Achieving consensus through professionalized head nods: The role of nodding in service encounters in Japan

While the interactional functions of head nodding in everyday Japanese conversation have been frequently studied, a discourse on head nodding as a professional communicative practice has yet to be explored. With the method of multimodal conversation analysis, the current study examines the role of nodding in a particular professional-client setting, namely, hair salon interactions. My interest specifically lies in the frequent occurrence of synchronized head nods during the “service-assessment sequence,” where both service provider and customer inspect and determine whether the completed work is adequate. I pursue mechanisms of synchronized head nods by revealing exactly how participants collaborate in producing a nod, and how their verbal actions may at times be designed accordingly. In doing so, the study provides insight into what consensus may look like at service encounters in Japan, and discusses how such nodding practices may contribute to a satisfactory closure of a business negotiation

Reflections from behind the screen: avoiding therapeutic rupture when utilising reflecting teams

Parker, N., & O'Reilly, M. (2013). Reflections from behind the screen: avoiding therapeutic rupture when utilising reflecting teams. The Family Journal: Counseling for Couples and Families, 21(2), 170-179. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480712466810. Copyright © 2013 SAGE. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.Since Tom Andersen developed the use of reflecting teams to facilitate the progress and process of family therapy, little empirical evidence has emerged regarding their effectiveness or use in therapeutic practice. Reflecting teams are typically embraced by family therapists as a positive mechanism for enhancing practice and thus it is important that research explores how they are utilized. In this article, we draw upon videotaped data of naturally occurring family therapy from the United Kingdom. Using conversation analysis, we identified three performative actions related to interrupting the therapeutic conversation to consult with a reflecting team. We found that therapists had difficulty exiting therapy, that on some occasions exit was hindered, and that there were disturbances in feeding back the reflections of the team. By examining the use of teams in real practice, we were able to make a number of recommendations for practicing family therapists to facilitate the use of this valuable resource

Switching between different vortex states in 2-dimensional easy-plane magnets due to an ac magnetic field

Using a discrete model of 2-dimensional easy-plane classical ferromagnets, we propose that a rotating magnetic field in the easy plane can switch a vortex from one polarization to the opposite one if the amplitude exceeds a threshold value, but the backward process does not occur. Such switches are indeed observed in computer simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Detecting Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer Through Tissue-Informed Cell-Free DNA Methylation Analysis

Purpose: Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) is a resistance phenotype that emerges in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate adenocarcinoma (CR-PRAD) and has important clinical implications, but is challenging to detect in practice. Herein, we report a novel tissue-informed epigenetic approach to noninvasively detect NEPC. Experimental Design: We first performed methylated immunoprecipitation and high-throughput sequencing (MeDIP-seq) on a training set of tumors, identified differentially methylated regions between NEPC and CR-PRAD, and built a model to predict the presence of NEPC (termed NEPC Risk Score). We then performed MeDIP-seq on cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from two independent cohorts of men with NEPC or CR-PRAD and assessed the accuracy of the model to predict the presence NEPC. Results: The test cohort comprised cfDNA samples from 48 men, 9 with NEPC and 39 with CR-PRAD. NEPC Risk Scores were significantly higher in men with NEPC than CR-PRAD (P = 4.3 × 10-7) and discriminated between NEPC and CR-PRAD with high accuracy (AUROC 0.96). The optimal NEPC Risk Score cutoff demonstrated 100% sensitivity and 90% specificity for detecting NEPC. The independent, multi-institutional validation cohort included cfDNA from 53 men, including 12 with NEPC and 41 with CR-PRAD. NEPC Risk Scores were significantly higher in men with NEPC than CR-PRAD (P = 7.5×10-12) and perfectly discriminated NEPC from CR-PRAD (AUROC 1.0). Applying the predefined NEPC Risk Score cutoff to the validation cohort resulted in 100% sensitivity and 95% specificity for detecting NEPC. Conclusions: Tissue-informed cfDNA methylation analysis is a promising approach for noninvasive detection of NEPC in men with advanced prostate cancer

Memory in Interaction: An Analysis of Repeat Calls to a Home Birth Helpline

Drawing on a corpus of 80 calls to a Home Birth helpline, we use conversation analysis to analyze how callers and call takers display to one another that they are talking for a second or subsequent time. We focus in particular on the role of memory in these interactions. We show how caller and call taker are oriented to remembering at the beginning of calls as displayed in what we call the recognition-solicit pre-sequence, how participants are oriented to issues of forgetting and remembering during the course of repeat calls, and how remembering and forgetting are made manifest in interaction. Our analysis shows how the human capacity to remember and propensity to forget have reverberating implications in calling for help

Cytoplasmic p53 couples oncogene-driven glucose metabolism to apoptosis and is a therapeutic target in glioblastoma.

Cross-talk among oncogenic signaling and metabolic pathways may create opportunities for new therapeutic strategies in cancer. Here we show that although acute inhibition of EGFR-driven glucose metabolism induces only minimal cell death, it lowers the apoptotic threshold in a subset of patient-derived glioblastoma (GBM) cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that after attenuated glucose consumption, Bcl-xL blocks cytoplasmic p53 from triggering intrinsic apoptosis. Consequently, targeting of EGFR-driven glucose metabolism in combination with pharmacological stabilization of p53 with the brain-penetrant small molecule idasanutlin resulted in synthetic lethality in orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft models. Notably, neither the degree of EGFR-signaling inhibition nor genetic analysis of EGFR was sufficient to predict sensitivity to this therapeutic combination. However, detection of rapid inhibitory effects on [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose uptake, assessed through noninvasive positron emission tomography, was an effective predictive biomarker of response in vivo. Together, these studies identify a crucial link among oncogene signaling, glucose metabolism, and cytoplasmic p53, which may potentially be exploited for combination therapy in GBM and possibly other malignancies