A Practical Guide to Avoiding Biased Communication in Reproductive Biology.

When cultural biases pervade communication, whether visual or text-based, objectivity is impaired. Anthropocentrism (human-centered bias) and androcentrism (male-centered bias) in particular distort perspectives in mammalian reproductive biology. This paper provides a resource for professionals who understand how cultural biases can be reinforced with language, visuals, and conceptual framing.

Cognitive stimulation as a mechanism linking socioeconomic status and neural function supporting working memory: a longitudinal fMRI study.

Childhood experiences of low socioeconomic status are associated with alterations in neural function in the frontoparietal network and ventral visual stream, which may drive differences in working memory. However, the specific features of low socioeconomic status environments that contribute to these disparities remain poorly understood. Here, we examined experiences of cognitive deprivation (i.

Of mutualism and migration: will interactions with novel ericoid mycorrhizal communities help or hinder northward Rhododendron range shifts?

Rapid climate change imperils many small-ranged endemic species as the climate envelopes of their native ranges shift poleward. In addition to abiotic changes, biotic interactions are expected to play a critical role in plant species' responses. Below-ground interactions are of particular interest given increasing evidence of microbial effects on plant performance and the prevalence of mycorrhizal mutualisms.

Quantitative Super-Resolution Microscopy to Assess Adhesion of Neuronal Cells on Single-Layer Graphene Substrates.

Single Layer Graphene (SLG) has emerged as a critically important nanomaterial due to its unique optical and electrical properties and has become a potential candidate for biomedical applications, biosensors, and tissue engineering. Due to its intrinsic 2D nature, SLG is an ideal surface for the development of large-area biosensors and, due to its biocompatibility, can be easily exploited as a substrate for cell growth. The cellular response to SLG has been addressed in different studies with high cellular affinity for graphene often detected.

Natural variation in the oxytocin receptor gene and rearing interact to influence reproductive and nonreproductive social behavior and receptor binding.

Individual variation in social behavior offers an opportunity to explore gene-by-environment interactions that could contribute to adaptative or atypical behavioral profiles (e.g., autism spectrum disorders).

Misconceptions about Conception and Other Fallacies: Historical Bias in Reproductive Biology.

Natural selection (differential reproduction) is a major tenet of evolutionary theory. In mammals the success of reproduction is primarily controlled by females who provide the majority of offspring care via gestation and lactation. In some species, maternal care also extends post-weaning.

Secondary effects of myPlaybook on college athletes' avoidance of drinking games or pregaming as a protective behavior strategy: A multisite randomized controlled study.

Rationale: Student-athletes are at risk for engaging in drinking games and pregaming. Research suggests that brief motivational and alcohol education intervention approaches designed to reduce harmful drinking behaviors may not be effective in lowering students' participation in drinking games or pregaming.

Method: We evaluated the effects of myPlaybook (a student-athlete-specific web-based alcohol intervention) on student-athletes' avoidance of drinking games and pregaming over a 4-month period.

Strategic Players for Identifying Optimal Social Network Intervention Subjects.

We present a method whereby social network ties are used to identify behavioral leaders who are situated in the network such that these individuals are: 1) able to influence other individuals who are in need of and most receptive to intervention, thereby maximizing the impact of the intervention; and 2) not embedded with ties that are likely to be behaviorally antagonistic to the intervention or that would compromise the optimal evaluation of intervention efficacy. In this study we developed a novel method which we call Strategic Players, which is a solution for identifying a set of players who are close to a target subset of the network (i.e.

Perceived Access and Parental Monitoring as Moderators of Impulsivity and Marijuana Use Among Adolescents.

The social and political climate regarding marijuana use has been changing in the US over the past decade. Research suggests that many adolescents report relatively easy access to marijuana and perceptions that recreational use involves minimal harm despite a growing body of research implicating the deleterious effects of use on cognitive and psychological development. Not surprisingly, prevalence rates have been rising in recent years, making it important to identify risk and protective factors associated with adolescent marijuana use.

POLICY INSIGHTS FROM THE EMF 32 STUDY ON U.S. CARBON TAX SCENARIOS.

The Stanford Energy Modeling Forum exercise 32 (EMF 32) used 11 different models to assess emissions, energy, and economic outcomes from a plausible range of economy-wide carbon price policies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO) emissions in the United States. Here we discuss the most policy-relevant results of the study, mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of current models. Across all models, carbon prices lead to significant reductions in CO emissions and conventional pollutants, with the vast majority of the reductions occurring in the electricity sector.

Electric sector policy, technological change, and U.S. emissions reductions goals: Results from the EMF 32 model intercomparison project.

The Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) 32 study compares a range of coordinated scenarios to explore implications of U.S. climate policy options and technological change on the electric power sector.

Mental health and well-being among type 1 diabetes caregivers in India: Evidence from the IDREAM study.

Aims: Although more than half of the world's children with T1D live in developing countries, still little is known about how caregiving for children with T1D affects the parent/caregivers' health in low- and middle-income country settings.

Methods: Caregivers of 178 children with T1D from a specialized diabetes clinic in Maharashtra, India were surveyed. Ordered and standard logistic regression models adjusted for caregiver, household and child characteristics, were fit to estimate the association of caregiving burden (objective caregiving burden and subjective caregiving burden (Zarit Burden Inventory - tertiles)) with caregiver depression (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9]) and well-being (CDC Unhealthy Days) outcomes.

Calorimetric Measurements of Magnetic-Field-Induced Inhomogeneous Superconductivity Above the Paramagnetic Limit.

We report the first magnetocaloric and calorimetric observations of a magnetic-field-induced phase transition within a superconducting state to the long-sought exotic Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) superconducting state, first predicted over 50 years ago. Through the combination of bulk thermodynamic calorimetric and magnetocaloric measurements in the organic superconductor κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}Cu(NCS)_{2} as a function of temperature, magnetic field strength, and magnetic field orientation, we establish for the first time that this field-induced first-order phase transition at the paramagnetic limit H_{p} is a transition to a higher-entropy superconducting phase, uniquely characteristic of the FFLO state. We also establish that this high-field superconducting state displays the bulk paramagnetic ordering of spin domains required of the FFLO state.

Septal oxytocin administration impairs peer affiliation via V1a receptors in female meadow voles.

The peptide hormone oxytocin (OT) plays an important role in social behaviors, including social bond formation. In different contexts, however, OT is also associated with aggression, social selectivity, and reduced affiliation. Female meadow voles form social preferences for familiar same-sex peers under short, winter-like day lengths in the laboratory, and provide a means of studying affiliation outside the context of reproductive pair bonds.

Turning the crown upside down: gene tree parsimony roots the eukaryotic tree of life.

The first analyses of gene sequence data indicated that the eukaryotic tree of life consisted of a long stem of microbial groups "topped" by a crown-containing plants, animals, and fungi and their microbial relatives. Although more recent multigene concatenated analyses have refined the relationships among the many branches of eukaryotes, the root of the eukaryotic tree of life has remained elusive. Inferring the root of extant eukaryotes is challenging because of the age of the group (∼1.

Subulatomonas tetraspora nov. gen. nov. sp. is a member of a previously unrecognized major clade of eukaryotes.

While a large number of aerobic free-living protists have been described within the last decade, the number of new anaerobic or microaerophilic microbial eukaryotic taxa has lagged behind. Here we describe a microaerophilic genus and species of amoeboflagellate isolated from a near-shore marine site off the coast at Plymouth, Massachusetts: Subulatomonas tetraspora nov. gen.

Pregaming in high school students: relevance to risky drinking practices, alcohol cognitions, and the social drinking context.

Pregaming is the practice of consuming alcohol prior to going out to a social event. Although pregaming has begun to receive research attention in the college setting, very little is known about this risky drinking behavior in high school students. As pregaming has health implications for both students who are college bound and those who are not, we examined the prevalence of this behavior in a sample of high school students who reported current alcohol use and completed pregaming measures (n = 233).

The use and abuse of multiple outcomes in randomized controlled depression trials.

Objective: Multiple outcomes are commonly analyzed in randomized trials. Interpretation of the results of trials with many outcomes is not always straightforward. We characterize the prevalence and factors associated with multiple outcomes in reports of clinical trials of depression, methods used to account for these outcomes, and concordance between published analyses and original protocol specifications.

Treatment of hoarding.

In the past 5 years, hoarding has emerged as a serious, potentially debilitating and remarkably frequent form of psychopathology. Attempts to treat it have met with little success. Although the majority of studies using serotonin-reuptake inhibitors have shown a poor response among people with hoarding disorder, serious methodological problems limit the conclusions that can be drawn from these studies.

Sensation seeking and danger invulnerability: Paths to college student risk-taking.

This study examines the roles of sensation seeking and invulnerability as predictors of health compromising behaviors in a multiethnic sample of 1690 emerging adult college students (mean age = 19.8, range 18-25 years) from nine US colleges and universities. Participants completed the Arnett Sensation Seeking Inventory and the Adolescent Invulnerability Scale; and reported how often they had participated in a set of health compromising risk behaviors (i.

Heme reversibly damps PERIOD2 rhythms in mouse suprachiasmatic nucleus explants.

The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which in mammals serves as the master circadian pacemaker by synchronizing autonomous clocks in peripheral tissues, is composed of coupled single-cell oscillators that are driven by interlocking positive/negative transcriptional/translational feedback loops. Several studies have suggested that heme, a common prosthetic group that is synthesized and degraded in a circadian manner in the SCN, may modulate the function of several feedback loop components, including the REV-ERB nuclear receptors and PERIOD2 (PER2). We found that ferric heme (hemin, 3-100 microM) dose-dependently and reversibly damped luminescence rhythms in SCN explants from mice expressing a PER2::LUCIFERASE (PER2::LUC) fusion protein.

Where's the house party? Hazardous drinking behaviors and related risk factors.

The authors examined differences in drinking behaviors and related risk factors across campus housing at a women's liberal arts college. Participants (N = 362) living in residence-style housing or house-style residences completed self-report questionnaires. Results showed that students in residence hall-style houses reported higher levels of hazardous alcohol use and perceived that their college, housemates or roommates, and close peers are more permissive of alcohol use than did students living in house-style residences.

Acculturation and substance use among Hispanic early adolescents: investigating the mediating roles of acculturative stress and self-esteem.

We examined the extent to which Hispanic orientation and American orientation are associated with substance use (cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana) both directly and indirectly through acculturative stress and self-esteem. Participants were 347 Hispanic early adolescents (50.7% male; mean age = 12.