Investment of cognitive effort is required in everyday life and has received ample attention in recent neurocognitive frameworks. The neural mechanism of effort investment is thought to be structured hierarchically, with dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) at the highest level, recruiting task-specific upstream areas. In the current fMRI study, we tested whether dACC is generally active when effort demand is high across tasks with different stimuli, and whether connectivity between dACC and task-specific areas is increased depending on the task requirements and effort level at hand. For that purpose, a perceptual detection task was administered that required male and female human participants to detect either a face or a house in a noisy image. Effort demand was manipulated by adding little (low effort) or much (high effort) noise to the images. Results showed a network of dACC, anterior insula (AI), and intraparietal sulcus (IPS) to be more active when effort demand was high, independent of the performed task (face or house detection). Importantly, effort demand modulated functional connectivity between dACC and face-responsive or house-responsive perceptual areas, depending on the task at hand. This shows that dACC, AI, and IPS constitute a general effort-responsive network and suggests that the neural implementation of cognitive effort involves dACC-initiated sensitization of task-relevant areas.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Although cognitive effort is generally perceived as aversive, its investment is inevitable when navigating an increasingly complex society. In this study, we demonstrate how the human brain tailors the implementation of effort to the requirements of the task at hand. We show increased effort-related activity in a network of brain areas consisting of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), anterior insula, and intraparietal sulcus, independent of task specifics. Crucially, we also show that effort-induced functional connectivity between dACC and task-relevant areas tracks specific task demands. These results demonstrate how brain regions specialized to solve a task may be energized by dACC when effort demand is high.

A virus that spreads fear and stigma, as well as disease. It’s the story of HIV/AIDS as well as COVID-19. The former executive director of AIDS Thunder Bay reflects on the similarities he sees between HIV 35 years ago, and the coronavirus now.

A longstanding battle between an Alberta entrepreneur and a $50-million lottery winner is still raging after a new legal judgment, a securities investigation, allegations of harassment and even duelling ebooks.

Award-winning children's book explores big questions about colonization and identity.

An English teacher, who has lived in North Africa for many years, has the opportunity to share with students about Easter and what it means.

IT’S not everyone who’s given the chance to design their own tartan so when the opportunity arose, Vixy Rae didn’t need to give it a second thought.

THE SRU would be “very happy” to host the Scottish Cup semi-final between Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian at BT Murrayfield, the governing body’s Chief Operating Officer revealed yesterday.

WHEN Malian quartet Songhoy Blues performed at last year's Celtic Connections, audiences were treated to a form of music appealingly dubbed “desert blues”. A user-friendly term, it sounds like it could have been dreamed up by a marketing agency and applied equally well to a perfume, a brand of jeans or a chain of upmarket Tex-Mex restaurants.

The extent to which young adults' laboratory-confirmed sexually transmitted disease results and self-reported sexual behaviors are consistent has not been assessed in a nationally representative sample.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether young adults' reports of recent sexual behavior (presence of penile/vaginal sex in the previous 12 months) correspond with the presence of laboratory-confirmed nonviral STDs assessed by nucleic acid amplification testing. (Read the full article)

Internet use has rapidly become a commonplace activity, especially among adolescents. Poor mental health and several somatic health problems are associated with heavy Internet use by adolescents.

Results of this study provide evidence of a U-shaped relationship between intensity of Internet use and poorer mental health of adolescents. Heavy Internet users were also confirmed to be at increased risk for somatic health problems in this nationally representative sample of adolescents. (Read the full article)

Adolescence is a time of risk taking, with poor inner-city youth at greater risk than the general population for drug use, school failure, adjudication, and teen parenthood. Little is known regarding these youths’ perceptions and intentions in early childhood.

Poor inner-city children were surprisingly idealistic regarding their future. Despite this, by late adolescence most experienced 1 or more trajectory-altering events. Early childhood experiences, exposure to violence and poor home environment, were factors most strongly associated with these outcomes. (Read the full article)

There is evidence of an impaired respiratory regulation in SIDS, in which serotonergic and noradrenergic neurons are involved. Monoamine oxidase A is the enzyme that degrades both neurotransmitters, and genetic variation of this gene might contribute to SIDS.

Alleles with weak effect on the monoamine oxidase A gene activity (*2/*3) appear to be associated with sudden infant death syndrome in boys. This association is strongest in infants who died at the age with the highest SIDS prevalence. (Read the full article)

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of infections in infants. Staphylococcal colonization is a known risk factor for infection, but whether maternal colonization plays a role in subsequent colonization in the infant is unclear.

This prospective study found that infants born to women colonized with S aureus either during their third trimester of pregnancy or at the time of delivery are more likely to harbor S aureus than are those born to noncolonized women. (Read the full article)

Although all residents progressively assume responsibility for clinical skills under the teaching and supervision of attending physicians, senior residents also assume responsibility for teaching and supervising. This leads to a dynamic negotiation of responsibilities, particularly on clinical work rounds.

A better understanding of how attending physicians and senior residents negotiate shared responsibilities for teaching and supervising, and the context in which this negotiation occurs, may clarify assumptions and set expectations for resident training. (Read the full article)

High or low lymphocyte counts at birth have been reported as a marker for subsequent intraventricular hemorrhage, retinopathy of prematurity, and periventricular leukomalacia. However, this conclusion is questionable because reference ranges for lymphocyte counts have not been constructed by using large numbers of neonates.

This study provides reference ranges for lymphocytes of neonates. A high count at birth is associated with early onset sepsis and IVH and a low count with early onset sepsis, IVH, and retinopathy of prematurity. Among neonates with birth asphyxia, a low count identifies a high risk for death. (Read the full article)

Early speech and language delays are risk factors for later developmental and social difficulties. It is easier to identify them retrospectively than prospectively. Population characteristics and prevalence rates make screening problematic.

Using data from a birth cohort, this study identifies predictors of language performance at 5 years and 4 patterns of change between 3 and 5 years, comparing those who change with those whose profile remains low across time points. (Read the full article)

Literature about polymorphic expression of an apparent life-threatening event (ALTE), particularly that concerning discrimination between ALTE with evident cause and idiopathic ALTE, is scarce. Relationships between SIDS and ALTEs have been supposed but data are still controversial and no genetic data are available.

Genetic analysis (5HTT and MAOA) on ALTEs and idiopathic ALTEs discriminated the 2 syndromes and found a link between the idiopathic form and SIDS. Consequently, we hypothesized that the 2 latter syndromes could be different phenotype expressions of a common genetic base. (Read the full article)

There is no literature on the concentrations of vitamin B₆ vitamers in cerebrospinal fluid of preterm and term newborn infants. This knowledge, however, is highly important, because vitamin B₆ plays a pivotal role in brain development and functioning.

In cerebrospinal fluid of newborn infants, B₆ vitamer concentrations are strongly dependent on postmenstrual age, indicating that vitamin B₆ homeostasis in brain differs between preterm and term newborns. This has implications for the evaluation of epilepsy and vitamin B₆ deficiency. (Read the full article)

Mortality of very low birth weight infants varies widely between regions and countries; however, the variation in morbidities after adjusting for confounders has not been adequately studied.

Composite outcome of mortality or short-term morbidity for very low birth weight infants was lower in Japan than in Canada. However, marked variations in mortality and individual morbidity exist, revealing areas for improvement in each country. (Read the full article)

In adolescents with eating disorders, percent expected body weight (EBW) is used for diagnosis and to make clinical decisions. The assumption is that the weight-for-stature (WFS) and BMI methods of determining EBW are equivalent, but that may not be true.

This study demonstrates that EBW_WFS is ~3.5% higher than EBW_BMI. Differences are most pronounced at extremes of height. Compared with the EBW_WFS method, sensitivity of EBW_BMI to detect those <75% EBW is low. (Read the full article)

Although a number of cross-sectional studies have documented associations between teen dating violence victimization and adverse health outcomes, including sexual risk behaviors, suicidality, substance use, and depression, longitudinal work examining the relationship between victimization and outcomes is limited.

This study is the first to demonstrate the longitudinal associations between teen dating violence victimization and multiple young adult health outcomes in a nationally representative sample. Findings emphasize the need for screening and intervention for both male and female victims. (Read the full article)

Cow’s milk consumption has opposite effects on vitamin D and iron levels in children; however, the amount of cow’s milk intake required for sufficient stores of vitamin D and iron is poorly understood, and existing guidelines on consumption are unclear.

Two cups of cow’s milk per day is sufficient to maintain healthy vitamin D and iron stores for most children. Wintertime vitamin D supplementation appears particularly important among children with darker skin pigmentation. (Read the full article)

Previous studies have found a relationship between exclusive breastfeeding for ≥6 months and iron deficiency. Little is known about the relationship between total breastfeeding duration, including the period after the introduction of complementary foods, and infant iron status.

Our results suggest that infants with longer total breastfeeding duration may be at risk for iron deficiency. Our findings highlight a clinically important association warranting additional investigation that may inform future guideline updates regarding assessment of risk for iron deficiency in young infants. (Read the full article)

Studies suggest that young adults have worse access to health care, use less primary care, and visit emergency departments more frequently than adolescents. Whether these differences are present between adolescents and young adults with asthma is unknown.

Young adults with asthma were less likely to have a usual source of care and use primary care. In contrast, they were more likely to use the emergency department. Adjusting for insurance coverage reduced these differences partially but not completely. (Read the full article)

Although concussion is increasingly being diagnosed in the pediatric population, little is known about what factors lead to prolonged postconcussive symptoms in children. In particular, the effect of previous history of concussion on recovery from a repeat injury is unclear.

Children with a history of previous concussion, particularly recent or multiple concussions, are at increased risk for prolonged symptoms after concussion. This suggests that repeat concussion, particularly within a vulnerable time window, may lead to longer duration of symptoms. (Read the full article)

Many children exceed the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation to limit non-educational screen media to < 2 hours per day. The household media environment shapes children's television viewing (TVV), and heavy screen time is associated with poor health outcomes.

Parent TVV is a stronger predictor of child TVV than traditional media "access" and "rules" variables regardless of child age. This research highlights an important factor of child TVV that has been underemphasized in most studies and outreach efforts. (Read the full article)

Evaluating for elevations in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is a common screening test for the presence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is less common among non-Hispanic blacks. Better predictors of NAFLD are needed to identify individuals in most need of screening.

Relative to other ethnicities, metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance performed poorly at identifying non-Hispanic black adolescents with ALT elevations. The presence of metabolic syndrome may therefore not be an adequate trigger for NAFLD screening. Triglyceride elevations performed similarly between groups in identifying ALT elevations. (Read the full article)

Tympanometry provides a measure of middle ear function. There has been no description of the relationship between measurements of middle ear function in the absence of gross anatomic defects and clinical outcome among children with acute nontraumatic coma.

This study reveals an unexpected association between abnormal middle ear function and death in childhood acute coma. These findings call for more investigations on the relationship between middle and inner ear anatomy and function and intracranial dynamics and clinical outcomes. (Read the full article)

Parents influence their child’s overweight development through lifestyle-related parenting practices. Although broader parenting dimensions may also affect children’s BMI, reverse causality is possible and there have been calls to examine the possible impacts of fathers.

More consistent parenting prospectively predicted lower child BMI with effects equally strong for fathers and mothers. There was little evidence of child BMI influencing parenting. Improved child BMI could be among the benefits of promoting parenting consistency of both parents. (Read the full article)

Fewer clinical trials are performed in children compared with other patient populations. It is unknown how well existing pediatric clinical trials are aligned with the needs of children, both in high-income countries and globally.

There is only moderate correlation between clinical trial activity and pediatric burden of disease, with certain conditions substantially underrepresented in the current research portfolio. Our findings provide a benchmark for prioritizing conditions for study, analyzing gaps, and identifying funding priorities. (Read the full article)

Motor vehicle crashes, heavy drinking, and drug use are serious, interactive health concerns for the teenage population. Teenage alcohol-impaired driving behaviors are associated with heavy drinking, parenting practices, and exposure to drinking and driving.

Earliness of exposure to alcohol/drug impaired driving (DWI) and early licensure were independent risk factors for teenage DWI. A strong, positive dose-response existed between DWI and amount of prior exposure to DWI in the form of riding with an impaired driver. (Read the full article)

Cross-sectional research indicates that teen sexting is common, may be associated with other adolescent behaviors such as substance use, does not appear to be a marker of mental well being, and is probably an indicator of actual sexual behaviors.

Although mounting evidence links teen sexting to sexual behavior, little is known about the temporal sequencing of these 2 behaviors. Knowing which comes first will aid tween- and teen-focused health care providers in their interaction with patients and patients’ parents. (Read the full article)

Obesity among youth can have immediate health effects as well as longer-term consequences during adulthood. Overweight/obese children and adolescents are much more likely than normal-weight children to become overweight/obese adults.

This large, multisite longitudinal study examines patterns of exit from and entry into obesity between childhood and adolescence. Socioeconomic factors, body image, television habits, and parental obesity were important predictors of whether children remained obese or became obese. (Read the full article)

In most previous studies, transcutaneous bilirubin measurement has been found to provide an accurate estimate of total serum bilirubin levels. However, most of these studies were conducted in settings that optimized accuracy.

This study provides a "real-world" assessment of the accuracy of transcutaneous bilirubin measurements in multiple clinical settings and identification of sources of discrepancy between transcutaneous and total serum bilirubin measurements. (Read the full article)

Students with dyslexia often struggle with math fluency as well, and scholars at a recent conference put a spotlight on some of the possible connections.

Capital structure, or the DNAs of different sectors differ substantially.

Ahead of Chad’s presidential election on 10 April popular discontent is rising amid a major economic crisis, growing intra-religious tensions and deadly Boko Haram attacks. The regime that portrays itself as spearheading the fight against regional jihadism could see all sorts of violent actors gain influence at home if it pursues exclusionary politics and denies its people a viable social contract.

This article, published ahead of print on 28 July 2008, has been withdrawn by the authors. Although moderate synergy between P2-RANTES and C peptides can be observed with high statistical significance in cell fusion assays, this synergy was not able to be verified in HIV viral assays. The authors regret the overstatement of synergy and will revise the paper for publication at a later date.

Aspergillus niger, the third species responsible for invasive aspergillosis has been considered as a homogeneous species until DNA-based identification uncovered many cryptic species. These species have been recently reclassified into the Aspergillus section Nigri. However little is yet known among the section Nigri about the species distribution and the antifungal susceptibility pattern of each cryptic species. A total of 112 clinical isolates collected from 5 teaching hospitals in France and phenotypically identified as A. niger were analyzed. Identification to the species level was carried out by nucleotide sequence analysis. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) of itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, isavuconazole and amphotericin B were determined by both the EUCAST and gradient concentration strips methods. Aspergillus tubingensis (n=51, 45.5%) and A. welwitschiae (n=50, 44.6%) were the most common species while A. niger accounted for only 6.3% (n=7). The MICs of azoles drugs were higher for A. tubingensis than for A. welwitschiae. The MIC of amphotericin B was 2 mg/L or less for all isolates. Importantly, MICs determined by EUCAST showed no correlation with those determined by gradient concentration strips methods, these latter being lower than the former (Spearman's rank correlation tests ranging - depending on the antifungal agent - from 0.01 to 0.25; p>0.4). In conclusion, A. niger should be considered as a minority species in the section Nigri. The differences in MICs between species for different azoles underline the importance of accurate identification. Significant divergences in the determination of MIC between EUCAST and gradient concentration strips methods require further investigation.

Background

Optimal concentrations of unbound antimicrobials are essential for maximum microbiological effect. Although hypoalbuminemia and albumin fluid resuscitation are common in critical care, the effects of different albumin concentrations on the unbound concentrations of highly protein-bound antimicrobials are not known. The aim of this study was to compare effects of different albumin states on total and unbound concentrations of ertapenem and ceftriaxone using an ovine model.

Methods

Design

Prospective, three phase intervention observational study.

Subjects

Healthy Merino sheep.

Interventions

Eight sheep were subject to three experimental phases; normoalbuminemia, hypoalbuminemia using plasmapheresis and albumin replacement using a 25% albumin solution. In each phase, ceftriaxone 40 mg/kg and ertapenem 15 mg/kg were given intravenously. Blood samples were collected at pre-defined intervals and analyzed using an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. Pharmacokinetic parameters such as area under the curve (AUC_0-24), plasma clearance (CL) and apparent volume of distribution in the terminal phase (V_d) were estimated and compared between the phases.

Results

The protein and albumin concentrations were significantly different between phases. Hypoalbuminemia resulted in a significantly lower AUC_0-24 and higher CL of total and unbound concentrations of ceftriaxone compared to the other phases. Whereas albumin replacement led to higher AUC_0-24 and lower CL compared to other phases for both drugs. The V_d for total drug concentrations for both drugs were significantly lower with albumin replacement.

Conclusions

For highly protein-bound drugs such as ceftriaxone and ertapenem, both hypoalbuminemia and albumin replacement may affect unbound drug exposure.

"Reshaping rural schools in the Northwest Region: Lessons from federal School Improvement Grant implementation" was written by Caitlin Scott and Nora Ostler at the Regional Education Laboratory At Education Northwest, and prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences.

A first look at new federal data on parent involvement suggests a disconnect between parents' expectations and school outcomes.

Businesses that want to stay competitive are adopting a phygital model to address these demands through the holistic integration of offline and online retail.

Google has released an update for its Authenticator app to allow users to manage their account security keys easily while switching to a different phone.

Victorien Barbet, Juliette Rouchier, Noé Guiraud and Vincent Laperrière: We present a model showing the evolution of an organization of agents who discuss democratically about good practices. This model feeds on a field study we did for about twelve years in France where we followed NPOs, called AMAP, and observed their construction through time at the regional and national level. Most of the hypothesis we make are here either based on the literature on opinion diffusion or on the results of our field study. By defining dynamics where agents influence each other, make collective decision at the group level, and decide to stay in or leave their respective groups, we analyse the effect of different forms of vertical communication that is meant to spread good practices within the organization. Our main indicators of the good functioning of the democratic dynamics are stability and representativeness. We show that if communication about norms is well designed, it has a positive impact on both stability and representativeness. Interestingly the effect of communication increases with the number of dimensions discussed in the groups. Communication about norms is thus a valuable tool to use in groups that wish to improve their democratic practices without jeopardizing stability.

DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE: Office of the Commissioner

Gold ETFs investors can exit only by selling to secondary market participants on the stock exchange.

LeBron James has been accused of using the death of a young black man in Georgia to "build a brand" and "sh*t stir," after the NBA icon suggested African Americans were "being hunted" in a tweet about the tragedy.
Read Full Article at RT.com

With US President Donald Trump preparing to square off with presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 race, Americans might as well be choosing between Orwell and Huxley, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters told RT.
Read Full Article at RT.com

Washington’s special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has called on New Delhi to directly engage with the Taliban, asking India to play a “more active” part in the Afghan peace process and the fight against terrorism.
Read Full Article at RT.com