Seeking American Society of Clinical Oncology-Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (ASCO-QOPI) certification in a northern New England rural health system and cancer care network.

In 2006 following several years of preliminary study, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) launched the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI). This cancer-focused quality initiative evolved considerably over the next decade-and-a-half and is expanding globally. QOPI is undoubtedly the leading standard-bearer for quality cancer care and contemporary medical oncology practice.

BDNF ValMet polymorphism tunes frontolimbic circuitry during affective contextual learning.

Adaptive learning impairments are common in cognitive and behavioral disorders, but the neurogenetic mechanisms supporting human affective learning are poorly understood. We designed a higher-order contextual learning task in which healthy participants genotyped for the ValMet polymorphism of the brain derived neurotropic factor gene (BDNF) were required to choose the member of a picture pair most congruent with the emotion in a previously-viewed facial expression video in order to produce an advantageous monetary outcome. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) identified frontolimbic blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) reactivity that was associated with BDNF ValMet genotype during all three phases of the learning task: aversive and reward-predictive learning, contextually-challenging decision-making, and choice-related monetary loss-avoidance and gain outcomes.

Negotiation of territorial boundaries in a songbird.

How do territorial neighbors resolve the location of their boundaries? We addressed this question by testing the predictions of 2 nonexclusive game theoretical models for competitive signaling: the sequential assessment game and the territorial bargaining game. Our study species, the banded wren, is a neotropical nonmigratory songbird living in densely packed territorial neighborhoods. The males possess repertoires of approximately 25 song types that are largely shared between neighbors and sequentially delivered with variable switching rates.

Convergent BOLD and Beta-Band Activity in Superior Temporal Sulcus and Frontolimbic Circuitry Underpins Human Emotion Cognition.

The processing of social information in the human brain is widely distributed neuroanatomically and finely orchestrated over time. However, a detailed account of the spatiotemporal organization of these key neural underpinnings of human social cognition remains to be elucidated. Here, we applied functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) in the same participants to investigate spatial and temporal neural patterns evoked by viewing videos of facial muscle configurations.

Interactive effects of dehydroepiandrosterone and testosterone on cortical thickness during early brain development.

Humans and the great apes are the only species demonstrated to exhibit adrenarche, a key endocrine event associated with prepubertal increases in the adrenal production of androgens, most significantly dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and to a certain degree testosterone. Adrenarche also coincides with the emergence of the prosocial and neurobehavioral skills of middle childhood and may therefore represent a human-specific stage of development. Both DHEA and testosterone have been reported in animal and in vitro studies to enhance neuronal survival and programmed cell death depending on the timing, dose, and hormonal context involved, and to potentially compete for the same signaling pathways.