Prayer as a Potential Buffer Against Ego Depletion

Ego depletion is theorized as the loss of self-control after it has been exerted over a period of time, leading to loss of conscious regulation of behavior. Buffering against this loss is characterized by engaging in an activity that will help extent the use of self-control, helping to further regulate behaviors such as impulse control. We were interested in learning how prayer may act as a buffer against ego depletion and compared prayer against self-encouraging talk to find is there is a difference between how the two affect self-control. One hundred ten participants were randomly assigned to a video group: either a neutral video or a video intended to evoke disgust as they were told to suppress their emotions. With the video group, participants were given one of three passages to read beforehand: prayer, self-encouraging talk, and control. After suppressing emotion while watching the video, participants’ persistence was measured during a Stroop task. It was shown that prayer was the most beneficial buffer against ego depletion as participants persisted longer with no difference between which video was viewed

Towards discovering novel aspects of nuclear biology in the malaria parasite "Plasmodium falciparum"

The apicomplexan parasite P. falciparum continues to cause morbidity and mortality imposing a significant health and economic burden on human society. In light of antimalarial drug resistance and the lack of an effective vaccine there is an urgent need to understand the basic biology of Plasmodium parasites in much greater detail. In particular, basic nuclear processes such as those remain surprisingly unsought despite their importance in parasite survival and life cycle progression. Thus, identification and localisation of novel parasite proteins to areas of the nucleus is an important first step towards giving new insights into nuclear architecture and function. The main aim of this thesis was to compile an inventory of the nuclear proteome across the intra-erythrocytic cell cycle using high accuracy mass spectrometry coupled with bioinformatics and in vivo localisation experiments. The dataset was analysed for accuracy and retention of true nuclear proteins revealing a final list of 802 potential nuclear proteins with an estimated precision of 76%. Interestingly, the informational pool of this study was able to identify a large number of novel nuclear components including novel protein domains possibly involved in gene regulation, members of the nuclear pores, the nucleolus and the proteasome (chapter 2). Several transgenic parasite lines used for the experimental validation part of the nuclear core proteome were further investigated in more detail. One of these transgenic cell lines expresses the C-terminally tagged bromo-domain protein PF10_0328 and was investigated by co-immuoprecipitation experiments followed by LC-MS/MS to identify interacting proteins. Bromodomain proteins bind specifically to acetylated lysine residues in histone tails and are important regulators of transcription. Our results suggest that PF10_0328 acts in concert with two additional bromo-domain proteins in regulating transcription in P. falciparum (chapter 3). Further characterisation on the functional level of these three important regulators is currently ongoing in a collaborative effort. Characterisation of bromo-domain proteins could establish new intervention strategies against malaria as the recognition of acetylated histone tails by bromo-domains can be selectively prevented by small molecules. Furthermore, several proteins residing in the nuclear pores and the nucleolus of P. falciparum were used to visualise these structures in relation to chromosome end clusters based on fluorescence microscopy. We show that both structures, involved in nuclear-cytoplasmic trafficking and ribosomal biogenesis, respectively, do not appear to ‘cross-talk’ with silenced chromosome ends at the nuclear periphery of P. falciparum (chapter 4). In conclusion, I believe that my work about several aspects of gene regulation and nuclear architecture increases the understanding of the biology of this medically important pathogen and could have potential to identify new avenues for interventions against malaria

Spectral Theory of Self-Adjoint Ordinary Differential Operators

Introduction: Many of the properties of the ordinary Fourier series expansion of a given function are shared by the orthogonal expansion in terms of eigenfunctions of a second order ordinary differential operator. Let p = p(x) and q = q(x) be real-valued functions such that p, p\u27, and q are continuous, and p(x) \u3e 0, on a finite interval a ≤ x ≤ b. Let λ be a complex parameter. The classical Strum-Liouville theory [9, section 27; 4, Chapter 7; 21, Chapter 1]1 is concerned with solutions of the differential equation -(py\u27) + qy = λ, which satisfy certain real boundary conditions whose form need not be given here. These solutions, the so-called eigenfunctions, exist only for certain values of λ, the corresponding eigenvalues constitute a countable set of real numbers which cluster only at ∞. The corresponding eigenfunctions constitute an orthogonal system on [a,b] which is complete in L2(a, b). Thus the Parseval relation is also valid

Patient-reported outcomes following a drama class for individuals with chronic aphasia

Drama therapy offers an authentic medium through which people with aphasia can interact and share their experiences. We describe the rationale and procedures of a drama therapy class for individuals with chronic aphasia, focusing on the patient-reported outcomes of a representational group of seven participants. Subscales of the Burden of Stroke Scale (BOSS) and the Communication Confidence Rating Scale for Aphasia (CCRSA) were administered before and after participation in the 18-week class. Means, standard deviations, and effect sizes were computed. Results indicated perceived improvements in both communication and mood (medium effect sizes), but not in social relations

How Acute and Chronic Alcohol Consumption Affects Brain Networks: Insights from Multimodal Neuroimaging

Background— Multimodal imaging combining 2 or more techniques is becoming increasingly important because no single imaging approach has the capacity to elucidate all clinically relevant characteristics of a network. Methods— This review highlights recent advances in multimodal neuroimaging (i.e., combined use and interpretation of data collected through magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, positron emission tomography, magnetoencephalography, MR perfusion, and MR spectroscopy methods) that leads to a more comprehensive understanding of how acute and chronic alcohol consumption affect neural networks underlying cognition, emotion, reward processing, and drinking behavior. Results— Several innovative investigators have started utilizing multiple imaging approaches within the same individual to better understand how alcohol influences brain systems, both during intoxication and after years of chronic heavy use. Conclusions— Their findings can help identify mechanism-based therapeutic and pharmacological treatment options, and they may increase the efficacy and cost effectiveness of such treatments by predicting those at greatest risk for relapse

Experimental Assessment of the Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Non-Contact Tonometer Airflows

(1) The aim of the study was to investigate the spatial and temporal characteristics of the airflow created by two commercially available non-contact tonometers: the CorvisST and the Ocular Response Analyser (ORA). (2) The airflow pressure was measured using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) pressure sensor to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution. The airflow from the CorvisST and Ocular Response Analyser were mapped to a 600 µm and a 1 mm resolution grid, respectively. (3) Central airflow pressure of the CorvisST (96.4 ± 1.4 mmHg) was higher than that of the Ocular Response Analyser (91.7 ± 0.7 mmHg). The duration of the air-puffs also differed, with the CorvisST showing a shorter duration (21.483 ± 0.2881 ms) than that of the ORA (23.061 ± 0.1872 ms). The rising edge of the CorvisST airflow pressure profile demonstrated a lower gradient (+8.94 mmHg/ms) compared to that of the Ocular Response Analyser (+11.00 mmHg/ms). Both had similar decay response edges: CorvisST −11.18 mmHg/ms, Ocular Response Analyser −11.65 mmHg/ms. (4) The study presents a valid method to investigate the physical dimensions of the airflow pressure of non-contact tonometers. Novel findings relating to the magnitude, duration and spatial characteristics of the respective airflow pressures are reported. It is anticipated that this information will better inform clinical studies and theoretical models relating to ocular biomechanics.</jats:p