To enable patients with advanced cancer to spend their final days at home, palliative care support must be available at home around the clock. To evaluate how the integration of paramedics into end-of-life care for cancer patients affects the utilization of the emergency department, the time spent at home, and places of death. Retrospective cohort study. Patients who died of cancer in 2016-2017 in North Karelia, Finland. Emergency department visits and time spent at home among patients with or without enrollment in the paramedics' end-of-life care protocol were evaluated. Of the 767 patients who died of cancer, 160 (21%) were included in the end-of-life care protocol. An emergency department visit during the last month of life was needed in 34% of patients with and 48% without the protocol (p = 0.002). The mean number of emergency department visits for patients with and without the protocol was 0.47 and 0.75, respectively (RR 0.55 [95% Cl: 0.47-0.67], p < 0.001 in Poisson regression analysis). During the last 30 days of life, patients in the protocol spent more time at home (median of 21 vs. 11 days, p < 0.001) and died more often at home (26% vs. 4%, p < 0.001). Including paramedics in the end-of-life care pathway is associated with decreased emergency department visits during the last month of life and increased time spent at home, including at the time of death. Therefore, this integration of paramedics seems to direct health care resources more beneficially while honoring most patients' preference to stay at home.
There are growing concerns that social media may negatively impact adolescents' mental health. However, most studies are cross-sectional, or short-term longitudinal studies, limiting conclusions about long-term effects. We examined if time spent on social media at age 15/16 is positively associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety 5 years later, and explored effect modification by gender, socioeconomic status, and physical activity. We analyzed data from a nationally representative cohort of Swedish adolescents. In 2017, 5,535 ninth-grade students (age 15/16) completed a self-report survey. In 2022, 3,193 completed a follow-up assessment. The number of hours per day on social media was self-reported; depression and anxiety were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-4. In unadjusted linear regression models, time spent on social media at age 15/16 was positively associated with anxiety and depression 5 years later, but these associations were no longer significant after adjusting for confounders (b = -0.00, 95% confidence interval: -0.03,0.03; b = 0.02, 95% confidence interval: -0.00,0.05). No significant effect modification by gender, socioeconomic status, or physical activity was observed. Although initial findings suggested a link between time spent on social media and later mental health symptoms, the associations did not persist after adjustment for confounders. This indicates that time spent on social media may have limited long-term effects on mental health. These findings are, however, limited to self-reported time spent on social media and further investigation into different types of social media activities are needed to better understand how social media use should be regulated.
Direct regeneration is regarded as a next-generation recycling strategy for spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to high element recovery and low energy consumption. However, limited by pristine design from 5-8 years ago, the simple recovery for spent LiCoO2 (LCO) hardly induced the suitable electrochemical abilities for modern energy-storage systems. Moreover, commercial LCO with conventional O3 phase inherently suffers from poor high‑voltage stability. Herein, using the fading traits of spent LCO as upcycling springboards, they are successfully regenerated toward fresh LCO with O2-O3 intergrown architecture through lattice reconstruction and ion‑exchange‑induced phase transformation. The O2‑phase content is precisely controlled by tailoring Li‑deficiency level of SLCO. Assisted by intertwined lattice dislocations, O2 and O3 phases are coherently interlocked, effectively alleviating lattice expansion and oxygen release. Meanwhile, the lowered energy band (1.359 eV) and diffusion energy barrier (0.375 eV) play important roles for energy-storage abilities. The optimized material delivers a capacity of 223.3 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C and retains 90.6% after 100 cycles at 1.0 C, outperforming commercial LCO. With a modified electrolyte, a capacity retention of 73.6% is achieved after 500 cycles at 5C. This work highlights the advantages of O2-O3 intergrown LCO and provides a promising upcycling route toward high‑performance cathodes.
The sustainable upcycling of delithiated FePO4 and MnO2 residues from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is challenged by fluoride cross-contamination, crystalline incompatibility, and low economic value. Herein, a direct mechanochemical regeneration strategy is proposed to convert FePO4 and MnO2 into high-performance F-doped LiMn0.4Fe0.6PO4, featuring the structurally inherited robust olivine framework of FePO4, defect-enabled homogeneous Mn incorporation from MnO2, and stabilized Mn/Fe-O bonding network through F-doping. As a result, the optimized material delivers a high capacity of 136.76 mAh g-1 at 1 C with 89.74% retention after 600 cycles and 118.74 mAh g-1 at 10 C. Mechanistic analyses reveal that defect-mediated Mn/Fe intermixing and F-doping synergistically suppress Jahn-Teller distortion, enhance structural stability, and improve Li+ diffusion. Technoeconomic and environmental assessments suggest the well-round efficiency of the upcycling route with elucidated structural evolution of LiMnxFe1-xPO4 (LMFP) and functional modification of the F element, thereby establishing a practical candidate toward sustainable upcycling of spent LIBs.
A biodegradable active packaging film was developed from carboxymethyl cellulose/sodium alginate/polyethylene glycol (CMC/SA/PEG) incorporating spent-ground-coffee melanoidinss (SGCM) with different concentrations (from C1 to C3) to protect coffee peanut butter during refrigerated storage (4 °C, 40 days). Melanoidins incorporation markedly enhanced the antioxidant functionality of the films in a concentration-dependent manner. The films containing melanoidins exhibited DPPH and ABTS radical-scavenging activities of 24.83% and 18.72% for C1, 64.25% and 70.63% for C2, and 74.80% and 82.67% for C3, respectively. While improving surface water resistance (WCA 44.82° to 82.61°) and reducing WVP from ≈2.8 × 10-10 to ≈1.05 × 10-10 g·m-1·s-1·Pa-1 at C2. The films showed dose-dependent antibacterial activity (up to ≈16.54 mm inhibition zone). In peanut butter, oxidation was strongly delayed: PV at day 40 ranked C2 ≈ 4.2 < C3 ≈ 6.3 < C1 ≈ 7.2 < PE ≈ 9.5 < control ≈11.1 meq O₂/kg, and Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) reached ≈4.0 (PE) vs ≈ 3.2 (control) but remained ≤ ∼ 1 mg MDA/kg with C2.
To address the challenges of fragmented processes and low-value recovery of spent LiFePO4 (SLFP) batteries, this study developed an integrated closed-loop process for the high-value recovery of mixed cathode and anode powders through acid leaching, oxidation, and extraction coupling. Under optimal conditions (4 mol L-1 HCl, 60 °C), the simultaneous leaching efficiencies of Li, Fe, and P reached 99.96%, 99.93%, and 98.64%, respectively, while graphite was efficiently separated from the mixed powder. After oxidizing Fe(II) to Fe(III) in the leachate using H2O2, a trioctylamine (TOA)/n-Octanol/kerosene system (30 vol% TOA/20 vol% n-Octanol) was employed for selective extraction of Fe(III), achieving an extraction efficiency of 98.90% and a separation factor βFe/Cu of 531.44. Notably, n-Octanol acts as both a phase modifier and an anti-synergistic agent, suppressing impurity co-extraction and enhancing Fe selectivity. By constructing an innovative H3PO4/(NH4)2HPO4 stripping system, coordination competition drove in-situ formation of battery-grade FePO4·2H2O (purity 99.67%). High-purity Li3PO4 (99.91%) was subsequently recovered from the raffinate after cyclic enrichment. Mechanistic analysis demonstrated an ion-pair association mechanism, in which Fe(III) forms [FeCl4]- and is subsequently bound by two protonated TOA molecules. The regenerated LiFePO4 delivered an initial discharge capacity of 141.32 mAh g-1 at 1 C, approaching that of commercial-grade materials. Meanwhile, the leaching residue retained an intact hexagonal graphite structure, providing a foundation for anode material regeneration. This integrated strategy offers a compact, high-value, and environmentally sustainable industrial pathway for holistic recycling SLFP batteries.
Efficient microbial conversion of heterogeneous carbohydrate mixtures remains a central bottleneck in industrial biotechnology, yet scalable chassis architectures capable of coordinated multi-sugar utilization are limited. Recently, substrate-informed metabolic alignment enabled balanced glucose-xylose co-utilization in Corynebacterium glutamicum. Here, we examine whether this alignment principle is scalable and transferable to complex industrial feedstocks. We progressively expanded the substrate spectrum of C. glutamicum through genome-encoded integration of mannose, xylose, arabinose, galactose, and rhamnose utilization modules, establishing a stable seven-sugar chassis. Rather than relying on adaptive evolution or high-copy expression, pathway capacities were quantitatively aligned with native uptake and central metabolism. Progressive expansion increased total volumetric carbon uptake and attenuated substrate hierarchy without compromising transcriptional stability. Complementary 13C tracer experiments showed that carbon from all seven sugars was incorporated into biomass in proportion to substrate utilization while revealing characteristic precursor-level incorporation patterns consistent with their distinct metabolic entry routes. Using authentic spent sulfite liquor (SSL) as a chemically heterogeneous validation substrate, the engineered strain achieved near-complete depletion of all fermentable sugars and substantially accelerated conversion kinetics compared to the wild type. Transfer of the aligned substrate module into a glucose-optimized glutarate production strain enabled sustained fed-batch conversion of SSL to 30 g L-1 glutarate without pathway erosion or performance decline. Together, these results demonstrate that substrate-informed metabolic engineering can provide a scalable and industrially transferable strategy for chassis development and position C. glutamicum as a robust multi-substrate platform for heterogeneous renewable feedstocks.
Residues of tetracycline antibiotics in animal-derived foods pose significant safety risks. This study developed a novel, environmentally friendly, and highly efficient method for the extraction and analysis of tetracyclines from food matrices. This approach utilized a sulfonated carbon (SC) adsorbent synthesized from a readily available and sustainable resource: spent coffee grounds via a facile, simple, and rapid ultrasound-assisted one-pot carbonization and sulfonation method. Comprehensive characterization using FTIR, SEM, TEM-EDX, XPS, BET, and zeta potential confirmed the formation of a porous carbonaceous structure functionalized with sulfonic acid groups favorable for antibiotic adsorption. The SC was applied as an effective sorbent in vortex-assisted dispersive solid-phase extraction coupled with HPLC-UV for the determination of four tetracyclines. The developed method demonstrated linearity of 10.0-500 µg L⁻¹ (R² > 0.9892), low limits of detection (5.0 µg L⁻¹), and satisfactory precision (RSD) < 11%. The method was successfully applied to honey and eggs, yielding recoveries between 74.3% and 119.4%. This approach effectively repurposes food waste into a high-performance analytical tool, offering a rapid, sustainable, and cost-effective solution for monitoring antibiotic residues in food systems.
Global mushroom cultivation generates large quantities of spent mushroom substrate (SMS), yet its valorization remains limited by compositional heterogeneity, source-dependent functionality, and poor predictability of soil-microbiome-plant responses. SMS is not a uniform organic residue, but a biologically transformed lignocellulosic matrix shaped by edible fungal species, feedstock composition, cultivation system, post-harvest processing, soil context, and application dose. This review examines SMS from soil-microbiome-plant and circular bioeconomy perspectives, focusing on how fungal transformation of lignocellulosic feedstocks can translate into predictable agricultural and environmental applications. Unlike previous reviews that mainly emphasized disposal, composting, bioenergy, or separate valorization routes, we propose a trait-mechanism-function-application framework. Within this framework, SMS traits include residues, lignocellulose, chitin, nutrients, enzymes, metabolites, protein peptides, and microbial consortia, regulate nutrient release, microbiome succession, biodegradation, adsorption/immobilization, pathogen suppression, and plant immune modulation. These mechanisms underpin applications in soil amendment, disease management, remediation, biochar production, bioenergy, microbial carrier systems, feed valorization, and cascaded biorefineries. Key barriers include inter-batch heterogeneity, incomplete chemotyping, unclear causal mechanisms, unresolved dose-response relationships, inconsistent field performance, safety concerns, and insufficient life cycle (LC) and techno-economic assessment (TEA). This review emphasizes practical solutions, including standardized SMS classification, species- and substrate-specific chemotyping, multi-omics validation, microbiome-resolved assessment, long-term field trials, region-specific utilization framework, and LCA/TEA- guided deployment. By integrating fungal biology, soil ecology, microbiome science, and circular bioprocessing, this review rethinks SMS from a waste-management problem into a mechanism-based biological interface for designing predictable, safe, crop-resilient, low-carbon, and scalable circular agriculture systems.
Agro-industrial activities generate large volumes of organic residues that are frequently underutilized or improperly managed, contributing to environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and nutrient losses. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the valorization of these by-products through integrated production systems. One such strategy involves the use of agro-industrial wastes as substrates for cultivating Pleurotus ostreatus, followed by the reutilization of the resulting spent mushroom substrate (SMS) as animal feed. This study evaluated the feasibility of using SMS from P. ostreatus as a functional dietary component for sheep. The objective was to determine whether supplementation with SMS could maintain productive performance while contributing to the revalorization of agro-industrial residues. Twenty mixed-breed Dorper × Katahdin sheep were assigned to either a control diet or a diet supplemented with 20% SMS (dry matter basis) over 30 days (5 days of adaptation and 25 days of experimentation). Diets were chemically characterized, and response variables included voluntary dry matter intake, body weight, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and body condition score. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA or non-parametric tests. The SMS-supplemented diet showed higher crude protein (5%) and ash content (6%), and lower fiber levels (6%) compared to the control. No significant differences were observed in intake, weight gain, or body condition. However, animals receiving SMS exhibited improved feed conversion efficiency, indicating enhanced nutrient utilization without compromising performance. These findings demonstrate that P. ostreatus SMS can be effectively integrated into sheep diets, providing a sustainable alternative feed ingredient and supporting circular economy strategies in agro-industrial systems.
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is increasingly used in pregnancy, but data on its use in women with type 2 diabetes are limited. To describe CGM metrics in pregnant women with type 2 diabetes and assess their association with neonatal outcomes. We conducted a prospective, observational cohort study of women with type 2 diabetes, enrolled before 26 weeks of gestation. Participants wore a Dexcom G6 sensor for at least 10 days per trimester. Maternal characteristics and pregnancy outcomes were collected. We recruited 50 women with type 2 diabetes in pregnancy from three diabetes in pregnancy clinics. Women were enrolled at a mean of 16 weeks of gestation, 83% were non-European ethnicity and 74% wore the CGM >80% of the time from enrollment. Participants spent a mean of 73.0% of time in the pregnancy range (TIRp) (3.5-7.8 mmol/L), 25.6% above range (TARp), 1.5% below range, with a mean glucose of 6.8 (1.0) mmol/L across pregnancy. Lower TIRp, higher TARp, and higher mean glucose were significantly associated with large-for-gestational-age (LGA) infants. Mean glucose was significantly higher in those with an LGA infant from 12 weeks onward. LGA was significantly more frequent in those who spent ≤70% TIRp than in those who spent >70% TIRp (46.7% vs. 10.3%; P = 0.02). TARp >30% was significantly associated with the composite neonatal outcome. More than 20% TARp overnight was significantly associated with LGA. A 5% improvement in TIRp reduced LGA by 28% (odds ratio 0.72 [0.54, 0.90; P = 0.009]). Diabetes distress at enrollment was associated with a significantly lower TIRp and higher mean glucose throughout pregnancy. Several glycemic metrics, including TIRp and mean glucose, were associated with LGA. Higher glucose levels from 12 weeks onward were seen in mothers of LGA infants. Early pregnancy or preconception glucose optimization may be necessary to improve outcomes.
The benefits of remote monitoring (RM) for pacemakers and defibrillators have been established. It has not been shown that these benefits apply to implantable loop recorders (ILRs). We aimed to investigate the effect of RM on patient outcomes, time spent, and cost during follow-up of ILRs. We conducted a multi-centre, randomized, controlled, open-label trial of RM versus office-based follow-up for ILRs. At implant, patients were randomized to RM only, or office visits at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months (no-RM). Primary efficacy endpoints were: (1) time from event to diagnosis, (2) number of related hospital presentations. Secondary endpoints were time spent on follow-up, satisfaction, and cost. One hundred consecutively referred patients, aged 61 ± 18yrs, 53% male, were recruited between April 2018 and September 2019 (pre-COVID pandemic). Follow-up was 12 months. Patients with RM versus no-RM had less time from event to diagnosis (RM 0(0-0) days, no-RM 40(33-42) days, P < 0.001), fewer arrhythmia-related hospital presentations (RM 0.7 ± 1.1, no-RM 2.8 ± 2.6, P < 0.019), and lower (better) satisfaction survey scores (RM 13 ± 4, no-RM 16 ± 5; P = 0.041). Follow-up clinician time spent (RM 33 ± 29 min, no-RM 29 ± 26 min, P = 0.063) and cost of follow up (RM $803, no-RM $1,090; P = 0.347) were not different. In patients with ILRs randomized to receive RM, there was less time from event to diagnosis, there were fewer hospital and clinic presentations, and improved patient satisfaction. RM did not take more time and was cost effective in the Australian health care system. This study provides support for RM of ILRs. ACTRN12618001359224.
The study aimed to investigate the determinants of problematic social media use (PSMU) among Polish adolescents by accounting for time spent on social media, sociodemographic characteristics, individual resources, social environment, and health factors, and to compare the findings with previous research. A cross-sectional, anonymous, online survey was conducted in 2024. The study was performed among adolescents in the Lubuskie Voivodeship, Poland and included 9073 students aged 12-19 years (mean [M] ± standard deviation [SD] 15.16±1.56 years). Problematic social media use was assessed using the 9-item Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS). Independent variables included sociodemographic characteristics, time spent on social media, health literacy, future orientation, school achievements, subjective health complaints, well-being, school stress, parent and peer relations, and school climate, measured with validated instruments derived mainly from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey protocol and the KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire. Problematic social media use was identified in 12.7% of participants. Higher PSMU was observed among younger adolescents. The strongest predictor was the time spent on social media >5 h/day. Poorer health and well-being - including multiple psychosomatic complaints, lower well-being, and higher school stress - were strongly associated with PSMU. Lower future orientation, low health literacy, and poorer relationships with parents increased the likelihood of PSMU, whereas older age, higher future orientation, and supportive parent relationships decreased. Multiple factors influenced PSMU among adolescents, although the overall model fit remained modest. Boys were more likely to experience PSMU, representing a novel observation. Higher future orientation, supportive relationships with parents, and older age were key protective factors. A non-linear relationship was found between PSMU and peer support as well as school climate. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2026;39(3):313-32.
Job exposure matrices (JEMs) are widely used in occupational epidemiology to estimate biomechanical exposures in a trade. However, JEMs are insensitive to variability among workers within the same job, potentially leading to less accurate exposures and increased uncertainty of exposure-outcome associations. Task-based exposure assessment, in which individual exposures are derived from task-specific exposures weighted by the time spent on each task, has been suggested to improve accuracy. To examine and compare the accuracy of task-based and job-based assessment of physical behaviors-sitting, standing, and moving-in grocery retail. The study was conducted in 2 Swedish medium-sized grocery stores. Accelerometry was used to measure "true" physical behaviors continuously over 3 full working days for all participating employees (n = 36; 16 women, 20 men). Job-based exposure estimates were derived by averaging sitting, standing, and moving across all workers, representing a JEM. Nine discrete tasks were defined in collaboration with employees and owners in the stores. For 35 of the workers, task timelines were videotaped for 4 h and linked to accelerometry to construct a gender-neutral (unisex) task exposure matrix (TEM). All 36 participants completed diaries for the 3 d, reporting time spent on each task, and task-based estimates of "true" exposures through the 3 d were calculated for each worker as the weighted average of task exposures based on the diary-reported task distribution. Physical behaviors were analyzed using procedures from compositional data analysis (CoDA), including describing and comparing the performance of job-based and task-based approaches using Aitchison distances to the measured, "true" exposures. The prerequisites for successful task-based assessment were satisfied, including physical behavior contrasts between tasks and heterogeneity in task composition between workers. task-based estimates were on average closer to "true" exposures than job-based estimates, but the magnitude of improvement was modest (23%) and varied between women (35%) and men (12%). Thirty-three percent of the 36 "true" job exposures were better predicted by the job-based approach, and substantial variability in exposure persisted even within tasks. Task-based assessment offered only modest improvement in accuracy over job-based estimates and the cost-efficiency of the task-based approach compared to the less costly job-based strategy can be questioned. Task-based assessment may therefore be most useful when task information is needed for documentation or interventions, rather than solely for improving exposure estimation.
Understanding how shallow marine species cope with ocean warming is essential for developing climate-smart conservation strategies. Realistic projections require detailed knowledge of thermal limits across life stages, since these can vary with development, sex and reproductive status. However, most thermal tolerance studies focus exclusively on adults, potentially underestimating species vulnerability. To address this gap, we examined the thermal tolerance of the ditch shrimp Palaemon varians, across its full life cycle through a Critical Thermal maximum (CTmax) experiment, integrating different developmental stages (Zoea 1-5, Postlarvae and Adult), while accounting for sex (Males vs. Females), and female reproductive status (Ovigerous, Spent and Immature). Early larval stages (Zoea 1- 3) exhibited lower CTmax (36.7, 37.1 and 36.8 °C, respectively) than later stages (Zoea 4- 5, Postlarvae and Adults), with Postlarvae (37.9 °C) showing the highest values. Larval development represents a bottleneck for this species' thermal tolerance. The largest increase was observed after the transition from larval life to the postlarvae stage (1.9 %), indicating that this life stage represents a physiological milestone in the acquisition of thermal tolerance in this species. Females were generally more sensitive to heat than males (37.7 °C), with those that had released their larvae recently (spent females 37.2 °C), showing the lowest CTmax values, indicating a potential energetic cost associated with reproduction. Overall, our findings show that focusing solely on adult thermal limits overlooks key vulnerabilities across development and reproduction. Integrating these factors provides a more realistic assessment of shallow-water species' tolerance to global warming.
As survival improves globally, the central public health challenge increasingly shifts from extending life to extending healthy lifespan. The compression of morbidity hypothesis proposes that effective prevention and care will delay disability more than death, reducing the morbidity gap-ie, the duration or proportion of life spent in poor health. We aimed to comprehensively estimate changes in the morbidity gap globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2023, by sociodemographic development levels and sex, and analysed leading diseases and injuries and their underlying risk factors contributing to years lived in poor health. Using Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023 estimates of life expectancy and healthy life expectancy (HALE) at birth for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023, we calculated the morbidity gap as life expectancy minus HALE, and the proportional morbidity gap as this difference divided by life expectancy. Results are presented globally, by GBD super-region and country, Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile, and sex. We decomposed the morbidity gap into cause-specific and risk-specific contributions, assigning to each cause group its proportional share of years lived with disability (YLD), adjusted for comorbidity to avoid double counting disability for co-occurring conditions. We report mean estimates and 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) derived from 250 or more draws from posterior distributions. From 1990 to 2023, the global morbidity gap increased from 8·8 years (95% UI 6·7-11·2) to 10·7 (8·2-13·7), an increase of 1·9 years (1·3-2·6), or 21·9% (16·0-27·9), with point estimates suggesting widening morbidity gaps in 203 of 204 countries and territories. Globally in 2023, an average of 14·5% of life was spent in poor health, compared to 13·6% in 1990. From 1990 to 2023, across locations, age-specific morbidity gaps widened across the adult life course, rather than concentrating in the final years of life. In 2023, morbidity gaps were largest in the high SDI quintile and smallest in the low SDI quintile. Countries with longer life expectancies had larger morbidity gaps and both had a positive relationship with SDI; however, the relationship between life expectancy and the proportional morbidity gap was less clear. A small number of chronic, largely non-fatal causes were the primary contributors to the morbidity gap, with musculoskeletal disorders (especially low back pain), mental disorders (depressive and anxiety disorders), sense organ diseases (age-related hearing loss), unintentional injuries (falls), and other non-communicable diseases together accounting for 57·4% of unhealthy years in 2023, globally. High fasting plasma glucose, high body-mass index, and child and maternal malnutrition were the leading risk factors contributing to the global morbidity gap. The expansion of the morbidity gap across nearly all locations indicates that improvements in survival have consistently outpaced reductions in non-fatal health loss across geographies, SDI levels, and sexes, with most populations now spending a decade or more of life in poor health across the lifespan. Progress towards healthy ageing should therefore be assessed not only by reduced mortality, but also by declines in years lived in poor health, with emphasis placed on extending healthspan. The Gates Foundation.
Preference research has shown that humans have a bias towards items located in the middle of the visual field and a number of theories have been suggested to explain the phenomenon. The conjuring trick known as the placement force not only exploits this central bias but also shows that the preference is subtly biased to the right of centre. We used the force, together with eye tracking, to test the different theories. In a single experiment, four face-down playing cards were presented on a table in a horizontal row. Participants (n = 137) were asked to select one by pushing it forward. Results replicated the basic force effect showing that 52% of participants chose the middle right card. Eye tracking measures revealed that when participants fixated the cards, more time was spent looking at the two centrally located cards. However, this attentional bias did not predict the card they chose. Furthermore, individuals who were more reflective decision makers (as measured with the Cognitive Reflection Test) were no less susceptible to the force, nor were individuals who spent more time deliberating about their decision or those who examined more alternatives. The results do not support the view that central bias effects result from cognitive decision heuristics nor attentional biases. Instead, participants chose options that required the least physical effort. This supports the reachability hypothesis.
Judgement bias tasks assess the ways in which affective states influence information processing. The Active Choice task, a subtype of judgement bias task, allows researchers to distinguish between low motivation and negative mood, making it more powerful than other paradigms. However, Active Choice tasks have never been successfully applied in a population of zoo-housed primates, nor in any population of great apes. We aimed to investigate affect-derived judgement biases in zoo-housed bonobos using a novel Active Choice paradigm. Fourteen bonobos were trained on a visual discrimination Active Choice judgement bias task, with seven animals passing criteria. Outcomes of the task were compared to four quantitative affective indicators as well as one holistic qualitative welfare indicator. A sixth variable, group size, was included in the models due to the unique fission-fusion husbandry style used at the zoo. We found that animals made more pessimistic choices as the number of test sessions they completed increased. Furthermore, animals made more pessimistic choices on days when they spent more time performing abnormal behaviors. Conversely, animals made more optimistic choices on days when they spent more time playing and on days when their social group was larger. Our results, therefore, suggest that task responses were related to changes in affective states. Moreover, Active Choice judgement bias tasks could be useful for exploring both theoretical and applied questions about mood in bonobos.
The brain regions supporting spatial navigation are well studied in mammals, but their function in the spatial behavior of other vertebrates is poorly understood, especially in field conditions. Here, we measured the behavior and neural correlates of the initial stages of navigation in a territorial rainforest frog, Allobates femoralis, in its natural environment. Frogs were released in familiar, unfamiliar, or home areas. Only frogs released in a familiar area, but outside their home territory, showed significant orientation towards home and spent more time on elevated structures, presumably orienting in space. In contrast, frogs released back in their home territory tended to move little, whereas those released in an unfamiliar area tended to move more, possibly exploring unfamiliar sites to find familiar landmarks. Contrary to our prediction, the amphibian homolog of the hippocampus (medial pallium) did not show a selective response to the navigational task. When accounting for behavioral differences, most measured pallial and subpallial regions showed increased neural activity during frog orientation home from a familiar environment. Interestingly, despite the behavioral differences, there were few differences in brain activity between the frogs released directly back home and those released in an unfamiliar area. Overall, we find that wild poison frogs respond selectively to environmental familiarity and that most measured brain regions have more translationally-active neurons when challenged to navigate a familiar setting. Our findings support the hypothesis that, in amphibians, brain regions homologous to mammalian centers of spatial processing exhibit more task-general responses.
Although extensive research has examined children's eyewitness memory, relatively little attention has been paid to how children's interpersonal familiarity (contact) with an adult-such as a parent versus a stranger-can affect their memory reports, especially about transgressions. To shed light on this issue, we conducted an experiment in which children were randomly assigned to interact with their own father or with a stranger (e.g., a male confederate). Fathers were then divided as to whether, among all caregivers, they spent the most or equal time in a caregiving role with their child (i.e., majority-contact father vs. nonmajority-contact father). Children's executive function and their memory were then measured. Children who interacted with a majority-contact father, compared to those who interacted with a stranger, were more accurate about the adult's alleged transgressions (falsely suggested during the memory interview). Children's executive function significantly predicted suggestibility. Implications of the findings in relation to the United States' legal system are discussed.