Angry faces get noticed quickly: threat detection is not impaired among older adults

Previous studies have found that younger adults detect threatening stimuli more quickly than other types of stimuli. This study examined whether older adults also show this adaptive threat-detection advantage. On each trial in the experiment, participants saw an array consisting of nine schematic faces. Eight of the faces were neutral; the ninth was neutral, angry, happy, or sad. Participants indicated whether there was a discrepant face in each array. Both older and younger adults were significantly faster to correctly detect a discrepant face when it signaled threat than when it signaled happiness or sadness. There was no age difference in this threat-detection advantage, indicating that this automatic process is maintained among older adults.     

Differences in the way older and younger adults rate threat in faces but not situations

We compared young and healthy older adults' ability to rate photos of faces and situations (e.g., sporting activities) for the degree of threat they posed. Older adults did not distinguish between more and less dangerous faces to the same extent as younger adults did. In contrast, we found no significant age differences in young and older adults' ability to distinguish between high- and low-danger situations. The differences between young and older adults on the face task were independent of age differences in older adults' fluid IQ. We discuss results in relation to differences between young and older adults on emotion-recognition tasks; we also discuss sociocognitive and neuropsychological (e.g., amygdala) theories of aging.     

Neandertal faces were not long; modern human faces are short

Neandertal faces have been described as being derived with respect to their overall length or degree of anterior projection. A comparison of cranial and mandibular indicators of lower facial projection across archaic and modern Homo indicates that Neandertal facial lengths on average are similar to those of preceding archaic Homo and principally contrast with those of recent humans. Neandertal facial length is not derived. The shortness of recent human facial skeletons is the evolutionarily derived condition.     

Different faces of gastroparesis

AIM: To test the hypothesis that pain and affect rather than impaired emptying determine symptom severity in patients with gastroparesis. METHODS: Adult patients with documented gastroparesis were enrolled prospectively in a single center and asked to complete the Gastroparesis Cardinal Symptom Index (GCSI ) , Hospi tal Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Short Form 12 (SF-12) as quality of life index, rate pain severity and answer 10 open-ended questions. RESULTS: A total of 55 patients (44 women) participated. Idiopathic (n = 29) or diabetic (n = 11) gastroparesis and connective tissue disease (n = 8) were the most common underlying causes. Antiemetics (n = 30) and prokinetics (n = 32) were most often prescribed. Seventeen patients used opioids on a daily basis. Nausea and/or vomiting (n = 28), pain (n = 24) and bloating (n = 14) were most commonly listed as dominant symptoms. Patients subjectively attributed symptom improvement to nutritional and dietary therapy (n = 11), prokinetics (n = 11), antiemetics (n = 10) or analgesic agents (n = 3). In univariate analyses, the physical subscore of the SF-12 and HADS, but not gastric emptying delay or symptom duration significantly correlated with disease severity as measured by the GCSI. In multivariate analyses, the combination of vomiting, bloating and depression best predicted the overall impact on quality of life. CONCLUSION: The study confirms the importance of pain and affect in gastroparesis, which requires novel approaches to improve more effectively the quality of life in patients with this disorder.     

Producing desired ice faces

The ability to prepare single-crystal faces has become central to developing and testing models for chemistry at interfaces, spectacularly demonstrated by heterogeneous catalysis and nanoscience. This ability has been hampered for hexagonal ice, I_h––a fundamental hydrogen-bonded surface––due to two characteristics of ice: ice does not readily cleave along a crystal lattice plane and properties of ice grown on a substrate can differ significantly from those of neat ice. This work describes laboratory-based methods both to determine the I_h crystal lattice orientation relative to a surface and to use that orientation to prepare any desired face. The work builds on previous results attaining nearly 100% yield of high-quality, single-crystal boules. With these methods, researchers can prepare authentic, single-crystal ice surfaces for numerous studies including uptake measurements, surface reactivity, and catalytic activity of this ubiquitous, fundamental solid.Studies of model, single-crystal surfaces have revolutionized understanding of a vast array of heterogeneous catalysts and nanoparticles ranging from pure metals to alloys to semiconductors. Applying the single-crystal surface strategy to ice––arguably one of the most fundamental and ubiquitous hydrogen-bonded interfaces––has been limited due to challenges associated with surface generation. As a result, questions about molecular-level dynamics, surface binding site patterns, and the molecular-level structure remain unanswered (1). Several strategies have been adopted for studying ice: (i) Depositing solid water on a metal or ionic substrate that matches the oxygen lattice (2, 3). However, ice on a substrate often has distinctly different properties from those of neat ice; indeed, such ice can even be hydrophobic (4, 5)! (ii) Uptake measurements often use a Knudsen cell with vapor-deposited ice on a substrate (6) or compacted, finely divided, artificial snow (7) to arrive at a molecular-level picture for gas–particle interaction despite the irregular, highly variable surfaces used. (iii) Small crystallites can be well characterized but, as highlighted by Libbrecht and Rickerby (8), results can be clouded by competition from nearby crystallites; small faces compete with adjacent faces. In addition, crystallites are perturbed by the supporting surface. It is therefore desirable to prepare macroscopic samples with known faces.Interactions at ice surfaces have a particularly profound effect on climate. For example, correlational studies suggest that rain formation depends on ice particles in clouds (9), but not all ice-containing clouds yield rain. It is thought that variation in supersaturation and the mechanism for gathering water molecules by ice particles profoundly affects precipitation. Discrepancies between experiment and theory are often rationalized as a result of irregular shapes, inelastic scattering, or differing binding sites leaving large uncertainties for climate models (10). More reproducible, well-characterized surfaces of I_h––the most stable form of ice at ambient pressure––are needed to bring clarity.Ice is unusual in that the macroscopic sample does not reveal the crystal lattice orientation. Neighboring grain lattice orientation is a critical issue in the ice-core and glaciology communities (11). Hence, previous work (12–14) focused on determining grain orientation with respect to the grain boundary. The most quantitative of these are the two methods of Matsuda (12). The first uses etch pits measuring lengths inside the pit. Large uncertainties in length measurements result in large uncertainties in lattice axis orientation angles; this is not a major issue for grain growth studies but is a serious problem for generating targeted faces. The second method measures only the azimuths, thus incompletely determining orientation. Both methods break down if the optic axis is near-parallel to the surface, and neither provides the tools required to accurately orient a macroscopic sample to generate a targeted face. Lattice orientation could be determined with X-ray methods (15, 16) provided such determination includes a connection to the macroscopic sample. For wide-spread use, a laboratory-based method is preferable. This work describes two methods to fill this important need. The first uses pit perimeter ratio measurements; because the perimeter is sharp, accuracy is greatly improved. The second method locates the optic axis via cross-polarizers (11, 17), then precisely determines the hexagonal orientation via etching. Closed-form, analytical formulas are derived relating lattice orientation to the macroscopic sample. These orientation formulas feed into rotation matrices generating additional analytical formulas enabling precise cutting of any targeted face. The result is illustrated by cutting each of the three major ice faces. These techniques provide researchers with the tools needed to prepare neat ice surfaces.This work specifically describes face preparation from cylindrical boules (18); however, the method is easily adapted to any macroscopic, single-crystal geometry. Due to nearly equal energy faces, ice takes on the shape of the confining container. The near-energy match is demonstrated by growth in the modified Bridgeman apparatus (19). Nucleation occurs on a polycrystalline seed; single-crystal growth is achieved due to competitive growth among the multiple ice–water interfaces (18). Careful thermal management maintains near-equilibrium conditions yielding a large single crystal, but the crystal orientation is not a priori known. [Note: ice seeded by a floating crystal tends to have the optic axis perpendicular to the growth direction but single-crystal yield is low, ~10% (20).] Close energy match among the faces also means that ice does not readily cleave along any lattice plane (21). Thus, successful face preparation for any ice sample begins with characterization of the lattice orientation.     

The Danish polyposis register

A manual Danish register of patients with familial polyposis coli and their family members was established in 1971. The methods of collection of propositi, preparation of pedigrees, collection of call-up cases, and the organization of the register are described. A country-wide prophylactic proctosigmoidoscopic examination of first-degree relatives, aged 10 to 59 years, resulted in the detection of 42 call-up cases and by December 1982, 319 cases of polyposis were registered in 94 families. An evaluation of the number of collected propositi and call-up cases shows almost complete registration. Dr. Bülow has received grants from the Danish Cancer Society (809/71 and 87/80), “Max and Anna Friedmanns Legat,” and “Ferdinand og Ellen Hindsgauls Fond.”