Diversity, equity, and inclusivity in observational ambulatory assessment: Recommendations from two decades of Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) research.

Ambient audio sampling methods such as the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) have become increasingly prominent in clinical and social sciences research. These methods record snippets of naturalistically assessed audio from participants' daily lives, enabling novel observational research about the daily social interactions, identities, environments, behaviors, and speech of populations of interest. In practice, these scientific opportunities are equaled by methodological challenges: researchers' own cultural backgrounds and identities can easily and unknowingly permeate the collection, coding, analysis, and interpretation of social data from daily life. Ambient audio sampling poses unique and significant challenges to cultural humility, diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) in scientific research that require systematized attention. Motivated by this observation, an international consortium of 21 researchers who have used ambient audio sampling methodologies created a workgroup with the aim of improving upon existing published guidelines. We pooled formally and informally documented challenges pertaining to DEI in ambient audio sampling from our collective experience on 40+ studies (most of which used the EAR app) in clinical and healthy populations ranging from children to older adults. This article presents our resultant recommendations and argues for the incorporation of community-engaged research methods in observational ambulatory assessment designs looking forward. We provide concrete recommendations across each stage typical of an ambient audio sampling study (recruiting and enrolling participants, developing coding systems, training coders, handling multi-linguistic participants, data analysis and interpretation, and dissemination of results) as well as guiding questions that can be used to adapt these recommendations to project-specific constraints and needs.

Investigating the Relationship between Resident Physician Implicit Bias and Language Use during a Clinical Encounter with Hispanic Patients.

Prior research suggests that the implicit biases of physicians are negatively associated with quality of medical care and patient satisfaction among minority patients. However, relatively little is known about how physicians express these subtle forms of bias in patient interactions. This study examined the implicit and explicit anti-Hispanic biases of 53 resident physicians and the relationship between anti-Hispanic bias and language use during outpatient medical appointments with 291 Hispanic patients. Physician implicit bias was positively associated with use of interrogatives and work-related words and negatively associated with the use of prepositions and relativity-related words (e.g., words related to time and the future). These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence suggesting that, in addition to nonverbal and paraverbal behaviors, providers may communicate implicit bias to patients through the words they use during a clinical visit.

Characterization of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Expression in Nucleus Accumbens and Hippocampus of Rats Subjected to Food Selection in the Cafeteria Diet Protocol.

Obesity is a world-wide health problem that requires different experimental perspectives to understand the onset of this disease, including the neurobiological basis of food selection. From a molecular perspective, obesity has been related with activity of several endogenous molecules, including the mitogenactivated protein kinases (MAP-K). The aim of this study was to characterize MAP-K expression in hedonic and learning and memory brain-associated areas such as nucleus accumbens (AcbC) and hippocampus (HIPP) after food selection. We show that animals fed with cafeteria diet during 14 days displayed an increase in p38 MAP-K activity in AcbC if chose cheese. Conversely, a diminution was observed in animals that preferred chocolate in AcbC. Also, a decrease of p38 MAP-K phosphorylation was found in HIPP in rats that selected either cheese or chocolate. Our data demonstrate a putative role of MAP-K expression in food selection. These findings advance our understanding of neuromolecular basis engaged in obesity.

Potential effects of cannabidiol as a wake-promoting agent.

Over the last decades, the scientific interest in chemistry and pharmacology of cannabinoids has increased. Most attention has focused on ∆(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆(9)-THC) as it is the psychoactive constituent of Cannabis sativa (C. sativa). However, in previous years, the focus of interest in the second plant constituent with non-psychotropic properties, cannabidiol (CBD) has been enhanced. Recently, several groups have investigated the pharmacological properties of CBD with significant findings; furthermore, this compound has raised promising pharmacological properties as a wake-inducing drug. In the current review, we will provide experimental evidence regarding the potential role of CBD as a wake-inducing drug.

Brain molecules and appetite: the case of oleoylethanolamide.

The neurobiological mechanisms of feeding involve the activity of several brain areas as well as the engagement of endogenous compounds such as ghrelin, melanin-concentrating hormone, orexin, neuropeptide Y, leptin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, cholecystokinin, among others. Furthermore, the family of food-intake modulators has been enlarged due to the inclusion of lipids such as N-arachidonoylethanolamide (anandamide), as well as oleoylethanolamide (OEA). In this regard, the food-intake suppressing properties of OEA have been described since pharmacological administration of this compound induces anorexia. It has been suggested that satiety induced by OEA may be through the activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α), a ligand-activated transcription factor that modulates several pathways of lipid metabolism. The mechanism of action of OEA remains unknown, it has been suggested that the ingestion of dietary fat stimulates epithelial cells of the small intestine and promotes the synthesis and release of OEA. Upon its release, this lipid acts within the gut engaging sensory fibers of the vagus nerve to diminish food-intake. Here, recent advances in our understanding of the neurobiological role of OEA in modulation of feeding will be reviewed. Also, we highlight the emerging molecular mechanism of anorexia induced by OEA.