Vicarious Shame and Guilt

Participants recalled instances when they felt vicariously ashamed or guilty for another’s wrongdoing and rated their appraisals of the event and resulting motivations. The study tested aspects of social association that uniquely predict vicarious shame and guilt. Results suggest that the experience of vicarious shame and vicarious guilt are distinguishable. Vicarious guilt was predicted by one’s perceived interdependence with the wrongdoer (e.g. high interpersonal interaction), an appraisal of control over the event, and a motivation to repair the other person’s wrongdoing. Vicarious shame was predicted by the relevance of the event to a shared social identity with the wrongdoer, an appraisal of self-image threat, and a motivation to distance from the event. Implications for intergroup behavior and emotion are discussed

Variation of malaria transmission and morbidity with altitude in Tanzania and with introduction of alphacypermethrin treated nets

BACKGROUND: Highland areas with naturally less intense malaria transmission may provide models of how lowland areas might become if transmission was permanently reduced by sustained vector control. It has been argued that vector control should not be attempted in areas of intense transmission. METHODS: Mosquitoes were sampled with light traps, pyrethrum spray and window exit traps. They were tested by ELISA for sporozoites. Incidence of malaria infection was measured by clearing existing infections from children with chlorproguanil-dapsone and then taking weekly blood samples. Prevalence of malaria infection and fever, anaemia and splenomegaly were measured in children of different age groups. All these measurements were made in highland and lowland areas of Tanzania before and after provision of bednets treated with alphacypermethrin. RESULTS: Entomological inoculation rates (EIR) were about 17 times greater in a lowland than a highland area, but incidence of infection only differed by about 2.5 times. Malaria morbidity was significantly less prevalent in the highlands than the lowlands. Treated nets in the highlands and lowlands led to 69–75% reduction in EIR. Malaria morbidity showed significant decline in younger children at both altitudes after introduction of treated nets. In children aged 6–12 the decline was only significant in the highlands CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence that the health benefits to young children due to the nets in the lowlands were "paid for" by poorer health later in life. Our data support the idea of universal provision of treated nets, not a focus on areas of natural hypo-endemicity

Thermally reactive N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) amphiphiles for drug solubilisation

Thermally active polymers, can respond structurally to temperature changes, making them interesting as potential drug delivery vehicles. Polymers of N-(3-aminopropyl) methacrylamide hydrochloride (APMA) are cationic with primary amine groups in their structure, which have been explored in biomedical applications via post-polymerisation modifications. In this work, we synthesised amphiphilic APMA monomers using hydrophobic pendant groups via conjugation onto their primary amine group. The pendant groups chosen in this study were palmitoyl, dansyl and cholesteryl moieties. The amphiphilic monomers were subsequently copolymerized with N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide (HPMA) using varied monomer feed ratios resulting in a thermo-responsive system. The ability of the resultant aggregates in aqueous solution to encapsulate and liberate model drugs (e.g., propofol, griseofulvin and prednisolone) was then determined. Our data showed that the HPMA based formulations were capable of loading the model drug molecules inside their lipophilic core; HPMA-co-(APMA-Dansyl 2%) exhibited the largest drug encapsulation ability. Subsequently, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was incorporated into the intrinsic polymer structure. This resulted in a more rapid drug release profile, whereby 100% of griseofulvin and prednisolone were liberated after only 4 h, which was only 5% and 10% before the PEG inclusion, respectively. Similarly, propofol showed 70% liberation from the polymer aggregate after 24 h, compared with only 30% liberation pre-PEGylation. These studies give an insight into the potential of the HMPA based amphiphiles as thermally responsive cargo carrier/release systems which could be exploited in the delivery of poorly soluble drugs

Metastability of solitary roll wave solutions of the St. Venant equations with viscosity

We study by a combination of numerical and analytical Evans function techniques the stability of solitary wave solutions of the St. Venant equations for viscous shallow-water flow down an incline, and related models. Our main result is to exhibit examples of metastable solitary waves for the St. Venant equations, with stable point spectrum indicating coherence of the wave profile but unstable essential spectrum indicating oscillatory convective instabilities shed in its wake. We propose a mechanism based on ``dynamic spectrum'' of the wave profile, by which a wave train of solitary pulses can stabilize each other by de-amplification of convective instabilities as they pass through successive waves. We present numerical time evolution studies supporting these conclusions, which bear also on the possibility of stable periodic solutions close to the homoclinic. For the closely related viscous Jin-Xin model, by contrast, for which the essential spectrum is stable, we show using the stability index of Gardner--Zumbrun that solitary wave pulses are always exponentially unstable, possessing point spectra with positive real part.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figure

The correlation between reading and mathematics ability at age twelve has a substantial genetic component

Dissecting how genetic and environmental influences impact on learning is helpful for maximizing numeracy and literacy. Here we show, using twin and genome-wide analysis, that there is a substantial genetic component to children’s ability in reading and mathematics, and estimate that around one half of the observed correlation in these traits is due to shared genetic effects (so-called Generalist Genes). Thus, our results highlight the potential role of the learning environment in contributing to differences in a child’s cognitive abilities at age twelve

Genome-wide association study of esophageal squamous cell cancer identifies shared and distinct risk variants in African and Chinese populations

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has a high disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa and has a very poor prognosis. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of ESCC in predominantly East Asian populations indicate a substantial genetic contribution to its etiology, but no genome-wide studies have been done in populations of African ancestry. Here, we report a GWAS in 1,686 African individuals with ESCC and 3,217 population-matched control individuals to investigate its genetic etiology. We identified a genome-wide-significant risk locus on chromosome 9 upstream of FAM120A (rs12379660, p = 4.58 × 10−8, odds ratio = 1.28, 95% confidence interval = 1.22–1.34), as well as a potential African-specific risk locus on chromosome 2 (rs142741123, p = 5.49 × 10−8) within MYO1B. FAM120A is a component of oxidative stress-induced survival signals, and the associated variants at the FAM120A locus co-localized with highly significant cis-eQTLs in FAM120AOS in both esophageal mucosa and esophageal muscularis tissue. A trans-ethnic meta-analysis was then performed with the African ESCC study and a Chinese ESCC study in a combined total of 3,699 ESCC-affected individuals and 5,918 control individuals, which identified three genome-wide-significant loci on chromosome 9 at FAM120A (rs12379660, pmeta = 9.36 × 10−10), chromosome 10 at PLCE1 (rs7099485, pmeta = 1.48 × 10−8), and chromosome 22 at CHEK2 (rs1033667, pmeta = 1.47 × 10−9). This indicates the existence of both shared and distinct genetic risk loci for ESCC in African and Asian populations. Our GWAS of ESCC conducted in a population of African ancestry indicates a substantial genetic contribution to ESCC risk in Africa

Tribocorrosion behavior of beta titanium biomedical alloys in phosphate buffer saline solution

[EN] The tribo-electrochemical behavior of different β titanium alloys for biomedical applications sintered by powder metallurgy has been investigated. Different mechanical, electrochemical and optical techniques were used to study the influence of the chemical composition, Sn content, and the electrochemical conditions on the tribocorrosion behavior of those alloys Ti30NbxSn alloys (where x is the weight percentage of Sn content, 2% and 4%). Sn content increases the active and passive dissolution rate of the titanium alloys, thus increasing the mechanically activated corrosion under tribocorrosion conditions. It also increases the mechanical wear of the alloy. Prevailing electrochemical conditions between 1 and 2 V influences the wear accelerated corrosion by increasing it with the applied potential and slightly increases the mechanical wear of Ti30Nb4Sn. Wear accelerated corrosion can be predicted by existing models as a function of electrochemical and mechanical parameters of the titanium alloys.The authors would like to thank the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of the Spanish government for the financial support under the project MAT2011-22481.Guiñón Pina, V.; Dalmau, A.; Devesa, F.; Amigó Borrás, V.; Igual Muñoz, AN. (2015). Tribocorrosion behavior of beta titanium biomedical alloys in phosphate buffer saline solution. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. 46:59-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2015.02.016S59684

Systemic hormonal and physiological abnormalities in anxiety disorders

Among the studies of systemic hormonal and physiological abnormalities associated with anxiety disorders, the most consistent and extensive findings suggest (a) peripheral adrenergic hyperactivity (including increases in norepinephrine but not epinephrine) and functional dysregulation, (b) increased incidence of mitral valve prolapse in panic patients, and (c) normal suppressibility of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortical endocrine system with dexamethasone in panic patients. Other less-certain findings include (a) increased circulating concentrations of plasma ACTH and/or cortisol, and prolactin, in panic patients, (b) increased platelet monoamine oxidase activity in generalized anxiety and/or panic patients, (c) decreased gonadal axis activity in some anxious individuals, (d) decreased nighttime melatonin plasma concentrations in panic patients, and (e) peripheral [alpha]2 and [beta]-adrenoreceptor down-regulation, with normal serotonin binding parameters. These findings, taken together, provide tentative support for dysfunction in adrenergic and GABAergic central nervous system mechanisms in people with anxiety disorders. Abnormal anxiety and normal stress both show evidence of adrenergic hyperactivity; however, there appear to be differences in hormonal profiles, especially the apparent lack of increase of epinephrine during panic attacks, as well as differences in the reactivity of the system, and in the "trigger" mechanisms which determine when the response occurs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27526/1/0000570.pd

Urinary catecholamines and mitral valve prolapse in panic-anxiety patients

Free norepinephrine and epinephrine were measured in two consecutive 12-hour urine collections gathered during normal activity and sleep from 23 panic-anxiety patients and 9 normal subjects. Mitral value prolapse (MVP) was found in 7 of 20 patients who had echocardiograms. Mean nighttime norepinephrine and epinephrine excretion in panic-anxiety patients without MVP was significantly higher than that of control subjects, and was significantly higher than that of anxiety patients with MVP. In the daytime, all groups had higher catecholamine (CA) levels, but the differences between the groups were less pronounced. Medication significantly relieved symptoms and was associated with decreased CA levels. Elevated basal CA levels may characterize the subgroup of panic-anxiety patients who do not have MVP.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25817/1/0000380.pd