NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Cannabis use in early adolescence: evidence of amygdala hypersensitivity to signals of threat

Cannabis use in adolescence may be characterized by differences in the neural basis of affective processing. In this study, we used an fMRI affective face processing task to compare a large group (n = 70) of 14-year olds with a history of cannabis use to a group (n = 70) of never-using controls matched on numerous characteristics including IQ, SES, alcohol and cigarette use. The task contained short movies displaying angry and neutral faces. Results indicated that cannabis users had greater reactivity in the bilateral amygdalae to angry faces than neutral faces, an effect that was not observed in their abstinent peers. In contrast, activity levels in the cannabis users in cortical areas including the right temporal-parietal junction and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex did not discriminate between the two face conditions, but did differ in controls. Results did not change after excluding subjects with any psychiatric symptomology. Given the high density of cannabinoid receptors in the amygdala, our findings suggest cannabis use in early adolescence is associated with hypersensitivity to signals of threat. Hypersensitivity to negative affect in adolescence may place the subject at-risk for mood disorders in adulthood.

Keyphrases: Cannabis, Adolescence, Face processing, FMRI, Amygdala, Emotion, Faces
Bandits in the Lab

We test Keller, Rady, Cripps’ (2005) game of strategic experimentation with exponential bandits in the laboratory. We find strong support for the prediction of free-riding because of strategic concerns. We also find strong evidence for behavior that is characteristic of Markov perfect equilibrium: non-cutoff behavior, lonely pioneers and frequent switches of action.

Keyphrases: Strategic experimentation, Exponential bandits, Learning, Dynamic games, Markov perfect equilibirum, Continuous time, Laboratory experiments, Eye tracking
Toolbox in RCRC : synthesis of responsible conduct in research-creation issues and proposal of reflective tools

Because of its singularity in the academic landscape, research-creation (RC) raises a series of issues in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR), particularly with regard to conflicts of interest and commitments, the dissemination of results and all its forms of evaluation. As the first research project to focus on the intersection between RC and RCR – which we called "Responsible Conduct in Research-Creation" or RCRC – we wanted to explore these issues and determine their specificities from the point of view of RC and by using a variety of methods. Our research shows that RCR has difficulty in taking into account the specificities of RC practices in its application and, conversely, that the ethical reflections on research produced by the community of RC rarely mobilize the concepts of RCR or do so only indirectly. However, many areas of overlap and a desire for collaboration on the part of RCR and RC actors were noted during this research project, highlighting the need to continue and intensify the dialogue between these two communities.   The Toolkit for RCRC, developed as part of this project, provides a nuanced and practice-oriented view of RCRC in specific RC contexts. Aimed at building mutual awareness and the facilitation of dialogue between the RCR and RC communities, this Toolkit consists of an Accompanying Guide in RCRC, as well as several tools with specific content and objectives that can be used alone or in combination with the Toolkit:    ● Tool 1: RCRC Checklist - provides key questions and practical considerations for researcher-creators to promote RCRC;  ● Tool 2: Summary of Recommendations for RCRC - presents institutional recommendations for RCRC;  ● Tool 3 - Case Studies of RCRC Breaches - illustrates and exemplifies key RCR failures through examples of specific RC practices;  ● Tool 4: Podcast on COI and CC in RC - addresses the conflicts of interest and commitments encountered by researcher-creators in academic contexts.

Keyphrases: Research-creation, Responsible conduct of research, Responsible conduct in research-creation, Breach of responsible research-creation, Best practices in responsible conduct in research-creation, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Conflicts of commitment, Diffusion, Evaluation, Case studies, Ethics, Data managment, Tools
The birth of the congressional clinic

This paper studies the impact of mortality in the districts/states represented in key congressional groups (i.e. committees, subcommittees, and parties) on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) allocation of medical research funds across diseases, for the period 1985-2002. Exploiting the recomposition of any group after congressional elections, I ﬁnd that congressmen who sit in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appear successful in steering more funds towards research on diseases that aﬀect their constituents disproportionately. This eﬀect is larger for clinical than for basic research. No other relevant congressional group, except, to a lesser extent, the House majority, seems to impact that allocation. No group signiﬁcantly impacts the allocation of funds across states.

Keyphrases: Legislative bargaining, Publicly-provided goods, Health policy, Government policy, Medical research
Precision may harm: The comparative statics of imprecise judgement

We consider an agent whose information about the objects of choice is imperfect in two respects: ﬁrst, their values are perceived with ‘error’; and, second, the realised values cannot be discriminated with absolute ‘precision’. Reasons for imprecise discrimination include limitations in sensory perception, memory function, or the technology that experts use to communicate with decision-makers.  We study the eﬀect of increasing precision on the quality of decision-making. When values are perceived ‘without’ error, more precision is unambiguously beneﬁcial. We show that this ceases to be true when values are perceived ‘with’ error. As a practical implication, our results establish conditions where it is counter-productive for an expert to use a ﬁner signalling scheme to communicate with a decision-maker.

Keyphrases: Stochastic choice, Imprecise perception
Genomic architecture of human neuroanatomical diversity

Human brain anatomy is strikingly diverse and highly inheritable: genetic factors may explain up to 80% of its variability. Prior studies have tried to detect genetic variants with a large effect on neuroanatomical diversity, but those currently identified account for <5% of the variance. Here, based on our analyses of neuroimaging and whole-genome genotyping data from 1765 subjects, we show that up to 54% of this heritability is captured by large numbers of single-nucleotide polymorphisms of small-effect spread throughout the genome, especially within genes and close regulatory regions. The genetic bases of neuroanatomical diversity appear to be relatively independent of those of body size (height), but shared with those of verbal intelligence scores. The study of this genomic architecture should help us better understand brain evolution and disease.

Keyphrases: Neuroanatomy, Heritability, Neuroimaging, Genetics
Early warm-rewarding parenting moderates the genetic contributions to callous-unemotional traits in childhood

Background Previous gene–environment interaction studies of CU traits have relied on the candidate gene approach, which does not account for the entire genetic load of complex phenotypes. Moreover, these studies have not examined the role of positive environmental factors such as warm/rewarding parenting. The aim of the present study was to determine whether early warm/rewarding parenting moderates the genetic contributions (i.e., heritability) to callous–unemotional (CU) traits at school age. Methods Data were collected in a population sample of 662 twin pairs (Quebec Newborn Twin Study – QNTS). Mothers reported on their warm/rewarding parenting. Teachers assessed children's CU traits. These reports were subjected to twin modeling. Results Callous–unemotional traits were highly heritable, with the remaining variance accounted for by nonshared environmental factors. Warm/rewarding parenting significantly moderated the role of genes in CU traits; heritability was lower when children received high warm/rewarding parenting than when they were exposed to low warm/rewarding parenting. Conclusions High warm/rewarding parenting may partly impede the genetic expression of CU traits. Developmental models of CU traits need to account for such gene–environment processes.

Keyphrases: Callous-unemotional traits, Warm/rewarding parenting, Gene-environment interaction, Twin studies
The content of recurrent dreams in young adolescents

Studies on children’s recurrent dreams have been largely anecdotal and based on adults’  recollections of dreams experienced during childhood. We collected 102 reports of recurrent  dreams from a sample of young adolescents aged between 11 and 15 years and scored the  narratives using a range of content measures, including in relation to the threat simulation theory  (TST) of dreaming. The most frequently reported themes involved confrontations with monsters or  animals, followed by physical aggressions, falling and being chased. Recurrent dreams were more  likely to include negative content elements than positive elements. Only half of the recurrent  dreams contained threatening elements and their analysis provided mixed support for the TST.  Differences between the content of recurrent dreams reported by young adolescent versus adults  are discussed as are possible sex effects and key issues that remain to be addressed by future  research

Keyphrases: Recurrent dreams, Dream content, Dream recall, Parasomnia, Sex differences
Resistance and mutations of non-specificity in the field of anxietydepressive disorders in Canadian medical journals, 1950-1990

Pharmaceuticalisation is a complex phenomenon, co-constitutive of what scholars identify as a pharmaceutical regime, comprised of networks of actors, institutions and artefacts as well as cognitive structures that underlie the production, promotion and use of medications. The aim of this paper is to explore the linkages between different components of this pharmaceutical regime through the analysis of psychotropic drug advertising in Canadian medical journals between 1950 and 1990. Advertisements stand at the nexus of macro-level processes related to the development, regulation and marketing of new drug treatments and of micro-level processes related to the use of these drug treatments, both by clinicians and lay persons.We thus examine advertisements from the angle of the mental and classificatory universes to which doctors were exposed through direct-to-prescriber advertisement strategies implemented during this period. Furthermore, we explore to what extent the rationale behind advertisements was permeated by both scientific/professional and popular narratives of mindebody connections. This paper demonstrates that, although this period was marked by paradigm shifts in the classification of mental diseases, the development of modern psychopharmacology, and the questioning of the scientific legitimacy of psychiatry, advertisements unveil a remarkable continuity: that of the mass management of anxiety-depressive disorders by primary care physicians through psychotropic drugs. Also, despite the effective resistance to specificity as shown by the constant redefinitions of diagnostic categories and therapeutic indications, our analysis suggests that the language of specificity used in the promotion of new drugs and in the various narratives of mind-body connection may have been appealing to general practitioners. Finally, our study of the classes of psychoactive medications that have been in use for over half a century reveals a complex, non-linear dynamic of pharmaceuticalisation and depharmaceuticalisation.

Keyphrases: Psychotropic drugs, Advertising, Primary care, Pharmaceuticalisation, Anxiety, Depression, Modern psychopharmacology, Specificity
Cartes historiques et géologiques géoréférencées de l'île de Montréal

Compilation de 91 cartes géoréférencées en format geotiff (.tif) dans le cadre de l'étude sur "Cartographie des anciens cours d’eau, lignes de creux et des bassins versants de l'île de Montréal" publiée en 2016 par Valérie Mahaut. Il s'agit de 89 cartes historiques datant de 1685 à 1969, de la carte géologique de 1982 (Prest & Hode-Keyser) et de la carte des roches de 1972 (Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles du Québec). La méthodologie de géoréférencement est détaillée dans le "Rapport scientifique de la cartographie des anciens cours d’eau, lignes de creux et des bassins versants de l'île de Montréal" publié en 2018 par le même auteur. Les documents contenus dans ce dossier constituent des déformations des cartes d'origine. Ces déformations sont inhérentes au travail de géolocalisation des cartes à partir de points de liaison (lieux repérés sur les cartes historiques et identifiés dans un système d'information géographique). Les droits d'auteur des cartes d'origine et des cartes géoréférencées relèvent des institutions dépositaires des cartes d'origine. Seul le travail de géoréférencement est attribuable à l'auteur de ce dossier.

Keyphrases: Altimetry, Crêtes, Topography, Cours d'eau, Carte historique, Stream, Talweg, Watercourses, Mapping, Thalweg, Relief, Hydrographie, Cartographie, Altimétrie, Topographie, Creux, Bassins versants, Ruisseaux, Watershed, Crest line, Montréal, Cartography
Peer victimization and anxiety in genetically vulnerable youth : the protective roles of teachers' self-efficacy and anti-bullying classroom rules

Many victimized youngsters are at risk of developing internalizing problems, and this risk seems to be especially pronounced when they are genetically vulnerable for these problems. It is unclear, however, whether protective features of the school environment such as anti-bullying classroom policies and teacher’s perceived self-efficacy in handling bullying situations can mitigate these negative outcomes. Using a genetically informed design based on twins, this study examined the potential moderating role of classroom anti-bullying policies and teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in handling bullying situations in regard to the additive and interactive effects of peer victimization and genetic vulnerability on anxiety symptoms. To this end, 208 monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twins (120 girls) rated their level of anxiety and peer victimization in grade 6 (mean age = 12.1 years, SD = 2.8). Teachers rated their self-efficacy in handling bullying situations and the extent of anti-bullying classroom policies. Multilevel regressions revealed triple interactions showing that genetic disposition for anxiety predicted actual anxiety for twins who were highly victimized by their peers, but only when their teachers had low perceived self-efficacy in handling bullying situations or when anti-bullying classroom rules were absent or rarely enforced. In contrast, for victimized youth with teachers who perceive themselves as effective or in classrooms where anti-bullying classroom policies were strongly enforced, genetic disposition for anxiety was not associated with actual anxiety symptoms. Anti-bullying programs should continue to promote teachers’ involvement, as well as the enforcement of anti-bullying classroom policies, in order to diminish peer victimization and its related consequences.

Keyphrases: Anxiety, Peer victimization, Gene-environment interaction, Teachers, Classroom policies
Belief-weighted Nash aggregation of Savage preferences

The 'belief-weighted Nash social welfare functions' are methods for aggregating Savage preferences defined over a set of acts. Each such method works as follows. Fix a 0-normalized subjective expected utility representation of every possible preference and assign a vector of individual weights to each profile of beliefs. To compute the social preference at a given preference profile, rank the acts according to the weighted product of the individual 0-normalized subjective expected utilities they yield, where the weights are those associated with the belief profile generated by the preference profile. We show that these social welfare functions are characterized by the weak Pareto principle, a continuity axiom, and the following informational robustness property : the social ranking of two acts is unaffected by the addition of any outcome that every individual deems at least as good as the one she originally found worst. This makes the belief-weighted Nash social welfare functions appealing in contexts where the 'best' relevant outcome for an individual is difficult to identify.

Keyphrases: Uncertainty, Subjective expected utility, Nash product, Preference aggregation
De l'Ancien au Nouveau Monde : La Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales de l'Université de Montréal : une bibliothèque de recherche canadienne aux richesses insoupçonnées

Article visant à faire connaitre à un public européen la richesse des collections patrimoniales de la Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales de l'Université de Montréal.

Keyphrases: Patrimoine documentaire, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Université de Montréal
The dark side of friends : a genetically informed study of victimization within early adolescents’ friendships

Using a genetically informed twin design, this study examined (a) whether, in line with gene–environment correlation (rGE), a genetic disposition for anxiety puts children at risk of being victimized by a close friend or by other peers, and (b) whether, in line with gene–environment interaction (GxE), victimization by a close friend or by other peers moderates the expression of a genetic disposition for anxiety. Participants were 268 monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs (MZ males = 71, MZ females = 80, DZ males = 56, DZ females = 61; 87% of European descent) assessed via questionnaires in Grade 8 (M age = 14.06 years, SD = 3.60). Participants reported about their victimization by a close friend and by other peers and their anxiety level. Victimization by a close friend and victimization by other peers were uncorrelated. In line with rGE, genetic factors related to anxiety predicted victimization by other peers, whereas victimization by a close friend was not predicted by heritable characteristics. Moreover, in line with a suppression process of GxE, victimization by other peers reduced the role of genetic factors in explaining interindividual differences in anxiety. In contrast, in line with a diathesis-stress process of GxE, victimization by a close friend fostered the expression of a genetic disposition for anxiety. Victimization by a close friend seems to happen to adolescents regardless of their personal, heritable characteristics. If it does occur, however, it is a source of distress mostly for youth with a genetic vulnerability for anxiety.

Keyphrases: Peer victimization, Friendship, Anxiety, Gene-environment correlation, Gene-environment  interaction
Universal cures for idiosyncratic illnesses: a genealogy of therapeutic reasoning in the mental health field

Over the past decades, there has been a significant increase in prescriptions of psychotropic drugs for mental disorders. So far, most of the explanations of the phenomenon have focused on the process of medicalization, but little attention has been cast towards physicians' day-to-day clinical reasoning, and the way it affects therapeutic decision-making. This article addresses the complex relationship between aetiology, diagnosis and drug treatment by examining the style of reasoning underlying prescribing practices through an historical lens. A genealogy of contemporary prescribing practices is proposed, that draws significant comparisons between 19th-century medicine and modern psychiatry. Tensions between specific, standardized cures and specific, idiosyncratic patients have been historically at play in clinical reasoning - and still are today. This inquiry into the epistemological foundations of contemporary drug prescription reveals an underlying search for scientific legitimacy.

Keyphrases: 19th-century medicine, Clinical reasoning, Prescription, Psychiatry, Therapeutics
Gene-environment correlation linking aggression and peer victimization : do classroom behavioral norms matter?

Using a genetically informed design based on 197 Monozygotic and Dizygotic twin pairs assessed in grade 4, this study examined 1) whether, in line with a gene-environment correlation (rGE), a genetic disposition for physical aggression or relational aggression puts children at risk of being victimized by their classmates, and 2) whether this rGE is moderated by classroom injunctive norm salience in regard to physical or relational aggression. Physical aggression and relational aggression, as well as injunctive classroom norm salience in regard to these behaviors, were measured via peer nominations. Peer victimization was measured via self-reports. Multi-Level Mixed modeling revealed that children with a genetic disposition for either aggressive behavior are at higher risk of being victimized by their peers only when classroom norms are unfavourable toward such behaviors. However, when classroom injunctive norms favor aggressive behaviors, a genetic disposition for physical or relational aggression may actually protect children against peer victimization. These results lend further support to the notion that bullying interventions must include the larger peer context instead of a sole focus on victims and bullies.

Keyphrases: Gene-environment correlation, Physical aggression, Relational aggression, Peer victimization, Injunctive classroom norms
Functional neuroimaging predictors of self-reported psychotic symptoms in adolescents

OBJECTIVE:  This study investigated the neural correlates of psychotic-like experiences in youths during tasks involving inhibitory control, reward anticipation, and emotion processing. A secondary aim was to test whether these neurofunctional correlates of risk were predictive of psychotic symptoms 2 years later. METHOD:  Functional imaging responses to three paradigms-the stop-signal, monetary incentive delay, and faces tasks-were collected in youths at age 14, as part of the IMAGEN study. At baseline, youths from London and Dublin sites were assessed on psychotic-like experiences, and those reporting significant experiences were compared with matched control subjects. Significant brain activity differences between the groups were used to predict, with cross-validation, the presence of psychotic symptoms in the context of mood fluctuation at age 16, assessed in the full sample. These prediction analyses were conducted with the London-Dublin subsample (N=246) and the full sample (N=1,196). RESULTS:  Relative to control subjects, youths reporting psychotic-like experiences showed increased hippocampus/amygdala activity during processing of neutral faces and reduced dorsolateral prefrontal activity during failed inhibition. The most prominent regional difference for classifying 16-year-olds with mood fluctuation and psychotic symptoms relative to the control groups (those with mood fluctuations but no psychotic symptoms and those with no mood symptoms) was hyperactivation of the hippocampus/amygdala, when controlling for baseline psychotic-like experiences and cannabis use. CONCLUSIONS:  The results stress the importance of the limbic network's increased response to neutral facial stimuli as a marker of the extended psychosis phenotype. These findings might help to guide early intervention strategies for at-risk youths.

Keyphrases: Adolescents, Brain imaging techniques, Mood disorders-bipolar, Psychosis