Increasing cognitive load attenuates the moderating effect of attentional inhibition on the relationship between posttraumatic stress symptoms and threat-related attention bias variability.

Theory and empirical evidence suggest that those with higher posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and better attentional control (i.e., the strategic control of higher-order executive attention in regulating bottom-up, stimulus driven responses to prepotent stimuli; Sarapas et al.

Individual differences in attentional control explain the differential expression of threat-related attentional bias among those with posttraumatic stress symptomatology and predict symptom maintenance up to one year later.

Individual differences in attentional control may explain null findings and inconsistent patterns of threat-related attentional bias (ABT) that are common in the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) literature. At Time 1 (T1), trauma-exposed community participants (N = 89) completed a clinical interview, self-report measures, and an eye-tracking task developed to assess ABT. Participants completed follow-up assessments online 6 (T2) and 12 (T3) months later.

Allocation of attention to scenes of peer harassment: Visual-cognitive moderators of the link between peer victimization and aggression.

As approximately one-third of peer-victimized children evidence heightened aggression (Schwartz, Proctor, & Chien, 2001), it is imperative to identify the circumstances under which victimization and aggression co-develop. The current study explored two potential moderators of victimization-aggression linkages: (a) attentional bias toward cues signaling threat and (b) attentional bais toward cues communicating interpersonal support. Seventy-two fifth- and sixth-grade children (34 boys; Mage = 11.

On the taxonomy of the genus Mulsant, stat. nov. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae: Chnoodini) with descriptions of new species from Brazil.

The subgenus Sidonis Mulsant, 1850 is elevated to generic status and two new species from Brazil are described and illustrated: Sidonis bira sp. nov. and Sidonis biguttata sp.

Visual Attention to Dynamic Scenes of Ambiguous Provocation and Children's Aggressive Behavior.

Research on biases in attention related to children's aggression has yielded mixed results. Some research suggests that inattention to social cues and reliance on maladaptive social schemas underlie aggression. Other research suggests that maladaptive social schemas lead aggressive individuals to attend to nonhostile cues.

Saccade latency reveals episodic representation of object color.

While previous studies suggest that identity, but not color, plays a role in episodic object representation, such studies have typically used tasks in which only identity is relevant, raising the possibility that the results reflect task demands, rather than the general principles that underlie object representation. In the present study, participants viewed a preview display containing one (Experiments 1 and 2) or two (Experiment 3) letters, then viewed a target display containing a single letter, in either the same or a different location. Participants executed an immediate saccade to fixate the target; saccade latency served as the dependent variable.

Contextual influences on rapid object categorization in natural scenes.

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of scene context on rapid object recognition using both behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Participants performed an animal/non-animal go/no-go categorization task in which they had to decide whether or not a flashed scene contained an animal. Moreover, the influence of scene context was manipulated either by retaining, deleting, or phase-randomizing the original scene background.

Anger as Seeing Red: Perceptual Sources of Evidence.

A class of metaphors links the experience of anger to perceptions of redness. Whether such metaphors have significant implications for understanding perception is not known. In Experiment 1, anger (versus sadness) concepts were primed and it was found that priming anger concepts led individuals to be more likely to perceive the color red.

Episodic Representation of Diagnostic and Non-Diagnostic Object Color.

In three experiments, we investigated transsaccadic object file representations. In each experiment, participants moved their eyes from a central fixation cross to a saccade target located between two peripheral objects. During the saccade, this preview display was replaced with a target display containing a single object to be named.

The influence of location and visual features on visual object memory.

In five experiments, we examined the influence of contextual objects' location and visual features on visual memory. Participants' visual memory was tested with a change detection task in which they had to judge whether the orientation (Experiments 1A, 1B, and 2) or color (Experiments 3A and 3B) of a target object was the same. Furthermore, contextual objects' locations and visual features were manipulated in the test image.

Potential of emerging immunosuppressive strategies to improve the posttransplant cardiovascular risk profile.

Currently used immunosuppressants exacerbate cardiovascular risk. However, attempts to limit the use of these agents increase the risk of allograft rejection. Immunosuppressants targeting signal 2 and signal 3 lymphocyte activation pathways are under clinical development.

Pretransplant cardiovascular evaluation and posttransplant cardiovascular risk.

Modern immunosuppression has expanded access to kidney transplantation by limiting the risk of rejection. However, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the principal cause of death with a functioning graft, threatening the long-term survival of transplant recipients. The article reviews the leading risk factors for cardiovascular morbidity both before and after kidney transplantation.

The Effect of Spatial and Nonspatial Contextual Information on Visual Object Memory.

Recent research has found visual object memory can be stored as part of a larger scene representation rather than independently of scene context. The present study examined how spatial and nonspatial contextual information modulate visual object memory. Two experiments tested participants' visual memory by using a change detection task in which a target object's orientation was either the same as it appeared during initial viewing or changed.

Attention to smoking-related and incongruous objects during scene viewing.

This study examined the influences of semantic characteristics of objects in real-world scenes on allocation of attention as reflected in eye movement measures. Stimuli consisted of full-color photographic scenes, and within each scene, the semantic salience of two target objects was manipulated while the objects' perceptual salience was kept constant. One of the target objects was either inconsistent or consistent with the scene category.

Object continuity and the transsaccadic representation of form.

Transsaccadic object file representations were investigated in three experiments. Subjects moved their eyes from a central fixation cross to a location between two peripheral objects. During the saccade, this preview display was replaced with a target display containing a single object to be named.

Tracking the Evil Eye: Trait Anger and Selective Attention within Ambiguously Hostile Scenes.

Previous research has shown that trait anger is associated with biases in attention and interpretation, but the temporal relation between these two types of biases remains unresolved. Indeed, two very different models can be derived from the literature. One model proposes that interpretation biases emerge from earlier biases in attention, whereas the other model proposes that hostile interpretations occur quickly, even prior to the allocation of attention to specific cues.

Selective attention during scene perception: evidence from negative priming.

In two experiments, we examined the role of semantic scene content in guiding attention during scene viewing. In each experiment, performance on a lexical decision task was measured following the brief presentation of a scene. The lexical decision stimulus named an object that was either present or not present in the scene.

The emergence of chemical genomics in drug discovery.

The interaction of small organic molecules with proteins and other macromolecules is fundamental to drug action. Chemical genomics employs a combination of chemistry, genomics and informatics to study these drug-target interactions in a systematic and global manner in order to improve the efficiency of the drug discovery process.

Daclizumab to prevent rejection after cardiac transplantation.

Background: Daclizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody against the interleukin-2 receptor, reduced the risk of rejection without increasing the risk of infection among renal-transplant recipients and, in a single-center trial, among cardiac-transplant recipients. We conducted a multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind study to confirm these results in cardiac-transplant patients.

Methods: We randomly assigned 434 recipients of a first cardiac transplant treated with standard immunosuppression (cyclosporine, mycophenolate mofetil, and corticosteroids) to receive five doses of daclizumab or placebo.

Mycophenolate mofetil vs. azathioprine is associated with decreased acute rejection, late acute rejection, and risk for cardiovascular death in renal transplant recipients with pre-transplant diabetes.

Outcomes specifically in mycophenolate mofetil (MMF)-treated diabetic renal transplant patients have not been previously reported. This study compared acute rejection (AR), late acute rejection (LAR), patient survival [and specifically death from cardiovascular (CV), infectious and malignant causes], incidence of post-transplant malignancies, and graft loss in MMF- or azathioprine (AZA)-treated renal transplant patients with pre-transplant diabetes. Outcomes were compared between MMF- (n = 14 144) and AZA- (n = 3001) treated diabetic patients using the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data on all U.

Differential effects of donor age in liver transplant recipients infected with hepatitis B, hepatitis C and without viral hepatitis.

The variable impact of specific risk factors on survival outcomes based on pre-transplantation diagnosis was analyzed in adult liver transplant recipients reported to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients: 778 with hepatitis B (HBV), 3463 with hepatitis C (HCV) and 7429 without viral hepatitis. Graft and patient survival for the HBV and no viral hepatitis groups did not differ significantly. The HCV group had significantly lower graft (p = 0.

Sirolimus with neoral versus mycophenolate mofetil with neoral is associated with decreased renal allograft survival.

To evaluate the association between a regimen of cyclosporine microemulsion (CsA) + sirolimus (Rapa) treatment versus CsA and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and renal allograft survival, we analyzed 23 016 primary recipients reported to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients between January 1, 1998 and July 26, 2003. Univariate Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models correcting for demographic and clinical covariates were used to estimate the relative risks for CsA+Rapa versus CsA+MMF-treated patients reaching study endpoints. Subgroup analyses were conducted for recipient ethnicity and donor type.

Mycophenolate mofetil vs azathioprine in a large population of elderly renal transplant patients.

Background: Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has been shown to decrease acute rejection episodes after kidney transplantation, and has been associated with better graft and patient survival vs azathioprine (AZA). Previous studies reported a higher risk of death due to infection in elderly recipients treated with MMF-based immunosuppression.

Methods: We analysed 5069 elderly ( > 65 years of age) primary renal allograft recipients treated with either MMF or AZA reported to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients between 1988 and 2000, and compared rates of acute rejection, late acute rejection, graft survival, death-censored graft survival, patient survival and death with a functioning graft.

Attentional allocation during the perception of scenes.

Semantic influences on attention during the 1st fixation on a scene were explored in 3 experiments. Subjects viewed briefly presented scenes; following scene presentation, a spatial probe was presented at the location of an object whose identity was consistent or inconsistent with the scene category. Responses to the probe served as an index of attention.