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Previous research has explored the physical activity habits of people with dementia and their family carers separately, with little consideration of how physical habits are associated within dyads. In this observational study, we sought to explore the relationship between people with dementia and their carers' physical activity, at a group level and at a dyadic level. Twenty-six participant dyads (persons with dementia and their carer spouses) were asked to wear an accelerometer for 30 days continuously. Comparisons were made at a group level and a dyadic level. People with dementia did not participate in significantly more moderate to vigorous physical activity (M = 15.44 min/day; SD = 14.40) compared with carers (M = 17.95 min/day; SD = 17.01). Within dyads, there were moderately strong associations between daily moderate to vigorous physical activity (r =.48–.54), but not with overall activity levels (r =.24). Despite physical activity habits remaining relatively low within people with dementia and carers, respectively, moderate to vigorous physical activity levels appear to be correlated within dyads. Understanding mutual influence on physical activity levels within dyads is an important pathway to promote an active lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Nicotine dependence is highly comorbid with opioid use disorders (OUDs). The use of nicotine-containing products increases the propensity to misuse prescription opioids and addressing both nicotine and opioid use simultaneously is more efficacious for treatment of OUDs than treating opioid use alone. Objectives: Given this extreme comorbidity, further elucidation of the effects of nicotine as a factor in promoting vulnerability to development of OUDs is needed. Here, we sought to further explore the effects of nicotine administration on operant self-administration of remifentanil (RMF), a fast-acting synthetic µ-opioid receptor agonist, using a heterogenous seeking–taking chain schedule of reinforcement in unpunished and punished conditions. Methods: Male and female rats received nicotine (0.4 mg/kg) or saline prior to operant self-administration sessions. These sessions consisted of pressing a 'seeking' lever to gain access to a 'taking' lever that could be pressed for delivery of 3.2 µg/kg RMF. After acquisition, continued drug seeking/taking was punished through contingent delivery of foot-shock. Results: Nicotine, relative to saline, increased RMF consumption. Furthermore, nicotine treatment resulted in significantly higher seeking responses and cycles completed, and this effect became more pronounced during punished sessions as nicotine-treated rats suppressed RMF seeking significantly less than controls. Nicotine treatment functionally reduced the efficacy of foot-shock punishment as a deterrent of opioid-seeking. Conclusions: Nicotine administration enhanced both appetitive and consummatory responding for RMF and engendered a punishment-insensitive phenotype for RMF that was less impacted by contingent administration of foot-shock punishment. These findings provide further support for the hypothesis that nicotine augments vulnerability for addiction-like behaviors for opioids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uses and gratifications theory has often been used in (sport) communication studies to examine social media usage. Yet, criticisms of uses and gratifications theory (e.g., it overstates purposefulness) and competing research suggesting media use is more habitual and unconscious in nature have often been overlooked. Thus, through semistructured interviews, this research explored how social media is used, identifying five themes: passively, distinctly, periodically, habitually, and universally. Theoretically, this research contributes by highlighting the passive, habitual, and unconscious nature of some sport social media behavior, thereby challenging our current assumptions that sport social media usage is always active, purposeful, and goal directed. It also considers the uniqueness (or lack thereof) of sport content within the social media experience. Managerially, this research helps sport organizations understand how consumers use social media to inform marketing and communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the common grammaticalization path of the LIKE/LOVE constructions into expressing habitual aspect in Mainland East and Southeast Asian languages. The stages and degrees of grammaticalization for the LIKE/LOVE constructions vary cross-linguistically and different stages of evolution co-exist in one and the same language. Based on the synchronic data from a sample of six national languages in that region, it is found that the grammaticalization process in Chinese, Thai, and Lao is advanced while the process in Vietnamese, Khmer, and Burmese is incipient. At the initial stage of their grammaticalization, there are three context-induced intermediate steps of development before the constructions in question are compatible with inanimate subject referents and the habitual meaning becomes the only possible interpretation. At the later stage, languages vary in their combinability with stative verbs and in their possibility of occurring in future temporal context. The common human experience that if one likes/loves doing something, one tends to do it frequently renders it highly unlikely that this grammaticalization pattern is an areal feature confined to Mainland East and Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: One of the causes of preterm labor and recurrent abortion is progesterone deficiency in the luteal phase. The aim of the study was a comparison of the effect of oral dydrogesterone and vaginal progesterone for luteal‐phase support (LPS) in assisted reproductive technology cycles (ART). Methods: This randomized clinical control trial study was conducted on 207 infertile women. Samples were randomly divided into two groups. The first group received a natural micronized vaginal progesterone (MVP) of 400 mg once daily and the second group received dydrogesterone (Duphestone) 20 mg twice daily. Then chemical pregnancy, abortion, and live births were compared in two groups. Results: The results of the study showed that the vaginal form of the drug could increase the chance of pregnancy (positive β‐human chorionic gonadotropin) versus the oral form. According to the results of multiple logistic regression analysis after adjusting for other variables, the live birth rate in the vaginal group was more than five times that of the oral group (odds ratio = 5.07; 95% confidence interval = 1.24–20.65; p = 0.023). Conclusion: The vaginal form of the progesterone could increase the chance of pregnancy and the outcome of fertility (live birth). Thus, vaginal progesterone is effective for LPS in women undergoing fresh embryo transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present data from an elicitation study and a corpus study that support the observation that the Yucatec Maya progressive aspect auxiliary táan is replaced by the habitual auxiliary k in sentences with contrastively focused fronted objects. Focus has been extensively studied in Yucatec, yet the incompatibility of object fronting and progressive aspect in Yucatec Maya remains understudied. Both our experimental results and our corpus study point in the direction that this incompatibility may very well be categorical. Theoretically, we take a progressive reading to be derived from an imperfectivity operator in combination with a singular operator, and we propose that this singular operator implicates the negation of event plurality, leading to an exhaustive interpretation which ranks below corrective focus on a contrastive focus scale. This means that, in a sentence with object focus fronting, the use of the marked auxiliary táan (as opposed to the more general k) would trigger two contrastive foci, which would be an unlikely and probably dispreferred speech act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Patellar instability is one of the most common pathologies in children and adolescents. The objective of this study is to present the functional and diagnostic results after performing modified Roux-Goldthwait procedure for habitual patellar dislocation in pediatric population. Materials & methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 17 patients, under the age of 18 years, from September 2007 to March 2023. For diagnostic results were evaluated congruence angle, sulcus angle and Caton-Deschamps index. Functional results were evaluated by modified Lysholm score and Cox grading system. Results: Excellent and good results were reported for 82%, fair and poor results for 18%. No statistical significance was reported on the topic of congruence angle and sulcus angle. Conclusions: Modified Roux-Goldthwait procedure for habitual patellar dislocation in pediatric population is safe and effective as it is entirely soft tissue operation that leaves the growth plate intact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background and Aims One of the causes of preterm labor and recurrent abortion is progesterone deficiency in the luteal phase. The aim of the study was a comparison of the effect of oral dydrogesterone and vaginal progesterone for luteal‐phase support (LPS) in assisted reproductive technology cycles (ART). Methods This randomized clinical control trial study was conducted on 207 infertile women. Samples were randomly divided into two groups. The first group received a natural micronized vaginal progesterone (MVP) of 400 mg once daily and the second group received dydrogesterone (Duphestone) 20 mg twice daily. Then chemical pregnancy, abortion, and live births were compared in two groups. Results The results of the study showed that the vaginal form of the drug could increase the chance of pregnancy (positive β‐human chorionic gonadotropin) versus the oral form. According to the results of multiple logistic regression analysis after adjusting for other variables, the live birth rate in the vaginal group was more than five times that of the oral group (odds ratio = 5.07; 95% confidence interval = 1.24–20.65; p = 0.023). Conclusion The vaginal form of the progesterone could increase the chance of pregnancy and the outcome of fertility (live birth). Thus, vaginal progesterone is effective for LPS in women undergoing fresh embryo transfer.

Aim and Background: The spread of the corona virus at a high speed caused many attitudes, behaviors, habits and values of human beings to undergo serious changes in such a way that these changes led to a transformation in the way of life of the people. The aim of the research was to investigate the effectiveness of an educational intervention on the modification of habits in the face of the corona virus. Methods and Materials: The research method was quasi-experimental (pre-test-post-test with control group). The statistical population of the research was the contacts of the religious boards of Isfahan city, and the sample size was estimated to be 40 people using Cochran's formula. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data, and its content validity was checked and verified by the opinion of experts and experts, and its reliability was checked and confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. To analyze the data, univariate (ANCOVA) and multivariate (MANCOVA) analysis of covariance methods were used. Findings: The results showed that the educational package based on scientific and Islamic teachings was effective in improving social habits. Also, the eta square shows that 42% of the changes in the sociological component scores, 42.3% of the changes in the religious (Islamic) component scores, and 24.2% of the changes in the medical component scores in the experimental group were obtained as a result of the educational package intervention. Conclusions: The findings of the research show that the educational package based on scientific and Islamic teachings has an effect on the sociological, religious (Islamic) and medical components in preventing the corona virus

In this paper, we present data from an elicitation study and a corpus study that support the observation that the Yucatec Maya progressive aspect auxiliary táan is replaced by the habitual auxiliary k in sentences with contrastively focused fronted objects. Focus has been extensively studied in Yucatec, yet the incompatibility of object fronting and progressive aspect in Yucatec Maya remains understudied. Both our experimental results and our corpus study point in the direction that this incompatibility may very well be categorical. Theoretically, we take a progressive reading to be derived from an imperfectivity operator in combination with a singular operator, and we propose that this singular operator implicates the negation of event plurality, leading to an exhaustive interpretation which ranks below corrective focus on a contrastive focus scale. This means that, in a sentence with object focus fronting, the use of the marked auxiliary táan (as opposed to the more general k) would trigger two contrastive foci, which would be an unlikely and probably dispreferred speech act.

Objective: To investigate the effect of uterine microenvironment on early pregnancy in patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). Methods: From October 2021 to January 2022, intrauterine lavage was collected from RSA patients who were admitted to our hospital for uterine clear operation and normal early pregnant women who were admitted for induced abortion during the same period. Concentrations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), tumor necrosis factor -α (TNF -α), interleukin -2 (IL -2) and interferon -γ (IFN -γ) were detected. Endometrial cells and extravillous trophoblast cells were respectively interfered with intrauterine lavage to detect mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-2, IFN-γ in endometrial cells and invasion and migration ability of extravillous trophoblast cells. Results: The concentrations of LPS, TNF-α, IL-2 and IFN-γ in intrauterine lavage of RSA patients were significantly higher than those of normal women in early pregnancy (P＜0.05). The mRNA expressions of pro-inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-2 and IFN-γ in endometrial cells of RSA patients were significantly increased after intrauterine lavage intervention compared with those of normal women in early pregnancy (P＜0.05). After the intervention of intrauterine lavage with extravillous trophoblast cells in RSA patients, the number of invasive cells and migration area of cells were significantly decreased compared with that of normal women in early pregnancy (P＜0.05). Conclusions: The uterine cavity of patients with RSA presents a microinflammatory state, which affects the invasion and migration ability of extravillous trophoblast cells and is not conducive to the maintenance of pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysregulated immune hemostasis occurs in unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA). Synthesized by cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) and cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) promotes regulatory T-cell differentiation and regulates immune hemostasis; yet, its role in URSA is elusive. To determine if H2S plays a role in early pregnancy and if dysregulated H2S signaling results in recurrent spontaneous abortion. First trimester placenta villi and decidua were collected from normal and URSA pregnancies. Protein expression was examined by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. Human trophoblast HTR8/SVneo and JEG3 cells were treated with H2S donors; HTR8/SVneo cells were transfected with CBS ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) or complementary deoxyribonucleic acid. Cell migration and invasion were determined by transwell assays; trophoblast transcriptomes were determined by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Wild-type, CBS-deficient, and CBA/J × DBA/2 mice were treated with CBS and CSE inhibitors or H2S donors to determine the role of H2S in early pregnancy in vivo. CBS and CSE proteins showed cell-specific expressions, but only CBS decreased in the villous cytotrophoblast in URSA versus normal participants. H2S donors promoted migration and invasion and MMP-2 and VEGF expression in human placenta trophoblast cells that contain SV40 viral deoxyribonucleic acid sequences (HTR8/SVneo) and human placenta trophoblast cells (JEG3 cells), similar to forced CBS expression in HTR8/SVneo cells. The CBS-responsive transcriptomes in HTR8/SVneo cells contained differentially regulated genes (ie, interleukin-1 receptor and prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2) that are associated with nuclear factor-κB-mediated inflammatory response. In vivo, dysregulated CBS/H2S signaling significantly increased embryonic resorption and decidual T-helper 1/T-helper 2 imbalance in mice, which was partially rescued by H2S donors. CBS/H2S signaling maintains early pregnancy, possibly via regulating maternal-fetal interface immune hemostasis, offering opportunities for H2S-based immunotherapies for URSA.

Triploidy is a genetic occurrence in which the chromosome count is 3n = 69 with a double (2n) chromosomal contribution to the conceptus from one parent. Such pregnancies are usually nonviable and are estimated to account for approximately 1% of recognized conceptions and 10% of recognized miscarriages. Majority opinion is that fetal losses due to triploidies are caused by the presence of 2 copies of paternal chromosomes. In this study, we present a digynic monoandric triploid miscarriage from a 32-year-old G7P1051 at approximately 13 weeks gestation, in which 2 copies of the maternal chromosomes are present in the fetus. This unusual phenomenon is supported by nonmolar placental histology, chromosomal microarray, and short tandem repeat assays, with the latter 2 being discussed in detail. Furthermore, this study includes discussion of recurrent miscarriage, recurrent triploidy, and long-term clinical follow-up of the patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miscarriage is a common, complex trait affecting ~15% of clinically confirmed pregnancies. Here we present the results of large-scale genetic association analyses with 69,054 cases from five different ancestries for sporadic miscarriage, 750 cases of European ancestry for multiple (≥3) consecutive miscarriage, and up to 359,469 female controls. We identify one genome-wide significant association (rs146350366, minor allele frequency (MAF) 1.2%, P = 3.2 × 10-8, odds ratio (OR) = 1.4) for sporadic miscarriage in our European ancestry meta-analysis and three genome-wide significant associations for multiple consecutive miscarriage (rs7859844, MAF = 6.4%, P = 1.3 × 10-8, OR = 1.7; rs143445068, MAF = 0.8%, P = 5.2 × 10-9, OR = 3.4; rs183453668, MAF = 0.5%, P = 2.8 × 10-8, OR = 3.8). We further investigate the genetic architecture of miscarriage with biobank-scale Mendelian randomization, heritability, and genetic correlation analyses. Our results show that miscarriage etiopathogenesis is partly driven by genetic variation potentially related to placental biology, and illustrate the utility of large-scale biobank data for understanding this pregnancy complication.

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The etiology of recurrent abortion is complex, involving chromosome, immune, endocrine, reproductive tract microenvironment and many other aspects. As research on the etiology of recurrent abortion continues to progress, the influence of genetic polymorphisms on recurrent abortion has gradually attracted widespread attention. Folic acid is an important raw material for DNA synthesis. Changes in the polymorphism of key enzyme genes during metabolism can lead to decreased folic acid synthesis and hyperhomocysteinemia, which increases the risk of recurrent abortion. In addition, when genetic polymorphisms of cytokines and related receptors, sex hormones and related receptors and ralated genes of thrombosis factors is changed, the level of corresponding products will increase or decrease, disrupting the original balance in the body and leading to recurrent abortion. The role of gene polymorphism in the pathogenesis of recurrent abortion is reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The effectiveness of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in preventing miscarriage of unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss remains controversial. In order to explore the effect of LMWH therapy in unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss, we conducted this meta-analysis. Methods We searched four databases PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Clinical Trials.gov (up to February 2020) for the randomized control trials (RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of LMWH on the treatment of recurrent miscarriage. We used Stata software to perform a meta-analysis. Moreover, we performed analyses of sensitivity and predefined subgroups based on the definition of recurrent miscarriage (e.g. 2 or more miscarriages or 3 or more miscarriages) to search the source of heterogeneity. Results 5 studies met the selection criteria, involving 1452 participants. LMWH reduce the risk of miscarriage of women suffering ≥3 miscarriages (RR = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.35–0.61, p = .00), but the risk of miscarriage of women suffering ≥2 miscarriages was not decreased by LMWH (RR = 0.70; 95% CI = 0.57–0.86, p = .26). No substantial influence was found on Live birth rate (RR = 1.19; 95% CI = 0.99–1.43), Preterm birth (RR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.65–1.38), Preeclampsia (RR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.45–1.76), Small for gestational age (RR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.64–1.51). Conclusion LMWH treatment may decrease the miscarriage rate in women suffering a history of 3 or more miscarriages, but not reduce the incidence of miscarriage in women suffering a history of 2 or more miscarriages. We need more RCTs to provide robust and reliable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the association between recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) and incident arthritis in midlife women.Methods: We analyzed the U.S. Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, a multi-ethnic cohort following pre- or peri‑menopausal women, using data from baseline up to the tenth annual follow-up visit. Discrete survival analysis was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for risk of incident arthritis at annual intervals in women with versus without RPL.Results: Of the 2159 participants analyzed, 8.5% reported a history of RPL. Cumulative incidence of arthritis was 43.3% in women with RPL and 40.1% in women without RPL, though differences between groups varied over time. Significant associations were observed only at visits three to seven, with the strongest associations at visits four to six. The adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 1.80 (1.30-2.50) at visit 4 (median age = 50 years), 1.95 (1.38-2.75) at visit 5 (median age = 51 years), and 1.82 (1.28-2.58) at visit 6 (median age = 52 years).Conclusions: Women with previous RPL may have elevated risk of arthritis specifically when entering their 50s, on average. Additional research is needed to determine whether women with a history of RPL may benefit from early detection of arthritis in midlife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal housing is a common style of urban growth in most developing countries and is organized somehow which is neither urban nor rural. This study aimed to understand the daily life experience of citizens in the suburbs of Hoveyzeh city in Khuzestan province. The research method in this research was based on the qualitative method in the form of data theory and the data collection technique was semi-structured interviews and participatory field observations. To achieve the research objectives, 20 residents of these areas have been purposefully selected. Interviews continued until the saturation of data. After coding, 21 main categories of data emerged, each of which was analyzed based on the text of the interviews. In terms of conditions including (lack of support and skills, disregard for spatial justice, the need to change the space for social change, sense of abandonment, direct experience of war, actors' mental contexts, historical criticism of the produced space, marginalized lifestyle, acceptance and normal Marginal life, destiny and heredity, local dependence on interests and connections, combination of fear and narrative) and in the action-interaction dimension (confrontation, conflict, comparison, feeling of despair in changing the situation, the blind cycle of poverty) and in Then there are the consequences (marginalization of the marginalized, the principles of the right to the city as a missing link, the combination of fear and narrative, self-reliance) that have formed around a core category called (bio-luxury and return to habit). Finally, after extracting the findings, using the GIS, the relationship between location and the incidence of injuries is discussed and the results are expressed analytically and graphically. Also, the results of the spatial analysis show that among the vulnerability components, most of Hoveyzeh's areas are exposed to security and psychological vulnerabilities.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) abilities. Investigations of ER strategies in BPD have been less robust. This systematic review identified 55 studies comparing ER strategy use between individuals diagnosed with BPD versus psychiatric and non‐psychiatric comparison groups. Individuals with BPD reported more frequent maladaptive and less frequent adaptive ER strategy use than non‐psychiatric controls. Results were less consistent relative to psychiatric comparison groups, though individuals with BPD reported greater self‐criticism and avoidance. Groups responded comparably to instructed use of adaptive (but not maladaptive) ER strategies. This body of research would benefit from further examination of the roles of psychiatric comorbidity and problematic behaviours in the relationship between BPD and ER strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Information about mobility and physical function may be encoded in the complexity of daily activity pattern. Therefore, daily activity pattern complexity metrics could provide novel insight into the relationship between daily activity behavior and health. The purpose of the present study was to examine the association between the complexity of daily activity behavior and the mobility and physical function among community-dwelling older adults 75, 80, and 85 yr of age. Methods: A total of 309 participants wore accelerometers concurrently on the thigh and the trunk for at least three consecutive days. Five activity states (lying, sitting, standing, walking, or activity other than walking) were defined in three different temporal grains (5 s, 1 min, and 5 min), and Lempel–Ziv complexity was evaluated. We assessed complexity of daily activity behavior using the life-space mobility and physical function with distance in preferred pace 6-min walk and the Short Physical Performance Battery. Results: Weak positive associations were observed between the complexity of daily activity and the mobility and physical function at the finest temporal grains in both sexes (Spearman rho = 0.19 to 0.27, P < 0.05). No significant associations were observed in the coarsest temporal grain in either sex. Conclusions: Lempel–Ziv estimates of daily activity complexity with a fine temporal grain seem to be associated with community-dwelling older adults' physical function. The coarsest 5-min temporal grain may have smoothed out physiologically meaningful short activity bouts. Because complexity encodes information related to timing, intensity, and patterning of behavior, complexity of activity could be an informative indicator of future physical function and mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habits are familiar behaviors triggered by cues, not outcome predictability, and are insensitive to changes in the environment. They are adaptive under many circumstances but can be considered antecedent to compulsions and intrusive thoughts that drive persistent, potentially maladaptive behavior. Whether compulsive-like and habit-like behaviors share neural substrates is still being determined. Here, we investigated mice bred to display inflexible reward-seeking behaviors that are insensitive to action consequences. We found that these mice demonstrate habitual response biases and compulsive-like grooming behavior that was reversible by fluoxetine and ketamine. They also suffer dendritic spine attrition on excitatory neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Nevertheless, synaptic melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), a factor implicated in compulsive behavior, is preserved, leading to the hypothesis that Mc4r + OFC neurons may drive aberrant behaviors. Repeated chemogenetic stimulation of Mc4r+ OFC neurons triggered compulsive and not inflexible or habitual response biases in otherwise typical mice. Thus, Mc4r + neurons within the OFC appear to drive compulsive-like behavior that is dissociable from habitual behavior. Understanding which neuron populations trigger distinct behaviors may advance efforts to mitigate harmful compulsions. [Display omitted] • A common way to investigate compulsive behavior is to mutate risk genes in rodents. • Here, we instead investigated intact mice bred to favor inflexible action strategies. • We found that they are prone to habitual and compulsive-like behavior. • Melanocortin 4 receptor in the orbital cortex is intact, despite other alterations. • Mc4r + neurons induce compulsive-like behavior but unexpectedly spare action strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Under certain circumstances, animals exhibit maladaptive patterns of intake for food and drugs. • We review recent animal models of stress exposure and intermittent access to rewards. • We also explore neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying dysregulated reward seeking. Behavioral models are central to behavioral neuroscience. To study the neural mechanisms of maladaptive behaviors (including binge eating and drug addiction), it is essential to develop and utilize appropriate animal models that specifically focus on dysregulated reward seeking. Both food and cocaine are typically consumed in a regulated manner by rodents, motivated by reward and homeostatic mechanisms. However, both food and cocaine seeking can become dysregulated, resulting in binge-like consumption and compulsive patterns of intake. The speakers in this symposium for the 2021 International Behavioral Neuroscience Meeting utilize behavioral models of dysregulated reward-seeking to investigate the neural mechanisms of binge-like consumption, enhanced cue-driven reward seeking, excessive motivation, and continued use despite negative consequences. In this review, we outline examples of maladaptive patterns of intake and explore recent animal models that drive behavior to become dysregulated, including stress exposure and intermittent access to rewards. Lastly, we explore select behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying dysregulated reward-seeking for both food and drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Evaluation of the signal peptide complement C1r/C1s, Uegf, and Bmp1 (CUB), and epidermal growth factor-like domain-containing protein-1 (SCUBE-1) levels and carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) between the group of patients with and without recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). METHODS: This prospective and single-center study included 20-40-year-old 30 patients with and 30 patients without a history of RPL. No patients with any anatomical, hereditary, or endocrinological thrombophilic defects were included. Comparison of SCUBE-1 levels and CIMT were made between the patient and control groups. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between patients and control groups in terms of demographic characteristics except for gravidity, parity and miscarriages.The mean SCUBE-1 level in the RPL group was statistically significantly higher compared to the control group (16.44+-5.43 vs.10.17+-5.19, respectively, p=0.001). The mean CIMT value in RPL patients was statistically significantly higher than that of the control group (0.60+-0.09 vs.0.44+-0.07, respectively, p=0.001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: High levels of serum SCUBE-1 and CIMT in RPL may suggest that ischemia and endothelial dysfunction may be involved in the etiology of RPL. Future studies may shed light on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of RPL.

The paper criticizes the Court of Cassation which qualifies the case of the illegal transport of waste (art. 256, 1st paragraph, Legislative Decree 152/06) as an instantaneous or, at the most, possibly habitual offense and instead affirms its nature permanent. Furthermore some drawbacks are highlighted from the traditional framework in relation to the prescription of the crime, jurisdiction over the territory and the application of the cause of non-punishment for particular tenuity of the fact.

Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is a common gynecological and obstetric disease. The etiology of RSA is complex, while the etiology of some RSA patients is still unclear, which may be closely related to abnormal immune factors. The therapeutic effect of cellular immunosuppressant cyclosporine A (CsA) in recurrent abortion has been gradually revealed. It has been found that CSA can regulate the maternal -fetal immune tolerance and trophoblast proliferation, migration and invasion, which provides evidence support for its use as a drug related to RSA. In this paper, we expound the embryonic protection mechanism of CsA from the various aspects. CsA participates in regulating the balance of maternal and fetal immune tolerance cytokines, alleviating the immune stress injury of trophoblast, enhancing the proliferation and invasion of trophoblast and reducing trophoblast apoptosis. Combined with the latest clinical reports on the CsA combined with traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of RSA, we discuss the treatment application of CsA in RSA diseases, and provide ideas for further research on CsA in the treatment of RSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin 33 (IL -33) belongs to the IL -1β family and is a newly discovered nuclear localization factor with dual anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory effects. Studies have shown that IL-33 can maintain normal pregnancy by participating in the process of regulating maternal-fetal immune tolerance. At the same time, IL -33 plays an important role in a variety of pregnancy -related diseases. Abnormal expression or dysfunction of IL-33 in early pregnancy can lead to miscarriage. The decrease of IL-33 in the placenta leads to trophoblast dysfunction, which is related to poor placental function of preeclampsia patients. Decreased expression of IL-33 or dysfunction in the decidua in the middle and late stages of pregnancy plays an important role in the occurrence and development of preterm birth. Although IL-33 can trigger calcium flux in a variety of cells and increase the level of calcium ions in cells, and calcium ions play an important role in uterine smooth muscle contraction, the research on IL-33 in uterine smooth muscle has not been in-depth. The occurrence of preterm birth is ultimately accompanied by uterine smooth muscle contraction, therefore, study on the role of IL-33 in pregnancy-related diseases and the contraction of smooth muscle cells will help to further study the mechanism of occurrence and development of preterm birth, thereby providing new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of preterm birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the product of the reaction between oxygen and electrons. The appropriate level of ROS and the oxidative stress balance play an important role in maintaining physiological function. When ROS was produced too much or the ability to eliminate ROS was weakened, the increased oxidative stress (OS) could lead to a variety of infertility-related diseases. OS is involved in the occurrence and development of polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, recurrent abortion and other diseases, as well as the prognosis of these diseases. In addition to being involved in female reproductive-related diseases, OS can also reduce semen quality and affect male reproductive function. This article reviews the pathogenesis of oxidative stress and its effect on reproduction-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kisspeptin, a neuropeptide encoded by kiss -1 gene, has been considered to inhibit tumor metastasis and regulate reproductive endocrine. Kisspeptin and its receptors are widely distributed in the brain, pituitary gland, ovary, uterus, placenta and other tissues. The expression of kisspeptin in the endometrium changes periodically, which is significantly increased in the endometrial stromal cells of the late secretion period. The concentration of kisspeptin in placenta and maternal plasma also increases sharply in the first trimester. Recent studies have shown that kisspeptin plays an important role in regulating the physiological processes of pregnancy such as decidualization, placenta formation and embryo implantation. Kisspeptin is also involved in the maintenance of glucose homeostasis during pregnancy. The abnormal level of kisspeptin is associated with pregnancy -related diseases such as recurrent abortion, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes mellitus. In this paper, the role of kisspeptin and the mechanism in the physiological pregnancy and the pregnancy-related diseases are reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is accumulating evidence for the existence of distinct neural systems supporting goal-directed and habitual action selection in the mammalian brain, much less is known about the nature of the information being processed in these different brain regions. Associative learning theory predicts that brain systems involved in habitual control, such as the dorsolateral striatum, should contain stimulus and response information only, but not outcome information, while regions involved in goal-directed action, such as ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial striatum, should be involved in processing information about outcomes as well as stimuli and responses. To test this prediction, human participants underwent fMRI while engaging in a binary choice task designed to enable the separate identification of these different representations with a multivariate classification analysis approach. Consistent with our predictions, the dorsolateral striatum contained information about responses but not outcomes at the time of an initial stimulus, while the regions implicated in goal-directed action selection contained information about both responses and outcomes. These findings suggest that differential contributions of these regions to habitual and goal-directed behavioral control may depend in part on basic differences in the type of information that these regions have access to at the time of decision making.

Everyday decision-making is supported by a dual-system of control comprised of parallel goal-directed and habitual systems. Over the past decade, the two-stage Markov decision task has become popularized for its ability to dissociate between goal-directed and habitual decision-making. While a handful of studies have implemented decision-making tasks online, only one study has validated the task by comparing in-person and web-based performance on the two-stage task in children and young adults. To date, no study has validated the dissociation of goal-directed and habitual behaviors in older adults online. Here, we implemented and validated a web-based version of the two-stage Markov task using parameter simulation and recovery and compared behavioral results from online and in-person participation on the two-stage task in both young and healthy older adults. We found no differences in estimated free parameters between online and in-person participation on the two-stage task. Further, we replicate previous findings that young adults are more goal-directed than older adults both in-person and online. Overall, this work demonstrates that the implementation and use of the two-stage Markov decision task for remote participation is feasible in the older adult demographic, which would allow for the study of decision-making with larger and more diverse samples.

Covid'19, the pandemic that started in 2019 is still on its wave affecting the lives and lifestyles of the people around the world. The new normal culture was introduced in the wake of the Covid'19 so that people's job, student's learning does not get affected because of this pandemic situation. But the new normal culture of online meetings, online classes, learning through e-content and writing exams online all are dependent on high speed internet connection, smart phones and laptops. This research article analyses the impact of Covid'19 on changes in the life style of college students. The research is confined to Chennai area. The research work has used survey using questionnaire method to collect the data and has used Percentage and Factor analysis method as research tools to analyse the data. It is identified from the research that there is a positive and negative change in Psychological, social, personal and habitual wellbeing of the students. These factors highly influence the life style of the college students and there is a notable change in the lifestyle of the students before and after Covid'19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyday decision-making is supported by a dual-system of control comprised of parallel goal-directed and habitual systems. Over the past decade, the two-stage Markov decision task has become popularized for its ability to dissociate between goal-directed and habitual decision-making. While a handful of studies have implemented decision-making tasks online, only one study has validated the task by comparing in-person and web-based performance on the two-stage task in children and young adults. To date, no study has validated the dissociation of goal-directed and habitual behaviors in older adults online. Here, we implemented and validated a web-based version of the two-stage Markov task using parameter simulation and recovery and compared behavioral results from online and in-person participation on the two-stage task in both young and healthy older adults. We found no differences in estimated free parameters between online and in-person participation on the two-stage task. Further, we replicate previous findings that young adults are more goal-directed than older adults both in-person and online. Overall, this work demonstrates that the implementation and use of the two-stage Markov decision task for remote participation is feasible in the older adult demographic, which would allow for the study of decision-making with larger and more diverse samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background A study was conducted to determine whether the habitualness among individuals to apply saliva to their fingertips (for moistening) while shuffling through pages of a document can provide evidence in cases pertaining to handling of documents in forensic investigations. It involved 200 volunteers, 50% of which were male and 50% were female. The volunteers shuffled the pages of the three substrates (registers, books and magazines). An attempt was made to detect the transfer of saliva onto the substrate while shuffling and generation of DNA profiles from the transferred saliva. The presence of salivary stains was confirmed using iodine fuming test and starch iodine test. Afterwards, the DNA was recovered with substrate cutting method, extracted using QIAGEN® QIAmp DNA mini kit and amplified using the Power Plex® 21 System Kit. Results The results revealed that 83% of individuals applied saliva onto the documents and majority of females applied saliva. DNA could be successfully recovered from the stains detected on the three substrates, and complete STR profiles could be generated. Main finding A conclusion can be drawn out that majority of subjects under study were in habit of using saliva to turn pages, and this can be an important evidence to help criminal justice system as DNA profiles could be developed successfully from the substrates. This can be a very good evidence in respect of identifying the individual(s) who handled the document.

A shift from goal-directed toward habitual control has been associated with alcohol dependence. Whether such a shift predisposes to risky drinking is not yet clear. We investigated how goal-directed and habitual control at age 18 predict alcohol use trajectories over the course of 3 years. Goal-directed and habitual control, as informed by model-based (MB) and model-free (MF) learning, were assessed with a two-step sequential decision-making task during functional magnetic resonance imaging in 146 healthy 18-year-old men. Three-year alcohol use developmental trajectories were based on either a consumption score from the self-reported Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (assessed every 6 months) or an interview-based binge drinking score (grams of alcohol/occasion; assessed every year). We applied a latent growth curve model to examine how MB and MF control predicted the drinking trajectory. Drinking behavior was best characterized by a linear trajectory. MB behavioral control was negatively associated with the development of the binge drinking score; MF reward prediction error blood oxygen level–dependent signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum predicted a higher starting point and steeper increase of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test consumption score over time, respectively. We found that MB behavioral control was associated with the binge drinking trajectory, while the MF reward prediction error signal was closely linked to the consumption score development. These findings support the idea that unbalanced MB and MF control might be an important individual vulnerability in predisposing to risky drinking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by cognitive deficits and altered reward processing systems. An imbalance between cognitive and reward pathways may explain the lack of control over obsessions followed by rewarding compulsive behaviors. While the processes of emotional cognitive regulation are widely studied in OCD, the mechanisms of cognitive regulation of reward are poorly described. Our goal was to investigate the OCD impact on cognitive regulation of reward at behavioral and neural functioning levels. OCD and control participants performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging task where they cognitively modulated their craving for food pictures under three cognitive regulation conditions: indulge/increase craving, distance/decrease craving, and natural/no regulation of craving. After regulation, the participants gave each picture a monetary value. We found that OCD patients had fixed food valuation scores while the control group modulated these values accordingly to the regulation conditions. Moreover, we observed frontoparietal hyperconnectivity during cognitive regulation. Our results suggest that OCD is characterized by deficits in cognitive regulation of internal states associated with inflexible behavior during reward processing. These findings bring new insights into the nature of compulsive behaviors in OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) transition more quickly from goal-directed to habitual action-selection, but the neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. Data from animal models suggest that drugs of abuse can modify the neurocircuits that regulate action-selection, enhancing circuits that drive inflexible, habit-based stimulusresponse (S-R) action-selection and weakening circuits that drive flexible, goal-directed actions. Here, we tested the effect of bilateral 10-Hz transcranial alternating current stimulation (10Hz-tACs) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on actionselection in men and women with a SUD history and an age- and sex-matched control group. We tested the hypothesis that true 10Hz-tACS versus active sham stimulation would reduce perseverative errors after changed response contingencies for well-learned S-R associations, reflecting reduced habit-based action-selection, specifically in the SUD group. We found that 10 Hz-tACS increased perseverative errors in the control group, but in the SUD group, 10 Hz-tACS effects on perseverative errors depended on substance abuse duration: a longer addiction history was associated with a greater reduction of perseverative errors. These results suggest that 10Hz-tACs altered circuit level dynamics regulating behavioral flexibility, and provide a foundation for future studies to test stimulation site, frequency, and timing specificity. Moreover, these data suggest that chronic substance abuse is associated with altered circuit dynamics that are ameliorated by 10HztACs. Determining the generalizability of these effects and their duration merits investigation as a direction for novel therapeutic interventions. These findings are timely based on growing interest in transcranial stimulation methods for treating SUDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithuanian has regular past habitual forms with the suffix -dav-, which can be explained as an originally iterative suffix -dau- restricted to the past tense (Fraenkel 1936). Dialectal and Old Lithuanian, in addition to -dav-, also feature habituals with the suffixes -lav- and -dlav-, which could have followed the same path of development (Fraenkel 1936), as evidenced by a number of diverse languages (Bybee et al. 1994). Using an electronic edition of Lietuvių kalbos žodynas (The Dictionary of Lithuanian) as the data source, a limited number of possible iteratives with -dau- and other related suffixes were found, which has led to two main conclusions. (1) Habituals were restricted to the past tense before the appearance of the first written Lithuanian texts (mid-16th c.) and the present and the infinitive stems went out of use. If this had not been the case, more corresponding verbal formations should have remained. (2) Iteratives with the habitual-to-be suffixes had to be productive to some extent in the dialects, which grammaticalized them as past habituals. If these formations had been productive in all dialects of Lithuanian, more iteratives should have been found in the areas that did not grammaticalize them as past habituals. It is also suggested that the form-frequency correspondence principle (Haspelmath 2008, 2014, 2017) should have operated in the formation of the Lithuanian habitual. Longer suffixes were chosen to mark habitual situations as a less frequent subtype of iterative situations and habitual forms were restricted to the past tense because habituality is one of the default (more frequent) readings of the present and hence the habituals in the past tend to be marked explicitly (Bybee et al. 1994).

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Background: Coffee and tea are the major contributors of caffeine in the diet. Evidence points to the premise that caffeine may benefit cognition.Objective: We examined the associations of habitual regular coffee or tea and caffeine intake with cognitive function whilst additionally accounting for genetic variation in caffeine metabolism.Methods: We included white participants aged 37-73 y from the UK Biobank who provided biological samples and completed touchscreen questionnaires regarding sociodemographic factors, medical history, lifestyle, and diet. Habitual caffeine-containing coffee and tea intake was self-reported in cups/day and used to estimate caffeine intake. Between 97,369 and 445,786 participants with data also completed ≥1 of 7 self-administered cognitive functioning tests using a touchscreen system (2006-2010) or on home computers (2014). Multivariable regressions were used to examine the association between coffee, tea, or caffeine intake and cognition test scores. We also tested interactions between coffee, tea, or caffeine intake and a genetic-based caffeine-metabolism score (CMS) on cognitive function.Results: After multivariable adjustment, reaction time, Pairs Matching, Trail Making test B, and symbol digit substitution, performance significantly decreased with consumption of 1 or more cups of coffee (all tests P-trend < 0.0001). Tea consumption was associated with poor performance on all tests (P-trend < 0.0001). No statistically significant CMS × tea, CMS × coffee, or CMS × caffeine interactions were observed.Conclusions: Our findings, based on the participants of the UK Biobank, provide little support for habitual consumption of regular coffee or tea and caffeine in improving cognitive function. On the contrary, we observed decrements in performance with intakes of these beverages which may be a result of confounding. Whether habitual caffeine intake affects cognitive function therefore remains to be tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Evaluation of the signal peptide complement C1r/C1s, Uegf, and Bmp1 (CUB), and epidermal growth factor-like domain-containing protein-1 (SCUBE-1) levels and carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) between the group of patients with and without recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). Materials and Methods: This prospective and single-center study included 20-40-year-old 30 patients with and 30 patients without a history of RPL. No patients with any anatomical, hereditary, or endocrinological thrombophilic defects were included. A comparison of SCUBE-1 levels and CIMT were made between the patient and control groups. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between patients and control groups in terms of demographic characteristics except for gravidity, parity, and miscarriages. The mean SCUBE-1 level in the RPL group was statistically significantly higher compared to the control group (16.44±5.43 vs.10.17±5.19, respectively, p=0.001). The mean CIMT value in RPL patients was statistically significantly higher than that of the control group (0.60±0.09 vs.0.44±0.07, respectively, p=0.001). Conclusion: High levels of serum SCUBE-1 and CIMT in RPL may suggest that ischemia and endothelial dysfunction may be involved in the etiology of RPL. Future studies may shed light on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of RPL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages of the Arandic subgroup of Pama-Nyungan languages of Australia have developed markers of aspect from a variety of sources, including verb phrases with stance auxiliaries and reduplicated forms. Other origins involve nominalised verb forms and the refunctionalisation of tense suffixes. Some unusual diachronic developments have to do with interactions between aspectual markers and those of the highly developed verbal category of associated motion. There are shifts in both directions - from aspectual to associated motion values as well as extension of associated motion to aspectual meanings. All the posited diachronic changes are inferred by means of reconstruction, since there is virtually no corpus of documents from which changes in real time can be traced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In competitive sports any substantial individual differences in diurnal variations in maximal performance are highly relevant. Previous studies have exclusively focused on how the time of day affects performance and disregarded the maximal individual diurnal variation of performance. Thus, the aims of this study were (1) to investigate the maximum diurnal variation in maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max), (2) to compare the diurnal variation of VO2max during the day to the day-to-day variation in VO2max, and (3) to investigate if there is a time-of-day effect on VO2max. Ten male and seven female athletes (mean VO2max: 58.2 ± 6.9 ml/kg/min) performed six maximal cardiopulmonary exercise tests including a verification-phase at six different times of the day (i.e., diurnal variation) and a seventh test at the same time the sixth test took place (i.e., day-to-day variation). The test times were 7:00, 10:00, 13:00, 16:00, 19:00, and 21:00. The order of exercise tests was the same for all participants to ensure sufficient recovery but the time of day of the first exercise test was randomized. We used paired t-tests to compare the nadir and peak of diurnal variations, day-to-day variations and the difference between diurnal and day-to-day variations. The mean difference in VO2max was 5.0 ± 1.9 ml/kg/min (95% CI: 4.1, 6.0) for the diurnal variation and 2.0 ± 1.0 ml/kg/min (95% CI: 1.5, 2.5) for the day-to-day variation. The diurnal variation was significantly higher than the day-to-day variation with a mean difference of 3.0 ± 2.1 ml/kg/min (95% CI: 1.9, 4.1). The linear mixed effects model revealed no significant differences in VO2max for any pairwise comparison between the different times of the day (all p > 0.11). This absence of a time-of-day effect is explained by the fact that peak VO2max was achieved at different times of the day by different athletes. The diurnal variations have meaningful implications for competitive sports and need to be considered by athletes. However, the results are also relevant to research. To increase signal-to-noise-ratio in intervention studies it is necessary to conduct cardiopulmonary exercise testing at the same time of the day for pre- and post-intervention exercise tests.