Empathic Anger and Personal Anger in Response to Fairness Violations: Relations to Self and Other-Oriented Motivation and Behavior

Prosocial behavior research has shown that empathy-elicited compassionate concern often motivates actions performed with an ultimate goal of helping others even at cost to oneself, whereas empathic distress motivates low-cost help with an ultimate goal of helping oneself. Less is known about the motivational outcomes of empathic anger felt when witnessing injustice or harm to others. Though empathic anger predicts third-party compensation and punishment, it is unclear whether this motivation is ultimately self or other-oriented. Three experimental studies examined the empathic anger-altruism hypothesis, that empathic anger evoked when witnessing another being treated unjustly would evoke altruistic motivation to help the victim or punish the offender. In all three studies, empathic anger evoked motivation to punish a third-party offender. In contrast to the empathic anger-altruism hypothesis, Studies 2 and 3 found that witnessing third-party injustice typically led participants to punish an unfair offender, rather than help a third-party victim. Participants were equally likely to choose to punish an unfair delegator when witnessing third party unfairness as when they were personally treated unfairly. The lack of willingness to help may be explained by low empathic concern evoked when witnessing a stranger be treated unfairly, compared to when remembering or imagining a close other be treated unfairly. Study 3 also found that motivation to punish the unfair offender was not altruistic, as participants overwhelmingly chose to self-compensate or avoid a decision when their response decision was costly. Implications for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying empathic anger, and the fundamental self or other-oriented nature of the emotional response, are discussed

Improved Survival After Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease Diagnosis in the Modern Era

Acute graft-versus-host disease remains a major threat to a successful outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. While improvements in treatment and supportive care have occurred, it is unknown whether these advances have resulted in improved outcome specifically among those diagnosed with acute graft-versus-host disease. We examined outcome following diagnosis of grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease according to time period, and explored effects according to original graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis regimen and maximum overall grade of acute graft-versus-host disease. Between 1999 and 2012, 2,905 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (56%), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (30%) or myelodysplastic syndromes (14%) received a sibling (24%) or unrelated donor (76%) blood (66%) or marrow (34%) transplant and developed grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (n=497 for 1999–2001, n=962 for 2002–2005, n=1,446 for 2006–2010). The median (range) follow-up was 144 (4–174), 97 (4–147) and 60 (8–99) months for 1999–2001, 2002–2005, and 2006–2010, respectively. Among the cohort with grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease, there was a decrease in the proportion of grade III-IV disease over time with 56%, 47%, and 37% for 1999–2001, 2002–2005, and 2006–2012, respectively (P\u3c0.001). Considering the total study population, univariate analysis demonstrated significant improvements in overall survival and treatment-related mortality over time, and deaths from organ failure and infection declined. On multivariate analysis, significant improvements in overall survival (P=0.003) and treatment-related mortality (P=0.008) were only noted among those originally treated with tacrolimus-based graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis, and these effects were most apparent among those with overall grade II acute graft-versus-host disease. In conclusion, survival has improved over time for tacrolimus-treated transplant recipients with acute graft-versus-host disease

Methodologies for selecting cassava with resistance to dry and black root rot under controlled conditions.

Cassava root rot diseases such as dry and black root rot are listed among the major threats, since its affect the main product (tuberous roots), causing a progressive decline in yield and affecting subsequent crop cycles, being the use of resistant varieties the most reliable control measure on field level. The objective of this study was to identify inoculation methods for the early evaluation of genotypes, considering the level of resistance to dry (DRR) and black (BRR) root rot diseases. Different methodologies and plant tissues were evaluated, based on the immersion of cassava tissues (roots and stem cuttings), soil infestation, and inoculation of detached tissues (leaves, tuberous roots and stem cuttings). The following parameters were evaluated for inoculations based on tissue immersion: disease index (ω); aerial part weight (g); fresh weight of the roots (g); and volume (cm3). For the inoculations on detached tissues, the percentage of lesioned area was determined. Immersion methods for roots and lesioned stems did not show typical symptoms of DRR and BRR during the two-month evaluation period. The soil infestation method did not differ from the stem immersion method as to the reduction of aerial part weight and the disease index, whereas both can be recommended for resistance selection trials. There was a positive correlation between the BRR and DRR data for the stem inoculation (r = 0.94, p = 0.001) and for DRR in the peel and root pulp (r = 0.73, p = 0.05). Therefore, the resistance within each tissue is apparently independent and should be compared with the behavior of the genotypes in the field

Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs) : I. Cloud morphology and occurrence

Subvisible cirrus clouds (SVCs) may contribute to dehydration close to the tropical tropopause. The higher and colder SVCs and the larger their ice crystals, the more likely they represent the last efficient point of contact of the gas phase with the ice phase and, hence, the last dehydrating step, before the air enters the stratosphere. The first simultaneous in situ and remote sensing measurements of SVCs were taken during the APE-THESEO campaign in the western Indian ocean in February/March 1999. The observed clouds, termed Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs), belong to the geometrically and optically thinnest large-scale clouds in the Earth´s atmosphere. Individual UTTCs may exist for many hours as an only 200--300 m thick cloud layer just a few hundred meters below the tropical cold point tropopause, covering up to 105 km2. With temperatures as low as 181 K these clouds are prime representatives for defining the water mixing ratio of air entering the lower stratosphere

High-dose Sitagliptin for Systemic Inhibition of Dipeptidylpeptidase-4 to Enhance Engraftment of Single Cord Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation

Delayed engraftment remains a limitation of umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation. We previously showed that inhibition of dipeptidylpeptidase (DPP)-4 using sitagliptin 600 mg daily was safe with encouraging results on engraftment, but inhibition was not sustained. We evaluated the efficacy and feasibility of higher doses of sitagliptin to enhance engraftment of UCB in patients with hematological cancers. Fifteen patients, median age 41 (range, 18-59) years, received single UCB grafts matched at 4 (n=11) or 5 (n=4) of 6 HLA loci with median nucleated cell dose of 3.5 (range, 2.57-4.57) x10(7)/kg. Sitagliptin 600 mg every 12 hours was administered days -1 to +2. All patients engrafted by day 30, with 12 (80%) engrafting by day 21. The median time to neutrophil engraftment was 19 (range, 12-30) days. Plasma DPP-4 activity was better inhibited with a mean residual trough DPP-4 activity of 70%+/-19%. Compared to patients previously treated with 600 mg/day, sitagliptin 600 mg every 12 hours appeared to improve engraftment, supporting the hypothesis that more sustained DPP-4 inhibition is required. In-vivo inhibition of DPP-4 using high-dose sitagliptin compares favorably with other approaches to enhance UCB engraftment with greater simplicity, and may show synergy in combination with other strategies

FXYD2 and Na,K-ATPase Expression in Isolated Human Proximal Tubular Cells: Disturbed Upregulation on Renal Hypomagnesemia?

Autosomal dominant renal hypomagnesemia (OMIM 154020), associated with hypocalciuria, has been linked to a 121G to A mutation in the FXYD2 gene. To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms linking this mutation to the clinical phenotype, we studied isolated proximal tubular cells from urine of a patient and a healthy subject. Cells were immortalized and used to assess the effects of hypertonicity-induced overexpression of FXYD2 on amount, activity and apparent affinities for Na+, K+ and ATP of Na,K-ATPase. Both cell lines expressed mRNA for FXYD2a and FXYD2b, and patient cells contained both the wild-type and mutated codons. FXYD2 protein expression was lower in patient cells and could be increased in both cell lines upon culturing in hyperosmotic medium but to a lesser extent in patient cells. Similarly, hyperosmotic culturing increased Na,K-ATPase protein expression and ATP hydrolyzing activity but, again, to a lesser extent in patient cells. Apparent affinities of Na,K-ATPase for Na+, K+ and ATP did not differ between patient and control cells or after hyperosmotic induction. We conclude that human proximal tubular cells respond to a hyperosmotic challenge with an increase in FXYD2 and Na,K-ATPase protein expression, though to a smaller absolute extent in patient cells

Formation of solid particles in synoptic-scale Arctic PSCs in early winter 2002/2003

International audiencePolar stratospheric clouds (PSC) have been observed in early winter (December 2002) during the SOLVE II/Vintersol campaign, both from balloons carrying comprehensive instrumentation for measurements of chemical composition, size distributions, and optical properties of the particles, as well as from individual backscatter soundings from Esrange and Sodankylä. The observations are unique in the sense that the PSC particles seem to have formed in the early winter under synoptic temperature conditions and not being influenced by mountain lee waves. A sequence of measurements during a 5-days period shows a gradual change between liquid and solid type PSCs with the development of a well-known sandwich structure. It appears that all PSC observations show the presence of a background population of solid particles, occasionally mixed in with more optically dominating liquid particles. The measurements have been compared with results from a detailed microphysical and optical simulation of the formation processes. Calculated extinctions are in good agreement with SAGE-III measurements from the same period. Apparently the solid particles are controlled by the synoptic temperature history while the presence of liquid particles is controlled by the local temperatures at the time of observation. The temperature histories indicate that the solid particles are nucleated above the ice frost point, and a surface freezing mechanism for this is included in the model. Reducing the calculated freezing rates by a factor 10-20, the model is able to simulate the observed particle size distributions and reproduce observed HNO3 gas phase concentrations

T-cell subpopulations αβ and γδ in cord blood of very preterm infants : The influence of intrauterine infection

Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are creditedPreterm infants are very susceptible to infections. Immune response mechanisms in this group of patients and factors that influence cord blood mononuclear cell populations remain poorly understood and are considered insufficient. However, competent immune functions of the cord blood mononuclear cells are also described. The aim of this work was to evaluate the T-cell population (CD3+) with its subpopulations bearing T-cell receptor (TCR) αβ or TCR γδ in the cord blood of preterm infants born before 32 weeks of gestation by mothers with or without an intrauterine infection. Being a pilot study, it also aimed at feasibility check and assessment of an expected effect size. The cord blood samples of 46 infants age were subjected to direct immunofluorescent staining with monoclonal antibodies and then analyzed by flow cytometry. The percentage of CD3+ cells in neonates born by mothers with diagnosis of intrauterine infection was significantly lower than in neonates born by mothers without infection (p = 0.005; Mann-Whitney U test). The number of cells did not differ between groups. Infection present in the mother did not have an influence on the TCR αβ or TCR γδ subpopulations. Our study contributes to a better understanding of preterm infants' immune mechanisms, and sets the stage for further investigations.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

The histidine brace : nature's copper alternative to haem?

The copper histidine brace is a structural unit in metalloproteins (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2011, 108, 15079). It consists of a copper ion chelated by the NH2 and π-N atom of an N-terminal histidine, and the τ-N atom of a further histidine, in an overall T-shaped coordination geometry (Nat Catal 2018, 1, 571). Like haem-containing proteins, histidine-brace-containing proteins have peroxygenase and/or oxygenase activity, where the substrates are notable for resistance to oxidation, for example, lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs). Moreover, the histidine brace is an invariant unit around which different protein structures exert different activities. Given the similarities in the diversity of function of proteins that contain either the copper histidine brace or haem, the question arises as to whether the functions of histidine brace-containing proteins duplicate those containing haem groups