Reproducibility is a defining feature of science, but the extent to which it characterizes current research is unknown. We conducted replications of 100 experimental and correlational studies published in three psychology journals using high-powered designs and original materials when available. Replication effects were half the magnitude of original effects, representing a substantial decline. Ninety-seven percent of original studies had statistically significant results. Thirty-six percent of replications had statistically significant results; 47% of original effect sizes were in the 95% confidence interval of the replication effect size; 39% of effects were subjectively rated to have replicated the original result; and if no bias in original results is assumed, combining original and replication results left 68% with statistically significant effects. Correlational tests suggest that replication success was better predicted by the strength of original evidence than by characteristics of the original and replication teams.

Any large dataset can be analyzed in a number of ways, and it is possible that the use of different analysis strategies will lead to different results and conclusions. One way to assess whether the results obtained depend on the analysis strategy chosen is to employ multiple analysts and leave each of them free to follow their own approach. Here, we present consensus-based guidance for conducting and reporting such multi-analyst studies, and we discuss how broader adoption of the multi-analyst approach has the potential to strengthen the robustness of results and conclusions obtained from analyses of datasets in basic and applied research.

Gilbert et al. conclude that evidence from the Open Science Collaboration's Reproducibility Project: Psychology indicates high reproducibility, given the study methodology. Their very optimistic assessment is limited by statistical misconceptions and by causal inferences from selectively interpreted, correlational data. Using the Reproducibility Project: Psychology data, both optimistic and pessimistic conclusions about reproducibility are possible, and neither are yet warranted.

Data analysis workflows in many scientific domains have become increasingly complex and flexible. Here we assess the effect of this flexibility on the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging by asking 70 independent teams to analyse the same dataset, testing the same 9 ex-ante hypotheses(1). The flexibility of analytical approaches is exemplified by the fact that no two teams chose identical workflows to analyse the data. This flexibility resulted in sizeable variation in the results of hypothesis tests, even for teams whose statistical maps were highly correlated at intermediate stages of the analysis pipeline. Variation in reported results was related to several aspects of analysis methodology. Notably, a meta-analytical approach that aggregated information across teams yielded a significant consensus in activated regions. Furthermore, prediction markets of researchers in the field revealed an overestimation of the likelihood of significant findings, even by researchers with direct knowledge of the dataset(2-5). Our findings show that analytical flexibility can have substantial effects on scientific conclusions, and identify factors that may be related to variability in the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results emphasize the importance of validating and sharing complex analysis workflows, and demonstrate the need for performing and reporting multiple analyses of the same data. Potential approaches that could be used to mitigate issues related to analytical variability are discussed. The results obtained by seventy different teams analysing the same functional magnetic resonance imaging dataset show substantial variation, highlighting the influence of analytical choices and the importance of sharing workflows publicly and performing multiple analyses.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Psychological Science Accelerator coordinated three large-scale psychological studies to examine the effects of loss-gain framing, cognitive reappraisals, and autonomy framing manipulations on behavioral intentions and affective measures. The data collected (April to October 2020) included specific measures for each experimental study, a general questionnaire examining health prevention behaviors and COVID-19 experience, geographical and cultural context characterization, and demographic information for each participant. Each participant started the study with the same general questions and then was randomized to complete either one longer experiment or two shorter experiments. Data were provided by 73,223 participants with varying completion rates. Participants completed the survey from 111 geopolitical regions in 44 unique languages/dialects. The anonymized dataset described here is provided in both raw and processed formats to facilitate re-use and further analyses. The dataset offers secondary analytic opportunities to explore coping, framing, and self-determination across a diverse, global sample obtained at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which can be merged with other time-sampled or geographic data. 

Background and Aims: Malignant mesothelioma is an aggressive, therapy-resistant tumor. Mesothelioma cells may assume an epithelioid or a sarcomatoid phenotype, and presence of sarcomatoid cells predicts poor prognosis. In this study, we investigated differentiation of mesothelioma cells in a xenograft model, where mesothelioma cells of both phenotypes were induced to form tumors in severe combined immunodeficiency mice.

Methods: Xenografts were established and thoroughly characterized using a comprehensive immunohistochemical panel, array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) of chromosome 3, fluorescent in situ hybridization, and electron microscopy.

Results: Epithelioid and sarcomatoid cells gave rise to xenografts of similar epithelioid morphology. While sarcomatoid-derived xenografts had higher growth rates, the morphology and expression of differentiation-related markers was similar between xenografts derived from both phenotypes. aCGH showed a convergent genotype for both xenografts, resembling the original aggressive sarcomatoid cell sub-line.

Conclusion: Human mesothelioma xenografts from sarcomatoid and epithelioid phenotypes converged to a similar differentiation state, and genetic analyses suggested that clonal selection in the mouse microenvironment was a major contributing factor. This thoroughly characterized animal model can be used for further studies of molecular events underlying tumor cell differentiation.

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., “If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others”) or potential gains (e.g., “If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others”)? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent across 84 countries, three variations of the message framing wording, and 560 data processing and analytic choices. Thus, results provide an empirical answer to a global communication question and highlight the emotional toll of loss-framed messages. Critically, this work demonstrates the importance of considering unintended affective consequences when evaluating nudge-style interventions.

Clinical translation from bench to bedside often remains challenging even despite promising preclinical evidence. Among many drivers like biological complexity or poorly understood disease pathology, preclinical evidence often lacks desired robustness. Reasons include low sample sizes, selective reporting, publication bias, and consequently inflated effect sizes. In this context, there is growing consensus that confirmatory multicenter studies -by weeding out false positives- represent an important step in strengthening and generating preclinical evidence before moving on to clinical research. However, there is little guidance on what such a preclinical confirmatory study entails and when it should be conducted in the research trajectory. To close this gap, we organized a workshop to bring together statisticians, clinicians, preclinical scientists, and meta-researcher to discuss and develop recommendations that are solution-oriented and feasible for practitioners. Herein, we summarize and review current approaches and outline strategies that provide decision-critical guidance on when to start and subsequently how to plan a confirmatory study. We define a set of minimum criteria and strategies to strengthen validity before engaging in a confirmatory preclinical trial, including sample size considerations that take the inherent uncertainty of initial (exploratory) studies into account. Beyond this specific guidance, we highlight knowledge gaps that require further research and discuss the role of confirmatory studies in translational biomedical research. In conclusion, this workshop report highlights the need for close interaction and open and honest debate between statisticians, preclinical scientists, meta-researchers (that conduct research on research), and clinicians already at an early stage of a given preclinical research trajectory.

Brainhack is an innovative meeting format that promotes scientific collaboration and education in an open, inclusive environment. This NeuroView describes the myriad benefits for participants and the research community and how Brainhacks complement conventional formats to augment scientific progress.

Access to data is a critical feature of an efficient, progressive and ultimately self-correcting scientific ecosystem. But the extent to which in-principle benefits of data sharing are realized in practice is unclear. Crucially, it is largely unknown whether published findings can be reproduced by repeating reported analyses upon shared data ('analytic reproducibility'). To investigate this, we conducted an observational evaluation of a mandatory open data policy introduced at the journal Cognition. Interrupted time-series analyses indicated a substantial post-policy increase in data available statements (104/417, 25% pre-policy to 136/ 174, 78% post-policy), although not all data appeared reusable (23/ 104, 22% pre-policy to 85/136, 62%, post-policy). For 35 of the articles determined to have reusable data, we attempted to reproduce 1324 target values. Ultimately, 64 values could not be reproduced within a 10% margin of error. For 22 articles all target values were reproduced, but 11 of these required author assistance. For 13 articles at least one value could not be reproduced despite author assistance. Importantly, there were no clear indications that original conclusions were seriously impacted. Mandatory open data policies can increase the frequency and quality of data sharing. However, suboptimal data curation, unclear analysis specification and reporting errors can impede analytic reproducibility, undermining the utility of data sharing and the credibility of scientific findings.

Journal editors are the main gatekeepers in scientific publishing. Yet there is a concern that they may receive preferential treatment when submitting manuscripts to their own journals. The prevalence of such self-publishing is not known, nor the consequences for reliability and trustworthiness of published research. This study aimed to systematically review the literature on the prevalence of editors publishing in their own journals and to conduct a normative ethical analysis of this practice. A systematic review was performed using the following databases: Medline, PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science. Articles that provided primary data about editors publishing in own journals were included. We identified 15 studies meeting inclusion criteria. There was large variability of self-publishing across fields, journals and editors, ranging from those who never published in their own journal to those publishing extensively in their own journal. Many studies suffered from serious methodological limitations. Nevertheless, our results show that there are settings where levels of self-publication are very high. We recommend that editors-in-chief and associate editors who have considerable power in journals refrain from publishing research articles in their own journals. Journals should have clear processes in place about the treatment of articles submitted by editorial board members. 

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates.

In this paper, we show how Bayes' theorem can be used to better understand the implications of the 36% reproducibility rate of published psychological findings reported by the Open Science Collaboration. We demonstrate a method to assess publication bias and show that the observed reproducibility rate was not consistent with an unbiased literature. We estimate a plausible range for the prior probability of this body of research, suggesting expected statistical power in the original studies of 48-75%, producing (positive) findings that were expected to be true 41-62% of the time. Publication bias was large, assuming a literature with 90% positive findings, indicating that negative evidence was expected to have been observed 55-98 times before one negative result was published. These findings imply that even when studied associations are truly NULL, we expect the literature to be dominated by statistically significant findings.

The credibility of scientific claims depends upon the transparency of the research products upon which they are based (e.g., study protocols, data, materials, and analysis scripts). As psychology navigates a period of unprecedented introspection, user-friendly tools and services that support open science have flourished. However, the plethora of decisions and choices involved can be bewildering. Here we provide a practical guide to help researchers navigate the process of preparing and sharing the products of their research (e.g., choosing a repository, preparing their research products for sharing, structuring folders, etc.). Being an open scientist means adopting a few straightforward research management practices, which lead to less error prone, reproducible research workflows. Further, this adoption can be piecemeal – each incremental step towards complete transparency adds positive value. Transparent research practices not only improve the efficiency of individual researchers, they enhance the credibility of the knowledge generated by the scientific community. 

During wakeful rest, individuals make small eye movements during fixation. We examined how these endogenously driven oculomotor patterns impact topography and topology of functional brain networks. We used a dataset consisting of eyes-open resting-state (RS) fMRI data with simultaneous eye tracking. The eye-tracking data indicated minor movements during rest, which correlated modestly with RS BOLD data. However, eye-tracking data correlated well with echo-planar imaging time series sampled from the area of the eye-orbit (EO-EPI), which is a signal previously used to identify eye movements during exogenous saccades and movie viewing. Further analyses showed that EO-EPI data were correlated with activity in an extensive motor and sensorimotor network, including components of the dorsal attention network and the frontal eye fields. Partialling out variance related to EO-EPI from RS data reduced connectivity, primarily between sensorimotor and visual areas. It also produced networks with higher modularity, lower mean connectivity strength, and lower mean clustering coefficient. Our results highlight new aspects of endogenous eye movement control during wakeful rest. They show that oculomotor-related contributions form an important component of RS network topology, and that those should be considered in interpreting differences in network structure between populations or as a function of different experimental conditions.

Understanding the association between autonomic nervous system [ANS] function and brain morphology across the lifespan provides important insights into neurovisceral mechanisms underlying health and disease. Resting-state ANS activity, indexed by measures of heart rate [HR] and its variability [HRV] has been associated with brain morphology, particularly cortical thickness [CT]. While findings have been mixed regarding the anatomical distribution and direction of the associations, these inconsistencies may be due to sex and age differences in HR/HRV and CT. Previous studies have been limited by small sample sizes, which impede the assessment of sex differences and aging effects on the association between ANS function and CT. To overcome these limitations, 20 groups worldwide contributed data collected under similar protocols of CT assessment and HR/HRV recording to be pooled in a mega-analysis (N = 1,218 (50.5% female), mean age 36.7 years (range: 12–87)). Findings suggest a decline in HRV as well as CT with increasing age. CT, particularly in the orbitofrontal cortex, explained additional variance in HRV, beyond the effects of aging. This pattern of results may suggest that the decline in HRV with increasing age is related to a decline in orbitofrontal CT. These effects were independent of sex and specific to HRV; with no significant association between CT and HR. Greater CT across the adult lifespan may be vital for the maintenance of healthy cardiac regulation via the ANS—or greater cardiac vagal activity as indirectly reflected in HRV may slow brain atrophy. Findings reveal an important association between CT and cardiac parasympathetic activity with implications for healthy aging and longevity that should be studied further in longitudinal research.

In response to recommendations to redefine statistical significance to P ≤ 0.005, we propose that researchers should transparently report and justify all choices they make when designing a study, including the alpha level.

Task-based fMRI has been used to study the effects of experimental inflammation on the human brain, but it remains unknown whether intrinsic connectivity in the brain at rest changes during a sickness response. Here, we investigated the effect of experimental inflammation on connectivity between areas relevant for monitoring of bodily states, motivation, and subjective symptoms of sickness. In a double blind randomized controlled trial, 52 healthy volunteers were injected with 0.6 ng/kg LPS (lipopolysaccharide) or placebo, and participated in a resting state fMRI experiment after approximately 2h 45 minutes. Resting state fMRI data were available from 48 participants, of which 28 received LPS and 20 received placebo. Bilateral anterior and bilateral posterior insula sections were used as seed regions and connectivity with bilateral orbitofrontal and cingulate (anterior and middle) cortices was investigated. Back pain, headache and global sickness increased significantly after as compared to before LPS, while a non-significant trend was shown for increased nausea. Compared to placebo, LPS was followed by increased connectivity between left anterior insula and left midcingulate cortex. This connectivity was significantly correlated to increase in back pain after LPS and tended to be related to increased global sickness, but was not related to increased headache or nausea. LPS did not affect the connectivity from other insular seeds. In conclusion, the finding of increased functional connectivity between left anterior insula and middle cingulate cortex suggests a potential neurophysiological mechanism that can be further tested to understand the subjective feeling of malaise and discomfort during a sickness response.

Background

Symptoms related to chronic stress are prevalent and entail high societal costs, yet there is a lack of international consensus regarding diagnostics and treatment. A new stress-related diagnosis, exhaustion disorder, was introduced into the Swedish version of ICD-10 in 2005. Since then, use of the diagnosis has increased rapidly.

Aims

To create the first comprehensive synthesis of research on exhaustion disorder to report on the current state of knowledge. Preregistration: Open Science Framework (osf.io), doi 10.17605/OSF.IO/VFDKW.

Method

A PRISMA-guided scoping review of all empirical studies of exhaustion disorder was conducted. Searches were run in the MEDLINE, PsycInfo and Web of Science databases. Data were systematically charted and thematically categorised based on primary area of investigation.

Results

Eighty-nine included studies were sorted into six themes relating to lived experience of exhaustion disorder (n = 9), symptom presentation and course (n = 13), cognitive functioning (n = 10), biological measures (n = 24), symptom measurement scales (n = 4) and treatment (n = 29). Several studies indicated that individuals with exhaustion disorder experience a range of psychiatric and somatic symptoms beyond fatigue, but robust findings within most thematic categories were scarce. The limited number of studies, lack of replication of findings and methodological limitations (e.g. small samples and scarcity of specified primary outcomes) preclude firm conclusions about the diagnostic construct.

Conclusions

More research is needed to build a solid knowledge base for exhaustion disorder. International collaboration regarding the conceptualisation of chronic stress and fatigue is warranted to accelerate the growth of evidence.

This study investigated associations between inflammatory markers, sickness behaviour, health anxiety and self-rated health in 311 consecutive primary care patients. Poor self-rated health was associated with high sickness behaviour (rho = 0.28, P < 0.001; rho = 0.42, P = 0.003) and high health anxiety (rho = 0.31, P < 0.001; rho = -0.32, P = 0.003). High levels of interleukin 6 were associated with poor self-rated health in men (rho = 0.26, P = 0.009). Low levels of interleukin-6 were associated with poor self-rated health in women (rho = -0.15, P = 0.04), but this association was non-significant when adjusted for health anxiety (rho = -0.08, P = 0.31). These results are consistent with the theory that interoceptive processes draw on both inflammatory mediators and the state of sickness behaviour in inferring health state.

Data sharing is increasingly practiced by researchers and mandated by research funders as well as scientific journals. However, data sharing within qualitative research paradigms is less common, and sharing interview data has particular challenges. Earlier debate has pointed to the value of data sharing for discouraging research fraud and permitting critical scrutiny. We elaborate on this discussion by highlighting the value of data sharing for cumulative science, for re-use, and to maximise the value of the participants’ contribution. We review methods and possibilities for sharing interview data, and give concrete recommendations for mitigating risks to the participants. In conclusion, we find that sharing of interview data is possible, valuable, and ethical, and serves a purpose for both journals and researchers.

Background. The distinction between malignant and benign pleural effusions is a diagnostic challenge today and measuring soluble biomarkers could add to the diagnostic accuracy. Syndecan-1 is a proteoglycan involved in various cellular functions and is cleaved from the cell surface in a regulated manner. The shed fragment, which can be recovered in effusion supernatant and in serum, retains its binding capacities, but often with different functions and signalling properties than the cell-bound form. Aim. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic value of soluble syndecan-1 in pleural effusions and sera from patients with pleural malignancies. Study Design. Using two cohorts of patients, we assessed the diagnostic and prognostic value of soluble syndecan-1 in pleural effusions and sera, using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Results. In pleural effusions, syndecan-1 distinguished malignant and benign diseases, with an odds ratio of 8.59 (95% CI 3.67 to 20.09). Furthermore, syndecan-1 in pleural effusions predicted a survival difference for patients with pleural metastatic disease and malignant mesothelioma of 11.2 and 9.2 months, respectively. However, no such effects were seen when syndecan-1 was measured in serum. Conclusion. Soluble syndecan-1 is a promising candidate biomarker for the cytopathological diagnosis and prognostication of malignant pleural effusions.

Purpose: Diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma is challenging. The first available diagnostic material is often an effusion and biochemical analysis of soluble markers may provide additional diagnostic information. This study aimed to establish a predictive model using biomarkers from pleural effusions, to allow early and accurate diagnosis. Patients and Methods: Effusions were collected prospectively from 190 consecutive patients at a regional referral centre. Hyaluronan, N-ERC/mesothelin, C-ERC/mesothelin, osteopontin, syndecan-1, syndecan-2, and thioredoxin were measured using ELISA and HPLC. A predictive model was generated and validated using a second prospective set of 375 effusions collected consecutively at a different referral centre. Results: Biochemical markers significantly associated with mesothelioma were hyaluronan (odds ratio, 95% CI: 8.82, 4.82-20.39), N-ERC/mesothelin (4.81, 3.19-7.93), CERC/mesothelin (3.58, 2.43-5.59) and syndecan-1 (1.34, 1.03-1.77). A two-step model using hyaluronan and N-ERC/mesothelin, and combining a threshold decision rule with logistic regression, yielded good discrimination with an area under the ROC curve of 0.99 (95% CI: 0.97-1.00) in the model generation dataset and 0.83 (0.74-0.91) in the validation dataset, respectively. Conclusions: A two-step model using hyaluronan and N-ERC/mesothelin predicts mesothelioma with high specificity. This method can be performed on the first available effusion and could be a useful adjunct to the morphological diagnosis of mesothelioma.

Background: Mental illness, including anxiety disorders, is linked to accelerated cell aging. This is evidenced by shorter leukocyte telomere length. Cells with critically short telomeres may undergo apoptosis. In dividing cells, telomere shortening is counteracted by the telomeraseenzyme. Telomerase is reportedly low following chronic psychological stress. We hypothesized that a psychological treatment may increase telomerase activity, less telomere attritionand greater symptom improvement.

Methods: Forty-six patients (91% SSRI naïve) with social anxiety disorder(SAD; mean age 31, 63% females) underwent a 9-week waiting period, and 9 weeks of Internet-delivered cognitive behavior therapy(CBT). During treatment, symptoms were assessed weekly using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS-SR). Fasting blood samples were collected twice before treatment, and at post-treatment. Genomic DNA was extracted using DNeasy® Blood & Tissue Kit (Qiagene) to assess leukocyte telomere length. Telomerase activity was detected by real-time telomeric repeat amplification protocol (RT-TRAP).

Results: Patients improved significantly on the LSAS-SR (p<.001; Cohen’s d=1.5). Pre-post changes in telomerase and telomere length correlated positively (Pearson’s r=.31, p=.05). Reduced telomerase activity (<33th percentile) was associated with less improvement and increased activity (>66th percentile) with more improvement on the LSAS-SR (Z=-2.4, p=.02).

Conclusions: We demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, that altered telomerase activity is associated with clinical response to a psychological treatment in a psychiatric population. The observed CBT effect on telomerase in patients with SAD is consistent with results from animal trials and a small previous study of antidepressants in humans. Thus, telomerase activation may play an important role in clinical recovery.

Telomere attrition is a hallmark of cellular aging and shorter telomeres have been reported in mood and anxiety disorders. Telomere shortening is counteracted by the enzyme telomerase and cellular protection is also provided by the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Here, telomerase, GPx, and telomeres were investigated in 46 social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients in a within-subject design with repeated measures before and after cognitive behavioral therapy. Treatment outcome was assessed by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (self-report), administered three times before treatment to control for time and regression artifacts, and posttreatment. Venipunctures were performed twice before treatment, separated by 9 weeks, and once posttreatment. Telomerase activity and telomere length were measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and GPx activity in plasma. All patients contributed with complete data. Results showed that social anxiety symptom severity was significantly reduced from pretreatment to posttreatment (Cohen’s d = 1.46). There were no significant alterations in telomeres or cellular protection markers before treatment onset. Telomere length and telomerase activity did not change significantly after treatment, but an increase in telomerase over treatment was associated with reduced social anxiety. Also, lower pretreatment telomerase activity predicted subsequent symptom improvement. GPx activity increased significantly during treatment, and increases were significantly associated with symptom improvement. The relationships between symptom improvement and putative protective enzymes remained significant also after controlling for body mass index, sex, duration of SAD, smoking, concurrent psychotropic medication, and the proportion of lymphocytes to monocytes. Thus, indices of cellular protection may be involved in the therapeutic mechanisms of psychological treatment for anxiety.

Introduction: Neural correlates of sleep deprivation are not fully understood and the difference between young and older adults in this regard has received little attention. We aimed to investigate the effect of partial sleep deprivation on resting state connectivity.

Methods: 30 younger (20–30 years) and 23 older (65–75 years) healthy participants underwent MR imaging after normal sleep and partial sleep deprivation (3 h sleep). We acquired two runs of eyes-open resting state functional magnetic resonance images. Participants were monitored with eye-tracking to ensure their eyes remained open during scanning.

Results: Global signal variability, defined as log-transformed standard deviation of average gray matter signal, was increased following partial sleep deprivation (0.16 [0.07, 0.24], p = 0.0004). In contrast to previous studies, we did not find that partial sleep deprivation inhibited connectivity in the default mode network, nor in other major networks investigated.

Conclusion: Sleep deprivation caused increased global signal variability. This novel finding should be confirmed using independent data. Our finding of no difference in default mode connectivity in the sleep deprived state, could possibly be due to stricter monitoring of participants’ wakefulness compared to some earlier studies.

Nyligen meddelade Bibsam-konsortiet, som för svenska lärosätens räkning förhandlar om vetenskapliga tidskriftsprenumerationer, att man nått ett nytt avtal med Elsevier. Därmed slutar det avtalslösa tillstånd som rått i bortåt ett och ett halvt år, då svenska forskare inte fått tillgång till aktuella artiklar i Elseviertidskrifter. Det nya avtalet är transformativt. Detta innebär att det innehåller publicering med öppen tillgång för svenska forskare utan att forskaren eller lärosätet behöver betala en avgift för varje artikel. Fler artiklar kommer därmed att bli omedelbart öppet tillgängliga.

Det gamla avtalet med Elsevier kostade 14 miljoner euro 2017, samtidigt som tidskrifterna också tog betalt per artikel för publicering med öppen tillgång. Det var helt nödvändigt att bryta den skenande kostnadsökningen, och Bibsamkonsortiet ska ha all heder av sitt beslut att inte fortsätta med samma typ av avtal som förut.

Men det transformativa avtalet med Elsevier är en pyrrhusseger. Problemet med det nya avtalet är att det cementerar låsningen till en föråldrad publiceringskultur. Förlaget tillåts fortfarande ta dubbelt betalt: både för att vi ska få läsa andra länders artiklar, och för att publicera svenska artiklar med öppen tillgång – fastän båda kostnaderna är inbakade i samma avtal. Vi får alltså betala först för att de reser en brandvägg framför vetenskapens landvinningar, och sedan igen för att få spika upp våra egna alster på väggens utsida.

Öppna arkiv på internet gör att vetenskapliga resultat kan publiceras till mycket låg kostnad, och utan den fördröjning som tidskrifternas granskning innebär. Systematiska metoder för att granska kvaliteten efter publicering har potential att ersätta den traditionella referentgranskningen, som ofta åberopas som kvalitetshöjande, men som i allmänhet försiggår i det fördolda och inte i sig kan granskas. Tidskrifternas roll som förvaltare av ett prestigekapital som snedvrider forskningsprocessen behöver brytas.

Experimentet med ett avtalslöst tillstånd visade att svensk forskning klarade sig bra. Kostnaden för det nya avtalet är ännu inte offentliggjord, men den kvardröjande låsningen till Elsevier medför en risk för fortsatta kostnadsökningar. Det går inte att motivera att svensk forskning årligen ska dräneras på hundratals miljoner kronor för att köpa tillbaka forskningsresultat som borde varit öppet tillgängliga från början. Bibsamkonsortiet borde experimentera med att säga upp fler avtal. Inbesparade medel skulle kunna användas exempelvis till stöd för att publicera forskningsdata och andra forskningsprodukter öppet och FAIR.

Forskningsdata är grunden för vårt vetenskapliga kunskapsbygge. Men alltför ofta går de inte att få fram. Vetenskapsrådet föreslår att alla data ska publiceras öppet, vilket är bra. Men framför allt behöver vi en ny kultur som skapar en genuin efterfrågan på befintliga data.

ABSTRACT: Recent advances in cell biology and gene regulation suggest mechanisms whereby associative learning could be performed by single cells. Therefore, we explored a model of classical conditioning in human macrophages in vitro. In macrophage cultures, bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS; unconditioned stimulus) was paired once with streptomycin (conditioned stimulus). Secretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6) was used as response measure. At evocation, conditioning was not observed. Levels of IL-6 were higher only in those cultures that had been exposed to LPS in the learning phase (p's<.05), regardless whether they received the conditioned stimulus or not at evocation. However, habituation was evident, with a 62% loss of the IL-6 response after three LPS presentations (p<.001). If further experiments confirm that simple learning can occur in immune cells, this may have bearings not only on immune regulation, but also on the brain response to molecular signals detected in the periphery. Importantly, whether capacities for simple learning in single cells extend beyond habituation, and how this would be demonstrated, remain open questions.

In a recent article, Wu et al.1 presented an electroencephalogram (EEG)-based prediction model for antidepressant treatment response1. Here, we point to limitations in the methods used to define response and to validate the prediction model—specifically, that change from baseline Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD) scores needs to take into account the nonlinearity of response, and that the validation analysis transposed the predictor and the outcome.

1. ARISING FROM W. Wu et al. Nature Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0397-3 (2020)

The pleiotropic cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been proposed to contribute to circadian regulation of sleepiness by increasing in the blood at night. Earlier studies have reported diurnal variation of IL-6, but phase estimates are conflicting. We have therefore performed a meta-analysis on the diurnal variation of circulating IL-6. Studies were included if they reported IL-6 in plasma or serum recorded at least twice within 24 hours in the same individual. A systematic search resulted in the inclusion of 43 studies with 56 datasets, for a total of 1100 participants. Individual participant data were available from 4 datasets with a total of 56 participants. Mixed-effects meta-regression modelling confirmed that IL-6 varied across the day, the most conspicuous effect being a trough in the morning. These results stand in contrast to earlier findings of a peak in the evening or night, and suggest that diurnal variation should be taken into account in order to avoid confounding by time of day in studies of IL-6 in plasma or serum.

According to disease avoidance theory, selective pressures have shaped adaptive behaviours to avoid people who might transmit infections. Such behavioural immune defence strategies may have social and societal consequences. Attractiveness is perceived as a heuristic cue of good health, and the relative importance of attractiveness is predicted to increase during high disease threat. Here, we investigated whether politicians' attractiveness is more important for electoral success when disease threat is high, in an effort to replicate earlier findings from the USA. We performed a cross-sectional study of 484 members of the House of Commons from England and Wales. Publicly available sexiness ratings (median 5883 ratings/politician) were regressed on measures of disease burden, operationalized as infant mortality, life expectancy and self-rated health. Infant mortality in parliamentary constituencies did not significantly predict sexiness of elected members of parliament (p = 0.08), nor did life expectancy (p = 0.06), nor self-rated health (p = 0.55). Subsample analyses failed to provide further support for the hypothesis. In conclusion, an attractive leader effect was not amplified by disease threat in the UK and these results did not replicate those of earlier studies from the USA concerning the relationship between attractiveness, disease threat and voting preference.

We investigated whether electromyography (EMG) could be used to detect facial mimicry during fMRI scanning.

EMG activity in the superciliary corrugator muscle increased when participants viewed angry faces.

Background: Cognitive reappraisal is a strategy for emotional regulation, important in the context of anxiety disorders. It is not known whether anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines affect cognitive reappraisal.

Aims: We aimed to investigate the effect of 25 mg oxazepam on cognitive reappraisal.

Methods: In a preliminary investigation, 33 healthy male volunteers were randomised to oxazepam or placebo, and then underwent an experiment where they were asked to use cognitive reappraisal to upregulate or downregulate their emotional response to images with negative or neutral emotional valence. We recorded unpleasantness ratings, skin conductance, superciliary corrugator muscle activity, and heart rate. Participants completed rating scales measuring empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI), alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, TAS-20), and psychopathy (Psychopathy Personality Inventory-Revised, PPI-R).

Results: Upregulation to negative-valence images in the cognitive reappraisal task caused increased unpleasantness ratings, corrugator activity, and heart rate compared to downregulation. Upregulation to both negative- and neutral-valence images caused increased skin conductance responses. Oxazepam caused lower unpleasantness ratings to negative-valence stimuli, but did not interact with reappraisal instruction on any outcome. Self-rated trait empathy was associated with stronger responses to negative-valence stimuli, whereas self-rated psychopathic traits were associated with weaker responses to negative-valence stimuli.

Conclusions: While 25 mg oxazepam caused lower unpleasantness ratings in response to negative-valence images, we did not observe an effect of 25 mg oxazepam on cognitive reappraisal.

Emotional mimicry and empathy are mechanisms underlying social interaction. Benzodiazepines have been proposed to inhibit empathy and promote antisocial behaviour. First, we aimed to investigate the effects of oxazepam on emotional mimicry and empathy for pain, and second, we aimed to investigate the association of personality traits to emotional mimicry and empathy. Participants (n= 76) were randomized to 25mg oxazepam or placebo. Emotional mimicry was examined using video clips with emotional expressions. Empathy was investigated by pain stimulating the participant and a confederate. We recorded self-rated experience, activity in major zygomatic and superciliary corrugator muscles, skin conductance, and heart rate. In the mimicry experiment, oxazepam inhibited corrugator activity. In the empathy experiment, oxazepam caused increased self-rated unpleasantness and skin conductance. However, oxazepam specifically inhibited neither emotional mimicry nor empathy for pain. Responses in both experiments were associated with self-rated empathic, psychopathic and alexithymic traits. The present results do not support a specific effect of 25mg oxazepam on emotional mimicry or empathy.