7,080 research outputs found

    Dissecting the mechanisms of transport of herpes simplex virus between Langerhans Cells & dendritic cells in epidermis and dermis following infection of human genital mucosa and skin

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    Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has deemed a priority for a vaccine. CD8 and CD4T cells are important in the control and clearance of HSV, however no known vaccine has been able to stimulate CD8T cells. The dermal dendritic cells (dDCs) are suspected to play a role. Previously the host lab has shown in human tissue that HSV-1 infection of Langerhans cells (LCs) caused apoptosis and migration of LCs to the dermis, where they were phagocytosed by dDCs (termed HSV viral relay). Very little is known about the mechanisms of this relay. The host lab has also identified a second resident epidermal immune cell, Epi-cDC2s, which are infectable by HSV. This thesis aims to unravel the mechanisms involved in the relay. RNA-seq and cell surface phenotyping on human dDCs subsets showed that was differential chemokine receptor expression. Bead-based immunoassays were used to determine the chemokines produced by HSV-1 infected LCs and Epi-cDC2s,and showed HSV infected LCs produced increased CXCR3 ligands, while HSV infected Epi-cDC2s produced increased CCR5 ligands. The importance of these chemokine axes was investigated using chemotaxis assays. An cyclic immunofluorescent microscopy panel was then developed to investigate whether this migration could be seen in situ in HSV infected foreskin explants. Underneath epidermal foci of infection, there was migration of both cDC1s and cDC2s towards the basement membrane. Under foci of infection there was a greater proportion of cDC2s clustering with LCs. The uptake of HSV infected epidermal cells by the dDC subsets was examined using imaging cytometry. Preliminary results suggest that there were no significant differences between the ability of dDCs to phagocytose HSV infected epidermal cells. Understanding the mechanisms and the role of each dDC subset in the HSV viral relay will determine which dDC subsets are crucial for CD8 and CD4 T cell stimulation

    Describing Faces for Identification: Getting the Message, But Not The Picture

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    Although humans rely on faces and language for social communication, the role of language in communicating about faces is poorly understood. Describing faces and identifying faces from verbal descriptions are important tasks in social and criminal justice settings. Prior research indicates that people have difficulty relaying face identity to others via verbal description, however little is known about the process, correlates, or content of communication about faces (hereafter ‘face communication’). In Chapter Two, I investigated face communication accuracy and its relationship with an individual’s perceptual face skill. I also examined the efficacy of a brief training intervention for improving face description ability. I found that individuals could complete face communication tasks with above chance levels of accuracy, in both interactive and non-interactive conditions, and that abilities in describing faces and using face descriptions for identification were related to an individual’s perceptual face skill. However, training was not effective for improving face description ability. In Chapter Three, I investigated qualitative attributes of face descriptions. I found no evidence of qualitative differences in face descriptions as a function of the describer’s perceptual skill with faces, the identification utility of descriptions, or the describer’s familiarity with the face. In Chapters Two and Three, the reliability of measures may have limited the ability to detect relationships between face communication accuracy and potential correlates of performance. Consequently, in Chapter Four, I examined face communication accuracy when using constrained face descriptions, derived using a rating scale, and the relationship between the identification utility of such descriptions and their reliability (test-retest and multi-rater). I found that constrained face descriptions were less useful for identification than free descriptions and the reliability of a description was unrelated to its identification utility. Together, findings in this thesis indicate that face communication is very challenging – both for individuals undertaking the task, and for researchers seeking to measure performance reliably. Given the mechanisms contributing to variance in face communication accuracy remain largely elusive, legal stakeholders would be wise to use caution when relying on evidence involving face description

    Daily Stress and Negative Affect as Predictors of Orthorexia Nervosa Symptoms Among College Students: Testing Direct and Moderated Associations Using Daily Diary Methodology

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    Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) is a condition involving a pathological obsession with healthy or “clean” eating (Bratman, 1997). Prevalence estimates of ON range from 35.4% to 83% in the U.S. population (Niedzielski & Kaźmierczak-Wojtás, 2021). Starting out innocuously as a habit of eating healthier foods, ON becomes socially and physically impairing when individuals spend a large amount of time and effort planning and preparing healthy meals, eventually turning into an obsession that interferes with other domains of life (Oberle et al., 2017). Although ON is not in the DSM-5, preliminary investigation has shown that it may fall on the eating disorder spectrum – either as a precursor or a residual form (Segura-Garcia et al., 2015). Only limited cross-sectional studies have examined the psychosocial factors related to ON (McCombs & Mills, 2019). The purpose of the present study was to test the extent to which daily stress and negative affect predicted ON behavior in college students, as well as the moderating effects of perfectionism and an already healthy diet on these relations. Moreover, we also tested the predictive effect of negative appearance-focused family cultures on concurrent levels of ON symptoms. Results from hierarchical linear modeling found that when participants experienced higher stress intensity levels than usual, they engaged in more ON behaviors on the same day. Neither perfectionism nor an already healthy diet moderated this relation. Within-person associations between negative affect and ON were not significant. Regression models found that higher negative appearance-focused comments and behaviors in families predicted higher levels of baseline ON symptoms, over and above perfectionism, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, past dieting, current/past eating disorders, and neuroticism. The findings can inform intervention and preventive work in ON, which has no empirically-tested treatment yet

    Development of linguistic linked open data resources for collaborative data-intensive research in the language sciences

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    Making diverse data in linguistics and the language sciences open, distributed, and accessible: perspectives from language/language acquistiion researchers and technical LOD (linked open data) researchers. This volume examines the challenges inherent in making diverse data in linguistics and the language sciences open, distributed, integrated, and accessible, thus fostering wide data sharing and collaboration. It is unique in integrating the perspectives of language researchers and technical LOD (linked open data) researchers. Reporting on both active research needs in the field of language acquisition and technical advances in the development of data interoperability, the book demonstrates the advantages of an international infrastructure for scholarship in the field of language sciences. With contributions by researchers who produce complex data content and scholars involved in both the technology and the conceptual foundations of LLOD (linguistics linked open data), the book focuses on the area of language acquisition because it involves complex and diverse data sets, cross-linguistic analyses, and urgent collaborative research. The contributors discuss a variety of research methods, resources, and infrastructures. Contributors Isabelle Barrière, Nan Bernstein Ratner, Steven Bird, Maria Blume, Ted Caldwell, Christian Chiarcos, Cristina Dye, Suzanne Flynn, Claire Foley, Nancy Ide, Carissa Kang, D. Terence Langendoen, Barbara Lust, Brian MacWhinney, Jonathan Masci, Steven Moran, Antonio Pareja-Lora, Jim Reidy, Oya Y. Rieger, Gary F. Simons, Thorsten Trippel, Kara Warburton, Sue Ellen Wright, Claus Zin

    Clickbait Compliance and Transnational Corruption

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    In the corporate compliance and anti-corruption domains, international standard-setting is in vogue. Recent years have witnessed a flurry of new compliance standards authored by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the world’s leading private standard-setter. ISO claims to offer a more effective way to address transnational corruption risks and related compliance challenges, one that boasts the approval of a global committee of technical experts and enticingly purports to accord with international “best practices.” A number of companies and governments around the world have taken the bait, with many adopting or giving legal effect to ISO’s anti-bribery standard (ISO 37001) in particular. This Article argues that, despite the theoretical allure of this nascent wave of standard-setting, ISO’s compliance standards are fraught with pitfalls that call into question their practical utility. In effect, companies and governments that adopt them are investing in clickbait compliance, a superficially attractive set of compliance recommendations that overpromise and are likely to underdeliver in many respects. First, a conceptual analysis of ISO 37001 illustrates that such standards are unlikely to function as desired (“clickbait functions”). Second, an examination of ISO’s growing presence in the burgeoning field of compliance reveals that supposed connections or synergies between the organization’s new standards and compliance-related laws, practices, and trends do not meaningfully exist and may not fully materialize (“clickbait connections”). The Article concludes by discussing how ISO’s disjointed, siloed organizational system exacerbates these issues before proposing systemic reforms that would promote a more evidence-based approach to ISO compliance, an approach that may curtail—but will certainly not eliminate — “clickbait” concerns

    An examination of the associations between racial discrimination and racial identity beliefs and the moderating role of psychological well-being among African American emerging adult first-year college students

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    The current study explored the associations between racial discrimination and racial identity beliefs (centrality, public regard, and private regard) and the moderating role of psychological well-being in these associations. Using the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (Spencer et al., 1997) as the theoretical framework, the study aimed to determine whether higher psychological well-being was associated with more adaptive racial identity beliefs in the context of frequent racial discrimination experiences. Study participants consisted of 129 African American emerging adult first-year college students attending a Minority Serving Institution (mean age = 18.29, SD = 0.6, 82.2% women). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that racial discrimination was significantly and negatively associated with public regard, while psychological well-being was significantly and positively associated with centrality and private regard. Furthermore, psychological well-being significantly moderated the association between racial discrimination and private regard, revealing that the impact of racial discrimination on private regard varied depending on students’ levels of psychological well-being. Overall, these findings shed light on the complex relationships between racial discrimination, racial identity beliefs, and psychological well-being among African American emerging adult college students. The implications of these findings and the significance of investigating the potential role of psychological well-being in shaping racial identity and coping with racial discrimination are discussed

    Revictimization from Childhood to Adulthood and Disordered Eating in Women

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    Revictimization, defined as risk for and those who have experienced subsequent trauma following initial trauma exposure, has been gaining research attention due to its myriad of psychological consequences; however, less is known about its link with disordered eating. Women are particularly vulnerable to both revictimization and disordered eating. The purpose of this dissertation study was to investigate the association between revictimization from childhood to adulthood and disordered eating among women and the mediating role of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and complex posttraumatic symptoms (CPTSS) in these relationships. As difficulties in emotion regulation are implicated in disordered eating and trauma symptoms, it was also examined whether the link between revictimization, trauma-related symptoms, and disordered eating were stronger if women exhibited higher emotion regulation impairment. This was assessed by conducting moderated mediation using structural equation modelling (SEM). A total sample of 563 women between 19 to 65 years of age were recruited from an online research participation platform (Prolific) and completed an online survey comprised of several self-report measures, such as the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale – Short Form, Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, International Trauma Questionnaire, and a victimization and revictimization questionnaire created for this study. Results of the SEM moderated mediation analysis found that revictimization was significantly associated with higher disordered eating in women. The findings also indicated that CPTSS mediated the link between revictimization and disordered eating, while emotion regulation did not moderate the pathways from revictimization to CPTSS and CTPSS to disordered eating. Post-hoc analyses revealed that emotion regulation difficulties significantly mediated the effects of revictimization on disordered eating. Together, these findings highlight the need for more integrated evidence-based interventions to address revictimization and disordered eating in women with such comorbid presentations
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