1,210 research outputs found
Prefrontally modulated vagal neuroimmunomodulation is associated with telomere length
No full textBackground: Accumulated senescent cells are proposed to be one of the main drivers of age-related pathology such as dementia and cancer through disruption of tissue structure and function. We recently proposed the Neuro-Immuno-Senescence Integrative Model (NISIM), which relates prefrontally modulated vagal tone and subsequent balance between vagal and sympathetic input to the spleen to inflammatory responses leading to generation of reactive oxygen species and oxidative telomere damage.
Aim: In this study, we assess inflammation as a mediator in the relationship between prefrontally modulated vagal tone and leukocyte telomere length (LTL). We also assess the relationship between a recently proposed index of vagal neuroimmunomodulation (vagal tone/inflammation ratio; NIM index) and telomere length.
Methods: This study uses participant data from a large nationally representative longitudinal study since 1974 with a total of 45,000 Norwegian residents so far. A sub-sample of 131 participants from which ultrashort recordings (30 s) of vagal tone, c reactive protein, and LTL could be obtained were included in the study. Relationships were analyzed with Pearson’s correlations and hierarchical multiple linear regression using either vagal tone and CRP or the NIM index to predict telomere length.
Results: Vagal tone was a significant positive predictor of telomere length but this was not mediated by c reactive protein, even after controlling for confounders. The NIM index was a significant positive predictor of telomere length, also when controlling for confounders. In a follow-up analysis simultaneously comparing telomere length between groups with high and low values of vagal tone, and between groups with high and low NIM index values, telomere length was only significantly different between NIM index groups.
Conclusion: This is the first study suggesting that prefrontally modulated vagal neuroimmunomodulation is associated with telomere length thus supporting the NISIM. Results indicate that the NIM index is a more sensitive indicator of vagal neuroimmunomodulation than vagal tone and CRP in isolation.publishedVersio
Self-archiving practice and the influence of publisher policies in the social sciences
No full textAuthors in different disciplines exhibit very different behaviours on the so-called ‘green’ road to open access, i.e. self-archiving. This study looks at the self-archiving behaviour of authors publishing in leading journals in six social science disciplines. It tests the hypothesis that authors are self-archiving according to the norms of their respective disciplines rather than following self-archiving policies of publishers, and that, as a result, they are self-archiving significant numbers of publisher PDF versions. It finds significant levels of
self-archiving, as well as significant self-archiving of
the publisher PDF version, in all the disciplines
investigated. Publishers’ self-archiving policies have
no influence on author self-archiving practice
Human-Human Communication in Cyber Threat Situations: A Systematic Review
No full textAbstract. In cyber threat situations, decision-making within organizations and between the affected organization and external entities are high-stake situations. They require human communication entailing technical complexity, time pressure, interdisciplinary, and often insufficient information basis. Communication in cyber threat situations within socio-technical systems can thus be challenging and has a variety of implications for decision-making. The cyber-physical system is a rapidly changing socio-technical system that is understudied in terms of how cyber events are communicated and acted upon to secure and maintain cyber resilience. The present study is the first to review human-to-human communication in cyber threat situations. Our aims are to (1) outline how human-human communication performance in cybersecurity settings have been studied; (2) to uncover areas where there is potential for developing common standards for information exchange in collaborative settings, and; (3) to provide guidance for future research efforts. The review was carried out according to the PRISMA guidelines and articles were searched for on Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, and IEEE. Primary research articles and reviews focusing on human-human communication in cyber threat situations published in peer reviewed journals or as conference papers were included. A total of 17 studies were included in the final review. Most of the studies were correlational and exploratory in nature. Very few studies characterize communication in useful goal-related terms
Situational States Influence on Team Workload Demands in Cyber Defense Exercise
No full textCyber operations are increasingly automated processes that can occur at computational speed with the intent of reducing, or denying time for good decision making or time to ground communication between human agents. There is a lack of performance measures and metrics in cyber operation settings. One potential setting describing human performance could be emotional stability under stress. Measures of higher individual affective variability indicate more emotional adaptability and allows for measuring individuals as dynamic systems. Previous research in other security-sensitive high-stake situations has shown that individuals with less emotional adaptability display maladaptive behaviors while individuals with more emotional adaptability can adapt more efficiently to changing situations, show more confidence in their own abilities and skills, and display better performance. We hypothesized that measurements of affective variability during a cyber defense exercise will be associated with team workload demands. Data was collected from 13 cadets during the Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy’s annual Cyber Defense Exercise. Three indicators of individual affective variability were measured daily with the Self-Assessment Manikin and compared to scores on the Team Workload Questionnaire. We found that affective variability was negatively associated with team workload demands. Participants with higher affective variability, as measured by the Self-Assessment Manikin, will impose less workload demands on the team, which can lead to better outcomes. This is the first study to assess how individual emotional adaptability affects team dynamics in a cyber defense setting. Future research should include variable measurements as they may have better explanatory power for performance measurements
The Neuro-Immuno-Senescence Integrative Model (NISIM) on the Negative Association Between Parasympathetic Activity and Cellular Senescence
No full textThere is evidence that accumulated senescent cells drive age-related pathologies, but the antecedents to the cellular stressors that induce senescence remain poorly understood. Previous research suggests that there is a relationship between shorter telomere length, an antecedent to cellular senescence, and psychological stress. Existing models do not sufficiently account for the specific pathways from which psychological stress regulation is converted into production of reactive oxygen species. We propose the neuro-immuno-senescence integrative model (NISIM) suggesting how vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV) might be related to cellular senescence. Prefrontally modulated, and vagally mediated cortical influences on the autonomic nervous system, expressed as HRV, affects the immune system by adrenergic stimulation and cholinergic inhibition of cytokine production in macrophages and neutrophils. Previous findings indicate that low HRV is associated with increased production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α. IL-6 and TNF-α can activate the NFκB pathway, increasing production of reactive oxygen species that can cause DNA damage. Vagally mediated HRV has been related to an individual’s ability to regulate stress, and is lower in people with shorter telomeres. Based on these previous findings, the NISIM suggest that the main pathway from psychological stress to individual differences in oxidative telomere damage originates in the neuroanatomical components that modulate HRV, and culminates in the cytokine-induced activation of NFκB. Accumulated senescent cells in the brain is hypothesized to promote age-related neurodegenerative disease, and previous reports suggest an association between low HRV and onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Accumulating senescent cells in peripheral tissues secreting senescence-associated secretory phenotype factors can alter tissue structure and function which can induce cancer and promote tumor growth and metastasis in old age, and previous research suggested that ability to regulate psychological stress has a negative association with cancer onset. We therefore conclude that the NISIM can account for a large proportion of the individual differences in the psychological stress-related antecedents to cellular senescence, and suggest that it can be useful in providing a dynamic framework for understanding the pathways by which psychological stress induce pathologies in old age
Naval officer attitudes toward the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy
No full textThe U.S. military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy continues to stimulate heated debate over its effectiveness in promoting unit cohesion, good order and discipline, personal privacy, and other organizational objectives. As military leaders focus on recruiting and retaining the highest quality personnel to fight the global war on terrorism, an increasing number of authoritative voices can be heard asking if the DADT policy has become outdated, unnecessary, or simply too costly. The present research seeks to identify trends in the attitudes of Naval officers regarding DADT, which was implemented in 1993 amid significant controversy. The study involved administration of a survey to students at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in November and December 2004. The same survey was administered at NPS in 1994, 1996, and 1999, providing four data points to evaluate trends and changes in attitudes toward DADT. The comparison of responses to the four surveys shows that a majority of officers in 2004 do not support having homosexuals serve openly in the military. As found in two previous surveys, negative views toward the service of homosexuals have declined over time. Additionally, measures of tolerance have increased noticeably over the years since DADT was introduced.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.US Navy (USN) author. record updated by aq 08/16/2010.http://archive.org/details/navalofficerttit10945485
The Neuro-Immuno-Senescence Integrative Model (NISIM) on the Negative Association Between Parasympathetic Activity and Cellular Senescence
No full textThere is evidence that accumulated senescent cells drive age-related pathologies, but the antecedents to the cellular stressors that induce senescence remain poorly understood. Previous research suggests that there is a relationship between shorter telomere length, an antecedent to cellular senescence, and psychological stress. Existing models do not sufficiently account for the specific pathways from which psychological stress regulation is converted into production of reactive oxygen species. We propose the neuro-immuno-senescence integrative model (NISIM) suggesting how vagally mediated heart rate variability might be related to cellular senescence. Prefrontally modulated, and vagally mediated cortical influences on the autonomic nervous system, expressed as heart rate variability, affects the immune system by adrenergic stimulation and cholinergic inhibition of cytokine production in macrophages and neutrophils. Previous findings indicate that low heart rate variability is associated with increased production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α. IL-6 and TNF-α can activate the NFκB pathway, increasing production of reactive oxygen species that can cause DNA damage. Vagally mediated heart rate variability has been related to an individual’s ability to regulate stress, and is lower in people with shorter telomeres. Based on these previous findings, the NISIM suggest that the main pathway from psychological stress to individual differences in oxidative telomere damage originates in the neuroanatomical components that modulate heart rate variability, and culminates in the cytokine-induced activation of NFκB. Accumulated senescent cells in the brain is hypothesized to promote age-related neurodegenerative disease, and previous reports suggest an association between low heart rate variability and onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Accumulating senescent cells in peripheral tissues secreting senescence-associated secretory phenotype factors can alter tissue structure and function which can induce cancer and promote tumor growth and metastasis in old age, and previous research suggested that ability to regulate psychological stress has a negative association with cancer onset. We therefore conclude that the NISIM can account for a large proportion of the individual differences in the psychological stress-related antecedents to cellular senescence, and suggest that it can be useful in providing a dynamic framework for understanding the pathways by which psychological stress induce pathologies in old age.The Neuro-Immuno-Senescence Integrative Model (NISIM) on the Negative Association Between Parasympathetic Activity and Cellular SenescencepublishedVersio
Big Data, Big Libraries, Big Problems?: the 2014 LibTech Anti-talk?
No full textThe desire to create automatons is a familiar theme in human history, and during the age of the Enlightenment mechanical automatons became not only an “emblem of the cosmos”, but a symbol of man’s confidence that he would unlock nature’s greatest mysteries and fully harness her power. And yet only a century later, automatons had begun to represent human repression and servitude, a theme later picked up by writers of science fiction. Man’s confidence undeterred, the endgame of the modern scientific and technological mindset, or MSTM, seems to be increasingly coming into view with the rise of “information technology” in general and “Big data” in particular. Along with those who wield them, these can be seen as functioning together as a “mechanical muse” of sorts – surprisingly alluring – and, like a physical automaton can serve as a symbol – a microcosm – of what the MSTM sees (at the very least in practice) as the cosmic machine, our “final frontier”. And yet, individuals who unreflectively participate in these things – giving themselves over to them and seeking the powers afforded by the technology apart from technology’s rightful purposes – in fact yield to the same pragmatism and reductionism those wielding them are captive to. Thus, they ultimately nullify themselves philosophically, politically, and economically – their value increasingly being only the data concerning their persons, and its perceived usefulness. Likewise libraries, the time-honored place of, and symbol for, the intellectual flowering of the individual, will, insofar as they spurn the classical liberal arts (with the idea that things are intrinsically good, and in the case of humans, special as well) in favor of the alluring embrace of MSTM-driven “information technology” and Big data - unwittingly contribute to their irrelevance and demise as they find themselves increasingly less needed, valued, wanted. Likewise for the liberal arts as a whole, and in fact history itself, if the acid of a “science” untethered from what is, in fact, good (intrinsically), continues to gain strengt
The Effect of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Training on Vagal Tone in Athletically Talented Secondary School Students
No full textThis study examines whether twelve sessions of heart rate variability biofeedback training would improve vagally mediated heart rate variability. If so, it would go some way in explaining why breathing-based interventions reduce clinical symptoms and improve non-clinical performance outcomes. Methods: Thirty participants (N = 30, Nfemale = 13) aged 14–13-year-old, all talented athletes, from a sport specialist school in SE London UK, were randomly divided into three groups, a control group, a psychology skills training combined with heart rate variability biofeedback training group, and a heart rate variability biofeedback only group. For the combined group, a variety of typical psychological skill training techniques were also used. Results: Paired participant t-test and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test found non-significant differences between pre- and post-intervention measurements of heart rate variability. Non-significant results remained even after pooling the biofeedback training groups (n = 19). Conclusions: Our results do not indicate that beneficial effects associated with focused breathing training can be attributed to improved vagal tone. Further investigation into the underlying mechanisms of the benefits of focused breathing techniques is necessary to maximize clinical and non-clinical outcomes
Situational States Influence on Team Workload Demands in Cyber Defense Exercise
No full textCyber operations are increasingly automated processes that can occur
at computational speed with the intent of reducing, or denying time for good decision making or time to ground communication between human agents. There is a lack of performance measures and metrics in cyber operation settings. One potential setting describing human performance could be emotional stability under stress. Measures of higher individual affective variability indicate more emotional adaptability and allows for measuring individuals as dynamic systems. Previous
research in other security-sensitive high-stake situations has shown that individuals with less emotional adaptability display maladaptive behaviors while individuals with more emotional adaptability can adapt more efficiently to changing situa� tions, show more confidence in their own abilities and skills, and display better performance. We hypothesized that measurements of affective variability during a
cyber defense exercise will be associated with team workload demands. Data was collected from 13 cadets during the Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy’s annual Cyber Defense Exercise. Three indicators of individual affective variability were measured daily with the Self-Assessment Manikin and compared to scores on the Team Workload Questionnaire. We found that affective variability was negatively
associated with team workload demands. Participants with higher affective vari� ability, as measured by the Self-Assessment Manikin, will impose less workload demands on the team, which can lead to better outcomes. This is the first study to assess how individual emotional adaptability affects team dynamics in a cyber defense setting. Future research should include variable measurements as they
may have better explanatory power for performance measurements
- …
