The Cerebellum and SIDS: Disordered Breathing in a Mouse Model of Developmental Cerebellar Purkinje Cell Loss during Recovery from Hypercarbia.

The cerebellum assists coordination of somatomotor, respiratory, and autonomic actions. Purkinje cell alterations or loss appear in sudden infant death and sudden death in epilepsy victims, possibly contributing to the fatal event. We evaluated breathing patterns in 12 wild-type (WT) and Lurcher mutant mice with 100% developmental cerebellar Purkinje cell loss under baseline (room air), and recovery from hypercapnia, a concern in sudden death events. Six mutant and six WT mice were exposed to 4-min blocks of increasing CO2 (2, 4, 6, and 8%), separated by 4-min recovery intervals in room air. Breath-by-breath patterns, including depth of breathing and end-expiratory pause (EEP) durations during recovery, were recorded. No baseline genotypic differences emerged. However, during recovery, EEP durations significantly lengthened in mutants, compared to WT mice, following the relatively low levels of CO2 exposure. Additionally, mutant mice exhibited signs of post-sigh disordered breathing during recovery following each exposure. Developmental cerebellar Purkinje cell loss significantly affects compensatory breathing patterns following mild CO2 exposure, possibly by inhibiting recovery from elevated CO2. These data implicate cerebellar Purkinje cells in the ability to recover from hypercarbia, suggesting that neuropathologic changes or loss of these cells contribute to inadequate ventilatory recovery to increased environmental CO2. Multiple disorders, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), appear to involve both cardiorespiratory failure and loss or injury to cerebellar Purkinje cells; the findings support the concept that such neuropathology may precede and exert a prominent role in these fatal events

Rape and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Examining the Mediating Role of Explicit Sex-Power Beliefs for Men Versus Women

Many rape survivors exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and recent literature suggests survivors\u27 beliefs about sex and control may affect PTSD symptoms. The present study examined beliefs about sex and power as potential mediators of the relationship between rape and PTSD symptoms for men versus women. Participants (N = 782) reported lifetime history of rape, current PTSD symptoms, and beliefs about sex and power. Women reported higher levels of lifetime history of rape than men (19.7% for women; 9.7% for men). While rape history predicted PTSD symptoms for both genders, beliefs about sex and power were shown to be a significant partial mediator of this relationship for men, but not for women. Results extend the literature on rape and PTSD by suggesting that survivors\u27 beliefs about sex and power are connected and can affect their PTSD symptoms. Additionally, results illustrate how sexual violence against men may reaffirm male gender roles that entail power and aggression, and ultimately affect trauma recovery

Performance Evaluation of Global Reading of Entire Databases

Using simulation and probabilistic analysis, we study the performance of an algorithm to read entire databases with locking concurrency control allowing multiple readers or an exclusive writer. The algorithm runs concurrently with the normal transaction processing (on-the-fly) and locks the entities in the database one by one (incremental). The analysis compares different strategies to resolve the conflicts between the global read algorithm and update. Since the algorithm is parallel in nature, its interference with normal transactions is minimized in parallel and distributed databases. A simulation study shows that one variant of the algorithm can read the entire database with very little overhead and interference with the updates

Valued Redundancy

Replicated objects increase distributed system performance and availability. An object is more valuable to the system if it contributes more to system performance (e.g. it is frequently accessed) and availability. Similarly, an object is less valuable if it is expensive to maintain (e.g. it is a large object). By replicating only the most valuable objects we use redundancy to maximize system performance and availability a t low cost. A simulation study of a distributed main-memory database shows substantial performance and availability gains with valued redundancy

The elusiveness of progressive masculinity: Gender differences in conceptualizations of nontraditional gender roles

Traditional masculinity has been thoroughly explored in psychological research, but its counterpart, progressive masculinity, has undergone relatively little scientific investigation. To determine whether this lack of attention to or understanding of progressive masculinity is mirrored more largely in mainstream culture, we examined how men and women conceptualize and experience gender roles in their everyday lives. Participants were randomly assigned to describe a time in which they had behaved either traditionally or progressively with regard to their gender. Over 80% of men and women in the traditional condition and women in the progressive condition provided condition-appropriate examples. However, men in the progressive condition only provided progressive examples 17% of the time, suggesting that many men may not have an understanding of progressive masculinity. Additional themes, implications, and directions for research on progressive masculinity are discusse

Social Problems are Social: Empirical Evidence and Reflections on Integrating Community Psychology into Traditional Curriculum

The paper will describe the development and impact of a course that exemplifies the principles and values of community psychology, but does so outside the bounds of a community psychology program or concentration in a large, diverse, public university. The class, Community Engagement for Social Change, has two aims: to teach undergraduates that social problems have social causes, and to engage students in a range of social problem-solving approaches that incorporate that understanding. It accomplishes these aims by introducing a “multi-level analysis” of social problems, using a case study of the social problem of poverty, and requiring that all students complete 20 hours of service in community organizations. The development of the class required strategic thinking and significant retooling in order to attract and promote learning across a broad range of students. It has now been offered each semester for seven years, and has evolved into an opportunity for the first author and her graduate students to integrate social justice-oriented teaching and research. For the past three years, the authors have been engaged in a longitudinal project evaluating the impact of the class on student outcomes. This paper provides an overview of this course, and describes lessons learned from two sources: (1) the experience of teaching and refining the class, and (2) the longitudinal dataset collected from students who did and did not take the course. Data show that the class is effective in shifting attitudes both specific to poverty and more generally to social problems. Results also show that implicit bias did not shift over the course of the semester, and that individual and systemic attributions for social problems are only moderately related. We hope that sharing our experience is useful to those interested in similar coursework in other institutions that lack an explicit focus on community psychology

Social Problems are Social: Empirical Evidence and Reflections on Integrating Community Psychology into Traditional Curriculum

The paper will describe the development and impact of a course that exemplifies the principles and values of community psychology, but does so outside the bounds of a community psychology program or concentration in a large, diverse, public university. The class, Community Engagement for Social Change, has two aims: to teach undergraduates that social problems have social causes, and to engage students in a range of social problem-solving approaches that incorporate that understanding. It accomplishes these aims by introducing a “multi-level analysis” of social problems, using a case study of the social problem of poverty, and requiring that all students complete 20 hours of service in community organizations. The development of the class required strategic thinking and significant retooling in order to attract and promote learning across a broad range of students. It has now been offered each semester for seven years, and has evolved into an opportunity for the first author and her graduate students to integrate social justice-oriented teaching and research. For the past three years, the authors have been engaged in a longitudinal project evaluating the impact of the class on student outcomes. This paper provides an overview of this course, and describes lessons learned from two sources: (1) the experience of teaching and refining the class, and (2) the longitudinal dataset collected from students who did and did not take the course. Data show that the class is effective in shifting attitudes both specific to poverty and more generally to social problems. Results also show that implicit bias did not shift over the course of the semester, and that individual and systemic attributions for social problems are only moderately related. We hope that sharing our experience is useful to those interested in similar coursework in other institutions that lack an explicit focus on community psychology

Prevalence of micronutrient deficiency in popular diet plans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research has shown micronutrient deficiency to be scientifically linked to a higher risk of overweight/obesity and other dangerous and debilitating diseases. With more than two-thirds of the U.S. population overweight or obese, and research showing that one-third are on a diet at any given time, a need existed to determine whether current popular diet plans could protect followers from micronutrient deficiency by providing the minimum levels of 27 micronutrients, as determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) Reference Daily Intake (RDI) guidelines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Suggested daily menus from four popular diet plans (<it>Atkins for Life </it>diet, <it>The South Beach Diet</it>, <it>the DASH diet</it>, <it>the DASH diet</it>) were evaluated. Calorie and micronutrient content of each ingredient, in each meal, were determined by using food composition data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. The results were evaluated for sufficiency and total calories and deficient micronutrients were identified. The diet plans that did not meet 100% sufficiency by RDI guidelines for each of the 27 micronutrients were re-analyzed; (1) to identify a micronutrient sufficient calorie intake for all 27 micronutrients, and (2) to identify a second micronutrient sufficient calorie intake when consistently low or nonexistent micronutrients were removed from the sufficiency requirement.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analysis determined that each of the four popular diet plans failed to provide minimum RDI sufficiency for all 27 micronutrients analyzed. The four diet plans, on average, were found to be RDI sufficient in (11.75 ± 2.02; mean ± SEM) of the analyzed 27 micronutrients and contain (1748.25 ± 209.57) kcal. Further analysis of the four diets found that an average calorie intake of (27,575 ± 4660.72) would be required to achieve sufficiency in all 27 micronutrients. Six micronutrients (vitamin B7, vitamin D, vitamin E, chromium, iodine and molybdenum) were identified as consistently low or nonexistent in all four diet plans. These six micronutrients were removed from the sufficiency requirement and additional analysis of the four diets was conducted. It was determined that an average calorie content of (3,475 ± 543.81) would be required to reach 100% sufficiency in the remaining 21 micronutrients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings are significant and indicate that an individual following a popular diet plan as suggested, with food alone, has a high likelihood of becoming micronutrient deficient; a state shown to be scientifically linked to an increased risk for many dangerous and debilitating health conditions and diseases.</p

Highly Differentiated Human Fetal RPE Cultures Are Resistant to the Accumulation and Toxicity of Lipofuscin-Like Material

PURPOSE. The accumulation of undigestible autofluorescent material (UAM), termed lipofuscin in vivo, is a hallmark of aged RPE. Lipofuscin derives, in part, from the incomplete degradation of phagocytized photoreceptor outer segments (OS). Whether this accumulated waste is toxic is unclear. We therefore investigated the effects of UAM in highly differentiated human fetal RPE (hfRPE) cultures. METHODS. Unmodified and photo-oxidized OS were fed daily to confluent cultures of ARPE-19 RPE or hfRPE. The emission spectrum, composition, and morphology of resulting UAM were measured and compared to in vivo lipofuscin. Effects of UAM on multiple RPE phenotypes were assessed. RESULTS. Compared to ARPE-19, hfRPE were markedly less susceptible to UAM buildup. Accumulated UAM in hfRPE initially resembled the morphology of lipofuscin from AMD eyes, but compacted and shifted spectrum over time to resemble lipofuscin from healthy aged human RPE. UAM accumulation mildly reduced transepithelial electrical resistance, ketogenesis, certain RPE differentiation markers, and phagocytosis efficiency, while inducing senescence and rare, focal pockets of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. However, it had no effects on mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate, certain other RPE differentiation markers, secretion of drusen components or polarity markers, nor cell death. CONCLUSIONS. hfRPE demonstrates a remarkable resistance to UAM accumulation, suggesting mechanisms for efficient OS processing that may be lost in other RPE culture models. Furthermore, while UAM alters hfRPE phenotype, the effects are modest, consistent with conflicting reports in the literature on the toxicity of lipofuscin. Our results suggest that healthy RPE may adequately adapt to and tolerate lipofuscin accumulation

Weight Loss after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass in Obese Patients Heterozygous for MC4R Mutations

BackgroundHeterozygous mutations in melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) are the most frequent genetic cause of obesity. Bariatric surgery is a successful treatment for severe obesity. The mechanisms of weight loss after bariatric surgery are not well understood.MethodsNinety-two patients who had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery were screened for MC4R mutations. We compared percent excess weight loss (%EWL) in the four MC4R mutation carriers with that of two control groups: 8 matched controls and with the remaining 80 patients who underwent RYGB.ResultsFour patients were heterozygous for functionally significant MC4R mutations. In patients with MC4R mutations, the %EWL after RYGB (66% EWL) was not significantly different compared to matched controls (70% EWL) and non-matched controls (60% EWL) after 1 year of follow-up.ConclusionsThis study suggests that patients with heterozygous MC4R mutations also benefit from RYGB and that weight loss may be independent of the presence of such mutations