Intergroup Contact and White Racial Apathy: Findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR)

Scholars theorize racial apathy is one form contemporary white racial prejudice takes. Racial apathy signals not caring about racial inequality. Invoking intergroup contact theory, we hypothesize interracial contact would predict less racial apathy among whites. To test our hypothesis, we analyze survey data from white teenagers participating in the 2003 National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). We find interracial contact matters and its inclusion improves model fit over and above previously specified correlates. Specifically, interracial friendship and dating, and having a different race mentor predict the tendency to care about racial equality. Furthermore, any interracial contact and a count of interracial contact experiences across five settings, respectively, predict less racial apathy. We encourage scholars to investigate further the sociological significance of racial apathy and its correlates, including interracial contact

Huntington’s Disease protein huntingtin associates with its own mRNA

Background: The Huntington's disease (HD) protein huntingtin (Htt) plays a role in multiple cellular pathways. Deregulation of one or more of these pathways by the mutant Htt protein has been suggested to contribute to the disease pathogenesis. Our recent discovery-based proteomics studies have uncovered RNA binding proteins and translation factors associated with the endogenous Htt protein purified from mouse brains, suggesting a potential new role for Htt in RNA transport and translation. Objective: To investigate how Htt might affect RNA metabolism we set out to purify and analyze RNA associated with Htt. Methods: RNA was extracted from immunopurified Htt-containing protein complexes and analyzed by microarrays and RNA-Seq. Results: Surprisingly, the most enriched mRNA that co-purified with Htt was Htt mRNA itself. The association of Htt protein and Htt mRNA was detected independent of intact ribosomes suggesting that it is not an RNA undergoing translation. Furthermore, we identified the recently reported mis-spliced Htt mRNA encoding a truncated protein comprised of exon 1 and a portion of the downstream intron in the immunoprecipitates containing mutant Htt protein. We show that Htt protein co-localizes with Htt mRNA and that wild-type Htt reduces expression of a reporter construct harboring the Htt 3' UTR. Conclusions: HD protein is found in a complex with its own mRNA and RNA binding proteins and translation factors. Htt may be involved in modulating its expression through post-transcriptional pathways. It is possible that Htt shares mechanistic properties similar to RNA binding proteins such as TDP-43 and FUS implicated in other neurodegenerative diseases

Seasonal abundance of small cladocerans in Lake Mangakaware, Waikato, New Zealand

The seasonal changes in the dynamics and life histories of the Cladocera in Lake Mangakaware, North Island, New Zealand, were studied over 19 months by sampling at weekly or 2-weekly intervals. Lake Mangakaware is a 13.3 ha polymictic lake with high nutrient status, low Secchi disc transparencies, and an unstable thermal regime. The four planktonic cladoceran species (Bosmina longirostris, B. meridionalis, Ceriodaphnia pulchella, and C. dubia) exhibited disjunct population maxima. Only B. longirostris was perennially present. All species exhibited low fecundities and low lipid content, indicating that food resources were limited and that competitive interactions and resistance to starvation were probably important in determining species success. Increases in body size in cooler seasons were unrelated to clutch size, giving further support for the view that available food was limited. These results are consistent with previous experimental findings that subtle differences in life history can determine seasonal success and the outcome of competition between similar species

Effect of atorvastatin on glycaemia progression in patients with diabetes:an analysis from the Collaborative Atorvastatin in Diabetes Trial (CARDS)

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: In an individual-level analysis we examined the effect of atorvastatin on glycaemia progression in type 2 diabetes and whether glycaemia effects reduce the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with atorvastatin. METHODS: The study population comprised 2,739 people taking part in the Collaborative Atorvastatin Diabetes Study (CARDS) who were randomised to receive atorvastatin 10 mg or placebo and who had post-randomisation HbA(1c) data. This secondary analysis used Cox regression to estimate the effect of atorvastatin on glycaemia progression, defined as an increase in HbA(1c) of ≥0.5% (5.5 mmol/mol) or intensification of diabetes therapy. Mixed models were used to estimate the effect of atorvastatin on HbA(1c) as a continuous endpoint. RESULTS: Glycaemia progression occurred in 73.6% of participants allocated placebo and 78.1% of those allocated atorvastatin (HR 1.18 [95% CI 1.08, 1.29], p < 0.001) by the end of follow-up. The HR was 1.22 (95% CI 1.19, 1.35) in men and 1.11 (95% CI 0.95, 1.29) in women (p = 0.098 for the sex interaction). A similar effect was seen in on-treatment analyses: HR 1.20 (95% CI 1.07, 1.35), p = 0.001. The net mean treatment effect on HbA(1c) was 0.14% (95% CI 0.08, 0.21) (1.5 mmol/mol). The effect did not increase through time. Diabetes treatment intensification alone did not differ with statin allocation. Neither baseline nor 1-year-attained HbA(1c) predicted subsequent CVD, and the atorvastatin effect on CVD did not vary by HbA(1c) change (interaction p value 0.229). CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: The effect of atorvastatin 10 mg on glycaemia progression among those with diabetes is statistically significant but very small, is not significantly different between sexes, does not increase with duration of statin and does not have an impact on the magnitude of CVD risk reduction with atorvastatin. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00125-015-3802-6) contains peer-reviewed but unedited supplementary material, which is available to authorised users

Patient Priorities in Autoimmune Hepatitis: The Need for Better Treatments, More Education and Challenging Stigma

BACKGROUND: Data show that patients with autoimmune hepatitis have significantly reduced quality-of-life and that corticosteroids carry marked side effects. AIMS: This study explored patients’ experiences of autoimmune hepatitis and its treatments; key aspects for developing safe and effective new approaches to therapy. METHODS: An anonymised, internet-based survey collected data including patient demographics, treatments, side-effects, impact on day-to-day life, sources of support and attitudes towards autoimmune hepatitis between December 2019–January 2020. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 patients to further explore their support networks, treatment experiences and health priorities. Descriptive and quantitative analyses were undertaken using R and free text responses were subject to thematic analysis. RESULTS: In total, 270 survey responses were received (median age 55 years and 94% female). Perceived medication side-effects were reported by 66% (169/257) and 73% responded negatively about their experience of corticosteroids. The majority (62·3% [(109/175]) would ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ consider clinical trial participation to improve their care. Only 18·7% (31/166) reported access to a specialist liver nurse and nearly half were involved in support groups. Interview and survey data suggested that major issues were stigma, loss of control and fatigue. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides insights into the realities of living with autoimmune hepatitis with clear issues around lack of support networks, need for patient empowerment and stigma surrounding liver disease. Patient priorities are better therapies to slow disease progression, avoiding corticosteroids and minimising side-effects. Patient willingness to participate in trials suggests that they are achievable provided they have the right design and clinical endpoints

Walking the walk: a phenomenological study of long distance walking

Evidence suggests that regular walking can elicit significant psychological benefits although little evidence exists concerning long distance walking. The purpose of this study was to provide detailed accounts of the experiences of long distance walkers. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with six long distance walkers. Data were transcribed verbatim before researchers independently analyzed the transcripts. Participants reported a cumulative effect with positive feelings increasing throughout the duration of the walk. Long distance walking elicited positive emotions, reduced the effects of life-stress, and promoted an increased sense of well-being and personal growth. Results are aligned to theories and concepts from positive psychology

Portable, field-based neuroimaging using high-density diffuse optical tomography

Behavioral and cognitive tests in individuals who were malnourished as children have revealed malnutrition-related deficits that persist throughout the lifespan. These findings have motivated recent neuroimaging investigations that use highly portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) instruments to meet the demands of brain imaging experiments in low-resource environments and enable longitudinal investigations of brain function in the context of long-term malnutrition. However, recent studies in healthy subjects have demonstrated that high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) can significantly improve image quality over that obtained with sparse fNIRS imaging arrays. In studies of both task activations and resting state functional connectivity, HD-DOT is beginning to approach the data quality of fMRI for superficial cortical regions. In this work, we developed a customized HD-DOT system for use in malnutrition studies in Cali, Colombia. Our results evaluate the performance of the HD-DOT instrument for assessing brain function in a cohort of malnourished children. In addition to demonstrating portability and wearability, we show the HD-DOT instrument\u27s sensitivity to distributed brain responses using a sensory processing task and measurements of homotopic functional connectivity. Task-evoked responses to the passive word listening task produce activations localized to bilateral superior temporal gyrus, replicating previously published work using this paradigm. Evaluating this localization performance across sparse and dense reconstruction schemes indicates that greater localization consistency is associated with a dense array of overlapping optical measurements. These results provide a foundation for additional avenues of investigation, including identifying and characterizing a child\u27s individual malnutrition burden and eventually contributing to intervention development