The brain and the law

Much has been written about how law as an institution has developed to solve many problems that human societies face. Inherent in all of these explanations are models of how humans make decisions. This article discusses what current neuroscience research tells us about the mechanisms of human decision making of particular relevance to law. This research indicates that humans are both more capable of solving many problems than standard economic models predict, but also limited in ways those models ignore. This article discusses how law is both shaped by our cognitive processes and also shapes them. The article considers some of the implications of this research for improving our understanding of how our current legal regimes operate and how the law can be structured to take advantage of our neural mechanisms to improve social welfare.     

中国现生轮藻研究现状

中国是轮藻的主要产地,记有5属、152种、39变种,且半数以上为中国特有种、变种,其研究对世界轮藻研究意义重大。然而我国的相关研究起步晚,虽在20世纪的80年代进行了较为全面的资源调查,但其后的研究几乎处于停顿状态,尽管一些单位在轮藻生理、细胞学、多样性以及现生与化石轮藻研究的相关性等方面有着良好的研究苗头,却未能得到足够的重视,使我国现生轮藻研究大大落后于国际同行。积极寻求项目支持,打开现生轮藻研究新局面是我们的当务之急。     

When should potentially false research findings be considered acceptable?

Ioannidis estimated that most published research findings are false, but he did not indicate when, if at all, potentially false research results may be considered as acceptable to society. We combined our two previously published models to calculate the probability above which research findings may become acceptable. A new model indicates that the probability above which research results should be accepted depends on the expected payback from the research (the benefits) and the inadvertent consequences (the harms). This probability may dramatically change depending on our willingness to tolerate error in accepting false research findings. Our acceptance of research findings changes as a function of what we call "acceptable regret," i.e., our tolerance of making a wrong decision in accepting the research hypothesis. We illustrate our findings by providing a new framework for early stopping rules in clinical research (i.e., when should we accept early findings from a clinical trial indicating the benefits as true?). Obtaining absolute "truth" in research is impossible, and so society has to decide when less-than-perfect results may become acceptable.     

A radiotelemetry system for polysomnographic recordings in lambs

The use of telemetry in biomedical research is rapidly increasing and is soon likely to be standard in research fields where prolonged recordings of multiple physiologic variables are necessary in freely moving animals. We describe our experience with a radiotelemetry system designed in our laboratory for polysomnographic recordings in newborn lambs. The system comprises eight channels: four channels for electromyographic activity of respiratory muscles, and one channel each for electrocorticogram, eye movement, electrocardiogram, and nasal flow. Using this system, we report our experience on the study of respiration and spontaneous apneas in the various states of consciousness, based on more than 500 h of recordings. Addition of radiotelemetry to our armamentarium has proven to be of invaluable help for the study of neonatal apneas and has now become routine in our laboratory.     

Building the contractile ring from the ground up: a lesson in perseverance and scientific creativity

This contribution to the Festschrift for Professor Thomas (Tom) D. Pollard focuses on his work on the elucidation of the protein organization within the cytokinetic nodes, protein assemblies, precursors to the contractile ring. In particular, this work highlights recent discoveries in the molecular organization of the proteins that make the contractile machine in fission yeast using advanced microscopy techniques. One of the main aspects of Tom’s research philosophy that marked my career as one of his trainees is his embrace of interdisciplinary approaches to research. The cost of interdisciplinary research is to be willing to step out of our technical comfort zone to learn a new set of tools. The payoff of interdisciplinary research is the expansion our realm of possibilities by bringing new creative tools and ideas to push our research program forward. The rewarding outcomes of this work under Tom’s mentorship were the molecular model of the cytokinetic node and the development of new techniques to unravel the structure of multi-protein complexes in live cells. Together, these findings open a new set of questions about the mechanism of cytokinesis and provide creative tools to address them.     

中国烟草种质资源分发利用情况分析

烟草种质资源是烟草新品种选育、遗传理论研究、生物技术研究和烟叶生产的宝贵资源和重要战略物资,也是我国烟草行业能否健康快速发展的关键所在。本文详细统计分析了1983-2014年这32年间我国烟草种质资源的分发利用情况,尤其是自2007年国家烟草专卖局正式启动"中国烟草种质资源平台建设"专项以来我国烟草种质资源的利用效果。阐述了当前我国烟草种质资源收集保存和利用研究上存在的问题,并提出了今后加强完善我国烟草种质资源工作的相关对策。旨在为我国烟草种质资源的进一步收集、保存以及更加全面充分的利用提供理论和应用基础。     

Children as means and ends in large-scale medical research

This paper considers the often-expressed fear that medical research may use children merely as means, and not respect them as ends in themselves - especially insofar as they are deemed less able to consent than adults. The main focus is on large-scale genetic, socio-medical and epidemiological research. The theoretical starting point of the paper is that to be treated as an end in oneself is to be regarded as - and to act as - a participant in cooperative endeavours. This participatory status is certainly connected with individual authority to consent and dissent; and there is no doubt that consent plays an important role when adults participate in many research projects. However, insofar as consent is located within structures of human cooperation, the authority to consent is not a straightforward privilege. Rather, consent is bound up with responsibility for one's choices and commitment to shared terms of cooperation. Given this understanding, it is argued that consent should not be our principal concern when we involve children in research. This is not because of children's (possible) incompetence to consent as such, but rather because children are still learning how to respect and assess the cooperative terms involved in our institutional lives. Instead, our leading concern should be with the terms regulating their involvement in research. Given suitable safeguards, research is one way in which children may learn what it is to bear responsibilities and to act as an end in oneself - that is, to cooperate with others on reasonable terms and for worthy ends.     

Using Community-Based Participatory Research Principles to Develop More Understandable Recruitment and Informed Consent Documents in Genomic Research

BackgroundHeart Healthy Lenoir is a transdisciplinary project aimed at creating long-term, sustainable approaches to reduce cardiovascular disease risk disparities in Lenoir County, North Carolina using a design spanning genomic analysis and clinical intervention. We hypothesized that residents of Lenoir County would be unfamiliar and mistrustful of genomic research, and therefore reluctant to participate; additionally, these feelings would be higher in African-Americans.MethodologyTo test our hypothesis, we conducted qualitative research using community-based participatory research principles to ensure our genomic research strategies addressed the needs, priorities, and concerns of the community. African-American (n = 19) and White (n = 16) adults in Lenoir County participated in four focus groups exploring perceptions about genomics and cardiovascular disease. Demographic surveys were administered and a semi-structured interview guide was used to facilitate discussions. The discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed in ATLAS.ti.

Results and Significance

From our analysis, key themes emerged: transparent communication, privacy, participation incentives and barriers, knowledge, and the impact of knowing. African-Americans were more concerned about privacy and community impact compared to Whites, however, African-Americans were still eager to participate in our genomic research project. The results from our formative study were used to improve the informed consent and recruitment processes by: 1) reducing misconceptions of genomic studies; and 2) helping to foster participant understanding and trust with the researchers. Our study demonstrates how community-based participatory research principles can be used to gain deeper insight into the community and increase participation in genomic research studies. Due in part to these efforts 80.3% of eligible African-American participants and 86.9% of eligible White participants enrolled in the Heart Healthy Lenoir Genomics study making our overall enrollment 57.8% African-American. Future research will investigate return of genomic results in the Lenoir community.     

The Green Design Apprenticeship

In order to convey the results of our industrial ecology research to broader audiences, the Green Design Institute research group at Carnegie Mellon University offers the Green Design Apprenticeship for local high school students. The Green Design Apprenticeship introduces participants to industrial ecology concepts and how they intersect with engineering. The content of the program has evolved to include the topics of life cycle assessment, energy and water resources, transportation, and the built environment. The program has resulted in exposing a new generation of scholars to industrial ecology and has also benefited the research of graduate students involved with the program. The process of developing the instructional materials for younger, novice students based on complex industrial ecology research was a challenging task requiring thoughtful and iterative planning. Through the development and delivery of the program, we have experienced awareness of where our own research fits into the larger industrial ecology scope, have improved our communication of complex industrial ecology concepts into simple terms, and have gained valuable insight for engaging students in our teaching.     

The Geographical and Institutional Distribution of Ecological Research in the Tropics

We reviewed 1333 papers published in Biotropica and the Journal of Tropical Ecology from 1995 to 2004. Only 62 percent of tropical countries were represented in our survey, with 62 percent of the publications based on research conducted in only ten countries. Sixty-two percent of papers had lead authors that were based at institutions outside the country where the research was conducted. Cross-national collaboration was limited, accounting for only 28 percent of papers with multiple authors. To evaluate if our choice of focal journals could have biased our results, we also reviewed 652 papers published in Ecology , Oecologia , Conservation Biology , and Biological Conservation for five randomly selected years from the same time period. While some differences in authorship and the geographic distribution of research existed, the results from these journals generally mirrored patterns observed in the two focal ones—almost 54 percent of publications were based on research conducted in only ten countries, and most studies had lead authors from a developed country. The results of our review suggest that the geographical distribution of research in the tropics is unequal, and that some important regions remain understudied. The results also suggest a need for a greater focus on establishing collaborative relationships with scientists from tropical countries.     

The Evolutionary Biology of Musical Rhythm: Was Darwin Wrong?

In The Descent of Man, Darwin speculated that our capacity for musical rhythm reflects basic aspects of brain function broadly shared among animals. Although this remains an appealing idea, it is being challenged by modern cross-species research. This research hints that our capacity to synchronize to a beat, i.e., to move in time with a perceived pulse in a manner that is predictive and flexible across a broad range of tempi, may be shared by only a few other species. Is this really the case? If so, it would have important implications for our understanding of the evolution of human musicality.     

Is wildlife research useful for wildlife conservation in the tropics? A review for Borneo with global implications

The urgency of the tropical biodiversity crisis continues to be a major justification for wildlife research and its funding. To examine the benefits of this research for on-the-ground conservation, we focused on Borneo, where conservation has a long history and we have direct experience. We compiled, categorized and evaluated 284 publications from a broad variety of sources, 153 from peer-reviewed journals. We found that few studies address threats to species and fewer still provide input for or guidance to effective management. We consider various reasons for these shortcomings. Research is seldom judged on its relevance to pragmatic problem solving. Furthermore, many research programs lack the necessary long-term vision and organizational structure for useful applied research. We consulted conservation leaders about our conclusions and all responses suggest that our concerns are not unique to Borneo but reflect wider problems. We conclude that conservation research across most of the tropics is failing to address conservation needs. We make a number of recommendations based on our findings. Conservation biologists should place a higher priority on addressing practical conservation needs and goals.     

Supporting families involved in court cases about life‐sustaining treatment: Working as academics,advocates and activists

This article explores the links between our roles as academics, advocates, and activists, focusing on our research on treatment decisions for patients in vegetative and minimally conscious states. We describe how our work evolved from personal experience through traditional social science research to public engagement activities and then to advocacy and activism. We reflect on the challenges we faced in navigating the relationship between our research, advocacy, and activism, and the implications of these challenges for our research ethics and methodology—giving practical examples of how we worked with research participants, wrote up case studies and developed interventions into legal debates. We also address the implications of the impact agenda—imposed by the British Research Excellence Framework— for our actions as scholar‐activists. Finally, we ask how practicing at the borders of academia, advocacy, and activism can inform research—helping to contextualize, sensitize, and engage theory with practice, leading to a more robust analysis of data and its implications, and helping to ensure a dialogue between research, theory, lived experience, front‐line practice, law, and public policy.     

Snodgrass' urethroplasty in hypospadias surgery in Clinical Hospital Mostar--preliminary report

Amongst the various methods of reconstructing the hypospadic urethra such as the MAGPI, Mathieu's and Preputial island flap urethroplasty method and the Snodgrass method, the latter is being used more frequently nowadays in patients with the urethral meatus located in the proximity of the penis. In the Pediatric ward at Mostar Clinical Hospital, we have recently adopted the Snodgrass method when reconstructing the hypospadic urethra. We herewith present our research regarding the successful results in adopting the aforementioned method. Success was evaluated according to the frequency of post-operative complications, as well as the patients' satisfaction with the functional and the cosmetic result of the urethra reconstruction. The conclusions relating to our research result in an addition basis from which to evaluate whether the Snodgrass method should receive privileged preference in future operative treatment of the hypospadias over others methods, as can be seen from our research.     

Managing the environmental impact of research

The environmental impact of research increasingly needs to be taken into account in design and execution. This makes good financial sense. However, it is especially in the research world as one of the key reasons for doing health research is to improve our knowledge to improve health. Specifically, doing research in a more sustainable way allows us to generate more knowledge with the same resource. Research not only needs to be done increasingly sustainably, but the content of the research needs to direct how we promote health and deliver healthcare in more sustainable ways.     

全球变化背景下陆地植物N/P生态化学计量学研究进展

生态化学计量学理论最早应用在水生生态系统的研究中,但最近20年来在陆地生态系统中也开展了大量的相关研究,特别是关于全球变化背景下陆地植物N/P生态化学计量学方面的研究得到很大的发展,极大地丰富和提升了我们对陆地植物包括生态系统生态过程的认识。就全球变化背景下陆地植物生态化学计量学的研究现状进行了综述,同时以中国科学院华南植物园90周庆为契机,总结我们关于南亚热带森林植物生态化学计量学的研究工作,进而分析当前存在的一些问题并提出今后研究的发展重点,以期促进和推动我园和我国生态化学计量学相关领域的研究。     

The Next Direction for Primatology? A Commentary on Setchell (2013)

Primatologists were asked to submit their “ideas for the Big Questions that remain unanswered in Primatology” and, from this, Setchell (2013) grouped the 170 responses into 11 broad themes. This exercise created a valuable tool that can help primatologists identify both the “missing gaps” and current broad overarching themes within our field. In this commentary, we offer our perspective on the methodology and results of this survey. By considering the 11 themes more holistically, primatologists can more easily address a broader range of questions, methods, and outcomes for their research endeavors and conservation efforts. Ultimately, the results of this survey should enable researchers and policymakers to recognize gaps in our knowledge and plan how to proceed with new research initiatives and funding applications. The identified themes should also provide a reference point for new avenues of investigation, and we are hopeful that this list can encourage interdisciplinary research if primatologists consider the overlaps across the themes. However, as Setchell noted, as some key areas of research were omitted from the list, the 11 themes should be used as a tool for guidance in expanding our research horizons and not as a template for the minimum of what is required.     

Deciding what to observe: Thoughts for a post-WEIRD generation

The evolutionary social sciences (ESSs) are thriving, and seem to have entered a period of normal science. This is a good time to examine our own practices, theoretical and empirical, and to ask how we might improve. Here I review papers published in the past five years in EHB to explore major trends in the field. Theoretically, the popularity of certain topics (cooperation, mating, life history) has led to great progress, but might have narrowed our theoretical vision. Empirically, most research is still conducted in WEIRD populations, with a smaller mode of research in small-scale societies, and very little in the middle. I offer suggestions for broadening our theoretical and empirical scope, centered around the project of constructing a representative map of the human psychological and behavioral phenome.     

Underrepresented Minority High School and College Students Report STEM-Pipeline Sustaining Gains After Participating in the Loma Linda University Summer Health Disparities Research Program

An urgent need exists for graduate and professional schools to establish evidence-based STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) pipeline programs to increase the diversity of the biomedical workforce. An untapped yet promising pool of willing participants are capable high school students that have a strong STEM interest but may lack the skills and the guided mentoring needed to succeed in competitive STEM fields. This study evaluates and compares the impact of the Loma Linda University (LLU) Summer Health Disparities Research Program on high school (HS) and undergraduate (UG) student participants. The primary focus of our summer research experience (SRE) is to enhance the research self-efficacy of the participants by actively involving them in a research project and by providing the students with personalized mentoring and targeted career development activities, including education on health disparities. The results of our study show that our SRE influenced terminal degree intent and increased participant willingness to incorporate research into future careers for both the HS and the UG groups. The quantitative data shows that both the HS and the UG participants reported large, statistically significant gains in self-assessed research skills and research self-efficacy. Both participant groups identified the hands-on research and the mentor experience as the most valuable aspects of our SRE and reported increased science skills, increased confidence in science ability and increased motivation and affirmation to pursue a science career. The follow-up data indicates that 67% of the HS participants and 90% of the UG participants graduated from college with a STEM degree; for those who enrolled in graduate education, 61% and 43% enrolled in LLU, respectively. We conclude that structured SREs can be highly effective STEM strengthening interventions for both UG and HS students and may be a way to measurably increase institutional and biomedical workforce diversity.     

Application of dynamic point process models to cardiovascular control

The development of statistical models that accurately describe the stochastic structure of biological signals is a fast growing area in quantitative research. In developing a novel statistical paradigm based on Bayes' theorem applied to point processes, we are focusing our recent research on characterizing the physiological mechanisms involved in cardiovascular control. Results from a tilt table study point at our statistical framework as a valid model for the heart beat, as generated from complex mechanisms underlying cardiovascular control. The point process analysis provides new quantitative indices that could have important implications for research studies of cardiovascular and autonomic regulation and for monitoring of heart rate and heart rate variability measures in clinical settings.