A fogyasztóvá válás folyamata Magyarországon = The process of consumerization in Hungary

Kutatásunk célul tűzte ki, hogy (1) feltárja a fogyasztással kapcsolatos személyes értelmezéseket, véleményeket, attitűdöket, koncepciókat, (2) a fogyasztással kapcsolatos mindennapi élményeket (3) a fogyasztáshoz való viszony időbeli változását az egyének élete során (4) azokat a befolyásoló tényezőket, amelyek alapján az értelmezések és élmények eltérnek. Mindezek megismerésének érdekében kvalitatív és kvantitatív kutatást végeztünk. A kvalitatív kutatás során a mintába kerülés kritériuma alapján olyan családok kerültek kiválasztásra, amelyek legalább két, vagy több generációból állnak. Az első generáció 1939 előtt, a második 1969, a harmadik pedig 1990 előtt született. A kvalitatív minta 15 családból állt, összesen 44 fővel készült interjú. Az alkalmazott kvalitatív módszertan epizodikus interjúk voltak, amelyet vásárlási megfigyelésekkel egészítettünk ki. A kvantitatív kutatásban a minta elemszáma 500 fő volt, az országos minta reprezentatív nemre, korra, településtípusra és régióra. | People in a generation or cohort experience the same significant events when they're growing up. Attitudes and values are formed to a great extent when a generation or cohort passes into adulthood. In Hungary the fall of the socialist regime and the transition to market economy represented an axial moment, as the principles and logic ruling life and leading to success have transformed substantially. After the transition, not only the socialist ideology, but also its economic implications have been wiped away by the market economy. In our study we investigate familial relationships in consumption patterns using a sample of grandparents, parents and their children in Hungary. Attention is focused on generational differences in the attitudes and the personal experiences toward consumption. First we conducted in-depth interviews with 15 families (44 respondents) completed with observation of their shopping behavior. In the second phase we did quantitative analysis using national representative sample (N=500). We studied (1) the relationship between consumption and personal values, (2) the accepted degree of consumption and (3) the perception of the consumer society in Hungary

A Localized Aldara (5% Imiquimod)–Induced Psoriasiform Dermatitis Model in Mice Using Finn Chambers

The expanding number of research studies utilizing the imiquimod-induced psoriasiform dermatitis model attests to the usefulness of this procedure. Advantages of this model include rapid development of the skin response and costeffectiveness. A major limitation is that application of imiquimod cream over large areas of skin, as well as licking and ingestion of the cream, may lead to severe systemic inflammation, which can cause a general decline in health, splenomegaly, and death. In this protocol, Finn chambers are used to localize the imiquimod cream to a small area of the skin. This results in production of severe and reproducible psoriatic skin reactions with significantly less imiquimod, greatly reducing the possibility of untoward systemic effects. Moreover, having psoriasiform and control skin areas on the same mice decreases inter-animal differences. The protocol can be readily adapted for other skin disease models involving topical application of test agents. This article also details functional measurements performed during assays, including skin thickness, blood perfusion, semiquantitative histopathological evaluation, determination of scaling score to monitor psoriatic symptoms, and collection of spleen and body weight data to identify systemic effects

Anekdota és referencialitás Kemény János önéletírásában

The autobiography of János Kemény is usually valued more as a historical document than as a literary text. From this perspective have posterity read both the genealogy and the narrative part of the text, both abundant in detailed descriptions and anecdotes. Contrasting these anecdotes with other historical sources reveals that most of the stories have no referential value. In my paper I made an attempt to analyze the memoir from a narratological perspective focusing on the role of the anecdotes, short epic forms and images inserted into the main thread of the autobiographical narrative. These digressions, whether epic or descriptive, always dislocate the perspective of the narration, functioning as comments, glosses to it. In consequence, we can assess that the digressions are rather indirect reflections of the narrator on the mentioned events than objective representations (often originating probably from the oral tradition), thus they require a non-referential way of reading

Differential vulnerability of different forms of skill learning in Parkinson’s disease

The striatal dopaminergic dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been associated with deficits in skill learning in a number of studies, but the results are inconclusive so far. Motor sequence learning (especially sequence-specific learning) is found to be deficient in the majority of studies using the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT; Siegert, Taylor, Weatherall, & Abernethy, 2006; Jackson et al., 1995; Ferraro, Balota and Connor, 1993; Pascual-Leone et al., 1993, Muslimovic et al., 2007; Gobel et al., 2013; but see Kwak et al., 2012), although results are contradictory when verbal response is required instead of button presses (Westwater et al. 1998; Smith, Siegert and McDowall 2001). While problems with motor sequences seem to be prevalent, PD patients show intact performance on Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) tasks, suggesting that the sequencing problem may be response type- or task type-dependent (Smith, Siegert and McDowall 2001; Witt, Nühsman and Deuschl, 2002) Acquisition of nonsequential probabilistic associations also seems to be vulnerable as evidenced by impaired PD performance on a probabilistic category learning task (Knowlton, Mangels et al., 1996; Shohamy, Myers, Onlaor, & Gluck, 2004). Our aim was to explore the nature of the skill learning deficit by testing different types of skill learning (sequential versus nonsequential, motor versus verbal) in the same group of Parkinson’s patients. 14 patients with PD (mean age: 59.77 range: 45.5-74) were compared to age-matched typical adults using 1) a Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) testing the learning of motor sequences, 2) an Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) task testing the extraction of regularities from auditory sequences and 3) a Weather prediction task (PCL-WP), testing probabilistic category learning in a non-sequential task. In motor sequence learning on the SRTT task, the two groups did not differ in accuracy; PD patients were generally slower, and analysis of z-transformed reaction times showed no evidence of sequence learning in PD. A deficit in artificial grammar learning was present only as a tendency in the PD group. The PD group showed evidence of learning on the PCL task, and their learning performance was not statistically different from that of the control group. These results partly support and also extend previous findings suggesting that motor skill learning is vulnerable in PD, while other forms of skill learning are less prone to impairment. Results are also in line with previous assumptions that mechanisms underlying artificial grammar learning and probabilistic categorization do not depend on the striatum (Reber & Squire, 1999; Skosnik et al., 2002)

Differential vulnerability of different forms of skill learning in Parkinson’s disease Different forms of skill learning in Parkinson’s disease

The striatal dopaminergic dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been associated with deficits in skill learning, but results are inconclusive so far. Motor sequence learning (especially sequence-specific learning) is found to be deficient in the majority of studies using the SRT task (Jackson, Jackson, Harrison, Henderson, & Kennard, 1995; Siegert, Taylor, Weatherall, & Abernethy, 2006). While problems with motor sequences seem to be prevalent, PD patients show intact performance on AGL tasks, suggesting that the sequencing problem may be response- or taskdependent (Reber & Squire, 1999). Acquisition of nonsequential probabilistic associations also seems to be vulnerable as evidenced by impaired probabilistic category learning performance in PD (Knowlton, Mangels, & Squire, 1996; Shohamy, Myers, Onlaor, & Gluck, 2004). Our aim was to explore the nature of the skill learning deficit by testing different types of skill learning (sequential versus nonsequential, motor versus verbal) in the same group of Parkinson’s patients. 34 patients with PD (mean age: 62.59.77 years, SD: 7.67) were compared to age-matched typical adults using 1) a Serial Reaction Time Task (SRT) testing the learning of motor sequences, 2) an Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) task testing the extraction of regularities from auditory sequences and 3) a Weather prediction task (PCL-WP), testing probabilistic category learning in a non-sequential task. In motor sequence learning (SRT task), the two groups did not differ in accuracy; PD patients were generally slower, and analysis of z-transformed reaction times also revealed deficient motor sequence learning in PD compared to the control group. The PD group showed no evidence of sequence learning. The PD group showed the same amount of learning on the PCL task as controls, and we observed higher rates of learning on the AGL task in PD patients than in controls. These results support and also extend previous findings suggesting that motor skill learning is vulnerable in PD, while other forms of skill learning are less prone to impairment. Results are also in line with previous assumptions that mechanisms underlying artificial grammar learning and probabilistic categorization do not depend on the striatum (Reber & Squire, 1999)

The effect of deep brain stimulation on cognitive performance in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Introduction: There is a growing number of studies focusing on the short, medium and long term effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on motor and cognitive functions in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Substantially smaller number of studies performed on the results of surgical treatment of drugresistant tremor in patients with secondary Parkinson syndrome (PS). In our study we aimed to assess the effect of DBS on main cognitive functions, depression and anxiety in PD and PS patients. Methods: Ten PD patients with bilateral subthalamic-DBS and ten PS patients with bilateral thalamic Vim-DBS were evaluated before and after the surgery. Surgical planning was based on frameless MRI to CT image fusion with custom-developed Vister-3D planning software. The procedure was performed with guidance of RM and MHT stereotactic systems. Intraoperatively 3 to 5-channel microelectrode recording has been applied with registration of LeadToools (Medtronic) or Neurospot (Neurostar) recording equipment. Model 3389 electrodes were implanted bilaterally in all cases and connected to Activa PC or Kinetra dual channel implantable pulse generators. Results/Conclusion: The electrode position has been controlled with postoperative CT to preoperative MRI and to tractography co-registration. The patients’ cognitive performance level and clinical profile was compared not just to their own baseline, but also to a proper clinical control group, un-operated patients with PD and PS. The neuropsychological screening was focused on short term verbal and visuo-spatial memory, attention and executive functions. The possible relationships between area of stimulation, symptom severity and cognitive functioning will be discussed

Az ultraibolya fény immunbiológiai hatásának vizsgálata = Investigation of the immunbiological effects of ultraviolet light

Az ultraibolya (UV) fény az egyik legjelentősebb környezeti ártalom, melynek szerepe ismert a bőrdaganatok kiváltásában, ugyanakkkor az UV fény immunszuppresszív hatását eredményesen alkalmazzuk a terápiában is. Célkitűzésünk volt az UV fény molekuláris hatásainak jobb megismerése. Megállapítottuk, hogy a COP1 az UVB jelátviteli út része humán keratinocitákban, és a COP1 gén csendesítése a p53 fehérje emelkedését eredményezi a hámsejtekben. A keratinociták differenciációs-proliferációs állapota is befolyásolta a COP1 fehérje szintjét. UVB-LED kezelés hatékonyságát mutattuk ki psoriasisos betegeken. Megállapítottuk, hogy a keratinocitákban az ABCC4 és az ABCG2 transzporterek sejtproliferációtól függően fejeződnek ki, és az ABCG2 gátlásával a fotodinámiás terápia hatékonysága növelhető. Eredményeink szerint a bőr és a légúti hám UV válasza nem különbözik egymástól, hasonló DNS károsodás alakul ki és a repair mechanizmusok dinamikája is megegyezik a két hámban. Intranasalis polipok in vivo UVB fénnyel történő kezelése csökkenti a betegek klinikai tüneteit, amely a gyulladásos sejtekben indukált apoptosisra vezethető vissza. A rhinophototherápia a fexofenadine hidrokloridnál hatékonyabban csökkenti szezonális rhinitis allergicában szenvedő betegek klinikai tüneteit. Megállapítottuk azt is, hogy a FOXP3 rs3761548 polimorfizmusa egy protektív genetikai faktor a rhinitis allergica kialakulása szempontjából. | Ultraviolet (UV) light is one of the most important environmental factor that plays a role in the development of skin cancer, but the immunosuppressive effect of UV light is also used for decades for the therapy of inflammatory skin diseases. We aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of UV light. We found that the COP1 protein is involved in the UVB signaling in keratinocytes, and silencing of COP1 results in an increase in p53 protein in epithelial cells. The differentiation and proliferation state of the keratinocytes also influenced the COP1 level in keratinocytes. We could show that UVB-LED treatment is effective for psoriasis. We could show the expression of ABCC4 and ABCG2 transporters in keratinocytes, and we found that efficacy of photodynamic therapy could be increased by the inhibition of ABCG2 transporter. We provided evidences that there are no differencies in the UV response in the epithelial cells derived from the skin or mucosa. The UV induced DNA damage and the capacity of repair mechanisms were also similar in the different epithelial cells. In vivo UV irradiation of intranasal polyps significantly improved the clinical symptoms of the patients, that was due to apoptosis induction in the inflammatory cells. Rhinophototherapy proved to be more effective than fexofenadine hydrochloride in patients with allergic rhinitis. We have found that the rs3761548 polymorphism in the FOXP3 gene is a protective factor for the development of allergic rhinitis