Additional factors governing specialized cell dynamics based on deductive systems analysis

Summary This paper presents the findings of an engineering style systems analysis performed on the cell in an effort to understand how specialized cell dynamics can be described in an end-to-end manner. Of unique interest is the projection of additional internal cell functions, beyond the many recent discoveries, for facilitating precision growth. Potential cell mechanisms for fulfilling the projected functions are then deduced through comparative systems techniques ANSER is a not-for-profit public service research institute. This paper does not reflect the official opinion of ANSER and the U.S. government.     

Focus: Zoonotic Disease: Health System Contact and Awareness of Zoonotic Diseases: Can it Serve as One Health Entry Point in the Urban Community of Ahmedabad, India?

One Health (OH) is emphasized globally to tackle the (re)emerging issues at the human-animal-ecosystem interface. However, the low awareness about zoonoses remain a challenge in global south, thus this study documented the health system contact and its effect on the awareness level of zoonoses in the urban community of Ahmedabad, India. A community-based household survey was conducted between October 2018 and July 2019. A total of 460 households (HHs) were surveyed from two zones and 23 wards of the city through cluster sampling. A structured, pilot-tested, and researcher-administered questionnaire in the vernacular language was used to collect the information on demographic details, socio-economic details, health-seeking behavior for both the humans and their animals, human and animal health system contact details and the participants’ awareness on selected zoonotic diseases based on the prioritization (rabies, brucellosis, swine flu, and bird flu). Out of 460 surveyed households, 69% of HHs and 59% of HHs had a health system contact to the human and animal health system respectively at the community level. There are multiple health workers active on the community level that could potentially serve as One Health liaisons. The investigation of the knowledge and awareness level of selected zoonotic diseases revealed that 58.5%, 47.6%, and 4.6% know about rabies, swine and/or bird flu, and brucellosis, respectively. The mixed-effect linear regression model indicates that there is no significant effect on the zoonotic disease awareness score with the human health system contact; however, a minimal positive effect with the animal health system contact was evident.     

Multisensory constraints on awareness

Given that multiple senses are often stimulated at the same time, perceptual awareness is most likely to take place in multisensory situations. However, theories of awareness are based on studies and models established for a single sense (mostly vision). Here, we consider the methodological and theoretical challenges raised by taking a multisensory perspective on perceptual awareness. First, we consider how well tasks designed to study unisensory awareness perform when used in multisensory settings, stressing that studies using binocular rivalry, bistable figure perception, continuous flash suppression, the attentional blink, repetition blindness and backward masking can demonstrate multisensory influences on unisensory awareness, but fall short of tackling multisensory awareness directly. Studies interested in the latter phenomenon rely on a method of subjective contrast and can, at best, delineate conditions under which individuals report experiencing a multisensory object or two unisensory objects. As there is not a perfect match between these conditions and those in which multisensory integration and binding occur, the link between awareness and binding advocated for visual information processing needs to be revised for multisensory cases. These challenges point at the need to question the very idea of multisensory awareness.     

Psychophysiological Responses of Female Headache Sufferers and Controls Using a Picture-Viewing Paradigm

Despite the advancement of the biopsychosocial model, the interrelationship between behavioral, emotional, and physiological factors in tension-type headache (TTH) remains unclear. Using a picture-viewing paradigm, the present study investigated differences between females with TTH and controls on physiological reactivity, affective valence and arousal, and oral motor habits. In addition, the concordance between EMG activity and self-reported oral habits (i.e., proprioceptive awareness) and EMG activity and self-reported affect (i.e., affective coherence) were measured using within-subject correlations per individual and then compared between groups. Data were analyzed for 27 TTH sufferers and 27 controls who completed a questionnaire packet followed by a psychophysiological assessment consisting of 3 phases (adaptation, scheduled-viewing, recovery) with EMG activity recorded continuously at 3 sites (frontalis, corrugator, zygomatic). During the scheduled-viewing phase, participants were presented with 24 pictures designed to elicit positive, neutral, and negative affect. Compared to controls, the headache group reported elevations in pain, oral habits, and stress across the 3 phases of the assessment, along with elevations in arousal while viewing the pictures. There were no significant differences between the groups in EMG activity while viewing the pictures. Analyses on concordance revealed partial evidence for poor proprioceptive awareness and affective coherence among the headache group, although the correlations were not significantly different than the control group. These findings suggest that arousal, stress perception, and oral habits may play a role in the pathophysiology of TTH and that within-subject designs should be tested further against group designs when measuring psychophysiological concordance.     

综述: 人脑视觉意识的神经机制

意识的存在决定了人类生命的意义.意识问题被认为是21世纪科学要回答的一个最重要问题.意识科学正在成为认知和心理科学的皇冠,成为基础科学的顶峰.近20年来,随着认知科学、心理科学、神经科学和脑成像技术的发展,人们开始通过实验科学地研究意识问题,特别是与视觉意识相关的研究工作取得了很多重要进展.在这篇综述中,我们对以往的视觉意识研究工作进行了总结,并对未来的研究方向进行了展望.     

Exploring lake user and manager knowledge of aquatic invasive species in New Hampshire freshwater lake systems,USA

Aquatic invasive species (AIS) threaten freshwater ecosystem structure and function worldwide. Such changes trigger a variety of negative impacts on lake recreation and the economics of individuals, towns, and states. Recent studies suggest environmental educational efforts have been an effective tool in raising public awareness of AIS; however, we lack a more general understanding of how public versus manager knowledge of invasive species and their threats to freshwater ecosystems and human livelihoods. To fill this gap, we surveyed New Hampshire lake users and interviewed lake managers to 1) identify the key issues surrounding AIS management; and 2) assess public awareness of the AIS problem and their management at three lakes in New Hampshire. Our interviews with managers suggest that educational outreach is a key mechanism for combatting the AIS problem. The general public surveys further differentiated respondents into two groups that differed demography and in AIS knowledge and concern. Together, our results indicate that AIS management efforts depend heavily on funding, regional cooperation, and commitment of individual managers and lake-users. Blanket outreach campaigns have been effective in expanding the knowledge reach of AIS, but they remain too general to engage the public in AIS spread prevention and eradication. Instead, integrating practices of rapid response and appeals to responsibility norms among lake users is paramount for combatting the AIS problem in this region.     

Challenges in understanding meiosis: fostering metaconceptual awareness among university biology students

ABSTRACT

In this study, firstly, university biology students’ conceptual understanding and potential misconceptions concerning meiosis were studied. Secondly, an easily applicable drawing task was used to foster students’ metaconceptual awareness which would help them to reach conceptual change. A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group was conducted. The students (N = 82) were divided into experimental and control groups. The control groups attended traditional teaching, i.e. lectures with practicals, whilst the experimental groups had an additional activating task before practicals. In the activating task, the students drew the selected phases of meiosis and marked given concepts of meiosis in the drawing. The drawings were scored and the solutions were discussed in detail with the students. After the activating task, the traditional practicals were held for both groups. After a week, both experimental and control groups were given the same task. The results show that students in the experimental group understood meiosis significantly better than the control group, who had more misconceptions after the instruction compared to the experimental group. Thus, fostering students’ metaconceptual awareness is crucial and relatively easy to apply, also in higher education.     

Abdominal Obesity and Ethnic Differences in Diabetes Awareness,Treatment, and Glycemic Control

Objective: To compare racial/ethnic differences in diabetes awareness, treatment, and glycemic control between non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic Americans. We also determined the impact of abdominal obesity on racial/ethnic differences in diabetes awareness, treatment, and glycemic control between these population groups. Research Methods and Procedures: Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) data were utilized for this study. Diabetes awareness was defined as acknowledging diabetic status. Diabetes treatment was defined as current use of anti-diabetic medications, good glycemic control as HbA_1c < 8%, and abdominal obesity as waist circumference larger than expected. The impacts of abdominal obesity on racial/ethnic differences in diabetes awareness, treatment, and glycemic control were assessed using logistic regression analyses. Adjustments were made for age, education, smoking, alcohol intake, and health insurance. Results: Rates of diabetes awareness in whites, blacks, and Hispanics suffering from abdominal obesity were ∼74%, 30%, and 21% in men and 77%, 32%, and 19% in women, respectively. Rates of diabetes treatment were 70%, 23%, and 14% in men and 57%, 45%, and 23% in women, respectively. In men, rates of glycemic control were 64%, 40%, and 30%, and in women, they were 62%, 51%, and 27%, respectively. Abdominal obesity was associated with decreased diabetes awareness and glycemic control in women. Discussion: Subjects with abdominal obesity were found to have poorer glycemic controls compared to those without abdominal obesity. Because diabetes prevalences were partially explained by racial/ethnic differences in diabetes awareness, treatment, and glycemic control, there is a need to craft diabetes awareness, treatment, and control programs along racial/ethnic origins.     

Can binocular rivalry reveal neural correlates of consciousness?

This essay critically examines the extent to which binocular rivalry can provide important clues about the neural correlates of conscious visual perception. Our ideas are presented within the framework of four questions about the use of rivalry for this purpose: (i) what constitutes an adequate comparison condition for gauging rivalry''s impact on awareness, (ii) how can one distinguish abolished awareness from inattention, (iii) when one obtains unequivocal evidence for a causal link between a fluctuating measure of neural activity and fluctuating perceptual states during rivalry, will it generalize to other stimulus conditions and perceptual phenomena and (iv) does such evidence necessarily indicate that this neural activity constitutes a neural correlate of consciousness? While arriving at sceptical answers to these four questions, the essay nonetheless offers some ideas about how a more nuanced utilization of binocular rivalry may still provide fundamental insights about neural dynamics, and glimpses of at least some of the ingredients comprising neural correlates of consciousness, including those involved in perceptual decision-making.