Contributions of feature shapes and surface cues to the recognition and neural representation of facial identity.

A full understanding of face recognition will involve identifying the visual information that is used to discriminate different identities and how this is represented in the brain. The aim of this study was to explore the importance of shape and surface properties in the recognition and neural representation of familiar faces. We used image morphing techniques to generate hybrid faces that mixed shape properties (more specifically, second order spatial configural information as defined by feature positions in the 2D-image) from one identity and surface properties from a different identity.

Efficacy of the Mantram Repetition Program for Insomnia in Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Naturalistic Study.

Statistics show that more than 80% of Veterans mention posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms when seeking treatment. Sleep disturbances and nightmares are among the top 3 presenting problems. Current PTSD trauma-focused therapies generally do not improve sleep disturbances.

The Role of Visual and Semantic Properties in the Emergence of Category-Specific Patterns of Neural Response in the Human Brain.

Brain-imaging studies have found distinct spatial and temporal patterns of response to different object categories across the brain. However, the extent to which these categorical patterns of response reflect higher-level semantic or lower-level visual properties of the stimulus remains unclear. To address this question, we measured patterns of EEG response to intact and scrambled images in the human brain.

Resourcing: An approach used by foreign-born parents struggling on in childhood cancer care.

Purpose: To gain knowledge about foreign-born parents' experiences of dealing with their child's illness and treatment in the context of pediatric cancer care.

Method: Data from 11 individual interviews with foreign-born parents were analyzed using qualitative inductive constant comparative analysis.

Results: To struggle on in childhood cancer care, foreign-born parents engaged in resourcing using various strategies including: information-monitoring, staying strong, support-seeking and concern-focusing.

Contributions of feature shapes and surface cues to the recognition of facial expressions.

Theoretical accounts of face processing often emphasise feature shapes as the primary visual cue to the recognition of facial expressions. However, changes in facial expression also affect the surface properties of the face. In this study, we investigated whether this surface information can also be used in the recognition of facial expression.

Nursing Students' Opinion on the Use of Smartphone Applications (Apps) in Clinical Education and Training: A Study Protocol.

Nurse educators are exploring different mobile technologies to provide additional support to nursing students in clinical practice. However, the view of nursing students on the use of smartphone applications (apps) to enhance clinical education has not been explored. This proposed study will use a self-reported questionnaire to examine the opinions of nursing students on the current and potential use of smartphone apps when training in clinical settings.

Co-Designing Mobile Apps to Assist in Clinical Nursing Education: A Study Protocol.

Mobile applications (apps) to train health professionals is gaining momentum as the benefits of mobile learning (mLearning) are becoming apparent in complex clinical environments. However, most educational apps are generic, off-the-shelf pieces of software that do not take into consideration the unique needs of nursing students. The proposed study will apply a user-centred design process to create a tailored mobile app for nursing students to learn and apply clinical skills in practice.

Using Co-Design with Nursing Students to Create Educational Apps for Clinical Training.

Mobile technology is being trialed in nursing education to support students in clinical practice, as it can provide instant access to high quality educational material at the point of care. However, most educational mobile apps are generic, off-the-shelf applications that do not take into consideration the unique needs of nursing students, who can require personalised software solutions. This study adapted a socio-cognitive engineering approach and through a series of focus groups with final year nursing students explored the co-design process and gained their input on the design and functionality of a clinical skills based educational app.

Bison phylogeography constrains dispersal and viability of the Ice Free Corridor in western Canada.

The Ice Free Corridor has been invoked as a route for Pleistocene human and animal dispersals between eastern Beringia and more southerly areas of North America. Despite the significance of the corridor, there are limited data for when and how this corridor was used. Hypothetical uses of the corridor include: the first expansion of humans from Beringia into the Americas, northward postglacial expansions of fluted point technologies into Beringia, and continued use of the corridor as a contact route between the north and south.

DeepSNVMiner: a sequence analysis tool to detect emergent, rare mutations in subsets of cell populations.

Background. Massively parallel sequencing technology is being used to sequence highly diverse populations of DNA such as that derived from heterogeneous cell mixtures containing both wild-type and disease-related states. At the core of such molecule tagging techniques is the tagging and identification of sequence reads derived from individual input DNA molecules, which must be first computationally disambiguated to generate read groups sharing common sequence tags, with each read group representing a single input DNA molecule.

Heterogeneity of Human Neutrophil CD177 Expression Results from CD177P1 Pseudogene Conversion.

Most humans harbor both CD177neg and CD177pos neutrophils but 1-10% of people are CD177null, placing them at risk for formation of anti-neutrophil antibodies that can cause transfusion-related acute lung injury and neonatal alloimmune neutropenia. By deep sequencing the CD177 locus, we catalogued CD177 single nucleotide variants and identified a novel stop codon in CD177null individuals arising from a single base substitution in exon 7. This is not a mutation in CD177 itself, rather the CD177null phenotype arises when exon 7 of CD177 is supplied entirely by the CD177 pseudogene (CD177P1), which appears to have resulted from allelic gene conversion.

Colleagues as Change Agents: How Department Networks and Opinion Leaders Influence Teaching at a Single Research University.

Relationships with colleagues have the potential to be a source of support for faculty to make meaningful change in how they teach, but the impact of these relationships is poorly understood. We used a mixed-methods approach to investigate the characteristics of faculty who provide colleagues with teaching resources and facilitate change in teaching, how faculty influence one another. Our exploratory investigation was informed by social network theory and research on the impact of opinion leaders within organizations.

Category-selective patterns of neural response in the ventral visual pathway in the absence of categorical information.

Neuroimaging studies have revealed distinct patterns of response to different object categories in the ventral visual pathway. These findings imply that object category is an important organizing principle in this region of visual cortex. However, object categories also differ systematically in their image properties.

Sinonasal glomangiopericytoma: Is anything new?

More than 100 cases of sinonasal hemangiopericytoma have been reported in the literature, but only a handful of cases of nasal glomangiopericytoma. In this article, we report a case of a nasal glomangiopericytoma that was treated with endonasal surgical excision. We also attempt to clarify the confusion that attends to the nomenclature surrounding the terms glomangiopericytoma and hemangiopericytoma, which are often used interchangeably.

Cross-cultural differences and similarities underlying other-race effects for facial identity and expression.

Perceptual advantages for own-race compared to other-race faces have been demonstrated for the recognition of facial identity and expression. However, these effects have not been investigated in the same study with measures that can determine the extent of cross-cultural agreement as well as differences. To address this issue, we used a photo sorting task in which Chinese and Caucasian participants were asked to sort photographs of Chinese or Caucasian faces by identity or by expression.

Multi-site evaluation of a complementary, spiritually-based intervention for Veterans: The Mantram Repetition Program.

Background: Mental and physical symptoms affect Veterans' quality of life. Despite available conventional treatments, an increasing number of Veterans are seeking complementary approaches to symptom management. Research on the Mantram Repetition Program (MRP), a spiritually-based intervention, has shown significant improvements in psychological distress and spiritual well-being in randomized trials.

Modelling the perceptual similarity of facial expressions from image statistics and neural responses.

The ability to perceive facial expressions of emotion is essential for effective social communication. We investigated how the perception of facial expression emerges from the image properties that convey this important social signal, and how neural responses in face-selective brain regions might track these properties. To do this, we measured the perceptual similarity between expressions of basic emotions, and investigated how this is reflected in image measures and in the neural response of different face-selective regions.

Bilateral reversible basal ganglia changes associated with dystonia and hemifacial spasms in central nervous system lupus.

We report a 40-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and associated inflammatory polyarthritis who presented with acute facial dystonic spasms. Her speech was also affected. An MRI brain showed bilateral symmetrical basal ganglia signal change on T2.

Short article: Successful faecal coliform sensitivity-based oral ertapenem therapy for chronic antibiotic-refractory pouchitis: a case series.

Pouchitis is a common complication of restorative proctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis, and a proportion of patients develop a refractory course. The treatment of chronic antibiotic-refractory pouchitis (CARP) is challenging, and treatment failure is often a cause of pouch excision. We report on a series of three patients with CARP who were treated with oral ertapenem following faecal coliform sensitivity testing.

Very-Heavy Precipitation in the Greater New York City Region and Widespread Drought Alleviation Tied to Western US Agriculture.

Observed intensification of precipitation extremes, responsible for extensive societal impacts, are widely attributed to anthropogenic sources, which may include indirect effects of agricultural irrigation. However quantifying the effects of irrigation on far-downstream climate remains a challenge. We use three paired Community Earth System Model simulations to assess mechanisms of irrigation-induced precipitation trends and extremes in the conterminous US and the effect on the terrestrial carbon sink.

Spatial properties of objects predict patterns of neural response in the ventral visual pathway.

Neuroimaging studies have revealed topographically organised patterns of response to different objects in the ventral visual pathway. These patterns are thought to be based on the form of the object. However, it is not clear what dimensions of object form are important.

Reliably Detecting Clinically Important Variants Requires Both Combined Variant Calls and Optimized Filtering Strategies.

A diversity of tools is available for identification of variants from genome sequence data. Given the current complexity of incorporating external software into a genome analysis infrastructure, a tendency exists to rely on the results from a single tool alone. The quality of the output variant calls is highly variable however, depending on factors such as sequence library quality as well as the choice of short-read aligner, variant caller, and variant caller filtering strategy.

[Decision-making processes in nursing and activities at the end of life in intensive care–An international comparative study].

Background: Intensive care units (ICUs) are traditionally settings that offer high technologically advanced treatment for those who are in critical situations due to an illness or accident. Questions regarding the withdrawal and withholding as well as the ending of life sustaining treatment are related to ethical dilemmas. Nurses’ decision-making processes and nursing activities in different countries are scarcely studied.

UHRF1 regulation of the Keap1-Nrf2 pathway in pancreatic cancer contributes to oncogenesis.

The cellular defence protein Nrf2 is a mediator of oncogenesis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and other cancers. However, the control of Nrf2 expression and activity in cancer is not fully understood. We previously reported the absence of Keap1, a pivotal regulator of Nrf2, in ∼70% of PDAC cases.