Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation normalizes food liking and improves liking ratings in depression

Introduction: The vagus nerve plays a prominent role in the regulation of food reward and energy metabolism. However, previous studies using vagus nerve stimulation yielded conflicting results regarding changes in food reward in healthy participants and participants with major depressive disorder (MDD), for which vagal nerve stimulation is an effective treatment. Methods: We investigated the acute effects of right transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on ratings of liking and wanting of food and non-food items in 63 participants, including 31 patients with MDD. To test for taVNS-induced changes and interactions with between-subject variables group (MDD vs. healthy controls) and questionnaire scores as well as within-subject variables, we performed linear mixed-effects analysis. In addition, we assessed whether individual taVNS-induced changes in food reward ratings were dependent on average ratings.Results: taVNS increased liking of food cues in participants with MDD (p= 0.023), but not in healthy participants (p= 0.657). Specifically, taVNS induced larger improvements in liking ratings with increasing scores of anhedonia (p= 0.029). Notably, across all participants, taVNS reduced the variance of food liking compared to sham, suggesting that taVNS normalizes extreme liking ratings towards moderate levels (p = 0.039).Discussion: Our results show that taVNS acutely ameliorates hedonic responses in MDD suggesting that it could provide an effective treatment of anhedonia. Since anhedonia is difficult to treat with conventional therapies, taVNS may provide a powerful adjuvant to rapidly improve motivational deficiencies.

Parental first concern according to age and type in children with ASD

Background: Developmental problems concerned by parents are a further diagnostic step for children with ASD. Research is needed to find a picture of the child's behavior complained of by parents. Investigations about first concerns among parents of children with ASD and comparisons of the same with children diagnosed with other developmental disorders are rare.Objective: to examine the type and age of parents ‘concern in children with ASD and other developmental disorders.Method:A cross-sectional study was conducted in Child Developmental Centre in Surabaya Indonesia from August 1 to December 30, 2019. T-test and chi-square tests were used to analyze differences in subject variables and types of concern.Result: Most parents of both children diagnosed with ASD and non-ASD indicated first concern were in communication, social skill, and behavior problem. The average age of parents’ first concern of ASD children is 30,14 months. Significant differences were found between ASD and non-ASD groups in communications, behavior, and sensory problem concerns. Conclusion: There is no specific difference between parental concerns of children with ASD and non-ASD children. The average age of first concern was significantly younger for children with an ASD diagnosis than other developmental disorders.Keywords :parent concern, autism, communication.Correspondence :dian_dwisary@yahoo,com

Influence of measurement type and the moment of occurrence of low performance behaviour's on task and citizenship performance appraisal

This research studies whether the moment of occurrence of a task or contextual behaviour with a low performance produces a primacy or recency effect and whether it causes changes in performance appraisal. We also analyzed whether the nature of assessment questionnaire items affects raters’ assessments and how the sequence of questionnaire presentation and completion may do so. Participants were 146 undergraduate students. We used a design with two inter-subject variables (questionnaire presentation and performance sequence) and one within-subject variable (global versus specific questionnaires). Findings show that if a low performance is presented at the beginning of the assessment period, the performance assessment will be more negative. Also, results indicate that task performance appraisals and contextual behaviour assessments are higher and less accurate when performed with a questionnaire that includes global items.

Psychophysically Based Physical Capability Limits For Right Angle Power Tool Operation

A psychophysical methodology was utilized to examine 40 non-skilled female participants performing right-angle power tool (RAPT) fastening tasks. A combination of two between subject variables were examined for a total of four between-subject groups: joint orientation (horizontal and vertical planes) and joint hardness (hard and soft joints). Participants were evenly distributed into one of four joint orientation- hardness groups. Within each group, a combination of three fastening strategies and three fastening frequencies were performed by each participant. The chosen target torque determined the physical capability limits (PCL). A mixed-design repeated analysis of variance with Tukey’ significance post hoc test were used to determine any significance with the measured variables ( p<0.05). Fastening strategy and frequency influenced the chosen torque magnitude. Participants chose significantly higher target torques with the Turbo Tight strategy in comparison to the other two strategies. Furthermore, participants chose to accept lower target torques and forces as fastening frequency increased.

Within-Person Fluctuations of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Implicit Associations: An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Suicide and Self-Harm Risk.

While a number of studies have demonstrated that those with a history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) hold greater implicit associations toward self-harm, no study has examined how these associations change daily. The proposed study was threefold: (1) replicate prior findings that those with a history of NSSI score higher on the implicit association test (IAT), (2) explore whether NSSI-IAT scores change daily, and (3) examine how these changes in NSSI-IAT scores relate to thoughts of NSSI and suicide. A sample of eligible participants completed a series of baseline measures assessing NSSI, depression, and completed the NSSI-IAT. Participants then responded to daily prompts on their mobile device about their thoughts of NSSI and suicide and completed the NSSI-IAT daily in a laboratory. Generalized linear mixed models were conducted to assess within-person variability, as well as between-subject variables in the proposed study. Future research using the NSSI-IAT daily and assessing emotional consequences of participation in studies that use daily-prompting are discussed.

The beneficial effect of physical exercise on inflammatory makers in older individuals

: Old age is associated with a loss of motor functions and a general progressive decline in cognitive functions. Physical exercise is one of the ways in which inflammatory levels in general can be reduced, and therefore physical exercise can be considered a biological aging decelerator. In this article we examine the relationships between physical exercise and inflammatory markers reported for the different physical exercise protocols that have been used in studies with older individuals, as well as the effects of these regimens. The different types of exercises programmed, and methods used to implement them were very heterogeneous in the articles we analysed. Both, the aerobic exercise and resistance training protocols produced a decrease in plasma levels of IL-6, CRP and TNF-α, and an increase of IL10 plasma levels as a chronic effect. However, the acute-response of physical exercise appeared to be an initial increase in IL-6 expression and plasma IL-6 levels. Continuing with these exercise programs usually subsequently achieved a chronic response in which there was a decrease in both the basal levels of IL-6, CRP and TNF-α, and the IL-6 produced as acute responses. Regardless of the type of exercise performed, it seems that the exercise parameters, intensity, duration, subject variables, fitness, and level of inflammation are key factors in achieving the expected balance between pro-inflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines.

Effects of academic results on the perception of competence and self-esteem in students’ training

The goal of this research is to measure, with validated instruments, the corollary links between students’ academic results and the nature of their perceptions of their skills and self-esteem. To accomplish this study, we tested it on 255 student volunteers with an average age of 21 years (91 female students and 164 male students).We opted for two types of surveys: a questionnaire developed by Duclos B, which measures self-esteem in five domains, and a questionnaire on the perception of competence on three domains of training (oral skills, written skills and physical practice skills).The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) is used to assess the intensity of the relationship between the three subject variables. The data were processed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (21). The significance level is set at p < 0.05.These three variables combined in the synthesis of the results confirm the initial hypothesis that there is a correlation but only between a few domains of self-esteem, sense of competence and academic results obtained. Indeed, students in this branch of education have a negative perception of their ‘academic’ and ‘physical’ self-esteem when their academic performance is modest or low. On the other hand, the domains of family, social and overall self-esteem are not influenced, despite modest academic achievement. The result is that even though students display a low sense of competence in the face of modest results during training, their self-esteem in the ‘family and social’ domains stays stable with good scores. Keywords: Academic results, corollary links, perception of competence, self-esteem, training.

Cost-Effective Laboratory Exercises to Teach Principles in the Comparative Analysis of Behavior

The principles of the comparative analysis of behavior are as relevant now as it was in the time of Charles Darwin, George Romanes, and C. Lloyd Morgan. This article presents class exercises using animal and human action figures to provide students with hands-on experience demonstrating the importance of such principles and issues as classification, identification of independent and dependent variables, systematic variation, differences between homologies and analogies, the value of making valid comparisons, the importance of ethics, and the role of environmental and subject variables in the interpretation of species differences. Students are presented with a prescribed sequence of action figures differing in, for example, gender, race, and species. Initially, a single figure is presented, and students asked to consider various questions. A second figure is added which they must compare to the first. A third figure is subsequently presented and so on until the end of the exercise. The figures we have used include men, women, children, rats, pigeons, elephants, and assorted invertebrates. Students report that the exercise is effective in helping them acquire skills in experimental design and issues related to conducting comparisons. They also report that the exercise is difficult because it tests their assumptions at each level of comparison.

The relationship between social sharing sites users’ personality beliefs and purposes of using social sharing sites of university student’s

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between site use intentions and personality beliefs of social network users. The Education faculty students at a private university in North Cyprus were informed about the research and the questionnaires were applied by the researchers to volunteer students. From total of 198 students, 143 (72.2%) were females and 55 (27.8%) males. Socio-demographic Information Form and Personality Belief Scale were used. The results show that participants who reported political opinion had significantly higher scores of schizoid, antisocial and narcissistic personality beliefs than those who did not. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to predict personality beliefs of purpose, sharing and profile information. When the t-test is examined, it is seen that commenting on only the shares of the subject variables is a significant predictor of the narcissistic personality belief. In this study, participants who have narcissistic, passive-aggressive, paranoid and antisocial personality beliefs usually and more frequently share songs on social networks. Keywords: Belief, personality, social networks, university students, social sharing.