The role of attention bias malleability in experiencing pain and associated disability.

Background: Attentional processing of pain has been theorized to play a key role in the severity of pain and associated disability. In particular attentional bias towards pain information, resulting in poor pain outcomes, has been extensively researched. Recently, the idea was put forward that attention bias malleability (AM), i.e., the readiness to acquire an attentional bias irrespective of its direction, may be key in predicting poor pain outcomes. We tested this hypothesis in two studies. Methods: In Study 1, 55 healthy participants completed an AM paradigm, followed by an experimental heat pain paradigm probing pain experience and pain-related task interference. In Study 2, 71 people with chronic pain completed an AM paradigm and questionnaires probing pain experience and associated disability. Results: In Study 1, including healthy participants, no relationship was found between AM indices and experimental pain outcomes. In Study 2, including chronic pain patients, results indicated that higher levels of overall AM were related to higher levels of pain experience and disability. Conclusion: This study partially supports the hypotheses that the degree to which individuals can adapt their attentional preference in line with changing environmental conditions is associated with poor pain outcomes. However, future research is needed to clarify inconsistent findings between healthy volunteers and chronic pain patients as well as to determine the causal status of AM in poor pain outcomes.

The association between emotion malleability beliefs and severe psychological distress stratified by sex, age, and presence of any psychiatric disorders.

Background: Recent studies have shown an association between psychological distress and emotion malleability beliefs, meaning mindsets about whether one's emotions are fixed or changeable. However, most studies have not examined the association between these beliefs and sociodemographic factors. Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional Internet survey of residents of Japan aged 15-79 years was conducted using sampling weights for national estimates to investigate the association between emotion malleability beliefs and sociodemographic factors and between fixed beliefs and severe psychological distress (SPD). SPD was defined as a Kessler 6 Scale score of ≥13. Adjusted odds ratios for SPD were calculated considering potential confounders. Further analyses were stratified by sex, age and presence of any psychiatric disorder. Results: The analysis included 23,142 participants (female, 48.64%). Fixed beliefs were associated with female sex, age < 45 years, and presence of psychiatric disorders. These beliefs were associated with SPD, and additional analysis showed stronger associations with SPD among female respondents, respondents aged 45-59 years, and those aged ≥60 years. Conclusion: Results indicate that female sex, age < 45 years, and current mental disorders were associated with fixed emotion malleability beliefs. Associations between fixed emotion malleability beliefs and SPD were particularly strong among female respondents and people aged ≥45 years compared with the general population. Our study extends the association between emotion malleability beliefs and psychological health to the general population. Future studies should explore mechanisms underlying individual differences in emotion beliefs.

Emotion malleability beliefs predict daily positive and negative affect in adolescents.

ABSTRACTThe present study examined the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and daily positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) in adolescents. 639 participants provided information about emotion malleability beliefs and emotion regulation strategies on the first day of the study and six daily measurements of PA and NA. Emotion malleability beliefs had a positive relationship with PA and a negative relationship with NA. Higher emotion malleability beliefs predicted lower carryover effects of PA and NA across assessment days. We also found that cognitive reappraisal might affect the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and daily affect, such that those who held high levels of malleability beliefs were more likely to engage in cognitive reappraisal and report lower NA and higher PA. The findings of the present study suggest that emotion malleability beliefs could predicate daily emotions and emotion dynamics across days in adolescents.

[Anchor your resources with the bullet journal]. / "Encrer" ses ressources avec le bullet journal.

The ordeal of chronicity is marked, from the outside, by an impression of dependence on the institution. Considering the discharge of a patient who has been hospitalized for a long period of time requires reflection at different levels and is based on a major challenge, that of integrating a new model of care. The clinical situation presented allows us to highlight both the caregiving skills and the impact on the group that this implies in a clearly defined dynamic: mobilizing the patient's resources.

Do Beliefs That Older Adults Are Inflexible Serve as a Barrier to Racial Equality?

Past research has demonstrated that older adults are stereotyped as less malleable than young adults. Moreover, beliefs that people are less malleable are associated with lower confrontations of prejudice, as perpetrators are seen as less capable of changing their (prejudiced) behavior. The present research sought to integrate these lines of research to demonstrate that endorsement of ageist beliefs that older adults are less malleable will lead to a lower confrontation of anti-Black prejudice espoused by older adults. Across four experimental studies (N = 1,573), people were less likely to confront anti-Black prejudice espoused by an 82-year-old compared with a 62-, 42-, or 20-year-old, due, in part, to beliefs that older adults are less malleable. Further exploration demonstrated that malleability beliefs about older adults were held across young, middle-aged, and older adult samples. These findings demonstrate how stereotypes about older adults can impede racial equality.

Relation of emotion malleability beliefs to subjective well-being: A short-term longitudinal study.

Prior research has shown that emotion malleability beliefs are positively related to subjective well-being, but less is known about the longitudinal relationship between both variables. The present study used a two-wave longitudinal design to examine the temporal directionality of the relationship in a sample of Chinese adults. Using cross-lagged models, we found that emotion malleability beliefs predicted all three dimensions of subjective well-being (i.e. positive affect, life satisfaction, and negative affect) 2 months later. However, we did not detect any reverse or reciprocal effect between emotion malleability beliefs and subjective well-being. In addition, emotion malleability beliefs still predicted life satisfaction and positive affect after controlling for the effect of the cognitive or emotional component of subjective well-being. Our study provided primary evidence for the temporal directionality of the association between emotion malleability beliefs and subjective well-being. Implications and suggestions for future research were discussed.

The Development of Spatial Cognition and Its Malleability Assessed in Mass Population via a Mobile Game.

Spatial cognition is a fundamental aspect of human intelligence, but our understanding of its developmental trajectory across the life span is limited. Here, we applied game-based assessment on mobile devices to engage a large sample from China (N = 216,713) with a wide age range (from under 10 years old to above 60) in multiple participations of a mental rotation task, a typical measure of spatial cognition. We found that spatial ability developed asynchronously with its malleability. Whereas mental rotation performance peaked at the age of 28, with males performing better than females, the effect of training from repeated participation peaked at 18, probably laying the foundation for the development of spatial ability. In contrast, children showed particularly low malleability, and a follow-up experiment revealed that the underdeveloped ability of mirror-image discrimination likely hindered the malleability of spatial cognition during this period. The intermingled relation of ability and malleability illustrates dynamics in the development of spatial cognition, inviting broad research on the development of other cognitive functions.

I can see my virtual body in a mirror: The role of visual perspective in changing implicit racial attitudes using virtual reality.

Introduction: Recent studies showed that VR is a valid tool to change implicit attitudes toward outgroup members. Here, we extended this work by investigating conditions under which virtual reality (VR) is effective in changing implicit racial attitudes. Methods: To this end, participants were embodied in a Black or White avatar and we manipulated the perspective through which they could see their virtual body. Participants in one condition, could see their virtual body both from a first-person perspective (i.e., by looking down toward themselves) and reflected in a mirror placed in front of them in the VR environment. Participants in another condition could instead see their virtual body only from a first-person perspective (i.e., by looking down toward themselves) as no mirror was placed in the VR environment. Implicit racial attitudes were assessed using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) before and immediately after the VR intervention. Results: Results showed that when White participants were embodied in a Black avatar compared to a White avatar, they showed a decrease in their implicit pro-White attitudes but only when they could see their virtual body both from a first-person perspective and in a mirror. Discussion: These results suggest that, in immersive virtual reality interventions, the possibility for participants to see their body also reflected in a mirror, might be a critical factor in changing their implicit racial attitudes.

Paclitaxel resistance related to nuclear envelope structural sturdiness.

Taxanes (Taxol/paclitaxel, Docetaxel/taxotere) are a key group of successful drugs commonly used in chemotherapy to treat several major malignant tumors also as a front-line agent in combination with carboplatin/cisplatin, as well as a second line drug with a dose dense regimen following recurrence. Overall, the response to paclitaxel is excellent, though drug resistance inevitably develops in subsequent treatments. The commonly accepted mechanism of action is that the hindrance of microtubule function by paclitaxel leads to cell cycle arrest at mitosis, and subsequent apoptosis. The mechanisms for resistance to paclitaxel have also been extensively investigated, such as ABC transporter overexpression, altered signaling and apoptotic gene expression to resist cell death, and changes associated with microtubules to reduce influences of the drugs. Meanwhile, another important mechanism of paclitaxel resistance has been proposed: increased nuclear lamina/envelope sturdiness to retard the breaking of nuclear envelop and the paclitaxel-induced multinucleation as well as the formation of multiple micronuclei. Here in this review, we focus on experimental findings and ideas on the mechanism of paclitaxel resistance related to cancer nuclear envelope, to provide new insights on overcoming paclitaxel resistance.

Malleability and Physicochemical Properties of Industrial Sheet Margarine with Shea Olein after Interesterification.

The malleability of Industrial Sheet Margarine (ISM) is essential for the formation of consistent layered structures of pastry products. However, there is limited reporting on how to improve the malleability of ISM with zero trans fatty acids (TFA) at an industrial production scale. Therefore, herein, Shea Olein (SHOL), rich in stearic acid C18:0, was employed as a value-added formulation ingredient to replace palm olein (POL) in palm-based formula (palm stearin:palm kernel olein:palm olein, 50:15:35, w/w/w) and the chemical interesterification (CIE) fat as ISM material was performed to improve the application performance. The addition of SHOL improved the crystallization characteristics by increasing the ß' crystal content from 70.86% to 92.29% compared with a POL-added formula. The hardness of the two formulations after CIE decreased by 60% and 65%, respectively, compared with that before CIE due to the decrease of PPP and POP, and the increase of POS and PSS triacylglycerols. Melting profiles, polymorphism, and crystal structures systematically proved the bending and sheeting features and functional properties. The bending abilities and malleability of ISM with SHOL and CIE fats were significantly improved, resulting in a more conducive application performance. The study provided a practical approach to improving the malleability of ISM in industrial-level production.

The tendency to dehumanize, group malleability beliefs, and perceived threat from migrants in Hungary.

Examining the humanness attributed to several groups in a comprehensive Hungarian sample (N = 505) at the height of the "European refugee crisis of 2015," we found that Hungarians dehumanize Eastern ethnic groups more and Western ethnic groups less than they do to their own ethnic ingroup. Interestingly, we also found that a general tendency of dehumanization is expressed across all national groups. This general tendency of dehumanization was strongly associated with threat perceived from migrants, but the relationship was mediated by group malleability-the belief that human groups can change and are not set in their ways irreversibly. Malleability beliefs were negatively linked to dehumanization tendencies and threat perceived from migrants. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings that point to the critical role of fixed mindsets about groups in the mechanisms linked to prejudice in a highly xenophobic Hungarian context.

Temporal malleability to auditory feedback perturbation is modulated by rhythmic abilities and auditory acuity.

Auditory feedback perturbation studies have indicated a link between feedback and feedforward mechanisms in speech production when participants compensate for applied shifts. In spectral perturbation studies, speakers with a higher perceptual auditory acuity typically compensate more than individuals with lower acuity. However, the reaction to feedback perturbation is unlikely to be merely a matter of perceptual acuity but also affected by the prediction and production of precise motor action. This interplay between prediction, perception, and motor execution seems to be crucial for the timing of speech and non-speech motor actions. In this study, to examine the relationship between the responses to temporally perturbed auditory feedback and rhythmic abilities, we tested 45 adult speakers on the one hand with a temporal auditory feedback perturbation paradigm, and on the other hand with rhythm perception and production tasks. The perturbation tasks temporally stretched and compressed segments (onset + vowel or vowel + coda) in fluent speech in real-time. This technique sheds light on the temporal representation and the production flexibility of timing mechanisms in fluent speech with respect to the structure of the syllable. The perception tasks contained staircase paradigms capturing duration discrimination abilities and beat-alignment judgments. The rhythm production tasks consisted of finger tapping tasks taken from the BAASTA tapping battery and additional speech tapping tasks. We found that both auditory acuity and motor stability in finger tapping affected responses to temporal auditory feedback perturbation. In general, speakers with higher auditory acuity and higher motor variability compensated more. However, we observed a different weighting of auditory acuity and motor stability dependent on the prosodic structure of the perturbed sequence and the nature of the response as purely online or adaptive. These findings shed light on the interplay of phonological structure with feedback and feedforward integration for timing mechanisms in speech.

Noncovalent Assembly Enabled Strong yet Tough Materials with Room-Temperature Malleability and Healability.

The manufacturing of both metals and polymer materials strongly relies on melt processing at relatively high temperatures which needs complex shaping-cooling equipment, long molding time, and considerable energy consumption. Reducing the processing temperature to achieve room-temperature malleability is heavily desired for low-carbon demands but continues to be a great challenge. Here, we demonstrate a noncovalent assembly strategy to fabricate room-temperature malleable composites embedded by liquid metals with excellent toughness (105.88 MJ m-3, higher than most traditional plastics and metallic aluminum) and strong mechanical strength (35.49 MPa). The dissociation-reconstruction of supramolecular bonding interactions between assembled nanoparticles and polymer matrix allow the malleable composite with two interchangeable supramolecular states to achieve programming at room temperature stimulated by water vapor and give it self-healing ability (self-healing efficiency of ∼100%; the healed sample can lift about 52,300 times its own weight). Furthermore, the composite also exhibits metallic luster and prospective application in thermal dissipation. This strategy might be an efficient way for the development of a method for strong and tough materials structurally designed to achieve programming at moderate conditions.

Recent Advances in Randomness Extraction.

The area of randomness extraction has seen interesting advances in recent years, with rapid progress on many longstanding open problems, along with the introduction of many new notions that played a key role in this development. We survey this progress and highlight new definitions and notions that have been the subject of intense study in recent work.

αα-hub coregulator structure and flexibility determine transcription factor binding and selection in regulatory interactomes.

Formation of transcription factor (TF)-coregulator complexes is a key step in transcriptional regulation, with coregulators having essential functions as hub nodes in molecular networks. How specificity and selectivity are maintained in these nodes remain open questions. In this work, we addressed specificity in transcriptional networks using complexes formed between TFs and αα-hubs, which are defined by a common αα-hairpin secondary structure motif, as a model. Using NMR spectroscopy and binding thermodynamics, we analyzed the structure, dynamics, stability, and ligand-binding properties of the Arabidopsis thaliana RST domains from TAF4 and known binding partner RCD1, and the TAFH domain from human TAF4, allowing comparison across species, functions, and architectural contexts. While these αα-hubs shared the αα-hairpin motif, they differed in length and orientation of accessory helices as well as in their thermodynamic profiles of ligand binding. Whereas biologically relevant RCD1-ligand pairs displayed high affinity driven by enthalpy, TAF4-ligand interactions were entropy driven and exhibited less binding-induced structuring. We in addition identified a thermal unfolding state with a structured core for all three domains, although the temperature sensitivity differed. Thermal stability studies suggested that initial unfolding of the RCD1-RST domain localized around helix 1, lending this region structural malleability, while effects in TAF4-RST were more stochastic, suggesting variability in structural adaptability upon binding. Collectively, our results support a model in which hub structure, flexibility, and binding thermodynamics contribute to αα-hub-TF binding specificity, a finding of general relevance to the understanding of coregulator-ligand interactions and interactome sizes.

Eyewitness memory is reliable, but the criminal justice system is not.

The reliability of any type of forensic evidence (e.g., forensic DNA) is assessed by testing its information value when it is not contaminated and is properly tested. Assessing the reliability of forensic memory evidence should be no exception to that rule. Unfortunately, testing a witness's memory irretrievably contaminates it. Thus, only the first (properly conducted) test is relevant to the question of whether eyewitness memory is reliable. With few exceptions, the results of studies conducted in the lab and in the real world show that confidence is highly predictive of accuracy on the first test, and high-confidence often implies high accuracy. The fact that many eyewitnesses are known to have made high-confidence misidentifications in the courtroom has cemented the almost universal impression that eyewitness memory is unreliable. However, it is the criminal justice system that is guilty of unwittingly using contaminated memory evidence (relying on the last memory test, in court) in conjunction with an improper testing procedure (namely, a courtroom showup) to win convictions of the innocent. That mistake should no longer be blamed on the unreliability of eyewitness memory.

Fear memory modulation by incentive down and up-shifts.

Research on retrieval-induced malleability of maladaptive emotional memories has been mostly focused on the effect of drugs and extinction (i.e. post-retrieval extinction). Only a few studies addressed post-retrieval appetitive-aversive interactions. Due to the relevance that the understanding of the interactions between memory content and appetitive or aversive states under retrieval circumstances has for translational research, here we explored the relation between fear (i.e. contextual fear conditioning) and sucrose concentration down (32-4%) or up-shifts (4-32%). These have been reported as methods to induce aversive or appetitive internal states, respectively. We observed that fear expression is differentially susceptible to incentive contrast manipulations depending on the memory stage: acquisition, mere retrieval or retrieval-induced memory malleability. After fear acquisition, freezing behavior and incentive shift direction followed an inverse relation, that is: up-shift decreased fear responding and down-shift increased it. However, freezing behavior remained unaltered when incentive contrast was absent, regardless of the sucrose concentration employed (4-4% and 32-32%). When incentive shifts occurred after mere-retrieval, both negative and positive incentive shifts resulted in increased freezing behavior. Strikingly, this effect was unrelated to the nature of the incentive contrast (either positive or negative), occurring only when animals had no previous experience with the shifted solution. On the other hand, when fear retrieval led to memory malleability, up-shifts in sucrose concentration dampened freezing behavior as much as unshifted controls, whilst down-shift left freezing unaltered. Freezing facilitation was finally achieved after retrieval-induced memory malleability only after prior sampling of the down-shifted solution (i.e. 4% SUC). These results reveal a complex pattern of interactions between memory retrieval and incentive shift-induced internal states.

Test a Witness's Memory of a Suspect Only Once.

Eyewitness misidentifications are almost always made with high confidence in the courtroom. The courtroom is where eyewitnesses make their last identification of defendants suspected of (and charged with) committing a crime. But what did those same eyewitnesses do on the first identification test, conducted early in a police investigation? Despite testifying with high confidence in court, many eyewitnesses also testified that they had initially identified the suspect with low confidence or failed to identify the suspect at all. Presenting a lineup leaves the eyewitness with a memory trace of the faces in the lineup, including that of the suspect. As a result, the memory signal generated by the face of that suspect will be stronger on a later test involving the same witness, even if the suspect is innocent. In that sense, testing memory contaminates memory. These considerations underscore the importance of a newly proposed recommendation for conducting eyewitness identifications: Avoid repeated identification procedures with the same witness and suspect. This recommendation applies not only to additional tests conducted by police investigators but also to the final test conducted in the courtroom, in front of the judge and jury.

Understanding structural malleability of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins and relation to the comorbidities.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a causative agent of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is a part of the $\beta $-Coronaviridae family. The virus contains five major protein classes viz., four structural proteins [nucleocapsid (N), membrane (M), envelop (E) and spike glycoprotein (S)] and replicase polyproteins (R), synthesized as two polyproteins (ORF1a and ORF1ab). Due to the severity of the pandemic, most of the SARS-CoV-2-related research are focused on finding therapeutic solutions. However, studies on the sequences and structure space throughout the evolutionary time frame of viral proteins are limited. Besides, the structural malleability of viral proteins can be directly or indirectly associated with the dysfunctionality of the host cell proteins. This dysfunctionality may lead to comorbidities during the infection and may continue at the post-infection stage. In this regard, we conduct the evolutionary sequence-structure analysis of the viral proteins to evaluate their malleability. Subsequently, intrinsic disorder propensities of these viral proteins have been studied to confirm that the short intrinsically disordered regions play an important role in enhancing the likelihood of the host proteins interacting with the viral proteins. These interactions may result in molecular dysfunctionality, finally leading to different diseases. Based on the host cell proteins, the diseases are divided in two distinct classes: (i) proteins, directly associated with the set of diseases while showing similar activities, and (ii) cytokine storm-mediated pro-inflammation (e.g. acute respiratory distress syndrome, malignancies) and neuroinflammation (e.g. neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases). Finally, the study unveils that males and postmenopausal females can be more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection due to the androgen-mediated protein transmembrane serine protease 2.