While theoretical connections between social inequity and boredom have been established, empirical evidence is lacking. Inequity aversion is important in this relationship. If individuals believe that the amount of work invested in pursuing an outcome has been unfairly devalued in relation to the investment of others, they may feel that their investment is greater than the outcome's worth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImpulsive choice is associated with both cocaine use and relapse. Little is known about the influence of transient states on impulsive choice in people who use cocaine (PWUC). This study investigated the direct effects of induced boredom on impulsive choice (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThroughout the COVID-19 pandemic, studies have demonstrated increases in boredom and its negative impact on mental health. This cross-sectional study examines state and trait boredom at four different points of the pandemic using an online sample of participants from the United States ( = 783). The results showed significant increases in boredom proneness, state boredom, substance use, loneliness, and distress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Hoarding disorder in older adults often develops in the context of co-occurring psychosocial maladies, and treatment response tends to be suboptimal. This preliminary investigation explored several ageing-related factors and their relationship to hoarding symptom severity (HSS), and examined treatment response to 15 sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with in-home support.
Methods: Twenty-nine participants (Mage = 67) completed self-report questionnaires measuring HSS, self-control, indecisiveness, depression, loneliness, social support and boredom, before (T1) and after (T2) treatment.
Background: We tested a new, investigational robotic-assisted bronchoscope system with a remotely controlled catheter to access small peripheral bronchi with real-time driving under live visualization and distal tip articulation of the catheter. The unique catheter remains stationary once located at the biopsy position.
Objectives: The primary objectives of this study were to evaluate the safety and feasibility of a new shape-sensing robotic bronchoscope system to bronchoscopically approach and facilitate the sampling of small peripheral pulmonary nodules of 1-3 cm.
Background: Residents in training have high rates of depression and are reluctant to seek treatment. The goal of the study was to conduct a survey with a high response rate to better understand resident attitudes about mental health.
Methods: A multi-site study of residents from three teaching hospitals in the USA completed a 21-item anonymous questionnaire, on their smartphones, during mandatory lecture sessions.
Objective: Intrusive negative affect and concurrent deficits in positive affect are hallmarks of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We sought to further extend the extant literature by exploring the experience of negative affect intrusion upon potentially positive situations (here termed, "negative affect interference," NAI).
Method: Two studies with adults endorsing at least 1 traumatic event (Study 1, N = 294; Study 2, N = 286) examined how NAI and more general hedonic deficits (HD) relate to psychopathology, trauma exposure characteristics, and ratings of normed visual stimuli.
Objective: To compare NASHA hyaluronic acid gel as single-injection intra-articular (IA) treatment for knee osteoarthritis (OA) against methylprednisolone acetate (MPA).
Design: This was a prospective, multi-centre, randomized, active-controlled, double-blind, non-inferiority clinical trial. A unique, open-label extension phase (OLE) was undertaken to answer further important clinical questions.
Objective: NASHA hyaluronic acid is administered as a single intra-articular injection to treat the symptoms of osteoarthritis (OA). In a previous trial, post-hoc analysis indicated that NASHA provides significantly greater pain relief than saline in patients with OA confined to the study knee. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of NASHA in patients with unilateral knee OA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRetin Cases Brief Rep
November 2014
Purpose: To report a case of syphilitic chorioretinitis mimicking an anterior chiasmal syndrome.
Methods: Observational case report.
Results: A 74-year-old man with a remote history of syphilitic chorioretinitis was noted to have an apparent junctional scotoma on a screening Humphrey visual field.
J Cataract Refract Surg
December 2011
Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg
September 2011
Purpose: To investigate age and frontal sinusitis as indications for the surgical management of pediatric orbital cellulitis with subperiosteal abscess (SPA) and to create an SPA volume criterion that would favor nonsurgical management.
Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed to find all patients age 18 years and younger who presented to Hasbro Children's Hospital with orbital cellulitis secondary to sinusitis with an SPA from 2005 to 2009. SPA volume was measured using a CT ruler at the largest axial, coronal, and sagittal dimensions.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage
May 2011
Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic and slowly progressive disease for which biomarkers may be able to provide a more rapid indication of therapeutic responses to therapy than is currently available; this could accelerate and facilitate OA drug discovery and development programs. The goal of this document is to provide a summary and guide to the application of in vitro (biochemical and other soluble) biomarkers in the development of drugs for OA and to outline and stimulate a research agenda that will further this goal.
Methods: The Biomarkers Working Group representing experts in the field of OA biomarker research from both academia and industry developed this consensus document between 2007 and 2009 at the behest of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International Federal Drug Administration initiative (OARSI FDA initiative).
The increasing prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), necessitates development of alternative modes of bacterial targeting which are not hindered by antibiotic resistance and minimise collateral damage. To achieve this, the FliTrx™ bacterially-displayed peptide library was panned against MRSA and randomly selected clones (n = 20) were DNA sequenced. One selected peptide was synthesised as both cyclic and linear constructs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsteoarthritis Cartilage
May 2010
Objective: The Hartley guinea pig develops articular cartilage degeneration similar to that seen in idiopathic human osteoarthritis (OA). We investigated whether the application of pulsed low-intensity ultrasound (PLIUS) to the Hartley guinea pig joint would prevent or attenuate the progression of this degenerative process.
Methods: Treatment of male Hartley guinea pigs was initiated at the onset of degeneration (8 weeks of age) to assess the ability of PLIUS to prevent OA, or at a later age (12 months) to assess the degree to which PLIUS acted to attenuate the progression of established disease.
Objective: To evaluate the features and modes of adaptation to aging among Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) enrollees.
Setting: Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
Participants: A sample of 156 MMT enrollees (103/66 percent males and 53/34 percent females) age 24-68 years.
The gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons exhibit a unique pattern of episodic activity to control fertility in all mammals. To enable the measurement of intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in adult GnRH neurons in situ, we generated transgenic mice in which the genetically encodable calcium indicator ratiometric Pericam was expressed by approximately 95% of GnRH neurons. Real-time monitoring of [Ca2+]i within adult male GnRH neurons in the acute brain slice revealed that approximately 70% of GnRH neurons exhibited spontaneous, 10-15 s duration [Ca2+]i transients with a mean frequency of 7 per hour.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mechanisms through which estrogen regulates gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons to control mammalian ovulation are unknown. We found that estrogen positive feedback to generate the preovulatory gonadotropin surge was normal in estrogen receptor beta knockout (ERbeta) mutant mice, but absent in ERalpha mutant mice. An ERalpha-selective compound was sufficient to generate positive feedback in wild-type mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurons that synthesize and secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) represent the neural control point for fertility modulation in vertebrates. As such GnRH neurons are ideally situated to integrate stress responses on reproduction. By isolating individual GnRH neurons from acute brain slices of adult female GnRH-EGFP transgenic mice and using microarray analyses, we have identified a range of transcripts encoding receptors known to be involved in stress responses in GnRH neurons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe definition of neurotransmitter receptors expressed by individual neuronal phenotypes is essential for our understanding of integrated neural regulation. We report here a single-neuron strategy using green fluorescent protein (GFP)-promoter transgenic mice and oligonucleotide microarrays that has enabled us to provide a qualitative profile of the neurotransmitter receptors expressed by the gonadotropin- releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons, critical for the neural regulation of fertility. Acute brain slices were prepared from adult female GnRH-GFP transgenic mice and single GnRH neurons identified and patched.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEphrin signaling is involved in repulsive and attractive interactions mediating axon guidance and cell-boundary formation in the developing nervous system. As a result of a fortuitous transgene integration event, we have identified here a potential role for EphA5 in the axophilic migration of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons from the nasal placode into the brain along ephrin-expressing vomeronasal axons. Transgene integration in the GNR23 mouse line resulted in a 26 kb deletion in chromosome 5, approximately 67 kb 3' to Epha5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstrogen exerts classical genomic as well as rapid nongenomic actions on neurons. The mechanisms involved in rapid estrogen signaling are poorly defined, and the roles of the classical estrogen receptors (ERs alpha and beta) are unclear. We examined here the in vivo role of classical ERs in rapid estrogen actions by evaluating the estrogen-induced effects on two major signaling pathways within the brains of alphaER-, betaER-, and double alphabetaER-knockout (ERKO) ovariectomized female mice.
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