Search

Research has suggested that individuals high in the trait tendency to ruminate have an increased risk for the development of psychopathology. Recent literature has begun to identify how rumination affects cognitive processes in order to document mechanisms of this risk. The current report evaluated the effects of both state and trait rumination on memory processes. Seventy undergraduates selected based on high and low levels of the trait tendency to ruminate completed the retrieval inhibition task. Prior to final recall, participants were randomly assigned to engage in either a rumination or distraction task. Results found that state rumination impaired retrieval-induced forgetting, and trait rumination impaired forgetting of no longer relevant stimuli. Additional analyses suggested that self-report of shifting ability was associated with reduced inhibiting of irrelevant stimuli. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating both state and trait rumination when evaluating the effects of repetitive negative thinking on cognitive processes., Author(s): DeMond M. Grant [sup.1] , Adam C. Mills [sup.1] , Matt R. Judah [sup.1] , Evan J. White [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.65519.3e, 0000 0001 0721 7331, Department of [...]

This paper employs cases to discuss the impact of information, disinformation, and the evolution of scientific data as part of public health policy development in the COVID- 19 pandemic. The two areas of policy development center on (1) risk and public health precautions (e.g., mask mandates, cleaning protocols, and social distancing) and (2) risk and economic/travel policy (e.g., regional economic shutdown, travel restrictions, border closures). Key to the analysis is the understanding of social risk production and public trust in institutions and individuals within those institutions that craft emergency, interim, and long-lasting public policy. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing public trust in government institutions and the management of risks during times of disasters, crises, and pandemics.

The presence of Kobe Bryant will forever loom tall in the annals of American basketball. While some describe it as a game, a business, a series of coupled industries, or an American pastime, we argue that basketball serves as a cultural institution. Moreover, this paper positions Kobe Bryant among the standard-bearers of a social institution rather than a game...and argues that Kobe, for fans, admirers, competitors, and the institutional establishment of basketball, he is part of the embodiment of ideals, hopes, aspiration, and goals of a people as they are expressed through American culture. While the formative years of the career of Kobe Bryant may have been fraught with a series of doubts, uncertainties, and indiscretions, he became the embodiment of a cultural identity, an international icon, and a transformational figure both on and off the basketball court. Additionally, by Bryant being memorialized, in the form of formal and informal memorials and the newly renamed, NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP, his legacy transcends the immediacy of a game or the year of a season and lends to the contributions to basketball as a cultural institution and to the American ideal., Author(s): John Thomas Mills [sup.1] , DeMond Shondell Miller [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.262671.6, 0000 0000 8828 4546, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Program in Africana Studies, Rowan University, , [...]

BackgroundThe present study refers to an anthropometric model, Dahlmann-Body-Analysis (DBA), based on formerly developed weight-height-frame tables. Including the anthropometric variable abdomen circumference (AC), a further differentiation into muscularity and fat mass could be realized. This enables to calculate the individual percentage fat mass (%FM), providing a cost-effective method for epidemiological studies. The present work sets out to investigate, whether %FM computed by the DBA model compares to BIA measurements, notably under conditions of heavy obesity.Subjects/methodsIn 103 adults (37 males, 66 females, age 42.5 ± 12.5 years, BMI 38.2 ± 4.8 kg/m²) %FM was estimated by a tetrapolar BIA device and compared to results derived by the DBA system. Bland-Altman and simple linear regression analyses were used to determine agreement between methods.ResultsThe mean %FM estimates of men (women) ± standard deviation were 36.1 ± 4.8 (49.7 ± 4.5) for BIA and 36.7 ± 4.2 (49.1 ± 4.9) for DBA measurements. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) were r = 0.86 and CCC = 0.84 for men and r = 0.85 and CCC = 0.83 for women, respectively. Bland-Altman plot showed limits of agreement between DBA and BIA %FM that ranged from 5.5% to -4.3% for men and 4.6% to- 5.7% for women, respectively. Correlations between values measured by both methods were high and the observed confidence interval (SD of the difference between DBA and BIA result multiplied by 2) was low. No systematic error was found. The DBA system overestimates FM by 0.63 ± 4.98 (2SD) % for men and underestimates FM by -0.56 ± 5.28 (2SD) % for women, respectively, compared to the BIA results. The result for both genders is -0.066 ± 5.17 (2SD) %FM. Over all, there is a strong concordance and reproducibility between the DBA and BIA data sets.ConclusionsThe implementation of the abdomen circumference (AC) into the DBA model as a proxy for body fat (%FM) resulted in a strong concordance with BIA measurements. These findings indicate that the DBA model may reflect the body shape of severely obese white European patients with regard to body composition.

Objective: Research has demonstrated that a lack of social support is related to suicide risk. This study examines perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, as mechanisms of the social support-suicide relationship in college students. Method: The study consisted of 207 students from a Midwestern university. Data were collected from 2007 to 2008. Two multiple mediation analyses were conducted to examine whether perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness mediated the relationship between indices of social support and suicide ideation. Results: Perceived burdensomeness mediated the relationships between perceived social support and suicide ideation (95% confidence interval [CI] -0.02 to -0.00, effect size = -0.01) and social connectedness and suicide ideation (95% CI -0.03 to -0.00, effect size = -0.03). Thwarted belongingness did not mediate either relationship. Conclusions: Results suggest that a lack of social support could lead to perceptions of being a burden on others, which could lead to suicide ideation.

Abstract Background Maternal effect mutations in the components of the subcortical maternal complex (SCMC) of the human oocyte can cause early embryonic failure, gestational abnormalities and recurrent pregnancy loss. Enigmatically, they are also associated with DNA methylation abnormalities at imprinted genes in conceptuses: in the devastating gestational abnormality biparental complete hydatidiform mole (BiCHM) or in multi-locus imprinting disease (MLID). However, the developmental timing, genomic extent and mechanistic basis of these imprinting defects are unknown. The rarity of these disorders and the possibility that methylation defects originate in oocytes have made these questions very challenging to address. Methods Single-cell bisulphite sequencing (scBS-seq) was used to assess methylation in oocytes from a patient with BiCHM identified to be homozygous for an inactivating mutation in the human SCMC component KHDC3L. Genome-wide methylation analysis of a preimplantation embryo and molar tissue from the same patient was also performed. Results High-coverage scBS-seq libraries were obtained from five KHDC3L c.1A>G oocytes, which revealed a genome-wide deficit of DNA methylation compared with normal human oocytes. Importantly, germline differentially methylated regions (gDMRs) of imprinted genes were affected similarly to other sequence features that normally become methylated in oocytes, indicating no selectivity towards imprinted genes. A range of methylation losses was observed across genomic features, including gDMRs, indicating variable sensitivity to defects in the SCMC. Genome-wide analysis of a pre-implantation embryo and molar tissue from the same patient showed that following fertilisation methylation defects at imprinted genes persist, while most non-imprinted regions of the genome recover near-normal methylation post-implantation. Conclusions We show for the first time that the integrity of the SCMC is essential for de novo methylation in the female germline. These findings have important implications for understanding the role of the SCMC in DNA methylation and for the origin of imprinting defects, for counselling affected families, and will help inform future therapeutic approaches.

The mammalian genome experiences profound setting and resetting of epigenetic patterns during the life-course. This is understood best for DNA methylation: the specification of germ cells, gametogenesis, and early embryo development are characterised by phases of widespread erasure and rewriting of methylation. While mitigating against intergenerational transmission of epigenetic information, these processes must also ensure correct genomic imprinting that depends on faithful and long-term memory of gamete-derived methylation states in the next generation. This underscores the importance of understanding the mechanisms of methylation programming in the germline. De novo methylation in the oocyte is of particular interest because of its intimate association with transcription, which results in a bimodal methylome unique amongst mammalian cells. Moreover, this methylation landscape is entirely set up in a non-dividing cell, making the oocyte a fascinating model system in which to explore mechanistic determinants of methylation. Here, we summarise current knowledge on the oocyte DNA methylome and how it is established, focussing on recent insights from knockout models in the mouse that explore the interplay between methylation and chromatin states. We also highlight some remaining paradoxes and enigmas, in particular the involvement of non-nuclear factors for correct de novo methylation.