Synergies and Motor Equivalence in Voluntary Sway Tasks: The Effects of Visual and Mechanical Constraints

The authors used two analyses developed within the framework of the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis to quantify multimuscle synergies during voluntary body sway: analysis of intertrial variance and analysis of motor equivalence with respect to the center of pressure (COP) trajectory. Participants performed voluntary sway tasks in the anteroposterior direction at 0.33 and 0.66 Hz. Muscle groups were identified in the space of muscle activations and used as elemental variables in the synergy analyses. Changing mechanical and vision feedback–based constraints led to significant changes in indices of sway performance such as COP deviations in the uninstructed, mediolateral direction and indices of spontaneous postural sway. In contrast, there were no significant effects on synergy indices. These findings show that the neural control of performance and of its stability may involve different control variables and neurophysiological structures. There were strong correlations between the indices of motor equivalence and those computed using the intercycle variance analysis. This result is potentially important for studies of patients with movement disorders who may be unable to perform multiple trials (cycles) at any given task, making analysis of motor equivalence of single trials a viable alternative to explore changes in stability of actions.     

Review of Ordering Don’t Resuscitate in Iranian Dying Patients

Making decision on not to resuscitate is a confusing, conflicting and complex issue and depends on each country’s culture and customs. Therefore, each country needs to take action in accordance with its cultural, ethical, religious and legal contexts to develop guidelines in this regard. Since the majority of Iran’s people are Muslims, and in Islam, the human life is considered sacred, based on the values of the community, an Iranian Islamic agenda needs to be developed not taking measures about resuscitation of dying patients. It is necessary to develop an Iranian Islamic guidelines package in order to don’t resuscitate in dying patients.     

An investigation of intra-individual variability in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)

Intra-individual variability (IIV) is defined as systematic within-person variation in performance either across test sessions (e.g., test/retest performance on the same task) or in one session (e.g., variations in performance on multiple trials of a single task). Higher levels of IIV have been noted as a characteristic of neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder? (ADHD), but IIV is yet to be investigated in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). FASD is a term used to describe a range of conditions resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol. As part of a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, four study groups (1. fetal alcohol syndrome/partial fetal alcohol syndrome; 2. static encephalopathy/alcohol exposed; 3. neurobehavioral disorder/alcohol exposed as diagnosed using the University of Washington FASD 4-Digit Code; 4. typically-developing (TD) age-matched children with no prenatal alcohol exposure) were administered measures of motor response and inhibitory control, attention, and adaptive behavior. The results indicate increased levels of IIV in those with FASD compared to the TD controls. It was found that IIV uniquely contributes to predicting adaptive behavior above and beyond attention, while attention partially mediates the relationship between IIV and adaptive behavior. This is the first study to the authors’ knowledge to show the presence of increased IIV in children with FASD. It additionally provides evidence that IIV measures some inherent variability in performance independent of poor attention in children with FASD.     

An All Too Radical Solution to the Problem of Evil: a Reply to Harrison

Gerald Harrison has recently argued the evidential problem of evil can be resolved if we assume the moral facts are identical to God’s commands or favorings. On a theistic metaethics, the moral facts are identical to what God commands or favors. Our moral intuitions reflect what God commands or favors for us to do, but not what God favors for Herself to do. Thus, on Harrison’s view, while we can know the moral facts as they pertain to humans, we cannot know the moral facts as they pertain to God. Therefore, Harrison argues, the evidential problem of evil inappropriately assumes God to be intuitively moral, when we have no reason to suppose a perfectly good being would match the expectations provided by our moral intuitions. Harrison calls his view a new form of skeptical theism. In response, I show Harrison’s attempt to dissolve the problem of evil exacerbates well-known skeptical consequences of skeptical theism. Harrison’s new skeptical theism leaves us with problems motivating a substantive religious life, the inability to provide a variety of theological explanations, and, despite Harrison’s comments to the contrary, worsens problems having to do with the possibility of divine deception.     

青少年早期社交回避与同伴关系问题:有调节的中介模型

为探讨青少年早期社交回避、同伴关系问题、情绪调节能力和学业成绩的关系,本研究构建了一个有调节的中介模型。采用自我报告、同伴提名和学校记录的方式对上海地区小学4年级至初中1年级共660名被试进行测查,结果显示:(1)社交回避可以正向预测同伴关系问题;(2)情绪调节能力在社交回避与同伴关系问题之间起部分中介作用;(3)学业成绩调节了社交回避通过情绪调节能力影响同伴关系问题的中介作用前半路径。相对于学业成绩较高的儿童,社交回避更容易通过学业成绩较低儿童的情绪调节能力影响同伴关系问题。研究结果不仅可以从情绪调节能力和学业成绩的角度为社交回避个体的同伴关系问题提供解释,而且对引导同伴社会化、提升社会适应的过程具有启示意义。     

Psychological distress in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis: the risk factors,protection factors,and cumulative effect

This study aimed to examine the psychological status among Chronic Atrophic Gastritis (CAG) patients and to find the cumulative effects of risk and protective factors. A sample of 101 CAG patients completed the investigation. Hierarchical linear regression was used to find risk and protective factors, and examine the cumulative effects in risk factor index (RFI) and protective factor index (PFI). Results showed that nine symptoms from SCL-90-R were severer among CAG patients than those in adult norm. Risk factors including positive family history of cancer and higher negative life events could predict higher GSI (β = 0.206, p = 0.023; β = 0.398, p < 0.001; R² = 0.203); more household resistant, positive coping and stronger resilience were protective factors and could predict GSI negatively (β = -0.188, p = 0.020; β = -0.350, p = 0.012; β = ?0.066, p = 0.621; R² = 0.190). The GSI was positively correlated with RFI (β = 0.338, p < 0.001; R² = 0.113) and negatively related to PFI (β = ?0.378, p < 0.001; R² = 0.133). In conclusion, CAG patients suffered from various psychological distress, and the protective factors should be enhanced cumulatively to protect against psychological distress.     

Political Agency,Citizenship, and Non-human Animals

In this essay I challenge the idea that political agency must be central to the concept of citizenship. I consider this question in relation to whether or not domesticated animals can be understood as our fellow citizens. In recent debates on this topic, both proponents and opponents of animal citizenship have taken political agency to be central to this question. I advance two main arguments against this position. First, I argue against the orthodox view that claims political agency is a requirement of citizenship. This position ignores both how citizenship is understood in practice by modern, liberal democracies, as well as the separate functions of citizenship. Further, there are no plausible ways we can consistently extend citizenship to humans regardless of intellectual ability, while denying it to domesticated animals. Nevertheless, I argue that it is important to distinguish two ways in which citizenship is enacted: Citizenship as Membership and Citizenship as Responsible, Political Agent. Domesticated animals should be understood as citizens, despite the fact that they are not responsible, political agents. Second, I challenge the view, put forward by Donaldson and Kymlicka, that animals are capable of certain forms of political agency. I argue that political agency is not crucial to whether, and how, the preferences of these animals matter for political decision-making. The upshot of my argument is that political agency matters much less to debates about the citizenship of non-human animals than both sides of this debate have been inclined to think.     

Judgments of damage to public versus private property in Chinese children at different historical times

This study examined children's judgments of damage to public versus private property in China at two historical times. Participants were two cohorts (1980 and 2012) of elementary school children at ages 7, 9, and 11 years. The children were administered paired stories that described a protagonist who damaged public or private property with a good or bad intention. The results showed that children in the 2012 cohort were less likely than their counterparts in the 1980 cohort to judge damage to public property as more culpable than damage to private property. The cohort differences were more evident in older children than in younger children. The results suggest that macro‐level contexts may play an important role in shaping children's judgments.     

Effects of aging on action-intentional programming

Background: Action-intentional programs control “when” we initiate, inhibit, continue, and stop motor actions. The purpose of this study was to learn if there are changes in the action-intentional system with healthy aging, and if these changes are asymmetrical (right versus left upper limb) or related to impaired interhemispheric communication. Methods: We administered tests of action-intention to 41 middle-aged and older adults (61.9 ± 12.3 years). Results: Regression analyses revealed that older age predicted a decrement in performance for tests of crossed motor response inhibition as well as slower motor initiation with the left hand. Conclusion: Changes in action-intention with aging appear to be related to alterations of interhemispheric communication and/or age-related right hemisphere dysfunction; however, further research is needed to identify the mechanisms for age-related changes in the brain networks that mediate action-intention.     

大学生压力和睡眠质量：反刍思维和心理韧性的链式中介作用

采用大学生压力量表、反刍思维量表、青少年心理韧性量表和匹兹堡睡眠指数量表调查684位大学生(被试平均年龄为20.26岁;SD = 1.08),探讨反刍思维和心理韧性在压力和睡眠质量之间的链式中介作用。结果表明：(1)压力对睡眠质量有显著的负向预测作用;(2)压力可通过反刍思维和心理韧性的独立中介作用及反刍思维和心理韧性的链式中介作用间接预测睡眠质量。本研究揭示了压力和睡眠质量的关系及作用机制,深化了大学生压力对睡眠质量影响的研究。