Accent-Based Implicit Prejudice: A Novel Application of the Implicit Association Test

In the present study, implicit attitudes toward accents were examined. The most common method used to study accent-based perceptions is by self-report questionnaires, which measure explicit attitudes. To my knowledge, no previous study has examined implicit accent-based attitudes. In the present investigation, auditory stimuli were used in a novel application of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure implicit accent attitudes. Participants were randomly assigned to listen to a passage read in one of three foreign accents (Mexican, Chinese, or British) and the same passage in a Standard American accent. Participants also completed the Speech Dialect Attitudinal Scale, which measured explicit accent attitudes, and the IAT, which measured implicit attitudes toward the foreign accent relative to the Standard American accent. Implicit and explicit measures were counterbalanced. Results showed that participants had more favorable implicit attitudes for the Standard American accent than the Mexican accent and a mild preference for the Standard American accent compared to the Chinese and British accents. Implicit and explicit accent attitudes were largely uncorrelated. The examination of implicit attitudes in the current investigation complements previous accent research, which focused on explicit attitudes. Examining aspects of both implicit and explicit accent attitudes will lead to a more in-depth understanding of how accents affect individuals\u27 perceptions, feelings, and judgments

A Case of IgE Myeloma: Methodology and Review of the Literature

A 56-year-old man presented with a one-year history of progressive weakness predominantly affecting his extremities and persistent low back pain. Ouchterlony immunodiffusion of the concentrated urine detected a marked increase in lambda light chains. A sternal bone marrow documented a diagnosis of multiple myeloma. Screening high resolution agarose gel electrophoresis revealed diffuse hypogammaglobulinemia and, retrospectively, an equivocal, faint band which migrated in the fast gamma region. By using a combination of Immunoelectrophoresis and immunofixation electrophoresis, this questionable band was determined to represent an IgE lambda monoclonal protein. Radioimmunoassay for IgE documented a serum concentration of 50.6 mg/dl. No intact IgE was found in the urine. Following chemotherapy, the patient\u27s serum IgE level decreased significantly, and he is presently asymptomatic. Features of special interest in this case include the low serum IgE level on presentation, which was difficult to detect on the screening electrophoretogram, and the use of immunofixation electrophoresis in the detection and characterization of these difficult gammopathies

Inverse relationship between galactokinase activity and 2-deoxygalactose resistance in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Galactokinase activity is reduced in 12 independent clones of Chinese hamster ovary cells resistant to 2-deoxygalactose. The frequency of resistant colonies is increased with chemical mutagens. The resistant phenotype is stable in the absence of selection. There is an inverse correlation between the levels of galactokinase activity and the cloning efficiency in deoxygalactose. Cells with high resistance have 1%or less of the enzyme activity observed in the parental cells; while cells with low resistance have 10–30% galactokinase activity. Studies with tetraploid hybrid cells reveal that resistance to deoxygalactose is a recessive trait and that cells with high resistance do not complement those with low resistance. In cell lines with low resistance, the K m for galactose , K i for deoxygalactose , K m for ATP, and thermolability were not significantly altered compared to sensitive parental cells. Although the possibility of mutation at the structural gene locus has not been ruled out, the reduced enzyme activity may also be due to mutation at a regulatory site which affects the number of galactokinase molecules per cell .Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45552/1/11188_2005_Article_BF01543159.pd

Dissecting Fc signatures of protection in neonates following maternal influenza vaccination in a placebo-controlled trial.

Influenza is an important cause of illness and morbidity for infants. Seasonal influenza vaccination during pregnancy aims to provide protection to mothers, but it can also provide immunity to infants. The precise influence of maternal vaccination on immunity in infants and how vaccine-elicited antibodies provide protection in some but not all infants is incompletely understood. We comprehensively profiled the transfer of functional antibodies and defined humoral factors contributing to immunity against influenza in a clinical trial of maternal influenza vaccination. Influenza-specific antibody subclass levels, Fc ɣ receptor (FCGR) binding levels, and antibody-dependent innate immune functions were all profiled in the mothers during pregnancy and at birth, as well as in cord blood. Vaccination increased influenza-specific antibody levels, antibody binding to FCGR, and specific antibody-dependent innate immune functions in both maternal and cord blood, with FCGR binding most enhanced via vaccination. Influenza-specific FCGR binding levels were lower in cord blood of infants who subsequently developed influenza infection. Collectively these data suggest that in addition to increased antibody amounts, the selective transfer of FCGR-binding antibodies contributes to the protective immune response in infants against influenza

Aligning the Measurement of Microbial Diversity with Macroecological Theory

The number of microbial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) within a community is akin to species richness within plant/animal (“macrobial”) systems. A large literature documents OTU richness patterns, drawing comparisons to macrobial theory. There is, however, an unrecognized fundamental disconnect between OTU richness and macrobial theory: OTU richness is commonly estimated on a per-individual basis, while macrobial richness is estimated per-area. Furthermore, the range or extent of sampled environmental conditions can strongly influence a study's outcomes and conclusions, but this is not commonly addressed when studying OTU richness. Here we (i) propose a new sampling approach that estimates OTU richness per-mass of soil, which results in strong support for species energy theory, (ii) use data reduction to show how support for niche conservatism emerges when sampling across a restricted range of environmental conditions, and (iii) show how additional insights into drivers of OTU richness can be generated by combining different sampling methods while simultaneously considering patterns that emerge by restricting the range of environmental conditions. We propose that a more rigorous connection between microbial ecology and macrobial theory can be facilitated by exploring how changes in OTU richness units and environmental extent influence outcomes of data analysis. While fundamental differences between microbial and macrobial systems persist (e.g., species concepts), we suggest that closer attention to units and scale provide tangible and immediate improvements to our understanding of the processes governing OTU richness and how those processes relate to drivers of macrobial species richness

Bioavailable insulin-like growth factor-I as mediator of racial disparity in obesity-relevant breast and colorectal cancer risk among postmenopausal women

Bioavailable insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I interacts with obesity and exogenous estrogen in a racial disparity in obesity-related cancer risk, yet their interconnected pathways are not fully characterized. We investigated whether circulating bioavailable IGF-I acted as a mediator of the racial disparity in obesity-related cancers such as breast and colorectal (CR) cancers and how obesity and estrogen use regulate this relationship

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts