The infuence of skin colour on the experience of ownership in the rubber hand illusion

Racial prejudice is associated with a fundamental distinction between "us" and "them"-a distinction linked to the perceived overlap between representations of the self and others. Implicit prejudice has been shown to reduce the intensity of White individuals' hand ownership sensation as induced by the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) with dark rubber hands. However, evidence for this link to implicit prejudice comes from self-report questionnaire data regarding the RHI. As an alternative, we assessed the onset time of the RHI. We hypothesized that onset time of the RHI would be higher for the black compared to the white RH, acting as the mediator between implicit prejudice and magnitude of the RH illusion and proprioceptive drift. As expected, participants took longer to incorporate the black RH and presented lower RH illusion magnitude and a smaller proprioceptive drift for the black RH. Mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of implicit racial bias on proprioceptive drift and magnitude of illusion through onset time to illusion only for the black RH. These findings further illuminate the connection between implicit prejudice and embodied perception, suggesting new perspectives on how implicit biases operate.This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq; grant numbers: 466922/2014-0 and 401143/2014-7).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effectiveness of Chance UK's mentoring programme in improving behavioural and emotional outcomes in primary school children with behavioural difficulties: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: There is a need to build the evidence base of early interventions to promote children's health and development in the UK. Chance UK is a voluntary sector organisation based in London that delivers a 12-month mentoring programme for primary school children identified by teachers and parents as having behavioural and emotional difficulties. The aim of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the programme in terms of children's behaviour and emotional well-being; this is the primary outcome of the trial. METHODS/DESIGN: A randomised controlled trial will be conducted in which participants are randomly allocated on a dynamic basis to one of two possible arms: the intervention arm (n = 123) will be offered the mentoring programme, and the control arm (n = 123) will be offered services as usual. Outcome data will be collected at three points: pre-intervention (baseline), mid-way through the mentoring year (c.9 months after randomisation) and post- mentoring programme (c.16 months after randomisation). DISCUSSION: This study will further enhance the evidence for early intervention mentoring programmes for child behaviour and emotional well-being in the UK. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN47154925 . Retrospectively registered 9 September 2014

The prevention of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) affects more than 7% of adults in the US and leads to substantial personal and economic burden. In prediabetic states insulin secretion and action—potential targets of preventive interventions—are impaired. In trials lifestyle modification (i.e. weight loss and exercise) has proven effective in preventing incident T2DM in high-risk groups, although weight loss has the greatest effect. Various medications (e.g. metformin, thiazolidinediones and acarbose) can also prevent or delay T2DM. Whether diabetes-prevention strategies also ultimately prevent the development of diabetic vascular complications is unknown, but cardiovascular risk factors are favorably affected. Preventive strategies that can be implemented in routine clinical settings have been developed and evaluated. Widespread application has, however, been limited by local financial considerations, even though cost-effectiveness might be achieved at the population level

Pathogen Sensing Pathways in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived-Endothelial Cells: Role of NOD1 Receptors.

Human embryonic stem cell-derived endothelial cells (hESC-EC), as well as other stem cell derived endothelial cells, have a range of applications in cardiovascular research and disease treatment. Endothelial cells sense Gram-negative bacteria via the pattern recognition receptors (PRR) Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 and nucleotide-binding oligomerisation domain-containing protein (NOD)-1. These pathways are important in terms of sensing infection, but TLR4 is also associated with vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis. Here, we have compared TLR4 and NOD1 responses in hESC-EC with those of endothelial cells derived from other stem cells and with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). HUVEC, endothelial cells derived from blood progenitors (blood outgrowth endothelial cells; BOEC), and from induced pluripotent stem cells all displayed both a TLR4 and NOD1 response. However, hESC-EC had no TLR4 function, but did have functional NOD1 receptors. In vivo conditioning in nude rats did not confer TLR4 expression in hESC-EC. Despite having no TLR4 function, hESC-EC sensed Gram-negative bacteria, a response that was found to be mediated by NOD1 and the associated RIP2 signalling pathways. Thus, hESC-EC are TLR4 deficient but respond to bacteria via NOD1. This data suggests that hESC-EC may be protected from unwanted TLR4-mediated vascular inflammation, thus offering a potential therapeutic advantage

Fatal Cases of Influenza A in Childhood

In the northern hemisphere winter of 2003–04 antigenic variant strains (A/Fujian/411/02 –like) of influenza A H3N2 emerged. Circulation of these strains in the UK was accompanied by an unusually high number of laboratory confirmed influenza associated fatalities in children. This study was carried out to better understand risk factors associated with fatal cases of influenza in children.Case histories, autopsy reports and death registration certificates for seventeen fatal cases of laboratory confirmed influenza in children were analyzed. None had a recognized pre-existing risk factor for severe influenza and none had been vaccinated. Three cases had evidence of significant bacterial co-infection. Influenza strains recovered from fatal cases were antigenically similar to those circulating in the community. A comparison of protective antibody titres in age stratified cohort sera taken before and after winter 2003–04 showed that young children had the highest attack rate during this season (21% difference, 95% confidence interval from 0.09 to 0.33, p = 0.0009). Clinical incidences of influenza-like illness (ILI) in young age groups were shown to be highest only in the years when novel antigenic drift variants emerged.This work presents a rare insight into fatal influenza H3N2 in healthy children. It confirms that circulating seasonal influenza A H3N2 strains can cause severe disease and death in children in the apparent absence of associated bacterial infection or predisposing risk factors. This adds to the body of evidence demonstrating the burden of severe illness due to seasonal influenza A in childhood

Lovastatin Protects against Experimental Plague in Mice

Background: Plague is an ectoparasite-borne deadly infection caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium classified among the group A bioterrorism agents. Thousands of deaths are reported every year in some African countries. Tetracyclines and cotrimoxazole are used in the secondary prophylaxis of plague in the case of potential exposure to Y. pestis, but cotrimoxazole-resistant isolates have been reported. There is a need for additional prophylactic measures. We aimed to study the effectiveness of lovastatin, a cholesterol-lowering drug known to alleviate the symptoms of sepsis, for plague prophylaxis in an experimental model. Methodology: Lovastatin dissolved in Endolipide was intraperitoneally administered to mice (20 mg/kg) every day for 6 days prior to a Y. pestis Orientalis biotype challenge. Non-challenged, lovastatin-treated and challenged, untreated mice were also used as control groups in the study. Body weight, physical behavior and death were recorded both prior to infection and for 10 days post-infection. Samples of the blood, lungs and spleen were collected from dead mice for direct microbiological examination, histopathology and culture. The potential antibiotic effect of lovastatin was tested on blood agar plates. Conclusions/Significance: Lovastatin had no in-vitro antibiotic effect against Y. pestis. The difference in the mortality between control mice (11/15; 73.5%) and lovastatin-treated mice (3/15; 20%) was significant (P,0.004; Mantel-Haensze

Contribution of Panton-Valentine Leukocidin in Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Pathogenesis

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strains typically carry genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). We used wild-type parental and isogenic PVL-deletion (Δpvl) strains of USA300 (LAC and SF8300) and USA400 (MW2) to test whether PVL alters global gene regulatory networks and contributes to pathogenesis of bacteremia, a hallmark feature of invasive staphylococcal disease. Microarray and proteomic analyses revealed that PVL does not alter gene or protein expression, thereby demonstrating that any contribution of PVL to CA-MRSA pathogenesis is not mediated through interference of global gene regulatory networks. Inasmuch as a direct role for PVL in CA-MRSA pathogenesis remains to be determined, we developed a rabbit bacteremia model of CA-MRSA infection to evaluate the effects of PVL. Following experimental infection of rabbits, an animal species whose granulocytes are more sensitive to the effects of PVL compared with the mouse, we found a contribution of PVL to pathogenesis over the time course of bacteremia. At 24 and 48 hours post infection, PVL appears to play a modest, but measurable role in pathogenesis during the early stages of bacteremic seeding of the kidney, the target organ from which bacteria were not cleared. However, the early survival advantage of this USA300 strain conferred by PVL was lost by 72 hours post infection. These data are consistent with the clinical presentation of rapid-onset, fulminant infection that has been associated with PVL-positive CA-MRSA strains. Taken together, our data indicate a modest and transient positive effect of PVL in the acute phase of bacteremia, thereby providing evidence that PVL contributes to CA-MRSA pathogenesis

Merkel cell carcinoma of skin-current controversies and recommendations

The review covers the current recommendations for Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), with detailed discussion of many controversies. The 2010 AJCC staging system is more in-line with other skin malignancies although more complicated to use. The changes in staging system over time make comparison of studies difficult. A wide excision with margins of 2.5–3 cm is generally recommended. Even for primary </= 1 cm, there is a significant risk of nodal and distant metastases and hence sentinel node biopsy should be done if possible; otherwise adjuvant radiotherapy to the primary and nodal region should be given. Difficulties of setting up trials owing to the rarity of the disease and the mean age of the patient population result in infrequent reports of adjuvant or concurrent chemotherapy in the literature. The benefit, if any, is not great from published studies so far. However, there may be a subgroup of patients with high-risk features, e.g. node-positive and excellent performance status, for whom adjuvant or concurrent chemotherapy may be considered. Since local recurrence and metastases generally occur within 2 years of the initial diagnosis, patients should be followed more frequently in the first 2 years. However delayed recurrence can still occur in a small proportion of patients and long-term follow-up by a specialist is recommended provided that the general condition of the patient allows it. In summary, physician judgment in individual cases of MCC is advisable, to balance the risk of recurrence versus the complications of treatment