Women with diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome show an increased pressure response to 35% carbon dioxide stress challenge

The responses to inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide (CO(2)) as a stressor were compared in female irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and healthy controls to assess potential differences in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and behavioural responses to stress. A total of 22 women (12 patients with ROME II defined diarrhoea-predominant IBS and 10 aged-matched controls) were challenged with a single vital capacity breath of 35% CO(2) (with 65% oxygen). Beat-to-beat blood pressure and heart rate were recorded prior to, during and after the inhalation. Serum cortisol concentration and behavioural ratings were measured pre- and post-inhalation. A typical pattern of responses to CO(2) was observed, characterised by a reduction in heart rate and increases in serum cortisol and anxiogenic symptoms; however, these responses did not differ between groups. Both groups also demonstrated an increase in systolic blood pressure; however, this response was significantly enhanced in IBS patients compared to healthy controls (P < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that females with diarrhoea-predominant IBS have an exaggerated pressor response to 35% CO(2) stress challenge, suggesting a more stress-responsive sympathetic nervous system.     

Evidence for a Data-Based Environmental Policy: Induction of a Behavior-Based Decision Support System

To advise policy‐makers about possible courses of action in the environmental domain, psychological science should employ a support system that allows for evidence‐based decisions with respect to the three generic policy questions: what, where, and how. The key to such a system is a measurement instrument in which environmental motivation becomes tangible in individual actions. In this article, we provide empirical examples of such a decision support system in the environmental domain. It consists of (a) evidence about environmental motivation of persons, (b) evidence about motivation's spatial distribution, (c) knowledge about the socio‐cultural conditions that affect individuals when they translate motivation into action (i.e. structural information), and (d) a forecast of the environmental impact—the concrete conservation potential of various behaviors. Pour conseiller les décideurs à propos de lignes de conduite possibles dans le domaine de l’environnement, la science psychologique devrait utiliser un système qui tienne compte des décisions provenant des trois questions génériques suivantes: quoi, ou et comment? La clé d’un tel système consiste en un instrument de mesure dans lequel la motivation environnementale devient tangible dans les actions individuelles. Dans cet article, nous prenons des exemples empiriques de telles aides à la décision dans le domaine de l’environnement. Peut être ainsi montré a) la motivation environnementale des personnes, b) la distribution spatiale de la motivation, c) l’influence de la connaissance des conditions socioculturelles des individus quand ils transforment motivation en action (i.e. information structurale) et (d) la prévision de l’impact environnemental sur le maintien potentiel de divers comportements.     

Gustatory plasticity in C. elegans involves integration of negative cues and NaCl taste mediated by serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate

While na?ve Caenorhabditis elegans individuals are attracted to 0.1-200 mM NaCl, they become strongly repelled by these NaCl concentrations after prolonged exposure to 100 mM NaCl. We call this behavior gustatory plasticity. Here, we show that C. elegans displays avoidance of low NaCl concentrations only when pre-exposure to NaCl is combined with a negative stimulus, e.g., a repellent, or in the absence of food. By testing serotonin and/or dopamine signaling mutants and rescue by exogenously supplying these neurotransmitters, we found that serotonin and dopamine play a role during the plasticity response, while serotonin is also required during development. In addition, we also show that glutamate plays an important role in the response to NaCl, both in chemoattraction to NaCl and in gustatory plasticity. Thus, C. elegans can associate NaCl with negative stimuli using dopaminergic, serotonergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. Finally, we show that prolonged starvation enhances gustatory plasticity and can induce avoidance of NaCl in most gustatory plasticity mutants tested. Only mutation of the glutamate-gated Cl(-) channel gene avr-15 affected starvation-enhanced gustatory plasticity. These results suggest that starvation induces avoidance of NaCl largely independent of the normal gustatory plasticity mechanism.     

Ethics, pandemics, and the duty to treat

Numerous grounds have been offered for the view that healthcare workers have a duty to treat, including expressed consent, implied consent, special training, reciprocity (also called the social contract view), and professional oaths and codes. Quite often, however, these grounds are simply asserted without being adequately defended or without the defenses being critically evaluated. This essay aims to help remedy that problem by providing a critical examination of the strengths and weaknesses of each of these five grounds for asserting that healthcare workers have a duty to treat, especially as that duty would arise in the context of an infectious disease pandemic. Ultimately, it argues that none of the defenses is currently sufficient to ground the kind of duty that would be needed in a pandemic. It concludes by sketching some practical recommendations in that regard.     

A developmental-genetic analysis of aggressive behavior in mice: IV. Genotype-environment interaction

To assess the extent of plasticity in behavioral development after directional selection for aggressive behavior, male mice were reared and tested in selected social rearing and testing conditions. After four generations of selective breeding, the lines differed in all attack measures when tested in a dyadic assessment following isolation rearing. Line-specific effects of isolation vs. group rearing were demonstrated, and longitudinal studies showed the ontogenetic pattern of difference between lines to be substantially changed by conditions of rearing and testing. The social-interactional processes that might produce the developmental genotype-environment interaction were investigated. Line-specific interaction patterns within long-established sibling groups predicted aggressive behavior in cross-situational dyadic assessments. Group rearing attenuated most line differences in aggressive measures, but the high-aggressive line was more likely than the low-aggressive line to persist in attacking over consecutive days of observation. Cross-fostering in early development did not significantly change adult aggressive behavior. Some implications of a developmental-genetic approach to the study of social interactions are discussed.     

A Low-Intensity,High-Frequency Intervention to Reduce Procrastination

Studies assessing the efficacy of interventions aimed at reducing procrastination have generally lacked robust longitudinal measurement tools. Recent developments in communication technology and applications of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) have made observations of such dynamic phenomena possible. We leveraged recent advancements in smartphone technology and ESM to measure delay associated with procrastination, while testing a low-intensity, high-frequency intervention to reducing that delay. First-year university students (N = 107) reported their progress on an assignment twice daily over 14 days prior to the required submission date. Half (n = 51) were randomly allocated to an intervention condition in which they were also asked open-ended questions designed to prompt reflection on four domains proposed to reduce procrastination, namely: expectancy, value, delay sensitivity, and metacognition. Multilevel mixed effect models revealed lower behavioral delay in the intervention condition compared to the control condition. This effect was strongest in those who at baseline scored below the median on trait procrastination. Behavioral delay over the 14-day period was not associated with later assignment submission or lower assignment marks. These findings support a novel method for reducing delay and suggest procrastination can be alleviated in a wide range of contexts using relatively inexpensive and non-intrusive strategies.