Moral reasoning of adolescent male offenders: Comparison of sexual and nonsexual offenders

This study compared the moral reasoning abilities of juvenile sex and non-sex offenders using a novel methodology that explored their responses to moral questions in a variety of offending contexts. Seven sexual and nine nonsexual adolescent male offenders from a maximum security detention facility in New South Wales, Australia, were presented with a variety of hypothetical offending situations involving sexual and non sexual offences and asked to discuss these. It was hypothesised that the quality of moral reasoning employed by offenders would be impaired in those offending contexts in which they had prior experience. Responses were assessed using a modified version of the Moral Judgment Interview Standard Issue Scoring Manual (MJI; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987). Assigned levels of moral reasoning ability were verified independently by two expert raters. Responses by sexual offenders in sexual offending contexts and by nonsexual offenders in nonsexual offending contexts were dominated by preconventional reasoning. Both groups employed a greater use of conventional reasoning in non-congruent offending contexts

Moral reasoning of adolescent male offenders: Comparison of sexual and nonsexual offenders

This study compared the moral reasoning abilities of juvenile sex and non-sex offenders using a novel methodology that explored their responses to moral questions in a variety of offending contexts. Seven sexual and nine nonsexual adolescent male offenders from a maximum security detention facility in New South Wales, Australia, were presented with a variety of hypothetical offending situations involving sexual and non sexual offences and asked to discuss these. It was hypothesised that the quality of moral reasoning employed by offenders would be impaired in those offending contexts in which they had prior experience. Responses were assessed using a modified version of the Moral Judgment Interview Standard Issue Scoring Manual (MJI; Colby & Kohlberg, 1987). Assigned levels of moral reasoning ability were verified independently by two expert raters. Responses by sexual offenders in sexual offending contexts and by nonsexual offenders in nonsexual offending contexts were dominated by preconventional reasoning. Both groups employed a greater use of conventional reasoning in non-congruent offending contexts

Etude des variations saisonnières des crues par le modèle de dépassement

Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude traitant de deux aspects importants de l'application du modèle de dépassement en hydrologie. Ce modèle a été utilisé pour l'étude des variations saisonnieres des débits des rivières du Québec et du Nouveau-Brunswick. Ces variations ont généralement un effet important sur l'homogénéité des débits dans différentes périodes de l'année. Les modèles de dépassement sont capables de prendre ces variations saisonnières en considération en tenant compte des dépassements qui ne sont pas identiquement distribués lorsqu'ils proviennent de différentes saisons. L'étude traite spécialement le problème du choix de saisons à entrer dans le modèle. Particulièrement, on souligne l'importance de déterminer les saisons en se basant sur les données disponibles au lieu de se limiter aux quatre saisons habituelles: hiver, printemps, été et automne. On propose une procédure graphique qui, associée au modèle de dépassement, permet de délimiter les saisons dans les stations hydrologiques étudiées. La procédure est appliquée, sous deux formes différentes, à des stations de jaugeage dans les provinces du Québec et du Nouveau-Brunswick. Ceci nous a permis de diviser l'année convenablement en saisons dans différentes parties des deux provinces. Cette partition a été basée uniquement sur les débits de crues dans chaque station, et sans donner aucune considération à la location géographique de ces stations, mais il s'est avéré ultérieurement que cette subdivision des deux provinces représente en fait une partition géographique des stations hydrologiques.L'évaluation du débit de base représente un point d'une importance majeure dans l'application du modèle de dépassement. Une estimation du débit de base est proposée dans ce travail en utilisant l'analyse de régression multiple. Une approche basée sur l'ajustement du nombre de dépassements à une loi de Poisson a été suivie pour la détermination de ce niveau de base dans chaque station de jaugeage. Une forte corrélation est détectée entre le débit de base et la surface drainée, impliquant qu'il est possible de calculer le débit de base dans une station qui ne contient pas d'enregistrements.Les résultats de la régionalisation géographique de la saisonnalité sont analysés pour détecter et interpréter les liens entre les régions déterminées et les caractéristiques physiques et climatologiques des zones étudiées dans les deux provinces. Une association est démontrée entre ces deux paramètres qui semble être justifiable du point de vu hydrologique et climatologique. En conclusion, les résultats de cet article montrent la faisabilité technique et l'efficacité du modèle proposé pour l'étude des variations saisonnières des crues.The partial duration series (pds) method for flood frequency estimation analyzes ail flood peaks above a certain base level, or truncation level, QB, along with the times of occurrence of these flood « exceedances ». It has been shown that seasonal trends in river-flow processes have a significant effect on the distribution of flood exceedances. Two pds models have been presented in the literature for studying these seasonal variations in flood magnitude. The first, which can be called the « discrete seasonal pds mode) », divides the year into n seasons and determines n different distribution functions to fit the exceedances in each of these n seasons. The second, which can be called the « continuous seasonal pds model », accounts for seasonal flood variations by modeling flood magnitude as a continuous time-dependent random variable. The discrete seasonal model makes a few assumptions concerning flood characteristics, but the statistical estimation of its parameters is considerably less complex than in the case of the continuous seasonal model. Results of a study using the discrete seasonal pds modal are presented in this paper, along with two important applications of this modal in hydrology.The model is applied to 34 gaging stations in the province of Quebec and 28 stations in the province of New-Brunswick, Canada. Knowing the base level, QB, is essential for applying this model, but there is no universal technique for determining this truncation level. In this study, a technique is proposed that uses multiple regression for estimating QB. Regression equations, using one or more transformed or untransformed independent variables, are derived. Results for the province of Quebec show that the two-year flood estimate QDA explains 92.5 % of the variability of the base flow QB, and the drainage basin area SD explains 83 % of QB variability. The existence of a strong correlation between QB and SD suggests that it is possible to determine the base flow at sites where no historical record is available, by using the physical characteristics of the basin.A graphical procedure associated with the partial duration series model is proposed to study the seasonal trends in flood data at the selected gaging stations. The study deals specifically with the choice of seasons to be entered into the pds model. It is particularly emphasized that the seasons should be determined on the basis of the data on band, instead of taking the four usual seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall). Two different forms of the graphical procedure are applied to the gaging stations in the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. The first, applied to the province of Quebec, consists of plotting the mean number of exceedances A (t) in a lime interval (0, 1•] equal 1a one year, against the lime t, for each station, and for a number of increasing base levels. The behavior of these A (1) plots (change at slope, piecewise linearity, etc.) indicates the significant seasons for each station. The second form of the graphical procedure, applied to stations in the province of New-Brunswick, is slightly different front the procedure mentioned above. For each station of the province, a relatively high base level is selected, corresponding to a mean number of exceedances per year in the order of 0.3 to 1.0. The Limes of occurrence of these exceedances are used to define the significant hydrological seasons in the year, which are then presented in graphical form. Varying the base level gives a fine seasonal partitioning of the year for each station, and allows grouping the stations into geographical regions that are homogeneous In seasonal flood distribution. Both versions of the graphical procedure are based on the same idea, and call far careful graphical examination of the seasonal behavior of floods at different gaging stations.An appropriate partitioning of the year into seasons is obtained for different parts of the two provinces. For bath provinces, and for al' the stations that were investigated, no more than two significant seasons were found necessary for modeling seasonal flood variations. Based on the seasons determined for each station, and the geographical distribution of these stations, a geographical regionalization of seasonality Is obtained for the provinces of Quebec and New-Brunswick. Each province is divided into tour homogeneous regions, and appropriate seasons for each region are proposed.The discrete seasonal model was found adequate and sufficient for the study of the seasonal behavior of floods in the provinces of Quebec and New-Brunswick. However, more detailed studios would be necessary to determine with more certitude if the continuous seasonal model is more appropriate in some cases. In all cases, a graphical examination of the empirical distribution function of flood magnitudes occurring in various periods of the year may help either in identifying homogeneous periods within which flood magnitudes may be considered as identically distributed, or In indicating a need for modeling flood magnitude as a random variable whose distribution varies continuously with time

FimH Adhesin of Type 1 Fimbriae Is a Potent Inducer of Innate Antimicrobial Responses Which Requires TLR4 and Type 1 Interferon Signalling

Components of bacteria have been shown to induce innate antiviral immunity via Toll-like receptors (TLRs). We have recently shown that FimH, the adhesin portion of type 1 fimbria, can induce the innate immune system via TLR4. Here we report that FimH induces potent in vitro and in vivo innate antimicrobial responses. FimH induced an innate antiviral state in murine macrophage and primary MEFs which was correlated with IFN-β production. Moreover, FimH induced the innate antiviral responses in cells from wild type, but not from MyD88−/−, Trif−/−, IFN−α/βR−/− or IRF3−/− mice. Vaginal delivery of FimH, but not LPS, completely protected wild type, but not MyD88−/−, IFN-α/βR−/−, IRF3−/− or TLR4−/− mice from subsequent genital HSV-2 challenge. The FimH-induced innate antiviral immunity correlated with the production of IFN-β, but not IFN-α or IFN-γ. To examine whether FimH plays a role in innate immune induction in the context of a natural infection, the innate immune responses to wild type uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) and a FimH null mutant were examined in the urinary tract of C57Bl/6 (B6) mice and TLR4-deficient mice. While UPEC expressing FimH induced a robust polymorphonuclear response in B6, but not TLR4−/− mice, mutant bacteria lacking FimH did not. In addition, the presence of TLR4 was essential for innate control of and protection against UPEC. Our results demonstrate that FimH is a potent inducer of innate antimicrobial responses and signals differently, from that of LPS, via TLR4 at mucosal surfaces. Our studies suggest that FimH can potentially be used as an innate microbicide against mucosal pathogens

H.E.S.S. and MAGIC observations of a sudden cessation of a very-high-energy γ-ray flare in PKS 1510-089 in May 2016

The flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) PKS 1510-089 is known for its complex multiwavelength behaviour and it is one of only a few FSRQs detected in very-high-energy (VHE, E> 100 GeV) γ rays. The VHE γ-ray observations with H.E.S.S. and MAGIC in late May and early June 2016 resulted in the detection of an unprecedented flare, which revealed, for the first time, VHE γ-ray intranight variability for this source. While a common variability timescale of 1.5 h has been found, there is a significant deviation near the end of the flare, with a timescale of ∼20 min marking the cessation of the event. The peak flux is nearly two orders of magnitude above the low-level emission. For the first time, a curvature was detected in the VHE γ-ray spectrum of PKS 1510-089, which can be fully explained by the absorption on the part of the extragalactic background light. Optical R-band observations with ATOM revealed a counterpart of the γ-ray flare, even though the detailed flux evolution differs from the VHE γ-ray light curve. Interestingly, a steep flux decrease was observed at the same time as the cessation of the VHE γ-ray flare. In the high-energy (HE, E> 100 MeV) γ-ray band, only a moderate flux increase was observed with Fermi-LAT, while the HE γ-ray spectrum significantly hardens up to a photon index of 1.6. A search for broad-line region (BLR) absorption features in the γ-ray spectrum indicates that the emission region is located outside of the BLR. Radio very-long-baseline interferometry observations reveal a fast-moving knot interacting with a standing jet feature around the time of the flare. As the standing feature is located ∼50 pc from the black hole, the emission region of the flare may have been located at a significant distance from the black hole. If this is indeed a true correlation, the VHE γ rays must have been produced far down in the jet, where turbulent plasma crosses a standing shock

Evasion by Stealth: Inefficient Immune Activation Underlies Poor T Cell Response and Severe Disease in SARS-CoV-Infected Mice

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome caused substantial morbidity and mortality during the 2002–2003 epidemic. Many of the features of the human disease are duplicated in BALB/c mice infected with a mouse-adapted version of the virus (MA15), which develop respiratory disease with high morbidity and mortality. Here, we show that severe disease is correlated with slow kinetics of virus clearance and delayed activation and transit of respiratory dendritic cells (rDC) to the draining lymph nodes (DLN) with a consequent deficient virus-specific T cell response. All of these defects are corrected when mice are treated with liposomes containing clodronate, which deplete alveolar macrophages (AM). Inhibitory AMs are believed to prevent the development of immune responses to environmental antigens and allergic responses by interacting with lung dendritic cells and T cells. The inhibitory effects of AM can also be nullified if mice or AMs are pretreated with poly I:C, which directly activate AMs and rDCs through toll-like receptors 3 (TLR3). Further, adoptive transfer of activated but not resting bone marrow–derived dendritic cells (BMDC) protect mice from lethal MA15 infection. These results may be relevant for SARS in humans, which is also characterized by prolonged virus persistence and delayed development of a SARS-CoV-specific immune response in individuals with severe disease

The Vanishing of the Primary Emission Region in PKS 1510-089

In 2021 July, PKS 1510-089 exhibited a significant flux drop in the high-energy γ-ray (by a factor 10) and optical (by a factor 5) bands and remained in this low state throughout 2022. Similarly, the optical polarization in the source vanished, resulting in the optical spectrum being fully explained through the steady flux of the accretion disk and the broad-line region. Unlike the aforementioned bands, the very-high-energy γ-ray and X-ray fluxes did not exhibit a significant flux drop from year to year. This suggests that the steady-state very-high-energy γ-ray and X-ray fluxes originate from a different emission region than the vanished parts of the high-energy γ-ray and optical jet fluxes. The latter component has disappeared through either a swing of the jet away from the line of sight or a significant drop in the photon production efficiency of the jet close to the black hole. Either change could become visible in high-resolution radio images

Recombinant human osteopontin expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana stimulates osteogenesis related genes in human periodontal ligament cells.

Tissue engineering aims to utilise biologic mediators to facilitate tissue regeneration. Several recombinant proteins have potential to mediate induction of bone production, however, the high production cost of mammalian cell expression impedes patient access to such treatments. The aim of this study is to produce recombinant human osteopontin (hOPN) in plants for inducing dental bone regeneration. The expression host was Nicotiana benthamiana using a geminiviral vector for transient expression. OPN expression was confirmed by Western blot and ELISA, and OPN was purified using Ni affinity chromatography. Structural analysis indicated that plant-produced hOPN had a structure similar to commercial HEK cell-produced hOPN. Biological function of the plant-produced hOPN was also examined. Human periodontal ligament stem cells were seeded on an OPN-coated surface. The results indicated that cells could grow normally on plant-produced hOPN as compared to commercial HEK cell-produced hOPN determined by MTT assay. Interestingly, increased expression of osteogenic differentiation-related genes, including OSX, DMP1, and Wnt3a, was observed by realtime PCR. These results show the potential of plant-produced OPN to induce osteogenic differentiation of stem cells from periodontal ligament in vitro, and suggest a therapeutic strategy for bone regeneration in the future

Evidence for γ-ray emission from the remnant of Kepleras supernova based on deep H.E.S.S. observations

Observations with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) have enhanced our knowledge of nearby supernova (SN) remnants with ages younger than 500 yr by establishing Cassiopeia A and the remnant of Tycho’s SN as very-high-energy (VHE) γ-ray sources. The remnant of Kepler’s SN, which is the product of the most recent naked-eye SN in our Galaxy, is comparable in age to the other two, but is significantly more distant. If the γ-ray luminosities of the remnants of Tycho’s and Kepler’s SNe are similar, then the latter is expected to be one of the faintest γ-ray sources within reach of the current generation IACT arrays. Here we report evidence at a statistical level of 4.6σ for a VHE signal from the remnant of Kepler’s SN based on deep observations by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) with an exposure of 152 h. The measured integral flux above an energy of 226 GeV is ∼0.3% of the flux of the Crab Nebula. The spectral energy distribution (SED) reveals a γ-ray emitting component connecting the VHE emission observed with H.E.S.S. to the emission observed at GeV energies with Fermi-LAT. The overall SED is similar to that of the remnant of Tycho’s SN, possibly indicating the same nonthermal emission processes acting in both these young remnants of thermonuclear SNe.H.E.S.S. Collaboration ... F. Aharonian ... S. Einecke ..., G. Rowell ... et al

Targeting deficiencies in the TLR5 mediated vaginal response to treat female recurrent urinary tract infection

Abstract The identification of the host defence peptides as target effectors in the innate defence of the uro-genital tract creates new translational possibilities for immunomodulatory therapies, specifically vaginal therapies to treat women suffering from rUTI, particularly those carrying the TLR5_C1174T SNP. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a microbial disease reported worldwide. Women are particularly susceptible with many suffering debilitating recurrent (r) infections. Treatment is by antibiotics, but such therapy is linked to antibiotic resistance and re-infection. This study explored the innate protective mechanisms of the urogenital tract with the aim of boosting such defences therapeutically. Modelling UTIs in vitro, human vaginal and bladder epithelial cells were challenged with uropathogenic Escherichia coli (CFT073) and microbial PAMPs including flagellin, LPS and peptidoglycan. Flagellin functioning via the TLR5/NFκB pathway was identified as the key UPEC virulence factor causing a significant increase (P < 0.05) in the production of the host-defence peptide (HDP), BD2. BD2-depleted urine samples from bladder infected mice supported increased UPEC growth, strengthening the significance of the HDPs in protecting the urogenital tissues from infection. Clinically, vaginal-douche BD2 concentrations were reduced (p < 0.05) in women suffering rUTIs, compared to age-matched healthy controls with concentrations further decreased (p < 0.05) in a TLR5392Stop SNP rUTI subgroup. Topical vaginal estrogen treatment increased (p < 0.001) BD2 concentrations in all women, including those carrying the SNP. These data identify therapeutic and antibiotic sparing roles for vaginal immunomodulatory agents that specifically target HDP induction, facilitate bacterial killing and disrupt the UPEC infection cycle