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Observing the brain pathway that lowers anxiety

Here, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and showed that the strength of an axonal pathway identified between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex predicted individual differences in trait anxiety. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) functional localizer that has been shown to produce reliable amygdala activation was collected in 20 psychiatrically healthy subjects. Voxelwise regression analyses using this fMRI amygdala reactivity as a regressor were performed on fractional anisotropy images derived from DTI. This analysis identified a white matter pathway between the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Individual differences in the structural integrity of this putative amygdala–prefrontal pathway were inversely correlated with trait anxiety levels (i.e., higher pathway strength predicted lower anxiety). More generally, this study illustrates a strategy for combining fMRI and DTI to identify individual differences in structural pathways that predict behavioral outcomes.

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The Top Mobile Websites in your Country

This is a list the 10 most popular mobile websites (in terms of unique visitors) in different countries according to Opera.

Opera has just released their monthly report on the state of mobile web (also available as PDF) that highlights key trends in mobile web browsing worldwide and also provides a list of most frequently visited websites in different regions of the world.

Google, Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube are hugely popular among mobile users in every region but Twitter is missing probably because smartphone users prefer using standalone apps and not the main Twitter website to tweet.

These reports are based on usage of Opera mobile browsers (Opera Mini and Opera Mobile) that are quite popular on Nokia and BlackBerry handsets but completely excludes the iPhone user-base. Also, Opera reports do not include any adult websites even if any of them makes it to the top 10 list.

The Top Mobile Websites in your Country

Originally published at Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal.

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Body Knowledge: Red Blood, Blue Veins?

There is a common misconception that blood, as it courses through our veins on its return trip back to the heart, is blue.

When you look at your arms you see blue veins, but this is a trick of light, or rather a problem with wavelengths. According to Live Science, light has to penetrate your skin in order for you to actually see your veins, and blue light waves are more successful at this process, making your veins appear blue.

So what does happen to your blood as it moves about your body? Learn the details by reading more.

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Users Hate Change

Jakob Nielsen argues (his emphasis):

Users don't care about design for its own sake; they just want to get things done and get out. Normal people don't love sitting at their computers. They'd rather watch football, walk the dog – just about anything else. Using a computer probably rates above taking out the trash, though.

When people are visiting websites or using applications, they don't spend their time analyzing or admiring the design. They focus their attention on the task, the content, and their own data or documents.

Thus, people love a design when they know the features and can immediately locate the ones they need. That is, they love a familiar design.

In fact, anytime you release a redesign, prepare for a flood of angry email from customers. It's a law of nature that users hate change, and they'll complain every time you move anything around or otherwise reduce their ability to just do what they've always done.

Nielsen adds, "Having users complain about a redesign doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad; if the new design actually has better usability, people will eventually grow to like it."

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Users Hate Change | Comments]

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For First Time, AIDS Vaccine Shows Some Success in Trials

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For First Time, AIDS Vaccine Shows Some Success in Trials

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