Talk to Your Doctor: A Rhetorical Analysis of Burkean Identification in Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertisements

In this article, we use rhetorical criticism as a research method to apply Burkean identification to four direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical television commercials, suggesting that the commercials create a state of consubstantiality with the audience. The identification strategies of common ground, the assumed “we” through the use of the word “you,” and dissociation are utilized in these commercials to inspire consumers to initiate a conversation with their doctor about their healthcare needs. Based on the success direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements have had with inspiring patients to engage in a dialogue with healthcare providers, Burkean identification could have significant implications when used in other areas of health communication studies, particularly in regards to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications of Burkean identification to health campaigns could increase their effectiveness and cause patient-consumers to be more receptive to the messages being presented

Herkunftsvergleiche von Legehennen in Station und Feld unter besonderer Berücksichtigung ökologischer Haltungsverfahren

Der Beitrag beschreibt die Bedingungen von Legeleistungsprüfungen in Deutschland mit Bezug auf Genotyp Umwelt-Interaktionen. Außerdem werden die Besonderheiten der Eierproduktion auf ökologischer Basis herausgestellt. Daraus werden Anregungen für ein Konzept einer zukünftigen Feldprüfung von Legehennen erarbeitet. In Deutschland werden keine offiziellen Legeleistungsprüfungen der Länder mehr durchgeführt. Unabhängige Leistungsinformationen aus Herkunftsvergleichen stehen daher nur aus einzelnen Prüfungen (LfL Bayern, 2006) zur Verfügung. Interaktionen zwischen Legehennenherkünften und unterschiedlichen Haltungssystemen sind nach Literaturangaben gut belegt. Für die Ökoproduktion von Eiern ist aufgrund der produktionstechnischen Unterschiede zur konventionellen Produktion ebenfalls mit solchen Wechselwirkungen zu rechnen. Deshalb braucht die ökologische Eierproduktion eine Leistungsprüfung, die auf die speziellen Produktionsbedingungen abgestimmt ist. Die Entwicklung eines Feldtests für Legehennen in ökologischer Haltung kann daher ein Weg sein, das gegenwärtige Informationsdefizit der Landwirte über die Leistung und das Verhalten erhältlicher Zuchtprodukte unter Öko-Bedingungen zu verringern. Das Konzept muss eine praktikable Datenerfassung gewährleisten. Ein geeignetes und kostengünstig durchführbares Versuchsdesign zur Ermittlung der durchschnittlichen Eignung von Legehennenherkünften für die ökologische Haltung muss dazu entwickelt werden

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease-associated mutants of GDAP1 dissociate its roles in peroxisomal and mitochondrial fission

Journal ArticleCopyright © 2013 European Molecular Biology OrganizationMitochondria and peroxisomes can be fragmented by the process of fission. The fission machineries of both organelles share a set of proteins. GDAP1 is a tail-anchored protein of mitochondria and induces mitochondrial fragmentation. Mutations in GDAP1 lead to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), an inherited peripheral neuropathy, and affect mitochondrial dynamics. Here, we show that GDAP1 is also targeted to peroxisomes mediated by the import receptor Pex19. Knockdown of GDAP1 leads to peroxisomal elongation that can be rescued by re-expressing GDAP1 and by missense mutated forms found in CMT patients. GDAP1-induced peroxisomal fission is dependent on the integrity of its hydrophobic domain 1, and on Drp1 and Mff, as is mitochondrial fission. Thus, GDAP1 regulates mitochondrial and peroxisomal fission by a similar mechanism. However, our results reveal also a more critical role of the amino-terminal GDAP1 domains, carrying most CMT-causing mutations, in the regulation of mitochondrial compared to peroxisomal fission. © 2013 European Molecular Biology Organization.Swiss National Science FoundationNational Center for Competence in Research (NCCR)BBSRCPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)Fundo Europeu De Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER

Optical differentiation between cashmere and other textile fibres by laser diffraction

This paper reports a novel method to differentiate cashmere from synthetic fibres and even from other wool fibres with the help of laser diffraction patterns. In the diffraction pattern, only natural fibres depict additional spots above and below the actual diffraction plane. These spots can be used to distinguish different fibre materials by comparing their length-to-height aspect ratio with standard values. Especially, it can be recognized that the diffraction lines above and below the diffraction plane are significantly longer and finer for cashmere fibres than for any other wool

Grassmann-Gaussian integrals and generalized star products

In quantum scattering on networks there is a non-linear composition rule for on-shell scattering matrices which serves as a replacement for the multiplicative rule of transfer matrices valid in other physical contexts. In this article, we show how this composition rule is obtained using Berezin integration theory with Grassmann variables.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures. In memory of Al.B. Zamolodichiko

Positronic lithium, an electronically stable Li-e+^+ ground state

Calculations of the positron-Li system were performed using the Stochastic Variational Method and yielded a minimum energy of -7.53208 Hartree for the L=0 ground state. Unlike previous calculations of this system, the system was found to be stable against dissociation into the Ps + Li$^+$ channel with a binding energy of 0.00217 Hartree and is therefore electronically stable. This is the first instance of a rigorous calculation predicting that it is possible to combine a positron with a neutral atom and form an electronically stable bound state.Comment: 11 pages, 2 tables. To be published in Phys.Rev.Let

Dissection of the Adult Zebrafish Kidney

Researchers working in the burgeoning field of adult stem cell biology seek to understand the signals that regulate the behavior and function of stem cells during normal homeostasis and disease states. The understanding of adult stem cells has broad reaching implications for the future of regenerative medicine1. For example, better knowledge about adult stem cell biology can facilitate the design of therapeutic strategies in which organs are triggered to heal themselves or even the creation of methods for growing organs in vitro that can be transplanted into humans1. The zebrafish has become a powerful animal model for the study of vertebrate cell biology2. There has been extensive documentation and analysis of embryonic development in the zebrafish3. Only recently have scientists sought to document adult anatomy and surgical dissection techniques4, as there has been a progressive movement within the zebrafish community to broaden the applications of this research organism to adult studies. For example, there are expanding interests in using zebrafish to investigate the biology of adult stem cell populations and make sophisticated adult models of diseases such as cancer5. Historically, isolation of the zebrafish adult kidney has been instrumental for studying hematopoiesis, as the kidney is the anatomical location of blood cell production in fish6,7. The kidney is composed of nephron functional units found in arborized arrangements, surrounded by hematopoietic tissue that is dispersed throughout the intervening spaces. The hematopoietic component consists of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and their progeny that inhabit the kidney until they terminally differentiate8. In addition, it is now appreciated that a group of renal stem/progenitor cells (RPCs) also inhabit the zebrafish kidney organ and enable both kidney regeneration and growth, as observed in other fish species9-11. In light of this new discovery, the zebrafish kidney is one organ that houses the location of two exciting opportunities for adult stem cell biology studies. It is clear that many outstanding questions could be well served with this experimental system. To encourage expansion of this field, it is beneficial to document detailed methods of visualizing and then isolating the adult zebrafish kidney organ. This protocol details our procedure for dissection of the adult kidney from both unfixed and fixed animals. Dissection of the kidney organ can be used to isolate and characterize hematopoietic and renal stem cells and their offspring using established techniques such as histology, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)11,12, expression profiling13,14, and transplantation11,15. We hope that dissemination of this protocol will provide researchers with the knowledge to implement broader use of zebrafish studies that ultimately can be translated for human application

Comparing crude oils with different API gravities on a molecular level using mass spectrometric analysis. Part 2: resins and asphaltenes

FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOThe combination of fractionation methods for crude oils, such as saturate, aromatic, resin and asphaltene (SARA) fractionation, in combination with analysis by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) has been used for reduc1110FAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULOFAPESP - FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO2013/19161-42015/05818-

Inducible DNA breaks in Ig S regions are dependent on AID and UNG

Class switch recombination (CSR) occurs by an intrachromosomal deletion whereby the IgM constant region gene (Cμ) is replaced by a downstream constant region gene. This unique recombination event involves formation of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in immunoglobulin switch (S) regions, and requires activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), which converts cytosines to uracils. Repair of the uracils is proposed to lead to DNA breaks required for recombination. Uracil DNA glycosylase (UNG) is required for most CSR activity although its role is disputed. Here we use ligation-mediated PCR to detect DSBs in S regions in splenic B cells undergoing CSR. We find that the kinetics of DSB induction corresponds with AID expression, and that DSBs are AID- and UNG-dependent and occur preferentially at G:C basepairs in WRC/GYW AID hotspots. Our results indicate that AID attacks cytosines on both DNA strands, and staggered breaks are processed to blunt DSBs at the initiating ss break sites. We propose a model to explain the types of end-processing events observed

Time-Dependent Physicochemical Changes of Carbonate Surfaces from SmartWater (Diluted Seawater) Flooding Processes for Improved Oil Recovery.

Over the past few decades, field- and laboratory-scale studies have shown enhancements in oil recovery when reservoirs, which contain high-salinity formation water (FW), are waterflooded with modified-salinity salt water (widely referred to as the low-salinity, dilution, or SmartWater effect for improved oil recovery). In this study, we investigated the time dependence of the physicochemical processes that occur during diluted seawater (i.e., SmartWater) waterflooding processes of specific relevance to carbonate oil reservoirs. We measured the changes to oil/water/rock wettability, surface roughness, and surface chemical composition during SmartWater flooding using 10-fold-diluted seawater under mimicked oil reservoir conditions with calcite and carbonate reservoir rocks. Distinct effects due to SmartWater flooding were observed and found to occur on two different timescales: (1) a rapid (<15 min) increase in the colloidal electrostatic double-layer repulsion between the rock and oil across the SmartWater, leading to a decreased oil/water/rock adhesion energy and thus increased water wetness and (2) slower (>12 h to complete) physicochemical changes of the calcite and carbonate reservoir rock surfaces, including surface roughening via the dissolution of rock and the reprecipitation of dissolved carbonate species after exchanging key ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, CO32-, and SO42- in carbonates) with those in the flooding SmartWater. Our experiments using crude oil from a carbonate reservoir reveal that these reservoir rock surfaces are covered with organic-ionic preadsorbed films (ad-layers), which the SmartWater removes (detaches) as flakes. Removal of the organic-ionic ad-layers by SmartWater flooding enhances oil release from the surfaces, which was found to be critical to increasing the water wetness and significantly improving oil removal from carbonates. Additionally, the increase in water wetness is further enhanced by roughening of the rock surfaces, which decreases the effective contact (interaction) area between the oil and rock interfaces. Furthermore, we found that the rate of these slower physicochemical changes to the carbonate rock surfaces increases with increasing temperature (at least up to an experimental temperature of 75 °C). Our results suggest that the effectiveness of improved oil recovery from SmartWater flooding depends strongly on the formation of the organic-ionic ad-layers. In oil reservoirs where the ad-layer is fully developed and robust, injecting SmartWater would lead to significant removal of the ad-layer and improved oil recovery