The media’s gatekeeping function means that party press coverage often reproduces and reinforces existing power structures

In election campaigns, parties and candidates want to get their message across to the public, and the central means of doing so is by generating media coverage. Yet, the media does not slavishly pay attention to each party’s campaign messages. Which actors are most likely to hit the media? And which campaign messages are most likely to make the news? Thomas M. Meyer, Martin Haselmayer and Markus Wagner present research which shows that parties are in general rather successful in getting their messages to the media. However, the media’s gatekeeping function also reproduces existing distributions of power and attention: party messages are most likely to be covered if messages are spread by powerful politicians and if they fit with the current media issue agenda

A mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus responds better to soluble TACI than to soluble BAFFR, correlating with depletion of plasma cells.

The TNF family cytokines B-cell activating factor (BAFF) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) support plasma cell survival. It is known that inhibitors of BAFF only (BAFFR-Fc) or BAFF and APRIL (TACI-Fc) administered early enough in an NZB/NZW F1 mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) ameliorate clinical outcomes, pointing to a pathogenic role of BAFF. In the present study, TACI-Fc administrated at a later stage of disease, after onset of autoimmunity, decreased the number of bone marrow plasma cells and slowed down further formation of autoantibodies. TACI-Fc prevented renal damage during a 12-week treatment period regardless of autoantibody levels, while BAFFR-Fc did not despite a similar BAFF-blocking activity in vivo. TACI-Fc also decreased established plasma cells in a T-dependent hapten/carrier immunization system better than single inhibitors of BAFF or APRIL, and sometimes better than combined single inhibitors with at least equivalent BAFF and APRIL inhibitory activities. These results indicate that TACI-Fc can prevent symptoms of renal damage in a mouse model of SLE when BAFFR-Fc cannot, and point to a plasticity of plasma cells for survival factors. Targeting plasma cells with TACI-Fc might be beneficial to prevent autoantibody-mediated damages in SLE

211 Identifying lupus patient subsets and specific pharmacodynamic changes through immune cell deconvolution of gene expression data in atacicept-treated patients in the APRIL-SLE study

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The triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREM) in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis

The Triggering Receptors Expressed on Myeloid cells (TREM) are a family of cell-surface molecules that control inflammation, bone homeostasis, neurological development and blood coagulation. TREM-1 and TREM-2, the best-characterized receptors so far, play divergent roles in several infectious diseases. In the intestine, TREM-1 is highly expressed by macrophages, contributing to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis. Contrary to current understanding, TREM-2 also promotes inflammation in IBD by fueling dendritic cell functions. This review will focus specifically on recent insights into the role of TREM proteins in IBD development, and discuss opportunities for novel treatment approaches

Platelets Alter Gene Expression Profile in Human Brain Endothelial Cells in an In Vitro Model of Cerebral Malaria

Platelet adhesion to the brain microvasculature has been associated with cerebral malaria (CM) in humans, suggesting that platelets play a role in the pathogenesis of this syndrome. In vitro co-cultures have shown that platelets can act as a bridge between Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells (pRBC) and human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBEC) and potentiate HBEC apoptosis. Using cDNA microarray technology, we analyzed transcriptional changes of HBEC in response to platelets in the presence or the absence of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and pRBC, which have been reported to alter gene expression in endothelial cells. Using a rigorous statistical approach with multiple test corrections, we showed a significant effect of platelets on gene expression in HBEC. We also detected a strong effect of TNF, whereas there was no transcriptional change induced specifically by pRBC. Nevertheless, a global ANOVA and a two-way ANOVA suggested that pRBC acted in interaction with platelets and TNF to alter gene expression in HBEC. The expression of selected genes was validated by RT-qPCR. The analysis of gene functional annotation indicated that platelets induce the expression of genes involved in inflammation and apoptosis, such as genes involved in chemokine-, TREM1-, cytokine-, IL10-, TGFβ-, death-receptor-, and apoptosis-signaling. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that platelets play a pathogenic role in CM

AUTNES Content Analysis of Campaign Facebook Pages 2017 (SUF edition)

Full edition for scientific use. The AUTNES dataset on party Facebook pages contains information on parties’ Facebook posts during the six weeks of election campaign for the Austrian general election in 2017. We retrieved posts for all relevant parties and their top candidates. Each post constitutes a unit of analysis. The coding procedure applies the AUTNES relational approach of recording subjects, predicates, and objects to party Facebook pages. The subject is the party or candidate that operates the Facebook page and is coded with the name (if an individual is present), organisational affiliation and appearance in the coding unit (text only, picture only, text and picture). There are two types of objects: issues and object actors. Issues are recorded by coders selecting from the AUTNES issue coding scheme the dominant policy issue and the dominant campaign issue in the coding unit. The issue predicate numerically records whether the subject’s position towards the policy issue is one of support, rejection, or conveys a neutral/ambivalent stance. Up to ten object actors are recorded from each coding unit in the same way as the subject actor, supplemented with an evaluation by the subject actor (positive, negative, or neutral), as well as references to campaign or policy issues. In addition to the basic subject–predicate–object structure, we code several additional variables: variables describing the Facebook page, the coding unit and user interactions. Variables: Variables referring to Facebook posting: URL; type of Facebook page (party or candidate page); timestamp (date when the posting was published); text of the posting; number of interactions and date of their collection; technical problems with coding; content of the posting: continuous text, picture, video; variables referring to the author of the Facebook page: author’s organisation; author’s name; mention of the author in the posting; variables referring to issues: campaign issue; predicate; policy issue; reference to policy issue at the EU level; variables referring to object actors: object actor presence; object actor’s name; object actor’s organisation; appearance; predicate; reference to the coded campaign issue and to the coded policy issue; number of additional object actors that were not coded; variables referring to pictures: pictures of individuals that were not coded as object actors

AUTNES Content Analysis of Party Newspaper Ads 2017 (SUF edition)

Full edition for scientific use. The AUTNES dataset on party newspaper ads 2017 contains data on advertisements published in Austria's leading newspapers (Der Standard, Die Presse, Heute, Kleine Zeitung, Kronen Zeitung, Kurier, Österreich, Salzburger Nachrichten) within the last six weeks before the 2017 national election. The coding procedure applies the AUTNES relational approach of recording subjects, objects, and predicates for actors to newspaper ads. The subject is the organisation sponsoring the ad. There are two types of objects: issues and object actors. Issues are recorded by coders selecting from the AUTNES issue coding scheme the dominant issue of the ad. Regarding object actors, we distinguish between “friends” (any individual or organisation positively mentioned in the ad apart from the advertiser) and “opponents” (any individual or organisation negatively mentioned in the ad). Up to five friends and opponents were coded per ad, each with their name (if an individual is present), organisational affiliation and appearance on the ad or poster (text only, text and image, image only). In addition, we code whether the ads included testimonials and advertising for preference votes. Variables: type of advertising medium (newspaper ad); source (title of publication); date on which the ad was published; position; number of page that features the ad; horizontal and vertical size of the ad in centimeters; name of the organisation (parties and ancillary oganisations) sponsoring the ad; organisations summarized into political parties; design; type of ad (classical ad, announcement); ad includes a testimonial; main issue in ad; actors: up to five ‘friends’ (any individual or organisation positively mentioned in the ad) and ‘opponents’ (any individual or organisation negatively mentioned in the ad) were coded: name of friend / opponent (individual or organisation) mentioned in the ad, presentation in the ad (text only, text and image, image only); name of candidate advertising for a preference vote; party affiliation of candidate advertising for a preference vote; URL of first, second and third website mentioned; name of Facebook presence, if mentioned. Additionally coded was: individual identification number for each observation