A comprehensive model of women's social cognition and responsiveness to infant crying: Integrating personality, emotion, executive function, and sleep.

Disparate lines of research suggest that women's (a) emotion regulation and personality, (b) executive function and (c) sleep may be important predictors of mothers' cry responding in part through their effects on social cognition. However, the extent to which each contributes to cry responding independently remains unknown. We examined this question in a convenience sample of 109 nulliparous undergraduate women.

Evidence of hippocampal learning in human infants.

The hippocampus is essential for human memory. The protracted maturation of memory capacities from infancy through early childhood is thus often attributed to hippocampal immaturity. The hippocampus of human infants has been characterized in terms of anatomy, but its function has never been tested directly because of technical challenges.

Appetitive and aversive sensory preconditioning in rats is impaired by disruption of the postrhinal cortex.

Episodic memory involves binding stimuli and/or events together in time and place. Furthermore, memories become more complex when new experiences influence the meaning of stimuli within the original memory. Thus collectively, complex episodic memory formation and maintenance involves processes such as encoding, storage, retrieval, updating and reconsolidation, which can be studied using animal models of higher-order conditioning.

A cross-national study of factors associated with women's perinatal mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pregnant and postpartum women face unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic that may put them at elevated risk of mental health problems. However, few large-scale and no cross-national studies have been conducted to date that investigate modifiable pandemic-related behavioral or cognitive factors that may influence mental health in this vulnerable group. This international study sought to identify and measure the associations between pandemic-related information seeking, worries, and prevention behaviors on perinatal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pretending with realistic and fantastical stories facilitates executive function in 3-year-old children.

Fictional stories can affect many aspects of children's behavior and cognition, yet little is known about how they might help or hinder children's executive function skills. The current study investigated the role of story content (fantasy or reality) and mode of engagement with the story (pretense or a non-pretense control) on children's inhibitory control, an important component of early executive function. A total of 60 3-year-olds were randomly assigned to hear a fantastical or realistic story and were encouraged to engage in either pretense or a non-pretense activity related to the story.

Self-Assembled Hexagonal Superparamagnetic Cone Structures for Fabrication of Cell Cluster Arrays.

In this study, we demonstrated that arrays of cell clusters can be fabricated by self-assembled hexagonal superparamagnetic cone structures. When a strong out-of-plane magnetic field was applied to the ferrofluid on a glass substrate, it will induce the magnetic poles on the upper/lower surfaces of the continuous ferrofluid to increase the magnetostatic energy. The ferrofluid will then experience hydrodynamic instability and be split into small droplets with cone structures because of the compromising surface tension energy and magnetostatic energy to minimize the system's total energy.

Data-driven prediction and origin identification of epidemics in population networks.

Effective intervention strategies for epidemics rely on the identification of their origin and on the robustness of the predictions made by network disease models. We introduce a Bayesian uncertainty quantification framework to infer model parameters for a disease spreading on a network of communities from limited, noisy observations; the state-of-the-art computational framework compensates for the model complexity by exploiting massively parallel computing architectures. Using noisy, synthetic data, we show the potential of the approach to perform robust model fitting and additionally demonstrate that we can effectively identify the disease origin via Bayesian model selection.

Evolutionarily Conserved Long Non-coding RNA Regulates Gene Expression in Cytokine Storm During COVID-19.

Coronavirus is a family of viruses including alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-coronaviruses. Only alpha- and betacoronaviruses have been observed to infect humans. Past outbreaks of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, both betacoronavirus, are the result of a spillover from animals.

Neutron Polarimetry Using a Polarized He Cell for the aCORN Experiment.

The neutron polarization of the NG-C beamline at the NIST Center for Neutron Research was measured as part of the aCORN neutron beta decay experiment. Neutron transmission through a polarized He spin filter cell was recorded while adiabatic fast passage (AFP) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) reversed the polarization direction of the He in an eight-step sequence to account for drifts. The dependence of the neutron transmission on the spin filter direction was used to calculate the neutron polarization.

Predictors of pediatric readmissions among patients with neurological conditions.

Background: Unplanned readmission is one of many measures of the quality of care of pediatric patients with neurological conditions. In this multicenter study, we searched for novel risk factors of readmission of patients with neurological conditions.

Methods: We retrieved hospitalization data of patients less than 18 years with one or more neurological conditions.

A model of negative emotional contagion between male-female rat dyads: Effects of voluntary exercise on stress-induced behavior and BDNF-TrkB signaling.

Emotional contagion refers to the sharing of emotional states between individuals and can cause depressive behaviors in healthy persons who live with depressed individuals. Negative emotional contagion has been observed in animal models, but the vast majority of studies are short-term and bear little resemblance to long-term human relationships. Thus, the first aim of this study was to establish an animal model of stress-induced negative emotional contagion that develops across time and between pairs.

Understanding the Relationships between Parenting Stress and Mental Health with Grandparent Kinship Caregivers' Risky Parenting Behaviors in the Time of COVID-19.

Grandparent kinship caregivers may experience increased parenting stress and mental distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. It may lead to risky parenting behaviors, such as psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful behaviors towards their grandchildren. This study aims to examine (1) the relationships between parenting stress, mental health, and grandparent kinship caregivers' risky parenting practices, such as psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful behaviors towards their grandchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) whether grandparent kinship caregivers' mental health is a potential mediator between parenting stress and caregivers' psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and neglectful behaviors.

Integrative Network Analysis of Predicted miRNA-Targets Regulating Expression of Immune Response Genes in Bovine Coronavirus Infection.

Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) infection that causes disease outbreaks among farm animals, resulting in significant economic losses particularly in the cattle industry, has the potential to become zoonotic. miRNAs, which are short non-coding segments of RNA that inhibits the expression of their target genes, have been identified as potential biomarkers and drug targets, though this potential in BCoV remains largely unknown. We hypothesize that certain miRNAs could simultaneously target multiple genes, are significantly conserved across many species, thereby demonstrating the potential to serve as diagnostic or therapeutic tools for bovine coronavirus infection.

Optimizing magnetically shielded solenoids.

An important consideration when designing a magnetostatic cavity for various applications is to maximize the ratio of the volume of field homogeneity to the overall size of the cavity. We report a design of a magnetically shielded solenoid that significantly improves the transverse field gradient averaged over a volume of 1000 cm by placing compensation coils around the holes in the mu-metal end caps rather than the conventional design in which the compensation coils are placed on the main solenoid. Our application is polarized He-based neutron spin filters, and our goal was to minimize the volume-averaged transverse field gradient, thereby the gradient induced relaxation time, over a He cell.

Evolutionary Pattern of Interferon Alpha Genes in Bovidae and Genetic Diversity of IFNAA in the Bovine Genome.

Interferons are secretory proteins induced in response to specific extracellular stimuli which stimulate intra- and intercellular networks for regulating innate and acquired immunity, resistance to viral infections, and normal and tumor cell survival and death. Type 1 interferons plays a major role in the CD8 T-cell response to viral infection. The genomic analysis carried out here for type I interferons within Bovidae family shows that cattle, bison, water buffalo, goat, and sheep (all Bovidae), have different number of genes of the different subtypes, with a large increase in the numbers, compared to human and mouse genomes.

Bidirectional interactions between host social behaviour and parasites arise through ecological and evolutionary processes.

An animal's social behaviour both influences and changes in response to its parasites. Here we consider these bidirectional links between host social behaviours and parasite infection, both those that occur from ecological vs evolutionary processes. First, we review how social behaviours of individuals and groups influence ecological patterns of parasite transmission.

Youth in Foster Care and the Reasonable and Prudent Parenting Standard.

Children in foster care face disproportionate rates of biopsychosocial challenges but social and extracurricular activities (SEAs) may support their healthy development. The Reasonable and Prudent Parenting Standard (RPPS), a 2014 federal policy, aims to increase access to these opportunities for children in foster care. Analyses of statutes from 50 US states and the District of Columbia (n = 51) revealed similarities and differences in state-level RPPS policy implementation.

Population Genomics Reveals Incipient Speciation, Introgression, and Adaptation in the African Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mona).

Guenons (tribe Cercopithecini) are the most widely distributed nonhuman primate in the tropical forest belt of Africa and show considerable phenotypic, taxonomic, and ecological diversity. However, genomic information for most species within this group is still lacking. Here, we present a high-quality de novo genome (total 2.

Re-imagining fMRI for awake behaving infants.

Thousands of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have provided important insight into the human brain. However, only a handful of these studies tested infants while they were awake, because of the significant and unique methodological challenges involved. We report our efforts to address these challenges, with the goal of creating methods for awake infant fMRI that can reveal the inner workings of the developing, preverbal mind.

Dissecting Transcription Factor-Target Interaction in Bovine Coronavirus Infection.

Coronaviruses are RNA viruses that cause significant disease within many species, including cattle. Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) infects cattle and wild ruminants, both as a respiratory and enteric pathogen, and possesses a significant economic threat to the cattle industry. Transcription factors are proteins that activate or inhibit transcription through DNA binding and have become new targets for disease therapies.

Differential Evolution of α-Glucan Water Dikinase (GWD) in Plants.

The alpha-glucan water dikinase (GWD) enzyme catalyzes starch phosphorylation, an integral step in transitory starch degradation. The high phosphate content in stored starch has great industrial value, due to its physio-chemical properties making it more versatile, although the phosphate content of stored starch varies depending on the botanical source. In this study, we used various computational approaches to gain insights into the evolution of the GWD protein in 48 plant species with possible roles in enzyme function and alteration of phosphate content in their stored starch.

Infectivity and genes differentially expressed between young and aging theront cells of the marine fish parasite Cryptocaryon irritans.

The ciliated protozoan Cryptocaryon irritans infects a wide range of marine fish and causes the highly lethal white spot disease. This parasite possesses three morphologically and physiologically distinct life stages: an infectious theront, a parasitic trophont, and an asexually reproductive tomont. In the past few years, several attempts have been made to help elucidate how C.

North American Propolis Extracts From Upstate New York Decrease () Spore Levels in Honey Bees ().

infections in honey bees () pose a severe threat to colony health. Beekeepers have used dicyclohexylammonium fumagillin to control , although it may be ineffective against . We investigated the ability of various propolis extracts collected from Upstate New York (United States) to decrease infection levels when fed to -infected honey bees.