughly 200 BCE to 150 CE, the Romans altered the natural environment so greatly that they produced a level of pollution that was unparalleled until the Industrial Revolution. It is precisely in this contradictory time of unusually productive growth and destruction that we discover a blossoming of textual and visual ecological calendars illustrating how the Romans experienced the changing Mediterranean seasons. Roman agricultural treatises instruct us on specific agricultural tasks based on celestial movement, the arrival of particular winds, and on corporeal sensations, such as the warmth of the soil. Literary texts from the period portray kinship and shared corporeality between farmers and plants, with parent farmers listening to and assisting plant-children in achieving their desires. The concept of measuring time by means of the human body and its sensations is most explicit in the agricultural mosaics of the Late Roman period, which depict enslaved workers laboring, sweating, stomping, plowing, and performing seasonal tasks. While much of the conceptualization of indigenous ecological calendars is framed within the context of modern states, juxtaposing ancient predecessors and contemporary practices offers a new perspective on this topic.

Health information diffusion on Twitter: The content and design of WHO tweets matter.

BACKGROUND: Micro-blogging services empower health institutions to quickly disseminate health information to many users. By analysing user data, infodemiology (i.e. improving public health using user contributed health related content) can be measured in terms of information diffusion. OBJECTIVES: Tweets by the WHO were examined in order to identify tweet attributes that lead to a high information diffusion rate using Twitter data collected between November 2019 and January 2020. METHODS: One thousand hundred and seventy-seven tweets were collected using Python's Tweepy library. Afterwards, k-means clustering and manual coding were used to classify tweets by theme, sentiment, length and count of emojis, pictures, videos and links. Resulting groups with different characteristics were analysed for significant differences using Mann-Whitney U- and Kruskal-Wallis H-tests. RESULTS: The topic of the tweet, the included links, emojis and (one) picture as well as the tweet length significantly affected the tweets' diffusion, whereas sentiment and videos did not show any significant influence on the diffusion of tweets. DISCUSSION: The findings of this study give insights on why specific health topics might generate less attention and do not showcase sufficient information diffusion. CONCLUSION: The subject and appearance of a tweet influence its diffusion, making the design equally essential to the preparation of its content.

Mental Healthcare Provider Perceptions of Race and Racial Disparity in the Care of Black and White Clients.

Black-white disparities in mental healthcare persist, despite efforts to eliminate them via culturally competent care. To gain insight into how providers implement culturally competent care practices, interviews were conducted with mental healthcare providers' about their self-reported behaviors with black and white clients and their perceptions of how race affects the treatment they provide. Thematic analysis was used to analyze 12 semi-structured interviews with providers from a Veterans Affairs healthcare system. Three sets of themes emerged: providers' general beliefs and behaviors (discomfort discussing race; belief that socioeconomic differences explained disparities; and use of coded language for race groups), providers' clinical beliefs and behaviors (race-matching enhances care and recognition of intersecting cultural identities), and providers' professional beliefs and behaviors (participation in passive racism facilitated by provider-provider alliance). Mental healthcare providers showed good awareness of intersectionality and subtle racism but held limiting beliefs that led to avoidance of discussions of race.

Managing unusual sensory experiences: A feasibility trial in an At Risk Mental States for psychosis group.

OBJECTIVES: To conduct a feasibility study on a new, tablet-delivered treatment for unusual sensory experiences in service-users with an At Risk Mental States for psychosis. DESIGN: A mixed method design was employed, using content analysis to investigate whether service-users and therapists found the new treatment acceptable and helpful. We also collected data on the impact of treatment, but without a control group could not make any claims about effectiveness. METHODS: Eligible participants were contacted before starting treatment and offered the chance to participate. Assessments were conducted before and after the treatment, which typically was completed in 4-6 sessions by an accredited CBT therapist. A structured interview was used to collect qualitative feedback. RESULTS: Qualitative feedback suggested that the treatment was acceptable to service-users and therapists, and the progression criteria were met for recruitment, retention, and adherence to treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The new treatment targeting subtypes of auditory and visual hallucinations was acceptable to service-users and the benefits of addressing psychological mechanisms thought to contribute to hallucinations was supported by qualitative feedback. PRACTITIONER POINTS: A novel treatment has been developed for unusual sensory experiences based on subtyping voices and using technology to help explain psychological mechanisms that may be linked to hallucinations. The treatment was acceptable to service users and therapists in At Risk Mental States for psychosis services with qualitative feedback supporting the approach. The treatment may be particularly useful in preventing the progressions of psychosis as people who have not developed fixed ideas about the origin of the experiences may be more open to alternative explanations.

Investigating the roles of medial prefrontal and superior temporal cortex in source monitoring.

Source monitoring, or the ability to recall the origin of information, is a crucial aspect of remembering past experience. One facet of this, reality monitoring, refers to the ability to distinguish between internally generated and externally generated information, biases in which have previously been associated with auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that medial prefrontal and superior temporal (STG) regions may play a role in reality monitoring for auditory verbal information, with evidence from a previous neurostimulation experiment also suggesting that modulation of excitability in STG may affect reality monitoring task performance. Here, two experiments are reported that used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to modulate excitability in medial prefrontal and superior temporal cortex, to further investigate the role of these brain regions in reality monitoring. In the first experiment (N = 36), tDCS was applied during the encoding stage of the task, while in the second experiment, in a separate sample (N = 36), it was applied during the test stage. There was no effect of tDCS compared to a sham condition in either experiment, with Bayesian analysis providing evidence for the null hypothesis in both cases. This suggests that tDCS applied to superior temporal or medial prefrontal regions may not affect reality monitoring performance, and has implications for theoretical models that link reality monitoring to the therapeutic effect of tDCS on auditory verbal hallucinations.

Error-related oscillatory activity is modulated by novelty seeking in the reward condition.

Behavioural research has revealed the influence of motivation conditions on cognitive task performance and demonstrated that these influences are modulated by temperament factors. Modern neuroimaging methods enable analysis of neuropsychological mechanisms through which individual differences in reinforcement sensitivity may influence cognitive functioning. In the study, fifty-six participants were scored on the Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory to assess punishment and reward sensitivity. Then, subjects participated in an EEG experiment using the numerical Stroop task under different motivational conditions. In one condition, they were punished for erroneous responses; in the other, they were rewarded for correct performance. We analysed event related changes in EEG spectral power to investigate the influence of temperamentally driven differences on error-related oscillatory brain activity. In agreement with previous findings, after incorrect responses an increase in frontocentral theta (3-7Hz) and a decrease in occipital alpha (10-11Hz) power were observed. Moreover, a multivariate regression analysis showed that these spectral markers were modulated by temperamental trait Novelty Seeking in the reward condition. To our knowledge, we are the first to demonstrate such a relationship between individual differences and error-related oscillatory activity. This neuronal pattern may explain why participants that score high on Novelty Seeking trait are highly motivated and strongly engaged in a task when a reward might be earned. Thus, in conclusion we emphasise that to understand an individual's response to errors, it is necessary to account simultaneously for motivational conditions as well as temperament traits.

Disparities in Treatment and Service Utilization Among Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites with Bipolar Disorder.

OBJECTIVES: Due to the serious and recurrent nature of bipolar disorder, continuous long-term medication treatment is typically recommended. Little is known about whether these treatment recommendations are effectively implemented for Hispanics. This study examined differences in mood stabilizer use and mental health service utilization between adult English-speaking Hispanic and non-Hispanic white respondents with bipolar disorder. METHODS: The sample included 163 participants with lifetime bipolar I and II disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Demographics, symptom presentation, and acculturation were examined as covariates. RESULTS: None of the 26 Hispanic respondents were taking mood-stabilizing medication, compared to 21 % of non-Hispanic whites, and Hispanics were less likely to receive medications for emotional problems, see a professional for manic episodes, or attend psychotherapy. Even after accounting for differences in symptom profiles and sociodemographics, ethnicity continued to be a significant predictor of mood stabilizer use and psychotherapy attendance. There was a non-significant trend toward lower acculturation among Hispanics being associated with even poorer service utilization. CONCLUSIONS: No Hispanics were receiving minimally adequate treatment for their bipolar disorder. Future research should focus on identifying the barriers that lead to these stark ethnic disparities in treatment.

Emotion in bipolar I disorder: Implications for functional and symptom outcomes.

Despite the centrality of emotion disturbance in neurobiological models of bipolar disorder, the behavioral literature has not yet clearly identified the most central aspects of emotion disturbance in bipolar disorder. Toward this aim, we gathered a battery of emotion-related measures in 67 persons diagnosed with bipolar I disorder as assessed with the SCID and a well-matched control group of 58 persons without a history of mood disorders. Those with bipolar disorder were interviewed monthly until they achieved remission, and then tested on emotion measures. A subset of 36 participants with bipolar disorder completed symptom severity interviews at 12-month follow-up. Factor analyses indicated 4 emotion factor scores: Negative Emotion, Positive Emotion, Reappraisal, and Suppression. Bivariate analyses suggested that bipolar disorder was tied to a host of emotion disturbances, but multivariate analyses suggested that bipolar disorder was particularly tied to elevations of Negative Emotion. High Negative Emotion, low Positive Emotion, and high Suppression were conjointly related to lower functioning. Reappraisal predicted declines in depression over time for those with bipolar disorder. Findings highlight the importance of considering the overall profile of emotion disturbance in bipolar disorder. Emotion and emotion regulation appear central to a broad range of outcomes in bipolar disorder.

Effects of volatile anesthetics on hippocampal slice metabolism, response to anoxia with and without glucose.

Anesthetics attenuate ischemic damage and so are often not used when preparing hippocampal slices for studies of ischemic or anoxic damage. In this study, we tested whether halothane, ether or isoflurane, when used briefly during slice preparation, have persistent effects on slice ATP metabolism, protein synthesis or morphology. We also tested the effects of anoxia with and without glucose on these slices. Five minutes of anoxia without glucose (anoxia-aglycemia) caused a dramatic depletion of ATP to less than 22% of control levels, a persistent inhibition of neuronal protein synthesis to less than 10% of control rates and severe morphological damage. Slices prepared using volatile anesthetics showed the same degree of damage due to anoxia-aglycemia, when compared with untreated tissue. In contrast, 5 min anoxia caused a 40% decrease in ATP levels in untreated tissue, but did not damage protein synthesis or morphology. While isoflurane-treated tissue responded identically to anoxia as untreated tissue, both halothane and ether prevented the anoxic ATP fall. These findings suggest that while halothane and ether may have persistent effects on slice responses to anoxia, isoflurane is a good candidate anesthetic for slice preparation procedures.

Suboptimal levels of hydrogen peroxide scavengers in synovial fluid: in vitro augmentation with slow acting antirheumatic drugs.

Phagocyte released reactive oxygen species are inflammatory mediators contributing to articular damage and potentially modulating local immune responses. We studied the protection afforded by synovial fluid (SF) against an important reactive oxygen species intermediate, hydrogen peroxide, quantitating SF-H2O2 scavenger levels and testing their functional capacity. Mean H2O2 scavenger levels in noninflammatory SF were low -3.9 mumol H2O2/ml-and similar to those found in plasma. Higher levels were found in inflammatory SF (24.6 mumol H2O2/ml), but still far below those found in whole blood (1,145.2 mumol H2O2/ml). SF with higher scavenger levels protected lymphocytes from H2O2 mediated damage and reversed lymphocyte suppression mediated by activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes. SF-H2O2 scavengers could be augmented by addition of certain blood cell subtypes, known enzymatic and chemical scavengers and also by several slow acting antirheumatic drugs. Our results indicate that the adaptive response of inflamed SF to reactive oxygen species is suboptimal. However it also appears that SF antioxidant levels could be augmented by certain slow acting antirheumatic drugs if sufficient tissue levels were obtained.