For I Know the Plans I Have for You: God Locus of Control, Spiritual Change, and Death Anxiety in Primary Brain Tumor Patients

Background/Purpose. Primary brain tumor (PBT) patients risk experiencing death anxiety given the high mortality rate of their diagnosis. In line with Terror Management Theory (TMT), many diagnosed with cancer utilize religion as a method of coping with the disease. However, previous literature on the relation between death anxiety and religion in cancer patients indicates mixed findings of either a negative relationship or no association. To the authors’ knowledge, no study has analyzed these two constructs together in PBT patients. The current study sought to address this gap by investigating the relationship between religiosity and death anxiety in an understudied population. Methods. Adult PBT patients (N = 56, Mage = 49.38, 51.8% female, 71.4% Caucasian, Mmonths since diagnosis = 55.34) completed measures of religiosity and death anxiety at their routine medical appointment at an academic medical center, including: The God Locus of Health Control Scale (GLHCS), Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Death and Dying Distress Scale (DADDS), and the Death Distress Scale (DDS). Descriptives and Pearson correlations were utilized. Results. The results revealed that while the GLHCS was not significantly related to either measure of death anxiety, the Spiritual Change subscale of the PTGI was positively correlated to both the DADDS (r = .56, p \u3c .001) and the DDS (r = .41, p = .01). Conclusions and Implications. Results suggest that certain proxies of religiosity may be more closely associated with death anxiety than others. Although there was no evidence in our sample that PBT patient’s God locus of control was related to death anxiety, those who reported higher levels of death anxiety endorsed greater spiritual change (i.e., I have a stronger religious faith). Considering TMT, perhaps feelings of death anxiety prompt one to strengthen their religious beliefs. Future longitudinal analyses addressing the direction and course of these relationships are warranted. Acknowledgement of Funding: The current study was funded on behalf of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Learning Objective. Participants will learn about the relationship between religiosity and death anxiety in oncology patients. Further, participants will consider how these findings may or may not differ for PBT patients and across various measures of religiosity.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1049/thumbnail.jp

Alignment between PIN1 Polarity and Microtubule Orientation in the Shoot Apical Meristem Reveals a Tight Coupling between Morphogenesis and Auxin Transport

Morphogenesis during multicellular development is regulated by intercellular signaling molecules as well as by the mechanical properties of individual cells. In particular, normal patterns of organogenesis in plants require coordination between growth direction and growth magnitude. How this is achieved remains unclear. Here we show that in Arabidopsis thaliana, auxin patterning and cellular growth are linked through a correlated pattern of auxin efflux carrier localization and cortical microtubule orientation. Our experiments reveal that both PIN1 localization and microtubule array orientation are likely to respond to a shared upstream regulator that appears to be biomechanical in nature. Lastly, through mathematical modeling we show that such a biophysical coupling could mediate the feedback loop between auxin and its transport that underlies plant phyllotaxis

SEIS: Insight's Seismic Experiment for Internal Structure of Mars.

By the end of 2018, 42 years after the landing of the two Viking seismometers on Mars, InSight will deploy onto Mars' surface the SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Internal Structure) instrument; a six-axes seismometer equipped with both a long-period three-axes Very Broad Band (VBB) instrument and a three-axes short-period (SP) instrument. These six sensors will cover a broad range of the seismic bandwidth, from 0.01 Hz to 50 Hz, with possible extension to longer periods. Data will be transmitted in the form of three continuous VBB components at 2 sample per second (sps), an estimation of the short period energy content from the SP at 1 sps and a continuous compound VBB/SP vertical axis at 10 sps. The continuous streams will be augmented by requested event data with sample rates from 20 to 100 sps. SEIS will improve upon the existing resolution of Viking's Mars seismic monitoring by a factor of ∼ 2500 at 1 Hz and ∼ 200 000 at 0.1 Hz. An additional major improvement is that, contrary to Viking, the seismometers will be deployed via a robotic arm directly onto Mars' surface and will be protected against temperature and wind by highly efficient thermal and wind shielding. Based on existing knowledge of Mars, it is reasonable to infer a moment magnitude detection threshold of M w ∼ 3 at 40 ∘ epicentral distance and a potential to detect several tens of quakes and about five impacts per year. In this paper, we first describe the science goals of the experiment and the rationale used to define its requirements. We then provide a detailed description of the hardware, from the sensors to the deployment system and associated performance, including transfer functions of the seismic sensors and temperature sensors. We conclude by describing the experiment ground segment, including data processing services, outreach and education networks and provide a description of the format to be used for future data distribution.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s11214-018-0574-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Compendium of Single Event Effects, Total Ionizing Dose, and Displacement Damage for Candidate Spacecraft Electronics for NASA

We present results and analysis investigating the effects of radiation on a variety of candidate spacecraft electronics to proton and heavy ion-induced single-event effects (SEE), proton-induced displacement damage (DD), and total ionizing dose (TID). This paper is a summary of test results

Ethnic-Racial Socialization in Early Childhood: The Implications of Color-Consciousness and Colorblindness for Prejudice Development

This chapter outlines how early childhood teachers can bring children into conversations surrounding race and racism by drawing on literature on how parents of color discuss these topics. Although educators’ practices surrounding race and racism remain largely unexplored, decades of developmental psychological research indicate that parents of color engage in ethnic-racial socialization practices that are beneficial for children (Hughes et al., 2006). The established dimensions of parental ethnic-racial socialization include (1) cultural socialization, or teaching children about their ethnic heritage and instilling ethnic pride; (2) preparation for bias, or teaching children about racism and preparing them to face discrimination; (3) promotion of mistrust, or warning children about the need to distance themselves from other racial groups; and (4) egalitarianism, or emphasizing the similarities between and equality of all races (Hughes et al. 2006). One consideration to take into account from a developmental perspective is that children’s level of cognitive development impacts how they interpret messages about race. This chapter draws a link between parental ethnic-racial socialization and extends this body of work to school settings, with a focus on teachers. The ideologies of colorblindness and color-consciousness are discussed throughout

45S rDNA external transcribed spacer organization reveals new phylogenetic relationships in Avena genus

Research ArticleThe genus Avena comprises four distinct genomes organized in diploid (AA or CC), tetraploid (AABB or AACC) and hexaploid species (AACCDD), constituting an interesting model for phylogenetic analysis. The aim of this work was to characterize 45S rDNA intergenic spacer (IGS) variability in distinct species representative of Avena genome diversity±A. strigosa (AA), A. ventricosa (CvCv), A. eriantha (CpCp), A. barbata (AABB), A. murphyi (AACC), A. sativa (AACCDD) and A. sterilis (AACCDD) through the assessment of the 5' external transcribed spacer (5'-ETS), a promising IGS region for phylogenetic studies poorly studied in Avena genus. In this work, IGS length polymorphisms were detected mainly due to distinct 5'-ETS sequence types resulting from major differences in the number and organization of repeated motifs. Although species with A genome revealed a 5'-ETS organization (A-organization) similar to the one previously described in A. sativa, a distinct organization was unraveled in C genome diploid species (C-organization). Interestingly, such new organization presents a higher similarity with other Poaceae species than A-genome sequences, supporting the hypothesis of C-genome being the ancestral Avena genome. Additionally, polyploid species with both genomes mainly retain the A-genome 5'-ETS organization, confirming the preferential elimination of C-genome sequences in Avena polyploid species. Moreover, 5'-ETS sequences phylogenetic analysis consistently clustered the species studied according to ploidy and genomic constitution supporting the use of ribosomal genes to highlight Avena species evolutive pathways.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Bacterial Acetyltransferase Destroys Plant Microtubule Networks and Blocks Secretion

The eukaryotic cytoskeleton is essential for structural support and intracellular transport, and is therefore a common target of animal pathogens. However, no phytopathogenic effector has yet been demonstrated to specifically target the plant cytoskeleton. Here we show that the Pseudomonas syringae type III secreted effector HopZ1a interacts with tubulin and polymerized microtubules. We demonstrate that HopZ1a is an acetyltransferase activated by the eukaryotic co-factor phytic acid. Activated HopZ1a acetylates itself and tubulin. The conserved autoacetylation site of the YopJ / HopZ superfamily, K289, plays a critical role in both the avirulence and virulence function of HopZ1a. Furthermore, HopZ1a requires its acetyltransferase activity to cause a dramatic decrease in Arabidopsis thaliana microtubule networks, disrupt the plant secretory pathway and suppress cell wall-mediated defense. Together, this study supports the hypothesis that HopZ1a promotes virulence through cytoskeletal and secretory disruption

Light Plays an Essential Role in Intracellular Distribution of Auxin Efflux Carrier PIN2 in Arabidopsis thaliana

BACKGROUND: Light plays a key role in multiple plant developmental processes. It has been shown that root development is modulated by shoot-localized light signaling and requires shoot-derived transport of the plant hormone, auxin. However, the mechanism by which light regulates root development is not largely understood. In plants, the endogenous auxin, indole-3-acetic acid, is directionally transported by plasma-membrane (PM)-localized auxin influx and efflux carriers in transporting cells. Remarkably, the auxin efflux carrier PIN proteins exhibit asymmetric PM localization, determining the polarity of auxin transport. Similar to PM-resident receptors and transporters in animal and yeast cells, PIN proteins undergo constitutive cycling between the PM and endosomal compartments. Auxin plays multiple roles in PIN protein intracellular trafficking, inhibiting PIN2 endocytosis at some concentrations and promoting PIN2 degradation at others. However, how PIN proteins are turned over in plant cells is yet to be addressed. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: Using laser confocal scanning microscopy, and physiological and molecular genetic approaches, here, we show that in dark-grown seedlings, the PM localization of auxin efflux carrier PIN2 was largely reduced, and, in addition, PIN2 signal was detected in vacuolar compartments. This is in contrast to light-grown seedlings where PIN2 was predominantly PM-localized. In light-grown plants after shift to dark or to continuous red or far-red light, PIN2 also accumulated in vacuolar compartments. We show that PIN2 vacuolar targeting was derived from the PM via endocytic trafficking and inhibited by HY5-dependent light signaling. In addition, the ubiquitin 26S proteasome is involved in the process, since its inhibition by mutations in COP9 and a proteasome inhibitor MG132 impaired the process. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Collectively, our data indicate that light plays an essential role in PIN2 intracellular trafficking, promoting PM-localization in the presence of light and, on the other hand, vacuolar targeting for protein degradation in the absence of light. Based on these results, we postulate that light regulation of root development is mediated at least in part by changes in the intracellular distribution of auxin efflux carriers, PIN proteins, in response to the light environment