7 research outputs found
Genitourinary malformation with calcified intraluminal meconium and pulmonary hypoplasia
A TCR mechanotransduction signaling loop induces negative selection in the thymus
The T cell antigen receptor (TCR) expressed on thymocytes interacts with self-peptide major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) ligands to signal apoptosis or survival. Here, we found that negative-selection ligands induced thymocytes to exert forces on the TCR and the co-receptor CD8 and formed cooperative TCRâpMHCâCD8 trimolecular âcatch bondsâ, whereas positive-selection ligands induced less sustained thymocyte forces on TCR and CD8 and formed shorter-lived, independent TCRâpMHC and pMHCâCD8 bimolecular âslip bondsâ. Catch bonds were not intrinsic to either the TCRâpMHC or the pMHCâCD8 arm of the trans (cross-junctional) heterodimer but resulted from coupling of the extracellular pMHCâCD8 interaction to the intracellular interaction of CD8 with TCRâCD3 via associated kinases to form a cis (lateral) heterodimer capable of inside-out signaling. We suggest that the coupled transâcis heterodimeric interactions form a mechanotransduction loop that reinforces negative-selection signaling that is distinct from positive-selection signaling in the thymus
Determinants of use of maternal health services in Nigeria - looking beyond individual and household factors
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Utilization of maternal health services is associated with improved maternal and neonatal health outcomes. Considering global and national interests in the Millennium Development Goal and Nigeria's high level of maternal mortality, understanding the factors affecting maternal health use is crucial. Studies on the use of maternal care services have largely overlooked community and other contextual factors. This study examined the determinants of maternal services utilization in Nigeria, with a focus on individual, household, community and state-level factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from the 2005 National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey - an interviewer-administered nationally representative survey - were analyzed to identify individual, household and community factors that were significantly associated with utilization of maternal care services among 2148 women who had a baby during the five years preceding the survey. In view of the nested nature of the data, we used multilevel analytic methods and assessed state-level random effects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Approximately three-fifths (60.3%) of the mothers used antenatal services at least once during their most recent pregnancy, while 43.5% had skilled attendants at delivery and 41.2% received postnatal care. There are commonalities and differences in the predictors of the three indicators of maternal health service utilization. Education is the only individual-level variable that is consistently a significant predictor of service utilization, while socio-economic level is a consistent significant predictor at the household level. At the community level, urban residence and community media saturation are consistently strong predictors. In contrast, some factors are significant in predicting one or more of the indicators of use but not for all. These inconsistent predictors include some individual level variables (the woman's age at the birth of the last child, ethnicity, the notion of ideal family size, and approval of family planning), a community-level variable (prevalence of the small family norm in the community), and a state-level variable (ratio of PHC to the population).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Factors influencing maternal health services utilization operate at various levels - individual, household, community and state. Depending on the indicator of maternal health services, the relevant determinants vary. Effective interventions to promote maternal health service utilization should target the underlying individual, household, community and policy-level factors. The interventions should reflect the relative roles of the various underlying factors.</p
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Situational factors shape moral judgements in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample
The study of moral judgements often centres on moral dilemmas in which options consistent with deontological perspectives (that is, emphasizing rules, individual rights and duties) are in conflict with options consistent with utilitarian judgements (that is, following the greater good based on consequences). Greene et al. (2009) showed that psychological and situational factors (for example, the intent of the agent or the presence of physical contact between the agent and the victim) can play an important role in moral dilemma judgements (for example, the trolley problem). Our knowledge is limited concerning both the universality of these effects outside the United States and the impact of culture on the situational and psychological factors affecting moral judgements. Thus, we empirically tested the universality of the effects of intent and personal force on moral dilemma judgements by replicating the experiments of Greene et al. in 45 countries from all inhabited continents. We found that personal force and its interaction with intention exert influence on moral judgements in the US and Western cultural clusters, replicating and expanding the original findings. Moreover, the personal force effect was present in all cultural clusters, suggesting it is culturally universal. The evidence for the cultural universality of the interaction effect was inconclusive in the Eastern and Southern cultural clusters (depending on exclusion criteria). We found no strong association between collectivism/individualism and moral dilemma judgements