Behavioral flexibility is manipulatable and it improves flexibility and problem solving in a new context

Behavioral flexibility, the ability to adapt behavior to new circumstances, is thought to play an important role in a species' ability to successfully adapt to new environments and expand its geographic range. However, flexibility is rarely directly tested in species in a way that would allow us to determine how flexibility works and predictions a species' ability to adapt their behavior to new environments. We use great-tailed grackles (a bird species) as a model to investigate this question because they have rapidly expanded their range into North America over the past 140 years. We attempted to manipulate grackle flexibility using colored tube reversal learning to determine whether flexibility is generalizable across contexts (touchscreen reversal learning and multi-access box), whether it is repeatable within individuals and across contexts, and what learning strategies grackles employ. We found that we were able to manipulate flexibility: birds in the manipulated group took fewer trials to pass criterion with increasing reversal number, and they reversed a color preference in fewer trials by the end of their serial reversals compared to control birds who had only one reversal. Flexibility was repeatable within individuals (reversal), but not across contexts (from reversal to multi-access box). The touchscreen reversal experiment did not appear to measure what was measured in the reversal learning experiment with the tubes, and we speculate as to why. One third of the grackles in the manipulated reversal learning group switched from one learning strategy (epsilon-decreasing where they have a long exploration period) to a different strategy (epsilon-first where they quickly shift their preference). A separate analysis showed that the grackles did not use a particular strategy earlier or later in their serial reversals. Posthoc analyses using a model that breaks down performance on the reversal learning task into different components showed that learning to be attracted to an option (phi) more consistently correlated with reversal performance than the rate of deviating from learned attractions that were rewarded (lambda). This result held in simulations and in the data from the grackles: learning rates in the manipulated grackles doubled by the end of the manipulation compared to control grackles, while the rate of deviation slightly decreased. Grackles with intermediate rates of deviation in their last reversal, independently of whether they had gone through the serial reversal manipulation, solved fewer loci on the plastic and wooden multi-access boxes, and those with intermediate learning rates in their last reversal were faster to attempt a new locus on both multi-access boxes. This investigation allowed us to make causal conclusions rather than relying only on correlations: we manipulated reversal learning, which caused changes in a different flexibility measure (multi-access box switch times) and in an innovativeness measure (multi-access box loci solved), as well as validating that the manipulation had an effect on the cognitive ability we think of as flexibility. Understanding how behavioral flexibility causally relates to other traits will allow researchers to develop robust theory about what behavioral flexibility is and when to invoke it as a primary driver in a given context, such as a rapid geographic range expansion. Given our results, flexibility manipulations could be useful in training threatened and endangered species in how to be more flexible. If such a flexibility manipulation was successful, it could then change their behavior in this and other domains, giving them a better chance of succeeding in human modified environments.

The Association of Previous Vaccination with Live-Attenuated Varicella Zoster Vaccine and COVID-19 Positivity: An Israeli Population-Based Study

The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine affords indirect protection against COVID-19, which is presumably due to priming of the innate immune system. It was hypothesized that the live attenuated Varicella Zoster (LAVZ) vaccine, recommended for the elderly population, would also protect against COVID-19 infection. A retrospective population-based cross-sectional study was conducted using the Leumit Health Services (LHS) database. LAVZ-vaccinated patients were matched with controls based on a propensity score model using 1:9 nearest-neighbor matching. Matching was based on age, gender, and the presence of some chronic disorders, which were selected according to their association with COVID-19 infection. Multivariate logistic regression analyses, adjusted for sex, age, smoking status, comorbidities, and chronic medications associated with COVID-19 risk, were used to estimate the association between LAVZ vaccination and COVID-19 RT-PCR results. Subjects (625) vaccinated with LAVZ and RT-PCR-tested for COVID-19 were identified. After 1:9 matching of subjects who received the LAVZ vaccine, 6250 subjects were included in the study. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated a significant and independent negative association between having received the LAVZ vaccine and the likelihood of COVID-19 infection (adjusted OR = 0.47 (95% CI 0.33–0.69, p < 0.001)). This association was further strengthened after separate analysis based on the time of LAVZ vaccination before COVID-19 RT-PCR testing. Individuals aged ≥50 years vaccinated with LAVZ had a decreased likelihood of being tested positive for COVID-19.

Family Medicine and Emergency Redeployment: Unrealized Potential

Background and Objectives: Discussions of scope of practice among family physicians has become a crucial topic amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with new attention to residency training requirements. Family medicine has seen a gradual narrowing of practice due to a host of issues, including physician choice, expanding scope of practice from physician assistants and nurses, an increased emphasis on patient volume, clinical revenue, and residency training competency requirements. We sought to demonstrate the flexibility of the family medicine workforce as shown through their scopes of practice, and argue that this is indication of their potential for redeployment during emergencies. Methods: This study computes scopes of practice for 78,416 family physicians who treat Medicare beneficiaries. We used Evaluation and Management (E/M) codes in Medicare’s 2017 Part-B public use file to calculate volumes of services done across six sites of service per physician. We aggregated counts and proportions of physicians and the E/M services they provided across sites of practice to characterize scope, and performed a separate analysis on rural physicians. Results: The study found most family physicians practicing at a single site, namely, the ambulatory clinic. However, family physicians in rural areas, where need is greater, exhibit broader scope. This suggests that a significant number of family physicians have capacity for COVID-19 deployment into other settings, such as emergency rooms or hospitals. Conclusions: Family physicians are a potential resource for emergency redeployment, however the current breadth of scope for most family physicians is not aligned with current residency training requirements and raises questions about the future of family medicine scope of practice.

A Systematic Review of Neuropsychological Studies Confirms that Adequate Folinic Acid Rescue Prevents Post Methotrexate Neurotoxicity

A comprehensive literature search was performed of all databases of the Web of Science Citation Index, during 1990-2020, for the terms: neuropsychological, neurocognitive, cognitive, acute lymphoblastic (and lymphocytic) leukemia, and osteogenic sarcoma, to see if there was evidence of a correlation between folinic acid (FA) rescue inadequacy and long-term cognitive damage. All English language, peer-reviewed articles of neuropsychological assessments of children who had been treated with high-dose methotrexate without irradiation, and which included details of methotrexate and FA schedules, were selected. Four groups of studies were found and analyzed, Those with no evidence of cognitive deterioration, Those with evidence of cognitive deterioration, studies with more than one protocol grouped together, preventing separate analysis of any protocols, and those with significant serious methodical problems. In all studies, protocols without evidence of cognitive deterioration reported adequate FA rescue, and those with evidence of cognitive deterioration reported inadequate FA rescue.

Parental Chronic Illness, Internalizing Problems in Young Adulthood and the Mediating Role of Adolescent Attachment to Parents: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Parental chronic illness is associated with an elevated risk for developing social-emotional and behavioral problems in children, in particular internalizing symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the associations between parental chronic illness when participants were adolescents and subsequent internalizing symptoms in young adulthood and whether adolescent attachment to parents or peers mediates these associations.Methods: The study used longitudinal survey data from the Youth and Mental Health Study, a cohort study including a representative sample of youth in central Norway assessed in the period from 1999 to 2000 (mean age 14.9 years) and in 2012 (mean age 27.2 years) (N = 1,266). The data consist of youth self-reports at both time points. Parental chronic illness was reported by the adolescents, quality of attachment was measured using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), and internalizing problems were assessed in young adulthood by using the Adult Self-Report (ASR). Data were analyzed using parallel mediation analyses, controlling for adolescent sex, parental socioeconomic status, and divorce. In addition, separate analyses were conducted for adolescent girls and boys.Results: The total longitudinal effect was significant for both maternal and paternal chronic illness on internalizing problems in young adulthood. The direct effect on internalizing problems was only significant for maternal chronic illness. Attachment to fathers partially mediated the relationship between maternal chronic illness in adolescence and internalizing symptoms in young adulthood, whereas attachment to both mothers and fathers fully mediated the relationship between paternal chronic illness in adolescence and internalizing symptoms in young adulthood. A separate analysis for girls and boys indicated that the results were only significant for girls. Parental chronic illness did not play a significant indirect effect via attachment to peers on internalizing problems.Conclusions: Identifying protective factors in the pathways between parental chronic illness and mental distress in children could guide measures that promote the well-being of the child and family. The study demonstrates the importance of targeting the entire family in chronic illness care.

Does The Betting Industry Price Gender? Evidence from Professional Tennis

This research addresses the importance of gender in the pricing process of the sports betting industry. Specifically, we investigate the impact of gender in the prices that bookmakers offer for tennis matches. Despite widespread evidence of gender bias both in the practice of the sport and its media coverage, tennis is one of the sports that has done most to achieve equality. The analysis of 51,881 tennis matches reveals that betting firms quote higher prices for women's matches than for men's, even when considering uncertainty due to the surprise factor and the media attention. The separate analysis of two bookmakers strengthens the evidence for the role of media attention as a source of gender-related information asymmetry.

The Evaluation of Electric Power by Separate Analysis of Fourier Transform Components

This paper presents a substantiation of an approach for the evaluation of components of apparent power and intended to simplify the computational procedures which usually should be implemented in order to process the preliminary sampled waveform of instantaneous power. The results of carried out studies have shown that both active and reactive power can be calculated by the analysis of calculated components of sine and cosine Fourier transforms. This paper also presents the discussion of restrictions, which should be imposed on the duration of the analyzed signal and on frequencies of the auxiliary trigonometric functions, which are applied in order to calculate components of Fourier transform which are used for the evaluation of active and reactive power. The compliance with these restrictions allows us to eliminate the undesirable bias of active and reactive power estimation caused by the refusal from the decomposition of the analyzed waveform of the instantaneous power by applying the complete system of orthogonal trigonometric functions, as the evaluation of components of the apparent power is attained based on separate analysis of sine and cosine Fourier transforms calculated for the analyzed signal. The results of carried out simulations illustrate the frequency dependencies of sine Fourier transform calculated for the case of compliance with the restrictions, which allow to attain the highest accuracy of estimation and for the case when the duration of analyzed signal does not fit these restrictions.

Identification of associated molecular events in Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer through integrated computational analysis of Microarray and RNA-Seq datasets

According to the World Health Organization, Gastric cancer (GC) is the third leading cause of death worldwide, where, the major precursor of cancer progression is infection with Helicobacter pylori. It has been reported that 50% of the total populace is infected with H.pylori, while in 80% the ulcer emerges in later stages of the infection. Although extensive separate analysis has been performed on H.pylori infection and GC data, however, there is a need to perform comparative analysis to identify the cross-talk between the conditions and to hunt significant molecular events that occurs during H.pylori induced GC. The aim of this multi-population study was to identify common molecular events and potential bio-markers against H.pylori induced GC. We performed microarray and RNA-seq analysis on publicly available H.pylori infection, gastritis, H.pylori induced GC and GC datasets to obtain Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs). After obtaining the DEGs, integrative analysis, functional enrichment analysis and network biology approaches were utilized to identify common markers and hub genes between various disease conditions. Functional enrichment analysis revealed the DEGs of H.pylori infection, gastritis, H.pylori induced GC and GC were strongly associated with spliceosome, adherens junction, focal adhesion and ribosome. Being one of the common DEG, and highly interactive hub protein in the networks of all the conditions, translationally controlled tumour protein (TPT1) was identified as a significant predictive biomarker for early prognosis and diagnosis of H.pylori induced GC. Therefore, the mechanisms behind TPT1 should be further studied using in vitro cell-based functional assays, to determine its role in the progression of H.pylori induced GC.

A data-driven prediction model for Fennoscandian wildfires

Wildfires are recurrent natural hazards that affect terrestrial ecosystems, the carbon cycle, climate and society. They are typically hard to predict, as their exact location and occurrence are driven by a variety of factors. Identifying a selection of dominant controls can ultimately improve predictions and projections of wildfires in both the current and a future climate. In this study, we applied a data-driven machine learning approach to identify dominant hydrometeorological factors determining fire occurrence over Fennoscandia, and produced spatiotemporally resolved fire danger probability maps. A random forest learner was applied to predict fire danger probabilities over space and time, using a monthly 2001–2019 satellite-based fire occurrence dataset at a 0.25° spatial grid as the target variable. The final data-driven model slightly outperformed the established Canadian fire weather index (FWI) used for comparison. Half of the 30 potential predictors included in the study were automatically selected for the model. Shallow volumetric soil water anomaly stood out as the dominant predictor, followed by predictors related to temperature and deep volumetric soil water. Using a local fire occurrence record for Norway as target data in a separate analysis, the test set performance increased considerably. This improvement shows the potential of developing reliable data-driven prediction models for regions with a high quality fire occurrence record, and the limitation of using satellite-based fire occurrence data in regions subject to small fires not picked up by satellites. We conclude that data-driven fire prediction models are promising, both as a tool to identify the dominant predictors and for fire danger probability mapping. The derived relationships between wildfires and its compound predictors can further be used to assess potential changes in fire danger probability under future climate scenarios.

Increased Electrical Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube Fibers by Thermal and Voltage Annealing

We report the effect of annealing, both electrical and by applied voltage, on the electrical conductivity of fibers spun from carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Commercial CNT fibers were used as part of a larger goal to better understand the factors that go into making a better electrical conductor from CNT fibers. A study of thermal annealing in a vacuum up to 800 °C was performed on smaller fiber sections along with a separate analysis of voltage annealing up to 7 VDC; both exhibited a sweet spot in the process as determined by a combination of a two-point probe measurement with a nanoprobe, resonant Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Scaled-up tests were then performed in order to translate these results into bulk samples inside a tube furnace, with similar results that indicate the potential for an optimized method of achieving a better conductor sample made from CNT fibers. The results also help to determine the surface effects that need to be overcome in order to achieve this.