Institution: The Control of Social Perception—Toward a Theory of Minority-Directed Institutional Change

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on March 21, 2016Dissertation advisor: Peter EatonVitaIncludes bibliographical references (pages 156-165)Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Economics and Social Science Consortium. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2015This dissertation seeks to make progress toward a theory of minority-directed institutional change. It begins with a review of research on urban sociology and how, despite tremendous technological and legal change, the fact of institutional racism remains. It then reviews relevant portions of Original Institutional Economics (OIE) thought describing the relationship between individuals and institutions, ending with an OIE theory of institutional change. It then shows how a theory of human psychology, Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) is largely analogous to OIE while also helping to clarify and update some portions of it. Extending PCT into the social realm and combining it with some insights from both neuroscience and network science enables the development of a more complete understanding of institution formation. This helps explain why institutional change is so difficult, why efforts to change institutions must focus on changing social perceptions, and how a powerless minority might more successfully do just that. Though the case studied here is institutional racism, all purposeful social change inevitably begins with those whose opinion is initially in the minority. Therefore, a successful theory of minority-directed institutional change could be applied to a wide variety of other issues, including global climate change and appropriate policy-setting for modern monetary economies, where those recommending potential solutions are actively opposed by entrenched and powerful interests.Introduction -- Review of literature -- Integrating PCT with OIE -- Toward a control theory of minority-directed institutional change -- Summary, conclusion and future researc

Regional expression of HOXA4 along the aorta and its potential role in human abdominal aortic aneurysms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The infrarenal abdominal aorta exhibits increased disease susceptibility relative to other aortic regions. Allograft studies exchanging thoracic and abdominal segments showed that regional susceptibility is maintained regardless of location, suggesting substantial roles for embryological origin, tissue composition and site-specific gene expression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We analyzed gene expression with microarrays in baboon aortas, and found that members of the HOX gene family exhibited spatial expression differences. <it>HOXA4 </it>was chosen for further study, since it had decreased expression in the abdominal compared to the thoracic aorta. Western blot analysis from 24 human aortas demonstrated significantly higher HOXA4 protein levels in thoracic compared to abdominal tissues (<it>P </it>< 0.001). Immunohistochemical staining for HOXA4 showed nuclear and perinuclear staining in endothelial and smooth muscle cells in aorta. The <it>HOXA4 </it>transcript levels were significantly decreased in human abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) compared to age-matched non-aneurysmal controls (<it>P </it>< 0.00004). Cultured human aortic endothelial and smooth muscle cells stimulated with INF-γ (an important inflammatory cytokine in AAA pathogenesis) showed decreased levels of HOXA4 protein (<it>P </it>< 0.0007).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results demonstrated spatial variation in expression of HOXA4 in human aortas that persisted into adulthood and that downregulation of <it>HOXA4 </it>expression was associated with AAAs, an important aortic disease of the ageing population.</p