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To develop wait time guidelines, case vignettes were designed corresponding to varying levels of clinical urgency based on an objective measure (Western Canada Waitlist Mental Health Priority Criteria). Experts provided maximum acceptable wait times (MAWT) for each vignette. Raters’ estimates of urgency aligned with the vignettes’ designed ranking. “Very high” and “high” clinical urgency cases were assigned a mean MAWT of approximately 2 weeks and a month, respectively. For “moderate” urgent cases, the mean MAWT was 3.5 months, with a MAWT over 4 months estimated for “low” urgency cases. These results may inform local children’s mental health service triage practices.

Bilinguals typically underperform relative to monolinguals in speech-perception-in-noise tasks. However, there is little data comparing bilinguals and monolinguals in other types of difficult listening conditions. Furthermore, such differences are typically investigated using off-line intelligibility accuracy scores, which do not necessarily reflect differences in on-line speech processing. In the current study, pupillometry was used during sentence recognition tasks to index cognitive processing load. Monolingual English listeners and English-dominant simultaneous bilingual listeners heard English sentences in four conditions: American-Accented in Quiet, Turkish-Accented in Quiet, American-Accented in Noise, and Face Mask-Attenuated American-Accented in Quiet. Differences in pupil dilation between groups are expected in the latter three conditions. Data collection is on-going, but preliminary results (N = 40) show bilinguals exert more cognitive effort than monolinguals across all conditions.

Osmolytes are organic solutes that change the protein folding landscape shifting the equilibrium towards the folded state. Herein, we use osmolytes to probe the structuring and aggregation of the intrinsically disordered mutant Huntingtin (mHtt) vis-a-vis the pathogenicity of mHtt on transcription factor function and cell survival. Using an inducible PC12 cell model of Huntington’s disease (HD), we show that stabilizing polyol osmolytes drive the aggregation of Htt103QExon1-EGFP from a diffuse ensemble into inclusion bodies (IBs), whereas the destabilizing osmolyte urea does not. This effect of stabilizing osmolytes is innate, generic, countered by urea, and unaffected by HSP70 and HSC70 knockdown. A qualitatively similar result of osmolyte-induced mHtt IB formation is observed in a conditionally immortalized striatal neuron model of HD, and IB formation correlates with improved survival under stress. Increased expression of diffuse mHtt sequesters the CREB transcription factor to repress CREB-reporter gene activity. This repression is mitigated either by stabilizing osmolytes, which deplete diffuse mHtt or by urea, which negates protein–protein interaction. Our results show that stabilizing polyol osmolytes promote mHtt aggregation, alleviate CREB dysfunction, and promote survival under stress to support the hypothesis that lower molecular weight entities of disease protein are relevant pathogenic species in neurodegeneration.

The Dark Triad traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism have previously been associated with short-term relationship styles and low relationship commitment. Relationship commitment, in turn, has been identified as a reliable predictor of distress following romantic relationship dissolution. It was thus hypothesized that high levels of Dark Triad traits would predict lower break-up distress. Results showed, however, that Machiavellianism and psychopathy showed positive zero-order correlations with break-up distress, and narcissism showed no association with break-up distress. A subsequent pre-registered replication supported these unexpected findings. Implications for future research on the Dark Triad and relationship dissolution are discussed.

Objective Over 50 years of research implicates perfectionism in suicide. Yet the role of perfectionism in suicide needs clarification due to notable between-study inconsistencies in findings, underpowered studies, and uncertainty about whether perfectionism confers risk for suicide. We addressed this by meta-analyzing perfectionism's relationship with suicide ideation and attempts. We also tested whether self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism predicted increased suicide ideation, beyond baseline ideation. Method Our literature search yielded 45 studies (N = 11,747) composed of undergraduates, medical students, community adults, and psychiatric patients. Results Meta-analysis using random effects models revealed perfectionistic concerns (socially prescribed perfectionism, concern over mistakes, doubts about actions, discrepancy, perfectionistic attitudes), perfectionistic strivings (self-oriented perfectionism, personal standards), parental criticism, and parental expectations displayed small-to-moderate positive associations with suicide ideation. Socially prescribed perfectionism also predicted longitudinal increases in suicide ideation. Additionally, perfectionistic concerns, parental criticism, and parental expectations displayed small, positive associations with suicide attempts. Conclusions Results lend credence to theoretical accounts suggesting self-generated and socially based pressures to be perfect are part of the premorbid personality of people prone to suicide ideation and attempts. Perfectionistic strivings' association with suicide ideation also draws into question the notion that such strivings are healthy, adaptive, or advisable.

AIMS In the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, Indigenous women have a lower incidence of breast cancer, but a higher mortality than Non-indigenous women. The aim of this study was to describe and compare breast cancer pathological features related to stage and biological aggression between the two groups. METHODS Subjects were identified by extract from the NT Cancer Registry in two separate cohorts, cohort 1 (1991-2000) and cohort 2 (2001-2010). Data from cohort 1 included age, stage, tumor grade and estrogen receptor status (ER) and treatment completion. Additional pathological variables including tumor size, HER2 status, lymphovascular invasion and derived tumor phenotype were available for cohort 2. Bivariate P values for categoric variables were calculated using Fisher's exact tests. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare cohort 2. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios. RESULTS There were 359 (44 indigenous) eligible women in cohort 1 and 526 (100 indigenous) for cohort 2. In cohort 1, in both cohorts, indigenous women were more likely to present at an advanced stage, but there was no difference in ER status or tumor grade. When derived phenotypes were compared, indigenous women were less likely to have better prognosis luminal A tumors, and more likely to have HER2-enriched tumors. CONCLUSION This two decade long comparison of the pathological features of breast cancer between indigenous and nonindigenous women of the NT has confirmed that Indigenous women not only present at a later stage than NI women but are also afflicted by poorer prognosis tumors, particularly HER2 enriched.

Redirected walking (RDW) is a virtual reality (VR) locomotion technique that enables the exploration of a large virtual environment (VE) within a small physical space via real walking. Thus far, the physical environment has generally been assumed to be rectangular, static, and free of obstacles. However, it is unlikely that real-world locations that may be used for VR fulfill these constraints. In addition, accounting for dynamic obstacles such as people helps increase user safety when the view of the physical world is occluded by a head-mounted display. In this work, we present the design and initial implementation of a RDW planning algorithm that can redirect the user in an irregularly shaped physical environment with dynamically moving obstacles. This represents an important step towards the use of RDW in more dynamic, real-world environments.

Telepresence robots have the potential to improve access to K-12 education for students who are unable to attend school for a variety of reasons. Since previous telepresence research has largely focused on the needs of adult users in workplace settings, it is unknown what challenges must be addressed for these robots to be effective tools in classrooms. In this paper, we seek to better understand how a telepresence robot should function in the classroom when operated by a remote student. Toward this goal, we conducted field sessions in which four designers operated a telepresence robot in a real K-12 classroom. Using the results, we identify key research challenges and present design insights meant to inform the HRI community in particular and robot designers in general.

Curves are a common feature of road infrastructure; however, crashes on road curves are associated with increased risk of injury and fatality to vehicle occupants. Countermeasures require the identification of contributing factors. However, current approaches to identifying contributors use traditional statistical methods and have not used self-reported narrative claim to identify factors related to the driver, vehicle, and environment in a systemic way. Text mining of 3,434 road-curve crash claim records filed between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2005 at a major insurer in Queensland, Australia, was undertaken to identify risk levels and contributing factors. Rough set analysis was used on insurance claim narratives to identify significant contributing factors to crashes and their associated severity. New contributing factors unique to curve crashes were identified (e.g., tree, phone, oversteer) in addition to those previously identified via traditional statistical analysis of police and licensing auth...

Theoretical accounts suggest an important relationship between perfectionism and narcissism, and 25 years of research has tested these accounts. We meta-analyzed this literature, providing the most comprehensive test of the perfectionism-narcissism relationship to date. Thirty studies were located (N = 9,091). After controlling for overlap among perfectionism dimensions, random-effects meta-analysis indicated self-oriented perfectionism, other-oriented perfectionism, and perfectionistic self-promotion were related to narcissistic grandiosity, whereas socially prescribed perfectionism, perfectionistic self-promotion, and nondisclosure of imperfection were related to narcissistic vulnerability. Results suggest grandiose narcissists strive toward lofty goals, impose unrealistic demands on others, and promote an image of perfection. Results also suggest vulnerable narcissists actively promote an image of infallibility while defensively concealing imperfections in response to perceptions of others as demanding.

Background To investigate the impact of exogenous covert attention on chromatic (blue and red) and achromatic visual perception in adults with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Exogenous covert attention, which is a transient, automatic, stimulus-driven form of attention, is a key mechanism for selecting relevant information in visual arrays. Methods 30 adults diagnosed with ADHD and 30 healthy adults, matched on age and gender, performed a psychophysical task designed to measure the effects of exogenous covert attention on perceived color saturation (blue, red) and contrast sensitivity. Results The effects of exogenous covert attention on perceived blue and red saturation levels and contrast sensitivity were similar in both groups, with no differences between males and females. Specifically, exogenous covert attention enhanced the perception of blue saturation and contrast sensitivity, but it had no effect on the perception of red saturation. Conclusion The findings suggest that exogenous covert attention is intact in adults with ADHD and does not account for the observed impairments in the perception of chromatic (blue and red) saturation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1744-9081-10-39) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objective To determine whether TIA-1 differentially regulates the production of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) in macrophages and lymphocytes. Methods Peritoneal macrophages derived from wild-type and TIA-1−/− mice were cultured in the absence or presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) before comparison of the production of TNFα protein by intracellular flow cytometry and the secretion of TNFα protein by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In parallel experiments, splenocytes were cultured in the absence or presence of concanavalin A (Con A), phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)/ionomycin, or anti-CD3/anti-CD28 before comparing the production of TNFα protein. Finally, the relative expression of TIA-1 protein in macrophages and splenocytes was compared using immunoblotting analysis. Results LPS-activated peritoneal macrophages derived from TIA-1−/− mice produced significantly more TNFα than macrophages from wild-type controls. In contrast, splenic lymphocytes (CD3+, CD4+, or CD8+) derived from wild-type and TIA-1−/− mice produced similar amounts of TNFα in response to Con A, PMA/ionomycin, or anti-CD3/anti-CD28. Lymphocytes and macrophages expressed similar amounts of TIA-1 protein, indicating that differential expression of TIA-1 cannot account for these results. Conclusion TIA-1 is the target of a regulatory pathway that operates in activated macrophages, but not in activated lymphocytes. Developing drugs that target this pathway might prevent the pathologic overexpression of TNFα without subverting the T lymphocyte response to microbial pathogens.

Mammalian stress granules (SGs) harbor untranslated mRNAs that accumulate in cells exposed to environmental stress. Drugs that stabilize polysomes (emetine) inhibit the assembly of SGs, whereas drugs that destabilize polysomes (puromycin) promote the assembly of SGs. Moreover, emetine dissolves preformed SGs as it promotes the assembly of polysomes, suggesting that these mRNP species (i.e., SGs and polysomes) exist in equilibrium. We used green flourescent protein–tagged SG-associated RNA-binding proteins (specifically, TIA-1 and poly[A] binding protein [PABP-I]) to monitor SG assembly, disassembly, and turnover in live cells. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching shows that both TIA-1 and PABP-I rapidly and continuously shuttle in and out of SGs, indicating that the assembly of SGs is a highly dynamic process. This unexpected result leads us to propose that mammalian SGs are sites at which untranslated mRNAs are sorted and processed for either reinitiation, degradation, or packaging into stable nonpolysomal mRNP complexes. A truncation mutant of TIA-1 (TIA-1ΔRRM), which acts as a transdominant inhibitor of SG assembly, promotes the expression of cotransfected reporter genes in COS transfectants, suggesting that this process of mRNA triage might, directly or indirectly, influence protein expression.

The TIA-1-interacting protein Fas-activated serine/threonine phosphoprotein (FAST) is a component of a signaling cascade that is initiated by ligation of the Fas receptor. Immunofluorescence microscopy using affinity-purified antibodies raised against recombinant FAST reveals that the endogenous protein associates with mitochondria. Subcellular fractionation confirms that FAST is a component of mitochondria. FAST is tethered to mitochondria by a lysine/arginine-rich domain at its carboxyl terminus that is structurally similar to the mitochondrial tethering motifs of monoamine oxidase B and cytochrome b5. At the mitochondrial membrane, FAST interacts with BCL-XL. The BCL-XL binding domain maps to a BCL-2-homology-3 (BH3)-related domain that is distinct from the mitochondrial-tethering domain (MTD). Although interactions between FAST and BCL-XL require both the BH3-related domain and the MTD, the requirement for mitochondrial tethering can be conferred by a heterologous MTD. Our results suggest that FAST–BCL-XL interactions are likely to regulate mitochondrial metabolism during Fas-induced apoptosis.

Environmental stress-induced phosphorylation of eIF2α inhibits protein translation by reducing the availability of eIF2-GTP-tRNAiMet, the ternary complex that joins initiator tRNAMetto the 43S preinitiation complex. The resulting untranslated mRNA is dynamically routed to discrete cytoplasmic foci known as stress granules (SGs), a process requiring the related RNA-binding proteins TIA-1 and TIAR. SGs appear to be in equilibrium with polysomes, but the nature of this relationship is obscure. We now show that most components of the 48S preinitiation complex (i.e., small, but not large, ribosomal subunits, eIF3, eIF4E, eIF4G) are coordinately recruited to SGs in arsenite-stressed cells. In contrast, eIF2 is not a component of newly assembled SGs. Cells expressing a phosphomimetic mutant (S51D) of eIF2α assemble SGs of similar composition, confirming that the recruitment of these factors is a direct consequence of blocked translational initiation and not due to other effects of arsenite. Surprisingly, phospho-eIF2α is recruited to SGs that are disassembling in cells recovering from arsenite-induced stress. We discuss these results in the context of a translational checkpoint model wherein TIA and eIF2 are functional antagonists of translational initiation, and in which lack of ternary complex drives SG assembly.

Objetivo: Se investigo la vision de color y la funcion visual en la vida cotidiana auto-reportada de los jovenes adultos con trastorno de deficit de atencion con hiperactividad (TDAH). Metodo: Participaron 30 jovenes adultos con TDAH y 30 controles equiparados por edad y sexo. Fueron evaluados individualmente, debiendo completar el "Vision Activities Questionnaire (VAQ)-Cuestionario de Actividades Visuales, la prueba de 100 tonalidades de Farnsworth-Munsell (FMT) y una prueba rapida de velocidad cognitiva (AQT). Resultados: El grupo de TDAH reporto una proporcion superior de problemas en 4 de las 8 areas del VAQ: percepcion de profundidad, vision periferica, busqueda visual y velocidad de procesamiento visual. Los analisis adicionales de las cuestiones del VAQ revelaron que el grupo de TDAH reflejo mas problemas visuales asociados a la conduccion que el grupo de control. Las dificultades de percepcion del color en la prueba FMT se restringieron al espectro del azul en el grupo de TDAH. Los resultados de FMT y AQT revelaron un procesamiento mas lento de los estimulos visuales en el grupo de TDAH. Conclusion: Esta garantizada una amplia investigacion sobre los mecanismos subyacentes de la funcion visual y la vision de color con TDAH, junto con el impacto potencial de estos problemas visuales sobre la conduccion.