Molecular Profiles of Pyramidal Neurons in the Superior Temporal Cortex in Schizophrenia

Disrupted synchronized oscillatory firing of pyramidal neuronal networks in the cerebral cortex in the gamma frequency band (i.e., 30–100 Hz) mediates many of the cognitive deficits and symptoms of schizophrenia. In fact, the density of dendritic spines and the average somal area of pyramidal neurons in layer 3 of the cerebral cortex, which mediate both long-range (associational) and local (intrinsic) corticocortical connections, are decreased in subjects with this illness. To explore the molecular pathophysiology of pyramidal neuronal dysfunction, we extracted ribonucleic acid (RNA) from laser-captured pyramidal neurons from layer 3 of Brodmann’s area 42 of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) from postmortem brains from schizophrenia and normal control subjects. We then profiled the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of these neurons, using microarray technology. We identified 1331 mRNAs that were differentially expressed in schizophrenia, including genes that belong to the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) and the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) signaling pathways. Disturbances of these signaling mechanisms may in part contribute to the altered expression of other genes found to be differentially expressed in this study, such as those that regulate extracellular matrix (ECM), apoptosis, and cytoskeletal and synaptic plasticity. In addition, we identified 10 microRNAs (miRNAs) that were differentially expressed in schizophrenia; enrichment analysis of their predicted gene targets revealed signaling pathways and gene networks that were found by microarray to be dysregulated, raising an interesting possibility that dysfunction of pyramidal neurons in schizophrenia may in part be mediated by a concerted dysregulation of gene network functions as a result of the altered expression of a relatively small number of miRNAs. Taken together, findings of this study provide a neurobiological framework within which specific hypotheses about the molecular mechanisms of pyramidal cell dysfunction in schizophrenia can be formulated

Koreans and the Early Cold War

The Cold War turned hot in Asia. Wars in Korea and Vietnam evidenced that the Cold War, the ideological contest between democracy and communism, met violent ends in the Pacific. While considered one of America’s “forgotten wars,” what unfolded in Korea sent geopolitical ripples around the world and had devastating consequences that would forever change Korea. The war claimed over three million Korean lives, the majority civilians. The United States played an outsized role in the conflict. The United States sent 350,000 servicemen, making up 90 percent of UN forces in Korea. What began as an effort to contain communism north of the 38th parallel, a dividing line drawn up by two US colonels in 1945, shifted to remove communism from the peninsula entirely. Fighting escalated in October 1950 when the People’s Republic of China entered on the side of North Korea. Between 1950 and 1953, the United States dropped 635,000 tons of bombs on the peninsula, which is roughly the size of Minnesota. An August 1953 armistice brought an end to combat but not the war. Korea remained divided, only this time with more than half the population either killed, wounded, missing, or permanently separated from their families. The unended war went on to shape the geopolitical landscape of US-Korea relations, expanded the Korean diaspora, and had a disproportionate impact upon Korean civilians, especially women and children. In the United States, the violence of war was obscured by media that figured Koreans as wartime waifs, assimilating adoptees, and talented entertainers, like the Korean Children’s Choir and Kim Sisters, representations that fostered internationalist scripts of rescue and care. Images of Koreans as model Cold War citizens helped Americans move on from the war, while overwriting the actual experiences of displaced Korean women and children. Between 1953 and 1965, an estimated 7,700 Korean “war brides” and six thousand Korean and mixed-race adoptees arrived in interracial households scattered across a still-segregated United States. The migration of Korean women and children was directly tied to US militarization in South Korea. Camptowns catering to US servicemen that cropped up near bases during the war became permanent sites of prostitution. The presumption that Korean brides were former prostitutes was symptomatic of how the US military impacted the social construction of Korean women. Also resulting from US militarization was the birth of “GI babies.” The mixed-race children of US servicemen and Korean women anchored postwar missionary appeals for Americans to adopt from Korea, campaigns that opened the path to transnational adoptions. Ultimately, what transpired in Korea placed civilians at the crossroads of the Cold War navigating life in Korea, the United States, and spaces in between.</p

Transpacific Adoption

As one of America’s forgotten wars, the Korean War remains in the shadows of American memory. This chapter recounts one of the profound social and cultural outcomes of the war--Korean transnational adoptions. It traces the work of U.S. missionaries that established initial points of contact between average Americans and Korean children-in-need during and after the war, sentimental and material connections that set the stage for transnational adoptions. In the 1950s, missionary appeals to rescue Korean children and mixed-race GI babies incited Americans to push for the legal adoption of children from Korea, pressure that ultimately led both the U.S. and South Korean governments to establish permanent adoption legislation. To date, over 100,000 Korean adoptees have entered the United States. This essay investigates the origins of Korean transnational adoptions and the racial legacies left in its wake on both sides of the Pacific.</p

A Review of Panic Buying: The Mediation of Illusory Truth Effect and Persistence due to Herd Mentality and Confirmation Bias

In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the public has been experiencing severe amounts of stress and feelings of anxiety. Social media in particular has been shown in the literature to be a major contributing medium for the widespread facilitation of misinformation concerning the coronavirus. The rapid development of fake news concerning supply shortages of certain essential items has increased pandemic-related behaviours such as panic buying. Factors that have led to panic buying include perceived threat of an event, perceived product scarcity, fear of the unknown, and coping methods to gain control. Although these factors are prevalent reasons that induce panic buying behaviours, they do not explain the mechanisms in the formation of these perceptions. It is possible that heuristics (i.e. availability, and affect), which are reinforced by social media posts, aid in the development of the illusory truth effect. This psychological phenomenon may be the root cause in the public’s false perceptions of pandemic-related events. This paper reviewed the impact of the illusory truth effect as a mediator in processing misinformation from social media and the news as truths that inevitably encourages panic buying behaviour. Furthermore, this paper examined the persistence of the illusory truth effect due to herd mentality and confirmation bias in the perpetual cycle of irrational decision making. In conclusion, the illusory truth effect has been demonstrated to be a key cognitive bias that strengthens with repetitive exposure to adverse sentiments related to COVID-19, and is likely to be maintained through herd mentality and confirmation bias in social situations. Although more research needs to be done to solidify this theory, the current review aims to serve as a basis for further research on the illusory truth effect and potentiate solutions in the prevention of adherence to this effect