A Bayesian spatiotemporal approach to modelling arboviral diseases in Mexico.

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the spatial and temporal patterns of disease prevalence clusters of dengue (DENV), chikungunya (CHIKV) and Zika (ZIKV) virus and how socio-economic and climatic variables simultaneously influence the risk and rate of occurrence of infection in Mexico.

Methods: To determine the spatiotemporal clustering and the effect of climatic and socio-economic covariates on the rate of occurrence of disease and risk in Mexico, we applied correlation methods, seasonal and trend decomposition using locally estimated scatterplot smoothing, hotspot analysis and conditional autoregressive Bayesian models.

Results: We found cases of the disease are decreasing and a significant association between DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV cases and climatic and socio-economic variables.

The Psychological Science Accelerator's COVID-19 rapid-response dataset.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments.

How culturally unique are pandemic effects? Evaluating cultural similarities and differences in effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on COVID impacts.

Despite being bio-epidemiological phenomena, the causes and effects of pandemics are culturally influenced in ways that go beyond national boundaries. However, they are often studied in isolated pockets, and this fact makes it difficult to parse the unique influence of specific cultural psychologies. To help fill in this gap, the present study applies existing cultural theories linear mixed modeling to test the influence of unique cultural factors in a multi-national sample (that moves beyond Western nations) on the effects of age, biological sex, and political beliefs on pandemic outcomes that include adverse financial impacts, adverse resource impacts, adverse psychological impacts, and the health impacts of COVID.

In COVID-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety with Little-to-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence from 84 Countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g.

Validation of a Spanish Translation of the Faceted Inventory of the Five-Factor Model in Two Mexican University Student Samples.

The validity, and thus utility, of psychological instruments requires continued evaluation of their underlying psychometric properties across contexts. Measurement tools have been developed over the past few decades to assess personality constructs developed through various theoretical frameworks. The Big Five has been a particular focus of such inquiry; however, few studies have validated a Spanish version for use in Mexico.

Behavioral Activation System and Early Life Parental Abuse Are Associated with Antisocial Behaviors in Mexican Adolescents.

Antisocial behavior (AB) is a complex phenomenon, predicted by a wide range of biological, environmental, and personality factors. These have high human and economic costs especially in adolescents, highlighting the importance of investigating factors that may be associated with these behaviors. Among the most potent predictors of AB are early life experiences and personality.

Positive University Environment and Agreeableness as Protective Factors Against Antisocial Behavior in Mexican University Students.

Violence in schools is a global issue. Approximately 32% of Mexican students have experienced some form of violence in the school setting in their lives. Previous research has tended to focus on the causes of violence and antisocial behaviors in offenders or adolescent samples and has found evidence to suggest the underlying role of environmental and personal factors.

Attitudes About COVID-19 and Health (ATTACH): Online Survey and Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Behavioral mitigation strategies to slow the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in sweeping lifestyle changes, with short- and long-term psychological, well-being, and quality of life implications. The Attitudes About COVID-19 and Health (ATTACH) study focuses on understanding attitudes and beliefs while considering the impact on mental and physical health and the influence of broader demographic and geographic factors on attitudes, beliefs, and mental health burden.

Objective: In this assessment of our first wave of data collection, we provide baseline cohort description of the ATTACH study participants in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Mexico.

A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased negative emotions and decreased positive emotions globally. Left unchecked, these emotional changes might have a wide array of adverse impacts. To reduce negative emotions and increase positive emotions, we tested the effectiveness of reappraisal, an emotion-regulation strategy that modifies how one thinks about a situation.

Psychological Predictors of Precautionary Behaviors in Response to COVID-19: A Structural Model.

The first lines of defense during an epidemic are behavioral interventions, including stay-at-home measures or precautionary health training, aimed at reducing contact and disease transmission. Examining the psychosocial variables that may lead to greater adoption of such precautionary behaviors is critical. The present study examines predictors of precautionary practices against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 709 Mexican participants from 24 states.

Positive Environments and Precautionary Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Theoretically, a positive environment (PE) includes (a) tangible and intangible resources that satisfy human needs, (b) enablers of healthy, pro-social, and pro-environmental behaviors that guarantee socio-environmental quality and wellbeing, and (c) environmental challenges that must be faced and solved. One of the most salient challenges is the global COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to investigate whether PEs can stimulate responsible actions (i.

To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply?

Over the past 10 years, Oosterhof and Todorov's valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgements of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear whether these findings apply to other regions.

A role for the rs3796863 polymorphism in alcohol and monetary reward: evidence from CD38 knockout mice and alcohol self-administration, [11C]-raclopride binding, and functional MRI in humans.

: Cluster of differentiation 38 (CD38) is a transmembrane protein expressed in dopaminergic reward pathways in the brain, including the nucleus accumbens (NAc). The GG genotype of a common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) within , rs3796863, is associated with increased social reward.: Examine whether rs3796863 and knockout (KO) are associated with reward-related neural and behavioral phenotypes.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genetic variation and early stress moderates amygdala function.

Early life stress may precipitate psychopathology, at least in part, by influencing amygdala function. Converging evidence across species suggests that links between childhood stress and amygdala function may be dependent upon hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function. Using data from college-attending non-Hispanic European-Americans (n=308) who completed the Duke Neurogenetics Study, we examined whether early life stress (ELS) and HPA axis genetic variation interact to predict threat-related amygdala function as well as psychopathology symptoms.

Prediction of striatal D2 receptor binding by DRD2/ANKK1 TaqIA allele status.

In humans, the A1 (T) allele of the dopamine (DA) D2 receptor/ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1 (DRD2/ANKK1) TaqIA (rs1800497) single nucleotide polymorphism has been associated with reduced striatal DA D2/D3 receptor (D2/D3R) availability. However, radioligands used to estimate D2/D3R are displaceable by endogenous DA and are nonselective for D2R, leaving the relationship between TaqIA genotype and D2R specific binding uncertain. Using the positron emission tomography (PET) radioligand, (N-[(11) C]methyl)benperidol ([(11) C]NMB), which is highly selective for D2R over D3R and is not displaceable by endogenous DA, the current study examined whether DRD2/ANKK1 TaqIA genotype predicts D2R specific binding in two independent samples.

COMT Val(158) Met genotype is associated with reward learning: a replication study and meta-analysis.

Identifying mechanisms through which individual differences in reward learning emerge offers an opportunity to understand both a fundamental form of adaptive responding as well as etiological pathways through which aberrant reward learning may contribute to maladaptive behaviors and psychopathology. One candidate mechanism through which individual differences in reward learning may emerge is variability in dopaminergic reinforcement signaling. A common functional polymorphism within the catechol-O-methyl transferase gene (COMT; rs4680, Val(158) Met) has been linked to reward learning, where homozygosity for the Met allele (linked to heightened prefrontal dopamine function and decreased dopamine synthesis in the midbrain) has been associated with relatively increased reward learning.

PER1 rs3027172 Genotype Interacts with Early Life Stress to Predict Problematic Alcohol Use, but Not Reward-Related Ventral Striatum Activity.

Increasing evidence suggests that the circadian and stress regulatory systems contribute to alcohol use disorder (AUD) risk, which may partially arise through effects on reward-related neural function. The C allele of the PER1 rs3027172 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) reduces PER1 expression in cells incubated with cortisol and has been associated with increased risk for adult AUD and problematic drinking among adolescents exposed to high levels of familial psychosocial adversity. Using data from undergraduate students who completed the ongoing Duke Neurogenetics Study (DNS) (n = 665), we tested whether exposure to early life stress (ELS; Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) moderates the association between rs3027172 genotype and later problematic alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) as well as ventral striatum (VS) reactivity to reward (card-guessing task while functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired).

An oxytocin receptor polymorphism predicts amygdala reactivity and antisocial behavior in men.

Variability in oxytocin (OXT) signaling is associated with individual differences in sex-specific social behavior across species. The effects of OXT signaling on social behavior are, in part, mediated through its modulation of amygdala function. Here, we use imaging genetics to examine sex-specific effects of three single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the human oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR; rs1042778, rs53576 and rs2254298) on threat-related amygdala reactivity and social behavior in 406 Caucasians.

Behavioral and self-reported sensitivity to reward are linked to stress-related differences in positive affect.

Despite the high prevalence of stress exposure healthy adaptation or resilience is a common response. Theoretical work and recent empirical evidence suggest that a robust reward system, in part, supports healthy adaptation by preserving positive emotions even under exceptionally stressful circumstances. We tested this prediction by examining empirical relations among behavioral and self-reported measures of sensitivity to reward, trait resilience, and measures of affect in the context of experimentally induced stress.

Stress-related anhedonia is associated with ventral striatum reactivity to reward and transdiagnostic psychiatric symptomatology.

Background: Early life stress (ELS) is consistently associated with increased risk for subsequent psychopathology. Individual differences in neural response to reward may confer vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology. Using data from the ongoing Duke Neurogenetics Study, the present study examined whether reward-related ventral striatum (VS) reactivity moderates the relationship between retrospectively reported ELS and anhedonic symptomatology.

Involvement of the ventral tegmental area in a rodent model of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder of considerable prevalence in individuals who have experienced a traumatic event. Studies of the neural substrate of this disorder have focused on the role of areas such as the hippocampus, the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex. We show that the ventral tegmental area (VTA), which directly modulates these areas, is part of this circuitry.