At Least Bias Is Bipartisan: A Meta-Analytic Comparison of Partisan Bias in Liberals and Conservatives

Both liberals and conservatives accuse their political opponents of partisan bias, but is there empirical evidence that one side of the political aisle is indeed more biased than the other? To address this question, we meta-analyzed the results of 51 experimental studies, involving over 18,000 participants, that examined one form of partisan bias—the tendency to evaluate otherwise identical information more favorably when it supports one’s political beliefs or allegiances than when it challenges those beliefs or allegiances. Two hypotheses based on previous literature were tested: an asymmetry hypothesis (predicting greater partisan bias in conservatives than in liberals) and a symmetry hypothesis (predicting equal levels of partisan bias in liberals and conservatives). Mean overall partisan bias was robust (r = .245), and there was strong support for the symmetry hypothesis: Liberals (r = .235) and conservatives (r = .255) showed no difference in mean levels of bias across studies. Moderator analyses reveal this pattern to be consistent across a number of different methodological variations and political topics. Implications of the current findings for the ongoing ideological symmetry debate and the role of partisan bias in scientific discourse and political conflict are discussed

Age-Related Attenuation of Dominant Hand Superiority

The decline of motor performance of the human hand-arm system with age is well-documented. While dominant hand performance is superior to that of the non-dominant hand in young individuals, little is known of possible age-related changes in hand dominance. We investigated age-related alterations of hand dominance in 20 to 90 year old subjects. All subjects were unambiguously right-handed according to the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. In Experiment 1, motor performance for aiming, postural tremor, precision of arm-hand movement, speed of arm-hand movement, and wrist-finger speed tasks were tested. In Experiment 2, accelerometer-sensors were used to obtain objective records of hand use in everyday activities

Carbamazepine reduces memory induced activation of mesial temporal lobe structures: a pharmacological fMRI-study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: It is not known whether carbamazepine (CBZ; a drug widely used in neurology and psychiatry) influences the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast changes induced by neuronal activation and measured by functional MRI (fMRI). We aimed to investigate the influence of CBZ on memory induced activation of the mesial temporal lobes in patients with symptomatic temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-one individual patients with refractory symptomatic TLE with different CBZ serum levels and 20 healthy controls were studied using BOLD fMRI. Mesial temporal lobe (MTL) activation was induced by a task that is based on the retrieval of individually familiar visuo-spatial knowledge. The extent of significant MTL fMRI activation was measured and correlated with the CBZ serum level. RESULTS: In TLE patients, the extent of significant fMRI activation over both MTL was negatively correlated to the CBZ serum level (Spearman r = -0.654, P < 0.001). Activation over the supposedly normal MTL, i.e. contralateral to the seizure onset of TLE patients, was smaller than the averaged MTL activation in healthy controls (P < 0.005). Age, duration of epilepsy, side of seizure onset, and intelligence were not correlated to the extent of the significant BOLD-response over both MTL in patients with TLE. CONCLUSIONS: In TLE patients, carbamazepine reduces the fMRI-detectable changes within the mesial temporal lobes as induced by effortful memory retrieval. FMRI appears to be suitable to study the effects of chronic drug treatment in patients with epilepsy

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes

Internal Jugular Vein Cross-Sectional Area and Cerebrospinal Fluid Pulsatility in the Aqueduct of Sylvius: A Comparative Study between Healthy Subjects and Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Objectives Constricted cerebral venous outflow has been linked with increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pulsatility in the aqueduct of Sylvius in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and healthy individuals. This study investigates the relationship between CSF pulsatility and internal jugular vein (IJV) cross-sectional area (CSA) in these two groups, something previously unknown. Methods 65 relapsing-remitting MS patients (50.8% female; mean age = 43.8 years) and 74 healthy controls (HCs) (54.1% female; mean age = 43.9 years) were investigated. CSF flow quantification was performed on cine phase-contrast MRI, while IJV-CSA was calculated using magnetic resonance venography. Statistical analysis involved correlation, and partial least squares correlation analysis (PLSCA). Results PLSCA revealed a significant difference (p<0.001; effect size = 1.072) between MS patients and HCs in the positive relationship between CSF pulsatility and IJV-CSA at C5-T1, something not detected at C2-C4. Controlling for age and cardiovascular risk factors, statistical trends were identified in HCs between: increased net positive CSF flow (NPF) and increased IJV-CSA at C5-C6 (left: r = 0.374, p = 0.016; right: r = 0.364, p = 0.019) and C4 (left: r = 0.361, p = 0.020); and increased net negative CSF flow and increased left IJV-CSA at C5-C6 (r = -0.348, p = 0.026) and C4 (r = -0.324, p = 0.039), whereas in MS patients a trend was only identified between increased NPF and increased left IJV-CSA at C5-C6 (r = 0.351, p = 0.021). Overall, correlations were weaker in MS patients (p = 0.015). Conclusions In healthy adults, increased CSF pulsatility is associated with increased IJV-CSA in the lower cervix (independent of age and cardiovascular risk factors), suggesting a biomechanical link between the two. This relationship is altered in MS patients

The role of ubiquitination and hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate in the degradation of the adrenomedullin type I receptor

Calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CLR) and the receptor activity-modifying protein 2 (RAMP2) comprise a receptor for adrenomedullin (AM). Although it is known that AM induces internalization of CLR•RAMP2, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate the trafficking of CLR•RAMP2. Using HEK and HMEC-1 cells, we observed that AM-induced activation of CLR•RAMP2 promoted ubiquitination of CLR. A mutant (CLRΔ9KR), lacking all intracellular lysine residues was functional and trafficked similar to the wild-type receptor, but was not ubiquitinated. Degradation of CLR•RAMP2 and CLRΔ9KR•RAMP2 was not dependent on the duration of AM stimulation or ubiquitination and occurred via a mechanism that was partially prevented by peptidase inhibitors. Degradation of CLR•RAMP2 was sensitive to overexpression of hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (HRS), but not to HRS knockdown, whereas CLRΔ9KR•RAMP2 degradation was unaffected. Overexpression, but not knockdown of HRS, promoted hyperubiquitination of CLR under basal conditions. Thus, we propose a role for ubiquitin and HRS in the regulation of AM-induced degradation of CLR•RAMP2

Presence of activating KRAS mutations correlates significantly with expression of tumour suppressor genes DCN and TPM1 in colorectal cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite identification of the major genes and pathways involved in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), it has become obvious that several steps in these pathways might be bypassed by other as yet unknown genetic events that lead towards CRC. Therefore we wanted to improve our understanding of the genetic mechanisms of CRC development.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used microarrays to identify novel genes involved in the development of CRC. Real time PCR was used for mRNA expression as well as to search for chromosomal abnormalities within candidate genes. The correlation between the expression obtained by real time PCR and the presence of the <it>KRAS </it>mutation was investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We detected significant previously undescribed underexpression in CRC for genes <it>SLC26A3</it>, <it>TPM1 </it>and <it>DCN</it>, with a suggested tumour suppressor role. We also describe the correlation between <it>TPM1 </it>and <it>DCN </it>expression and the presence of <it>KRAS </it>mutations in CRC. When searching for chromosomal abnormalities, we found deletion of the <it>TPM1 </it>gene in one case of CRC, but no deletions of <it>DCN </it>and <it>SLC26A3 </it>were found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study provides further evidence of decreased mRNA expression of three important tumour suppressor genes in cases of CRC, thus implicating them in the development of this type of cancer. Moreover, we found underexpression of the <it>TPM1 </it>gene in a case of CRCs without <it>KRAS </it>mutations, showing that <it>TPM1 </it>might serve as an alternative path of development of CRC. This downregulation could in some cases be mediated by deletion of the <it>TPM1 </it>gene. On the other hand, the correlation of <it>DCN </it>underexpression with the presence of <it>KRAS </it>mutations suggests that <it>DCN </it>expression is affected by the presence of activating <it>KRAS </it>mutations, lowering the amount of the important tumour suppressor protein decorin.</p

Alteration assemblages in Martian meteorites: implications for near-surface processes

The SNC (Shergotty-Nakhla-Chassigny) meteorites have recorded interactions between martian crustal fluids and the parent igneous rocks. The resultant secondary minerals – which comprise up to 1 vol.% of the meteorites – provide information about the timing and nature of hydrous activity and atmospheric processes on Mars. We suggest that the most plausible models for secondary mineral formation involve the evaporation of low temperature (25 – 150 °C) brines. This is consistent with the simple mineralogy of these assemblages – Fe-Mg-Ca carbonates, anhydrite, gypsum, halite, clays – and the chemical fractionation of Ca-to Mg-rich carbonate in ALH84001 "rosettes". Longer-lived, and higher temperature, hydrothermal systems would have caused more silicate alteration than is seen and probably more complex mineral assemblages. Experimental and phase equilibria data on carbonate compositions similar to those present in the SNCs imply low temperatures of formation with cooling taking place over a short period of time (e.g. days). The ALH84001 carbonate also probably shows the effects of partial vapourisation and dehydration related to an impact event post-dating the initial precipitation. This shock event may have led to the formation of sulphide and some magnetite in the Fe-rich outer parts of the rosettes. Radiometric dating (K-Ar, Rb-Sr) of the secondary mineral assemblages in one of the nakhlites (Lafayette) suggests that they formed between 0 and 670 Myr, and certainly long after the crystallisation of the host igneous rocks. Crystallisation of ALH84001 carbonate took place 0.5 Gyr after the parent rock. These age ranges and the other research on these assemblages suggest that environmental conditions conducive to near-surface liquid water have been present on Mars periodically over the last 1 Gyr. This fluid activity cannot have been continuous over geological time because in that case much more silicate alteration would have taken place in the meteorite parent rocks and the soluble salts would probably not have been preserved. The secondary minerals could have been precipitated from brines with seawater-like composition, high bicarbonate contents and a weakly acidic nature. The co-existence of siderite (Fe-carbonate) and clays in the nakhlites suggests that the pCO2 level in equilibrium with the parent brine may have been 50 mbar or more. The brines could have originated as flood waters which percolated through the top few hundred meters of the crust, releasing cations from the surrounding parent rocks. The high sulphur and chlorine concentrations of the martian soil have most likely resulted from aeolian redistribution of such aqueously-deposited salts and from reaction of the martian surface with volcanic acid volatiles. The volume of carbonates in meteorites provides a minimum crustal abundance and is equivalent to 50–250 mbar of CO2 being trapped in the uppermost 200–1000 m of the martian crust. Large fractionations in 18O between igneous silicate in the meteorites and the secondary minerals (30) require formation of the latter below temperatures at which silicate-carbonate equilibration could have taken place (400°C) and have been taken to suggest low temperatures (e.g. 150°C) of precipitation from a hydrous fluid