592 research outputs found
Hyporesponsive reward anticipation in the basal ganglia following severe institutional deprivation early in life
No full textSevere deprivation in the first few years of life is associated with multiple difficulties in cognition and behavior. However, the brain basis for these difficulties is poorly understood. Structural and functional neuroimaging studies have implicated limbic system structures as dysfunctional, and one functional imaging study in a heterogeneous group of maltreated individuals has confirmed the presence of abnormalities in the basal ganglia. Based on these studies and known dopaminergic abnormalities from studies in experimental animals using social isolation, we used a task of monetary reward anticipation to examine the functional integrity of brain regions previously shown to be implicated in reward processing. Our sample included a group of adolescents (n = 12) who had experienced global deprivation early in their lives in Romania prior to adoption into UK families. In contrast to a nonadopted comparison group (n = 11), the adoptees did not recruit the striatum during reward anticipation despite comparable performance accuracy and latency. These results show, for the first time, an association between early institutional deprivation and brain reward systems in humans and highlight potential neural vulnerabilities resulting from such exposure
Amygdala, hippocampal and corpus callosum size following severe early institutional deprivation: the English and Romanian Adoptees study
No full textThe adoption into the UK of children who have been reared in severely deprived conditions provides an opportunity to study possible association between very early negative experiences and subsequent brain development. This cross-sectional study was a pilot for a planned larger study quantifying the effects of early deprivation on later brain structure. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the sizes of three key brain regions hypothesized to be sensitive to early adverse experiences. Our sample was a group of adoptee adolescents (N = 14) who had experienced severe early institutional deprivation in Romania and a group of non-institutionalised controls (N = 11). The total grey and white matter volumes were significantly smaller in the institutionalised group compared with a group of non-deprived, non-adopted UK controls. After correcting for difference in brain volume, the institutionalised group had greater amygdala volumes, especially on the right, but no differences were observed in hippocampal volume or corpus callosum mid-sagittal area. The left amygdala volume was also related to the time spent in institutions, with those experiencing longer periods of deprivation having a smaller left amygdala volume. These pilot findings highlight the need for future studies to confirm the sensitivity of the amygdala to early deprivation
Book Reviews
No full textConventions, the Australian Constitution and the future by L.J.M. Cooray, reviewed by James Crawford. Family law and social policy by J. Eekelaar, reviewed by Rebecca J. Bailey. Evidence, Proof and Probability by Sir Richard Eggleston, reviewed by A.L.C. Ligertwood. Family law in Australia by H.A. Finlay, reviewed by Rebecca J. Bailey. Law and legal science by J.W. Harris, reviewed by M.J. Detmold. Barwick by David Marr, reviewed by Steven Churches. A constitutional History of Australia by W.G. McMinn, reviewed by James Crawford. Lawyers and their work in New South Wales : preliminary report by Roman Tomasic and Cedric Bullard, Lawyers in commerce? by Rosemary Hoskins, reviewed by J. Doyle. Cases and materials on evidence by P.K. Waight and C.R. Williams, reviewed by Philip McNamara
Integrating neuroimaging and gene expression data using the imaging transcriptomics toolbox
No full textThe integration of neuroimaging and transcriptomics data, Imaging Transcriptomics, is becoming increasingly popular but standardized workflows for its implementation are still lacking. We describe the Imaging Transcriptomics toolbox, a new package that implements a full imaging transcriptomics pipeline using a user-friendly, command line interface. This toolbox allows the user to identify patterns of gene expression which correlates with a specific neuroimaging phenotype and perform gene set enrichment analyses to inform the biological interpretation of the findings using up-to-date methods. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Martins et al. (2021)
Transcriptional and cellular signatures of cortical morphometric remodelling in chronic pain
No full textChronic pain is a highly debilitating and difficult to treat condition, which affects the structure of the brain. Although the development of chronic pain is moderately heritable, how disease-related alterations at the microscopic genetic architecture drive macroscopic brain abnormalities is currently largely unknown. Here, we examined alterations in morphometric similarity (MS) and applied an integrative imaging transcriptomics approach to identify transcriptional and cellular correlates of these MS changes, in 3 independent small cohorts of patients with distinct chronic pain syndromes (knee osteoarthritis, low back pain, and fibromyalgia) and age-matched and sex-matched pain-free controls. We uncover a novel pattern of cortical MS remodelling involving mostly small-to-medium MS increases in the insula and limbic cortex (none of these changes survived stringent false discovery rate correction for the number of regions tested). This pattern of changes is different from that observed in patients with major depression and cuts across the boundaries of specific pain syndromes. By leveraging transcriptomic data from Allen Human Brain Atlas, we show that cortical MS remodelling in chronic pain spatially correlates with the brain-wide expression of genes related to pain and broadly involved in the glial immune response and neuronal plasticity. Our findings bridge levels to connect genes, cell classes, and biological pathways to in vivo imaging correlates of chronic pain. Although correlational, our data suggest that cortical remodelling in chronic pain might be shaped by multiple elements of the cellular architecture of the brain and identifies several pathways that could be prioritized in future genetic association or drug development studies
Segregating the Cerebral Mechanisms of Antidepressants and Placebo in Fibromyalgia
No full textAntidepressant drugs are commonly used to treat fibromyalgia, but there is little knowledge about their mechanisms of action. The aim of this study was to compare the cerebral and behavioral response to positive treatment effects of antidepressants or placebo. Ninety-two fibromyalgia patients participated in a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial with milnacipran, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. Before and after treatment, measures of cerebral pain processing were obtained using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Also, there were stimulus response assessments of pressure pain, measures of weekly pain, and fibromyalgia impact. Following treatment, milnacipran responders exhibited significantly higher activity in the posterior cingulum compared with placebo responders. The mere exposure to milnacipran did not explain our findings because milnacipran responders exhibited increased activity also in comparison to milnacipran nonresponders. Stimulus response assessments revealed specific antihyperalgesic effects in milnacipran responders, which was also correlated with reduced clinical pain and with increased activation of the posterior cingulum. A short history of pain predicted positive treatment response to milnacipran. We report segregated neural mechanisms for positive responses to treatment with milnacipran and placebo, reflected in the posterior cingulum. The increase of pain-evoked activation in the posterior cingulum may reflect a normalization of altered default mode network processing, an alteration implicated in fibromyalgia pathophysiology
Quality control for functional magnetic resonance imaging using automated data analysis and Shewhart charting
No full textUsing and evaluating CASE tools : from software engineering to phenomenology
No full textCASE (Computer-Aided Systems Engineering) is a recent addition to the long line of
"silver bullets" that promise to transform information systems development, delivering
new levels of quality and productivity. CASE is particularly intriguing because
information systems (IS) practitioners spend their working lives applying information
technology (IT) to other people's work, and now they are applying it to themselves.
CASE research to date has been dominated by accounts of tool development,
normative writings (for example practitioner success stories) and surveys recording
IT specialists' perceptions. There have been very few in-depth studies of tool use,
and very few attempts to quantify benefits, therefore the essence of the CASE process
remains largely unexplored, and the views of stakeholders other than the IT specialists
have yet to be heard.
The research presented here addresses these concerns by adopting a hybrid research
approach combining action research, grounded theory and phenoinenology and using
both qualitative and quantitative data in order to tell the story of a system developer's
experience in using CASE tools in three information systems projects for a major UK
car manufacturer over a four year period. The author was the lead developer on all
three projects. Action research is a learning process, the researcher is an explorer.
At the start of this project it was assumed that the tools would be the focus of the
work. As the research progressed it became evident that the tools were but part of
a richer organisational context in which culture, politics, history, external initiatives
and cognitive limitations played important roles. The author continued to record
experiences and impressions of tool use in the project diary together with quality and
productivity metrics. But the diary also became home to a story of organisational
developments that had not originally been foreseen.
The principal contribution made by the work is to identity the narrow positivistic
nature of CASE knowledge, and to show via the research stories the overwhelming
importance of organisational context to systems development success and how the
exploration of context is poorly supported by the tools. Sixteen further contributions
are listed in the Conclusions to the thesis, including a major extension to Wynekoop
and Conger's CASE research taxonomy, an identification of the potentially
misleading nature of quantitative IS assessment and further evidence of the limitations
of the "scientific" approach to systems development.
The thesis is completed by two proposals for further work. The first seeks to
advance IS theory by developing further a number of emerging process models of IS
development. The second seeks to advance IS practice by asking the question "How
can CASE tools be used to stimulate awareness and debate about the effects of
organisational context?", and outlines a programme of research in this area
Becoming Douglass Commonwealth: from D.C. Disenfranchisement to Full Democracy
No full textFeaturing: José Andrés, Chef/Restauranteur; Chris Myers Asch, Visiting Instructor, History, Colby College, Co-Author of Chocolate City; Denise Rolark Barnes, Publisher, The Washington Informer; The Honorable Muriel Bowser, Mayor of Washington, D.C. (2015 to present); Rep. James Clyburn, D-SC 6th District; Robert J. Contee, III, Acting Chief, Metropolitan Police Department; Linda Cropp, Former Chairwoman, Council of the District of Columbia; John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University; C.R. Gibbs, Historian; The Honorable Vincent Gray, Mayor of Washington, D.C. (2011-2015); The Honorable Eric Holder, Jr., Former Attorney General of the United States; Jamal Holtz, Co-founder, Statehood 51 for 51; Harry Holzer, John LaFarge Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University and Nonresident Senior Fellow-Economic Studies, Brookings Institution; Rep. Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, D-MD 5th District; Ted Leonsis, founder, Chairman, and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment; Jane Levey, Historian, DC History Center; Ezra Levin, Co-founder, Indivisible; William P. Lightfoot, Former Member, Council of the District of Columbia; Abbe Lowell, D.C. statehood advocate; Gregory McCarthy, Trustee, Federal City Council; SVP, Washington Nationals Baseball Club; Phil Mendelson, Chairman, Council of the District of Columbia; George Derek Musgrove, Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Co-Author of Chocolate City; Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton D-DC; Philip Pannell, DC statehood advocate; Robert Patterson, Professor of African American Studies, Georgetown University; Beverly Perry, Senior Advisor to the Mayor; The Honorable Sharon Pratt, Mayor of Washington, DC. (1991-1995); Rep. Jaime Raskin, D-MD 8th District; Paul Strauss, U.S. Shadow Senator, D.C. (1997 to present); George Vradenburg, Vice President, AOL and AOL Time Warner (retired); The Honorable Anthony A. Williams, Mayor of Washington, D.C. (1999-2007);
Producers: Nolan Williams, Jr., Producer/Director; Michael D. DuBose, Associate Producer; Rod McDonald, Consulting Producer;
Director of Photography: Kadesh DuBose;
Production Supervisor: Michael D. DuBose;
Writers: Chris Myers Asch; George Derek Musgrove; Nolan Williams, Jr.;
Research Consultant: Jane Levey;
Editors: Kadesh DuBose, lead editor; Adrienne Boykin; Michael D. DuBose; Michael Lyon;
Graphics: Regi Allen; Reginald Butler; Kat Davis; Kadesh DuBose; Robert Ellis, title banner;
Camera Ops: Kadesh DuBose; Paul Fifield; William P. Haywood; Henry Joseph; Marcus Smith, III; Camille Toussaint; William P. Haywood, jib operator;
Post production: William P. Haywood; Jacques Richmond; Ryan Romkema;
Audio Technicians: Todd Berger; C. Anthony Miller; Shari Thomas;
Music Team: Nolan Williams, Jr., Music Supervisor/Editor; Michael DuBose, Sr., Music Editor;
Production Assistants: Sylveta Brown; Kyana Waters;
Sound Track Creatives: Allyn Johnson, original documentary score; Nolan Williams, Jr., contributing composer; Michael A. DuBose, contributing composer; John Stoddart, contributing arranger;
Special Acknowledgements: D.C. Office of Cable Television, Film, Music & Entertainment; D.C. Office of Community Affairs; D.C. Public Library; Office of Federal and Regional Affairs; Office of the Secretary of the District of Columbia; Office of the Senior Advisor to the Mayor;
Acknowledgements: Alice Deal Middle School; BONI Productions; DC History Center; DWP Productions; FedNet; Friendship Public Charter School; Lateef Mangum, D.C. photo archivist; ThinkFoodGroup;
Filming Locations: DC History Center; D.C. Office of Cable Television, Film, Music & Entertainment; Marion S. Barry, Jr. Building; Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library.This award-winning one-hour documentary chronicles the long and complicated journey towards Washington, District of Columbia becoming our 51st state, Washington, Douglass Commonwealth. To date, 'Becoming Douglass Commonwealth' has aired in five CBS markets and on DCTV.https://neworksproductions.com/douglass-commonwealt
Verses, subverses and subversions in contemporary postcolonial poetry : the arts of resistance in the works of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Lesego Rampolokeng
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 136-141).This dissertation seeks to analyse insubordination and resistance manifested in postcolonial and post-apartheid poetry as ways of subverting dominant Western discourses. More specifically, I focus my analysis on textual strategies of resistance in the poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Lesego Rampolokeng. The syncretistic quality in the oeuvres of both poets is related to diaspora, hybridity and crealisation as forms of writ[h]ing against (neo)colonially-based hegemonic discourses. Postcolonial critiques at large will frame this analysis of strategies of domination and resistance, but some discussions from the domain of history, sociology and cultural studies may also enter the debate. In this regard there is a great variety of theories and arguments dealing with the contradictions and incongruities in the question of power relations interconnecting domination and resistance. This study is arranged in three pivotal debates. There is firstly an in-depth discussion of underpinning theories that deal with strategies of domination and resistance in the postcolonial domain This is a threefold task carried out by scrutinising (a) the origins of colonial discourse and its binarist tendencies, (b) the pitfalls of anticolonialist resistance based on dualistic opposites, and (c) the hybrid and insubordinate nature of resistance as an efficient alternative to transcend such binaries. Afterwards I seek to investigate how strategies of diasporic resistance and cultural hybridism employed in the poetry of Linton Kwesi Johnson can contribute to moving away from the limitations of dichotomies and also subvert hegemonic power. And finally, I look at crealisation, mockery and insubordination as strategies of resistance in the postapartheid poetry of Lesego Rampolokeng. Besides that, this project is concerned with the increasing importance of academic studies on postcolonial literatures. The present research aims therefore to analyse postcolonial and post-apartheid poems as strategic techniques to decentre dominant Western rhetoric that tries to naturalise inequalities and injustices in the relations between power holders and the powerless in both local and global contexts
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