Gender Differences in Pro-Environmental Behavior Intentions

Previous research has found gender differences in pro-environmental behavior (PEB) performance. Women typically score higher on environmental concern and show stronger inclination to engage in private or domestic PEBs (Tindall et al., 2003) and Allen et al. (2015) found that women are more likely to engage in efficiency upgrade PEBs. However, men show higher prevalence towards performing public PEB (Hunter et al., 2004). The present study recruited 313 Mturk participants. They were randomly assigned to one of six different norm levels. After exposure to a norm level, the experimental groups were provided the opportunity to perform the PEB. Participants then completed measures of environmental attitudes and were asked questions relating to their intention to partake in a list of PEBs in the coming six months. These related to efficiency upgrades, political PEB, home PEB, and travel PEB. We hypothesized that women would be more likely to engage in PEBs relating to home, travel, and efficiency upgrades when compared to men; and that men will be more likely to engage in political PEBs. Results yielded women scoring significantly higher on intention to engage in home PEBs (p \u3c .001) and travel PEBs (p = .016), but no significant difference was found for efficiency upgrades (p = .972) or political PEBs (p = .898). Knowing the tendencies and intentions behind different genders’ PEB performance allows us the opportunity to intervene based on both genders. While recognizing the nature of engagement on specific PEB, we can efficiently promote specific PEB engagement within groups

Examining the Neural Activity of Self-Monitoring Using fNIRS

In social psychology, self-monitoring refers to the way in which individuals regulate the manner in which they present themselves to others. High self-monitors are those who are driven to fit in, and strategically adapt their presentation of self to cultivate a specific image of themselves. Low self-monitors are driven more by their personal values and are less likely to adjust their behaviors situationally. One component of self-monitoring is emotional regulation, where high self-monitors are more adept at regulating the presentation of their emotions, (e.g. concealing and faking them), than low self-monitors. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study how brain activation differs in high and low self-monitors in a self-monitoring task. fNIRS uses two wavelengths of near-infrared light to measure cortical activity by detecting levels of oxygenated hemoglobin. Participants were asked to fill out a self-monitoring questionnaire to determine whether they are high or low self-monitors. Then, while monitoring neural activity with fNIRS, participants viewed a series of positive, neutral, and negative images while completing one of three self-monitoring tasks: inhibiting facial expressions, producing a facial expression consistent with the emotion elicited by the image, and producing an expression inconsistent with the emotion elicited by the image. High self-monitors, being more skilled at emotional regulation, are expected to have an easier time inhibiting facial expressions and producing inconsistent facial expressions in comparison to low self-monitors. We hope to determine the regions of the brain involved with self-monitoring, and to detect any differences between high and low self-monitors while performing this self-monitoring task

Indiana Nonprofit Employment: Trends in Healthcare 1995-2011

Nonprofit organizations make significant contributions to the quality of life for the residents of Indiana. They are also a major force in the state's economy and in the economic health of all regions of the state. In particular, health care nonprofits (e.g., hospitals, outpatient clinics, nursing and group homes for the elderly or people with disabilities, blood banks, etc.) not only provide critical services but also employ a significant number of workers with average wages higher than in most other Indiana industries This report from the Indiana Nonprofits: Scope and Community Dimensions project presents new data on the size, composition, and distribution of paid health care employment in Indiana's private nonprofit sector over the 1995-2011 period. All dollars are adjusted for inflation and are reported in constant 2009 dollars

Microglial Activation Correlates with Disease Progression and Upper Motor Neuron Clinical Symptoms in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

We evaluated clinicopathological correlates of upper motor neuron (UMN) damage in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and analyzed if the presence of the C9ORF72 repeat expansion was associated with alterations in microglial inflammatory activity.Microglial pathology was assessed by IHC with 2 different antibodies (CD68, Iba1), myelin loss by Kluver-Barrera staining and myelin basic protein (MBP) IHC, and axonal loss by neurofilament protein (TA51) IHC, performed on 59 autopsy cases of ALS including 9 cases with C9ORF72 repeat expansion.Microglial pathology as depicted by CD68 and Iba1 was significantly more extensive in the corticospinal tract (CST) of ALS cases with a rapid progression of disease. Cases with C9ORF72 repeat expansion showed more extensive microglial pathology in the medulla and motor cortex which persisted after adjusting for disease duration in a logistic regression model. Higher scores on the clinical UMN scale correlated with increasing microglial pathology in the cervical CST. TDP-43 pathology was more extensive in the motor cortex of cases with rapid progression of disease.This study demonstrates that microglial pathology in the CST of ALS correlates with disease progression and is linked to severity of UMN deficits

Milder Alzheimer\u27s Disease Pathology in Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation

Introduction:Heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) have been associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Whether HF and AF are related to AD by enhancing AD neuropathological changes is unknown. Methods:We applied network analyses and multiple logistic regression models to assess the association between HF and AF with severity of AD neuropathology in patients from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center database with primary neuropathological diagnosis of AD. Results:We included 1593 patients, of whom 129 had HF and 250 had AF. HF and AF patients were older and had milder AD pathology. In the network analyses, HF and AF were associated with milder AD neuropathology. In the regression analyses, age (odds ratio [OR] 0.94, 95

"A man's gonna do what a man wants to do": African American and Hispanic women's perceptions about heterosexual relationships: a qualitative study

Abstract: Background: HIV prevention efforts have given limited attention to the relational schemas and scripts of adult heterosexual women. These broader schemas and scripts of romantic and other sexual liaisons, partner selection, relationship dynamics, and power negotiations may help to better understand facilitators and barriers to HIV risk-reduction practices. Methods: We conducted exploratory qualitative interviews with 60 HIV-uninfected heterosexual African-American women from rural counties in North Carolina and Alabama, and Hispanic women from an urban county in southern Florida. Data were collected for relationship expectations; relationship experiences, and relationship power and decision-making. Interview transcripts underwent computer-assisted thematic analysis. Results: Participants had a median age of 34 years (range 18-59), 34% were married or living as married, 39% earned an annual income of $12,000 or less, 12% held less than a high school education, and 54% were employed. Among the Hispanic women, 95% were foreign born. We identified two overarching relationship themes: contradictions between relationship expectations and desires and life circumstances that negated such ideals, and relationship challenges. Within the contradictions theme, we discovered six subthemes: a good man is hard to find; sex can be currency used to secure desired outcomes; compromises and allowances for cheating, irresponsible, and disrespectful behavior; redefining dating; sex just happens; needing relationship validation. The challenges theme centered on two subthemes: uncertainties and miscommunication, and relationship power negotiation. Gender differences in relationship intentions and desires as well as communication styles, the importance of emotional and financial support, and the potential for relationships to provide disappointment were present in all subthemes. In examining HIV risk perceptions, participants largely held that risk for HIV-infection and the need to take precautions were problems of women who differed from them (i.e., abuse drugs, are promiscuous, exchange sex). Conclusion: Underlying women's relational schemas was a belief that relationship priorities differed for men and women. Consequently, expectations and allowances for partner infidelity and negligent behaviors were incorporated into their scripts. Moreover, scripts endorsed women's use of sex as currency in relationship formation and endurance, and did not emphasize HIV risk. Both couple- and gender-specific group-level interventions are needed to deconstruct (breakdown) and reconstruct (rewrite) relationship scripts

Phase Variation in HMW1A Controls a Phenotypic Switch in Haemophilus influenzae Associated with Pathoadaptation during Persistent Infection

Genetic variants arising from within-patient evolution shed light on bacterial adaptation during chronic infection. Contingency loci generate high levels of genetic variation in bacterial genomes, enabling adaptation to the stringent selective pressures exerted by the host. A significant gap in our understanding of phase-variable contingency loci is the extent of their contribution to natural infections. The human-adapted pathogen nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) causes persistent infections, which contribute to underlying disease progression. The phase-variable high-molecular-weight (HMW) adhesins located on the NTHi surface mediate adherence to respiratory epithelial cells and, depending on the allelic variant, can also confer high epithelial invasiveness or hyperinvasion. In this study, we characterize the dynamics of HMW-mediated hyperinvasion in living cells and identify a specific HMW binding domain shared by hyperinvasive NTHi isolates of distinct pathological origins. Moreover, we observed that HMW expression decreased over time by using a longitudinal set of persistent NTHi strains collected from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, resulting from increased numbers of simple-sequence repeats (SSRs) downstream of the functional P2hmw1A promoter, which is the one primarily driving HMW expression. Notably, the increased SSR numbers at the hmw1 promoter region also control a phenotypic switch toward lower bacterial intracellular invasion and higher biofilm formation, likely conferring adaptive advantages during chronic airway infection by NTHi. Overall, we reveal novel molecular mechanisms of NTHi pathoadaptation based on within-patient lifestyle switching controlled by phase variation. IMPORTANCE Human-adapted bacterial pathogens have evolved specific mechanisms to colonize their host niche. Phase variation is a contingency strategy to allow adaptation to changing conditions, as phase-variable bacterial loci rapidly and reversibly switch their expression. Several NTHi adhesins are phase variable. These adhesins are required for colonization but also immunogenic, in such a way that bacteria with lower adhesin levels are better equipped to survive an immune response, making their contribution to natural infections unclear. We show here that the major NTHi adhesin HMW1A displays allelic variation, which can drive a phase-variable epithelial hyperinvasion phenotype. Over time, hmw1A phase variation lowers adhesin expression, which controls an NTHi lifestyle switch from high epithelial invasiveness to lower invasion and higher biofilm formation. This reversible loss of function aligns with the previously stated notion that epithelial infection is essential for NTHi infection establishment, but once established, persistence favors gene inactivation, in this case facilitating biofilm growth

Neuropathological consensus criteria for the evaluation of Lewy pathology in post-mortem brains: a multi-centre study

Currently, the neuropathological diagnosis of Lewy body disease (LBD) may be stated according to several staging systems, which include the Braak Lewy body stages (Braak), the consensus criteria by McKeith and colleagues (McKeith), the modified McKeith system by Leverenz and colleagues (Leverenz), and the Unified Staging System by Beach and colleagues (Beach). All of these systems use semi-quantitative scoring (4- or 5-tier scales) of Lewy pathology (LP; i.e., Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites) in defined cortical and subcortical areas. While these systems are widely used, some suffer from low inter-rater reliability and/or an inability to unequivocally classify all cases with LP. To address these limitations, we devised a new system, the LP consensus criteria (LPC), which is based on the McKeith system, but applies a dichotomous approach for the scoring of LP (i.e., “absent” vs. “present”) and includes amygdala-predominant and olfactory-only stages. α-Synuclein-stained slides from brainstem, limbic system, neocortex, and olfactory bulb from a total of 34 cases with LP provided by the Newcastle Brain Tissue Resource (NBTR) and the University of Pennsylvania brain bank (UPBB) were scanned and assessed by 16 raters, who provided diagnostic categories for each case according to Braak, McKeith, Leverenz, Beach, and LPC systems. In addition, using LP scores available from neuropathological reports of LP cases from UPBB (n = 202) and NBTR (n = 134), JT (UPBB) and JA (NBTR) assigned categories according to all staging systems to these cases. McKeith, Leverenz, and LPC systems reached good (Krippendorff’s α ≈ 0.6), while both Braak and Beach systems had lower (Krippendorff’s α ≈ 0.4) inter-rater reliability, respectively. Using the LPC system, all cases could be unequivocally classified by the majority of raters, which was also seen for 97.1% when the Beach system was used. However, a considerable proportion of cases could not be classified when using Leverenz (11.8%), McKeith (26.5%), or Braak (29.4%) systems. The category of neocortical LP according to the LPC system was associated with a 5.9 OR (p < 0.0001) of dementia in the 134 NBTR cases and a 3.14 OR (p = 0.0001) in the 202 UPBB cases. We established that the LPC system has good reproducibility and allows classification of all cases into distinct categories. We expect that it will be reliable and useful in routine diagnostic practice and, therefore, suggest that it should be the standard future approach for the basic post-mortem evaluation of LP

TMEM106B is a genetic modifier of frontotemporal lobar degeneration with C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansions

Hexanucleotide repeat expansions in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72) have recently been linked to frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and may be the most common genetic cause of both neurodegenerative diseases. Genetic variants at TMEM106B influence risk for the most common neuropathological subtype of FTLD, characterized by inclusions of TAR DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (FTLD-TDP). Previous reports have shown that TMEM106B is a genetic modifier of FTLD-TDP caused by progranulin (GRN) mutations, with the major (risk) allele of rs1990622 associating with earlier age at onset of disease. Here, we report that rs1990622 genotype affects age at death in a single-site discovery cohort of FTLD patients with C9orf72 expansions (n = 14), with the major allele correlated with later age at death (p = 0.024). We replicate this modifier effect in a 30-site international neuropathological cohort of FTLD-TDP patients with C9orf72 expansions (n = 75), again finding that the major allele associates with later age at death (p = 0.016), as well as later age at onset (p = 0.019). In contrast, TMEM106B genotype does not affect age at onset or death in 241 FTLD-TDP cases negative for GRN mutations or C9orf72 expansions. Thus, TMEM106B is a genetic modifier of FTLD with C9orf72 expansions. Intriguingly, the genotype that confers increased risk for developing FTLD-TDP (major, or T, allele of rs1990622) is associated with later age at onset and death in C9orf72 expansion carriers, providing an example of sign epistasis in human neurodegenerative disease