Too much television?: Does watching political ads influence if and how people vote?

The goal of this study was to examine the impact of negative political advertising on a young voters’ emotions and his/her decision to vote in the next election. This was done through the lens of the theory of cultivation analysis. The theory stated that the more television a person watches, the more likely he/she is to believe what he/she sees is reality. Using a cross-sectional survey, 324 participants viewed one of four political ads or a control group ad. Although no significant evidence found that negative political ads would stop people from voting, some significant evidence suggested that negative ads demobilize voters and evoke negative emotions, which could affect their desire to vote in the next election

Filling the gaps: A comprehensive understanding of diets and ecosystem interactions within the modern and fossil small mammal communities of Meade Basin, Kansas

The modern Great Plains ecosystem began shifting from a woodland biome to a grassland in the Miocene. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of a diverse community of local consumers, in this case small mammals, provides both a paleoenvironmental record of the shift from woodland C3 biomass to grassland C4 biomass, and a paleoecological record of species interactions and community dynamics. The Meade Basin in southwestern Kansas contains a rich and fairly complete fossil record of a Great Plains small mammal community throughout the past 5 million years. SIA of fossil tooth enamel from Meade small mammals has revealed interesting dietary patterns among, and within, major lineages of rodents and lagomorphs. Yet, an incomplete understanding of ecosystem interactions in the modern small mammal community hinders our interpretation of these fossil isotopic datasets. Until now, the majority of the modern Meade dataset was derived from 5 years of live trapping across a range of prairie microhabitats, and this sample is inherently biased towards small bodied and nocturnal species. The goal of this project is to fill taxonomic gaps in the modern sample, and provide a complete interpretation of current small mammal dietary ecology that is directly comparable to the fossil data. Our samples are derived from biologic (owl pellets, raptor nests and prairie dog burrows), and anthropogenic (road kill) collections, which contain remains of previously under sampled taxa within the small mammal community. Preliminary results have already highlighted the importance of this work. For example, prairie dogs are the highest C4 grass consumers in the modern community, and without them we would underestimate the use of C4 resources by small mammals. As another example, rabbits have predominantly been mixed C3-C4 to strongly C3 plant consumers throughout the past 5 million years, and that diet appears to be maintained today. Our complete isotopic dataset consists of results for more than 50 specimens, and yields a comprehensive understanding of species and ecosystem interactions among small mammals in the Great Plains today

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy - The Case for Alcohol Ablation Therapy

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disease caused by a variety of mutations in proteins, mostly but not exclusively, of the cardiac sarcomere. It is characterized by hypertrophy of the left ventricle (LV), often with obstruction of the LV outflow tract (LVOT), in the absence of another cause, such as hypertension or aortic stenosis, capable of producing the degree of hypertrophy observed. It presents with markedly variable morphologic and hemodynamic abnormalities and clinical manifestations. The present review will briefly summarize the genetics,pathophysiology, clinical features and management of this disease and will mainly deal with the non-surgical reduction of septal hypertrophy by means of transcoronary alcohol septal ablation

CDKN2B Upregulation Prevents Teratoma Formation in Multipotent Fibromodulin-Reprogrammed Cells

Tumorigenicity is a well-documented risk to overcome for pluripotent or multipotent cell applications in regenerative medicine. To address the emerging demand for safe cell sources in tissue regeneration, we established a novel, protein-based reprogramming method that does not require genome integration or oncogene activation to yield multipotent fibromodulin (FMOD)-reprogrammed (FReP) cells from dermal fibroblasts. When compared with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), FReP cells exhibited a superior capability for bone and skeletal muscle regeneration with markedly less tumorigenic risk. Moreover, we showed that the decreased tumorigenicity of FReP cells was directly related to an upregulation of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2B (CDKN2B) expression during the FMOD reprogramming process. Indeed, sustained suppression of CDKN2B resulted in tumorigenic, pluripotent FReP cells that formed teratomas in vivo that were indistinguishable from iPSC-derived teratomas. These results highlight the pivotal role of CDKN2B in cell fate determination and tumorigenic regulation and reveal an alternative pluripotent/multipotent cell reprogramming strategy that solely uses FMOD protein. © 2019, American Society for Clinical Investigation

Differentiation of high-latitude and polar marine faunas in a greenhouse world

Aim The aim was to investigate those factors that influenced the differentiation of high-latitude and polar marine faunas on both ecological and evolutionary time-scales. Can a focus on a greenhouse world provide some important clues? Location World-wide, but with particular emphasis on the evolution of Antarctic marine faunas. Time period Early Cenozoic era and present day. Major taxa studied Mollusca, especially Neogastropoda. Methods The Early Cenozoic global radiation of one of the largest extant marine clades, Neogastropoda, was examined, and detailed comparisons were made between two tropical localities and Antarctica. High- to low-latitude faunal differentiation was assessed using Sørensen's dissimilarity index, and component species in each of the three faunas were assigned to 29 families and family groups. Relative diversity distributions were fitted to these three faunas and two modern ones to assess the contrast in evenness between high- and low-latitude assemblages. Results By the Middle Eocene, a distinct high-latitude neogastropod fauna had evolved in Antarctica. In addition, the distribution of species within families in this fauna is statistically significantly less even than that in the tropics. Indeed, there is no detectable difference in the scale of this separation from that seen today. Exactly as in the modern fauna, Middle Eocene Antarctic neogastropods are dominated by a small number of trophic generalist groups. Main conclusions As the hyperdiverse Neogastropoda clade radiated globally through the Early Cenozoic, it differentiated into distinct high- and low-latitude components. The fact that it did so in a greenhouse world strongly suggests that something else besides temperature was involved in this process. The predominance of generalist feeding types in the Antarctic fossil faunas is linked to the phenomenon of a seasonally pulsed food supply, exactly as it is today. Seasonality in primary productivity may act as a fundamental control on the evolution of large-scale biodiversity pattern

Διάγνωση και Θεραπεία της Κατεχολαμινεργικής Πολύμορφης Κοιλιακής Ταχυκαρδίας

Η κατεχολαμινεργική πολύμορφη κοιλιακή ταχυκαρδία (catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia-CPVT) αναφέρθηκε για πρώτη φορά από τον Reid και τους συνεργάτες του το 1975 και στη συνέχεια από τον Coumel και τους συνεργάτες του το 1978. Περιγράφηκε σαν μια οικογενής διαταραχή σε ασθενείς με δομικά υγιή καρδιά που χαρακτηρίζεται από πρόκληση κατά την άσκηση ή τη συγκίνηση κοιλιακών αρρυθμιών με χαρακτηριστική μορφολογία που είναι δυνατόν να καταλήξουν σε συγκοπή ή ακόμα και σε αιφνίδιο θάνατο. Από τότε που οι πρώτες γονιδιακές μεταλλάξεις του υποδοχέα της ρυανοδίνης ταυτοποιήθηκαν το 2001, εδραιώθηκε  η άποψη ότι η CPVT προκαλείται από ανεξέλεκτη ενδοκυττάρια απελευθέρωση Ca2+ από το σαρκοπλασματικό δίκτυο. Μετέπειτα πειραματικές μελέτες κατέδειξαν ότι τέτοιες διαταραχές στη διακίνηση του ενδοκυττάριου Ca2+ προκαλούν αρρυθμίες μέσω μηχανισμών όψιμων μεταδυναμικών και πυροδοτούμενης δραστηριότητας. Το άρθρο αυτό συνοψίζει τη σύγχρονη γνώση για τη διάγνωση και θεραπεία της CPVT και αποσκοπεί στην καλύτερη αντιμετώπισή της ώστε να ελλατωθούν τα απειλούντα τη ζωή  συμβάματα στους ασθενείς με αυτή τη δυνητικά θανατηφόρα διαταραχή... (excerpt

Η Σχέση Μεταξύ Κολπικής Μαρμαρυγής και Κολπικού Πτερυγισμού. Μηχανισμοί και Κλινικές Εφαρμογές

Η ύπαρξη στενής σχέσης μεταξύ κολπικής μαρμα-ρυγής (ΚΜ) και κολπικού πτερυγισμού (ΚΠ) έχει από καιρό αναγνωριστεί. Ετσι, ασθενείς που αρχικά έχουν εκδηλώσει ΚΜ εκδηλώνουν επίσης ΚΠ και αντίστροφα ενώ συχνά οι δύο αυτές αρρυθμίες συνυπάρχουν στον ίδιο ασθενή μετά από καρδιοχειρουργική επέμβαση. Επίσης τα αντιαρρυθμικά κατηγορίας ΙΑ και ΙC όπως και η αμιωδαρόνη που χρησιμοποιούνται κατά της ΚΜ μπορούν να προκαλέσουν εμμένοντα ΚΠ. Αυτές οι συσχετίσεις δεν είναι συμπτωματικές αλλά αντανακλούν τη στενή σχέση μεταξύ των δύο αυτών αρρυθμιών όσον αφορά στην παθοφυσιολογία τους. Παρακάτω συνοψίζουμε τα στοιχεία που αναδεικνύουν αυτή τη σχέση και δίνουμε έμφαση στην κλινική σημασία τους.Ρόλο κλειδί σε αυτή τη σχέση είναι το γεγονός ότι ο κλασσικός ΚΠ είναι ρυθμός μακρο – επανει-σόδου, όπου το κύμα (επανεισόδου) κινείται προς τα πάνω προς το μεσοκολπικό διάφραγμα και προς τα κάτω προς το ελεύθερο τοίχωμα του αριστερού κόλπου (RA) και αντίστροφα. Το κύκλωμα επανεισόδου περιλαμβάνει τον κοιλο-τριγλωχινικό (cavotri-cuspid) ισθμό (CTI) και σχεδόν πάντα ξεκινά σαν KM ποικίλης διάρκειας. Φαίνεται ότι η ανάπτυξη ΚΜ είναι προαπαιτούμενο για την εμφάνιση στη συνέχεια ΚΠ αφού κατά τη διάρκεια της ΚΜ δημιουργείται μια λειτουργική ζώνη αποκλεισμού μεταξύ των κοίλων φλεβών, οπότε προλαμβάνεται η δημιουργία μικρο – κυκλώματος επανεισόδου τοπικά. Έτσι, η ύπαρξη αυτής της ζώνης αποκλεισμού καθορίζει αν θα δημιουργηθεί εμμένουσα ΚΜ ή ΚΠ. Φαίνεται ότι στη συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των περιπτώσεων χωρίς προ-ϋπάρχουσα ΚΜ, δεν μπορεί να υπάρξει ΚΠ εκτός εάν η ζώνη αυτή προϋπάρχει για ανατομικούς λόγους. Σε αυτή την περίπτωση  η προϋπάρχουσα ΚΜ δεν είναι απαραίτητη για δημιουργία ΚΠ... (excerpt

Data for: Carbon isoscapes of rodent diets in the Great Plains USA deviate from regional gradients in C4 grass abundance due to a preference for C3 plant resources

Research data used for the manuscript titled: Carbon isoscapes of rodent diets in the Great Plains USA deviate from regional gradients in C4 grass abundance due to a preference for C3 plant resource