scholarly journals The Role of Melanocortin Plasticity in Pain-Related Outcomes After Alcohol Exposure

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Sharfman ◽  
Nicholas W. Gilpin

The global COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the rates and dangers of alcohol misuse in adults and adolescents in the US and globally. Alcohol exposure during adolescence causes persistent molecular, cellular, and behavioral changes that increase the risk of alcohol use disorder (AUD) into adulthood. It is established that alcohol abuse in adulthood increases the likelihood of pain hypersensitivity and the genesis of chronic pain, and humans report drinking alcohol to relieve pain symptoms. However, the longitudinal effects of alcohol exposure on pain and the underlying CNS signaling that mediates it are understudied. Specific brain regions mediate pain effects, alcohol effects, and pain-alcohol interactions, and neural signaling in those brain regions is modulated by neuropeptides. The CNS melanocortin system is sensitive to alcohol and modulates pain sensitivity, but this system is understudied in the context of pain-alcohol interactions. In this review, we focus on the role of melanocortin signaling in brain regions sensitive to alcohol and pain, in particular the amygdala. We also discuss interactions of melanocortins with other peptide systems, including the opioid system, as potential mediators of pain-alcohol interactions. Therapeutic strategies that target the melanocortin system may mitigate the negative consequences of alcohol misuse during adolescence and/or adulthood, including effects on pain-related outcomes.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Pretus ◽  
Jay Joseph Van Bavel ◽  
William J. Brady ◽  
Elizabeth Ann Harris ◽  
Oscar Vilarroya ◽  
...  

Online misinformation poses a significant threat to global challenges such as pandemics and climate change. To understand what drives individuals to share misinformation, we conducted two pre-registered experiments with conservatives and far-right supporters in the US and Spain (N = 1,609) and a neuroimaging study with far-right supporters in Spain (N = 36). Individuals who felt their personal identity was fused with their political group were more likely to share misinformation, especially around sacred moral issues (e.g., immigration and nationalism). Far-right supporters showed increased activity in brain regions associated with theory of mind in response to posts with sacred values, highlighting the social nature of misinformation sharing. Analytical thinking was unrelated to misinformation sharing around sacred values (vs. non-sacred values) and fact-checks had little or no effect, especially among hyper-partisans. We provide evidence that political devotion plays a key role in misinformation sharing and discuss practical implications of our findings.


2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Pasillas ◽  
Mark Stalnaker ◽  
Jason Deviva ◽  
Andrew Santanello ◽  
Melissa Decker ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Serhii Voitko ◽  
◽  
Yuliia Borodinova ◽  

The article examines the interaction of the national economy of Ukraine with international credit and financial organizations, evaluates the positive and negative consequences and identifies possible areas for further cooperation. The role of international credit and financial organizations in the development of the global economy is analyzed. Today, international financial institutions have taken a leading place among institutions that provide financial support and contribute to the implementation of necessary reforms aimed at developing enterprises in various sectors of the economy and strengthening the country's financial sector as a whole. The importance of cooperation between Ukraine and international financial institutions for the development of the country's economy has been determined. The problems and directions of development of cooperation with leading credit and financial organizations in modern conditions are identified. Despite the presence of certain shortcomings, cooperation between Ukraine and international credit and financial organizations will continue in the future.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armand Chatard ◽  
Margaux Renoux ◽  
Jean Monéger ◽  
Leila Selimbegovic

Research indicates that individuals often deal with mortality salience by affirming beliefs in national or cultural superiority (worldview defense). Because worldview defense may be associated with negative consequences (discrimination), it is important to identify alternative means to deal with death-related thoughts. In line with an embodied terror management perspective, we evaluate for the first time the role of physical warmth in reducing defensive reaction to mortality salience. We predicted that, like social affiliation (social warmth), physical warmth could reduce worldview defense when mortality is salient. In this exploratory (preregistered) study, 202 French participants were primed with death-related thoughts, or an aversive control topic, in a heated room or a non-heated room. The main outcome was worldview defense (ethnocentric bias). We found no main effect of mortality salience on worldview defense. However, physical warmth reduced worldview defense when mortality was salient. Implications for an embodied terror management perspective are discussed.


1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian De Vries

This article introduces a volume devoted to the examination of later-life bereavement: an analysis of variation in cause, course, and consequence. Six articles address and represent this variation and comprise this volume: 1) Prigerson et al. present case histories of the traumatic grief of spouses; 2) Hays et al. highlight the bereavement experiences of siblings in contrast to those spouses and friends; 3) Moss et al. address the role of gender in middle-aged children's responses to parent death; 4) Bower focuses on the language adopted by these adult children in accepting the death of a parent; 5) de Vries et al. explore the long-term, longitudinal effects on the psychological and somatic functioning of parents following the death of an adult child; and 6) Fry presents the short-term and longitudinal reactions of grandparents to the death of a grandchild. A concluding article is offered by de Vries stressing both the unique and common features of these varied bereavement experiences touching on some of the empirical issues and suggesting potential implications and applications.


Author(s):  
Rosamond C. Rodman

Expanding beyond the text of the Bible, this chapter explores instead a piece of political scripture, namely the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Over the last half-decade, the Second Amendment has come to enjoy the status of a kind of scripture-within-scripture. Vaulted to a much more prominent status than it had held in the first 150 years or so of its existence, and having undergone a remarkable shift in what most Americans think it means, the Second Amendment provides an opportunity to examine the linguistic, racial, and gendered modes by which these changes were effected, paying particular attention to the ways in which white children and white women were conscripted into the role of the masculine, frontier-defending US citizen.


Author(s):  
Matthew O. Jackson ◽  
Brian W. Rogers ◽  
Yves Zenou

What is the role of social networks in driving persistent differences between races and genders in education and labor market outcomes? What is the role of homophily in such differences? Why is such homophily seen even if it ends up with negative consequences in terms of labor markets? This chapter discusses social network analysis from the perspective of economics. The chapter is organized around the theme of externalities: the effects that one’s behavior has on others’ welfare. Externalities underlie the interdependencies that make networks interesting to social scientists. This chapter discusses network formation, as well as interactions between people’s behaviors within a given network, and the implications in a variety of settings. Finally, the chapter highlights some empirical challenges inherent in the statistical analysis of network-based data.


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