Does the Internet Make the World Worse? Depression, Aggression and Polarization in the Social Media Age

Since the 1990s, the influence of the internet and social media in daily communication has skyrocketed. This has brought both remarkable opportunities and perceived perils. Recent years have seen increases in suicide and mental health concerns, political polarization, and online aggression. Can such phenomenon be connected causally to communication via social media? This article reviews the evidence for perceived deleterious effects of social media on several areas of human welfare, including political polarization, depression and suicide, aggression, and cyberbullying. In addition to examining contemporary evidence from psychological studies, a historical analysis is included to examine whether we truly live in a uniquely difficult time or whether similar patterns of social behavior can be witnessed in other, pre-internet times. It is concluded that evidence may link social media to some negative social outcomes but in ways that are nuanced and complicated, often interacting with user motivations and personalities and situational variables. An increased focus on preregistered, standardized scientific methods and cautious interpretation of effect sizes can help clarify real versus phantom effects of social media.

Understanding early auloi: Instruments from Paestum, Pydna and elsewhere

Starting from data on the ‘Paestum’ or ‘Poseidonia’ aulos established by Paul andBarbara Reichlin-Moser and Stelios Psaroudakēs, the ‘Pydna’ aulos, and comparable finds ofearly, mainly six-hole one-hole-shift, doublepipe fragments, possible musical interpretations ofthis important instrument type of the early Classical Period are considered. Probable pitchesand intervals are assessed by means of well-tested software and confirmed experimentally;the required double reeds of a much longer type than known from later periods are shownto be substantiated by iconographic and literary testimony. The harmonic analysis of theinstruments proposes the notion of a rudimentary tetrachordal structure, with equallydivided tetrachords, which is both plausible in terms of music-ethnological parallels and thedevelopment of ancient musical theory. Some of the studied instruments appear to adhereto an early pitch standard, seemingly coinciding with the typical cithara octave. Criticalevaluation of literary sources finally leads to a cautious interpretation as ‘Lydian’ instruments.

A-156 Reliability of the Oral Trail Making Test in a Teleneuropsychology Testing Environment

Objective Despite the growing interest and literature supporting the validity and reliability of teleneuropsychology during the COVID-19 pandemic, little research exists on the reliability of the Oral Trail Making Test (OTMT) administered via videoconference. Previous work examining telephone administration of OTMT found good reliability across formats for Part B, but not Part A, suggesting further reliability studies on OTMT are needed. Method 119 healthy aging controls and 84 individuals with mild cognitive impairment or dementia (M age = 68.37, SD = 9.57; 63% female; M education = 14.08, SD 2.73 years) were administered a brief neuropsychological battery including OTMT in counterbalanced face-to-face (FF) and videoconference (VC) conditions. T-tests and intraclass correlations (ICC’s) were used to compare results between testing conditions across groups. Results Among controls, the mean differences (MD) between conditions on OTMT-A (MD = -1.6, SD = 1.96) and B (MD = 1.6, SD = 54.77) were small, but statistically significant for OTMT-A; p < 0.001 but not OTMT-B (p = 0.749). ICC’s reflected good (0.85) and moderate (0.66) agreement on OTMT-A and B, respectively. Within the cognitively impaired group, mean differences across conditions on OTMT-A (MD = 22.74, SD = 155.44) and OTMT-B (MD = 46.87, SD = 240.65) were nonsignificant (p = 0.18 and 0.08, respectively). ICC’s showed moderate agreement on OTMT-A (0.66) and B (0.53). Conclusions While similar mean OTMT scores were seen across test conditions, SD’s were large. ICC’s were only moderate, and scores on OTMT-A were even more variable than OTMT-B, similar to previous reports. Results support the utility of using the OTMT in teleneuropsychological assessment, but suggest cautious interpretation of findings given the variability in scores seen.

Testing the accuracy of 3D automatic landmarking via genome-wide association studies

Background: Various advances in 3D automatic phenotyping and particularly in landmark-based geometric morphometric methods have been made, but only a few studies have tested the reliability of such automatic procedures in morphometric analyses. It is generally accepted that automatic landmarking compromises the capture of the actual biological variation, and this not only affects its performance to effectively detect differences among sample means but also the structure of covariance matrices. However, no studies have directly tested the actual impact of such landmarking approaches in analyses requiring a large number of specimens and for which the precision of phenotyping is crucial to capture an actual biological signal adequately. Results: Here, we use a recently developed 3D atlas-based automatic landmarking method to test its accuracy in detecting QTLs associated with craniofacial development of the house mouse skull and lower jaws for a large number of specimens (circa 700) that were previously phenotyped via a semi-automatic landmarking method complemented with manual adjustment. We compare both landmarking methods with univariate and multivariate mapping of the skull and the lower jaws. In the univariate mapping, the automatic approach failed to recover the same SNPs and found only 1 out of 17 previously identified QTLs for the skull, but found one new QTL. Similarly, for the lower jaws, the automatic approach failed to recover the same SNPs but found 2 neighbouring SNPs for 1 out of 8 previously identified QTLs. For centroid size, the same general results were recovered by the automatic method for both the skull and lower jaws, with the same peak SNP being found for the lower jaws. In the multivariate mapping, the automatic approach did not detect the same markers nor QTLs having their regions overlapping with the ones identified with the semi-automatic procedure for the skull, while the same marker, which is also the peak SNP and sole QTL, was recovered by the automatic pipeline for lower jaws. Conclusion: Our results confirm the notion that information is lost in the automated landmarking procedure but somewhat dependent on the analyzed structure. The automatic method seems to capture certain types of structures slightly better, such as lower jaws whose shape is almost entirely summarized by its outline and could be assimilated as a 2D flat object. By contrast, the more apparent 3D features exhibited by a structure such as the skull are not adequately captured by the automatic method. We conclude that using 3D atlas-based automatic landmarking methods requires careful consideration of the experimental question and the cautious interpretation of their results.

Transcutaneous auricular VNS applied to experimental pain: A paired behavioral and EEG study using thermonociceptive CO2 laser

Background Transcutaneous auricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation (taVNS) is a non-invasive neurostimulation technique with potential analgesic effects. Several studies based on subjective behavioral responses suggest that taVNS modulates nociception differently with either pro-nociceptive or anti-nociceptive effects. Objective This study aimed to characterize how taVNS alters pain perception, by investigating its effects on event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by different types of spinothalamic and lemniscal somatosensory stimuli, combined with quantitative sensory testing (detection threshold and intensity ratings). Methods We performed 3 experiments designed to study the time-dependent effects of taVNS and compare with standard cervical VNS (cVNS). In Experiment 1, we assessed the effects of taVNS after 3 hours of stimulation. In Experiment 2, we focused on the immediate effects of the duty cycle (OFF vs. ON phases). Experiments 1 and 2 included 22 and 15 healthy participants respectively. Both experiments consisted of a 2-day cross-over protocol, in which subjects received taVNS and sham stimulation sequentially. In addition, subjects received a set of nociceptive (thermonociceptive CO2 laser, mechanical pinprick) and non-nociceptive (vibrotactile, cool) stimuli, for which we recorded detection thresholds, intensity of perception and ERPs. Finally, in Experiment 3, we tested 13 epileptic patients with an implanted cVNS by comparing OFF vs. ON cycles, using a similar experimental procedure. Results Neither taVNS nor cVNS appeared to modulate the cerebral and behavioral aspects of somatosensory perception. Conclusion The potential effect of taVNS on nociception requires a cautious interpretation, as we found no objective change in behavioral and cerebral responses to spinothalamic and lemniscal somatosensory stimulations.

Examining the Legal Legitimacy of Informal Economic Activities

This article explains the disjuncture between formal parliamentary laws and norms of informal economic activities on the basis of a contextual and layered idea of legitimacy. This explanation clarifies a misunderstanding in certain scholarly and policy circles characterising informal economic activities as extra-legal or illegal. The idea of legal legitimacy helps explain divergent normative logics of formal and informal spaces while indicating that informal activities are not performed in a regulatory void. In addition to helping redefine the informal space, the idea also helps clarify the interaction between formal and informal regulation. By employing Jürgen Habermas’ analytical characterisation of society as constitutive of lifeworld(s) and system, and drawing on the empirical literature, the article argues that a cautious interpretation of Habermas’ analytical categorization helps explain the legality of the informal space. If formal laws need to become legitimate for the informal context, they must integrate the contextual standards of legitimacy recognized in the informal space.

The Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 (RT-PCR) Testing

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is estimated to have affected 6.2 million people in the United States and 27.5 million people worldwide as of September 9, 2020. On February 2, 2020, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) determined that the public health emergency justified the development and emergency use of “in vitro diagnostics for the detection and/or diagnosis of the virus that causes COVID-19” by activating the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) authority under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Unfortunately, effective mitigation efforts were thwarted early in the outbreak resulting in an expansion of the initial EUA on February 29, 2020, to improve accessibility to in vitro diagnostic testing. Expectantly, the development and deployment of SARS-CoV-2 testing including RT-PCR expanded rapidly in the weeks following the EUA expansion. These newly developed and approved SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests boast impressive positive and negative agreement rates nearing 100%. Despite the exceptionally high rates of agreement, caution is advised as the RT-PCR tests approved under the COVID-19 EUA are in vitro analyses developed with samples artificially doped with SARS-CoV-2 RNA. These tests therefore do not have clinically applicable sensitivity and specificity because they lack a “gold standard” for diagnosis. Here we present three challenging cases requiring cautious interpretation of the newest generation of RT-PCR molecular detection assays, highlighting the major challenges faced by providers treating patients potentially infected with SARS-CoV-2.