The Effects of a Soundtrack on Board Game Player Experience

Board gaming is a popular hobby that increasingly features the inclusion of technology, yet little research has sought to under- stand how board game player experience is impacted by digital augmentation or to inform the design of new technology-enhanced games. We present a mixed-methods study exploring how the presence of music and sound effects impacts the player experience of a board game. We found that the soundtrack increased the enjoyment and tension experienced by players during game play. We also found that a soundtrack provided atmosphere surrounding the gaming experience, though players did not necessarily experience this as enhancing the world-building capabilities of the game. We discuss how our findings can inform the design of new games and soundtracks as well as future research into board game player experience

Straightening out the mechanisms of axial elongation using mouse mutant analysis

Understanding the mechanisms that lead to axial elongation in the mouse has direct relevance to elucidating the etiology of vertebral defects in humans. Through the characterization of a spontaneous mouse mutant, kinked tail, and the analysis of Tbx6 protein modulation in vivo, I uncovered two distinct mechanisms affecting axial elongation in the mouse. The kinked tail mutation is a spontaneous mutation, inherited dominantly, that results in a kinky tail phenotype in heterozygotes and early embryonic lethality in homozygotes. Defective axial elongation in kinked tail heterozygotes is displayed as shortened tails and multiple tail kinks resulting from wedge, hemi- and fused vertebrae, similar to those observed in scoliosis patients. These vertebral defects are likely due to a primary notochord defect that is thickened and branched. Kinked tail homozygotes fail to undergo gastrulation due to defective distal visceral endoderm cell migration, ultimately resulting in lethality by embryonic day 8.5. The defective cell migration is further compounded by basement membrane defects and gross dysmorphology of the mutant embryo. Tbx6, a T-box transcription factor, is essential for posterior somite formation, patterning and viability of the mouse embryo. I sought to understand Tbx6 protein regulation and the phenotypic consequences of modulating Tbx6 protein levels in vivo. In vitro analyses revealed that Tbx6 is a relatively stable protein that appears to be regulated in part by the proteasome in addition to other mechanisms. In vivo, less than heterozygous levels of Tbx6 protein results in rib and vertebral defects, enlarged tailbuds and axial shortening while greater than wildtype levels of Tbx6 protein results in small embryonic tailbuds, axial shortening, and lethality. I further examined the consequences of Tbx6 misexpression using a 3-component transgenic system. The primitive streak and presomitic mesoderm are affected in those embryos that misexpress Tbx6.Altogether, my analysis of the spontaneous mutation, kinked tail, demonstrated a possible role of the notochord in proper axial elongation, and the analysis of Tbx6 protein modulation further clarified the importance of maintaining proper levels of Tbx6 for normal axis elongation and embryonic development

Using extracellular matrix derived from sugen-chronic hypoxia lung tissue to study pulmonary arterial hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension has characteristic changes to the mechanical environment, extracellular matrix, and cellular proliferation. In order to develop a culture system to investigate extracellular matrix (ECM) compositional-dependent changes in pulmonary arterial hypertension, we decellularized and characterized protein and lipid profiles from healthy and Sugen-Chronic Hypoxia rat lungs. Significant changes in lipid profiles were observed in intact Sugen-Hypoxia lungs compared with healthy controls. Decellularized lung matrix retained lipids in measurable quantities in both healthy and Sugen-Chronic Hypoxia samples. Proteomics revealed significantly changed proteins associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension in the decellularized Sugen-Chronic Hypoxia lung ECM. We then investigated the potential role of healthy vs. Sugen-Chronic Hypoxia ECM with controlled substrate stiffness to determine if the ECM composition regulated endothelial cell morphology and phenotype. CD117+ rat lung endothelial cell clones were plated on the variable stiffness gels and cellular proliferation, morphology, and gene expression were quantified. Sugen-Chronic Hypoxia ECM on healthy stiffness gels produced significant changes in cellular gene expression levels of Bmp2, Col1α1, Col3α1 and Fn1. The signaling and cell morphology observed at low substrate stiffness suggests early changes to the ECM composition can initiate processes associated with disease progression. These data suggest that Sugen-Chronic Hypoxia ECM can be used to investigate cell-ECM interactions relevant to pulmonary arterial hypertension

The Effects of a Soundtrack on Board Game Player Experience

Board gaming is a popular hobby that increasingly features the inclusion of technology, yet little research has sought to under- stand how board game player experience is impacted by digital augmentation or to inform the design of new technology-enhanced games. We present a mixed-methods study exploring how the presence of music and sound effects impacts the player experience of a board game. We found that the soundtrack increased the enjoyment and tension experienced by players during game play. We also found that a soundtrack provided atmosphere surrounding the gaming experience, though players did not necessarily experience this as enhancing the world-building capabilities of the game. We discuss how our findings can inform the design of new games and soundtracks as well as future research into board game player experience

Ova lipid profiling and egg quality in wild and captive lumpfish, Cyclopterus lumpus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) serves an important role as cleaner fish for removing salmon lice in salmon aquaculture. For this use, cultivated lumpfish are preferred over wild-caught fish to avoid overexploitation of natural stocks and provide a stable production of good quality eggs and larvae. To support this, high quality eggs containing the necessary building blocks to support high fertilization success, development into a normal embryo and high hatching success is needed. Ova from wild-caught and captive lumpfish females were collected and assessed to identify how wild and domesticated lumpfish differ in terms of ova lipid profiles, egg and larvae quality. Wild-caught lumpfish displayed higher fertilization and hatching success compared to captive lumpfish, whereas other biological variables like egg size, egg/larvae dry weight and respiration, and larval morphometry, were not significantly different between wild and captive lumpfish. Ova lipid profiles (total lipid, lipid classes, fatty acid composition and lipidomics) can separate egg batches based on their geographic origin of wild-caught females and composition of diets used for captive broodstock (lipid and carbohydrate content). Multivariate statistics were applied to identify lipid markers that can be used to predict the quality of lumpfish ova. Lumpfish ova lipidomic profiles covaried with several biological parameters, indicating that the former can be used to predict the latter. Lumpfish eggs were mostly composed of triacylglycerides (TAGs) with some phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs) and phosphatidylcholines (PCs), and their lipid profiles were more sensitive to the different origins, mother weight/size and fertilization success than variables such as eggs size or larvae morphometric measures. PC and PE content of lumpfish eggs were positively correlated to both hatching success and fertilization rates, thus the lipidomic profiles, with some key highlighted lipid species were putative predictors of egg quality.Ova lipid profiling and egg quality in wild and captive lumpfish, Cyclopterus lumpus (Linnaeus, 1758)publishedVersio

Paid work, child care, and housework: A national survey of high school seniors' preferences for sharing responsibilities between husband and wife

A large national sample of high school seniors rated their preferences for the allocation of work and family duties within their own prospective marriages. The results indicate that many seniors favor half-time or full-time work for wives without children. On the other hand, the majority prefer that the mother of preschool children stay home, although half-time work is acceptable to many. Respondents who are male or White or did not have a working mother themselves are somewhat more conservative on these issues. Virtually all seniors view less than full-time employment by the husband as unacceptable. With regard to child care and housework, most seniors prefer equal sharing between the spouses. A comparison of four senior classes reveals a slight trend from 1976 to 1979 toward increased sharing of duties.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45650/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00303114.pd

Abstracts from the 20th International Symposium on Signal Transduction at the Blood-Brain Barriers

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138963/1/12987_2017_Article_71.pd

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

The Utility of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms in a Sample of Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities

The challenges of accurate forensic assessment are aggravated when evaluatees have intellectual disabilities. Few studies have addressed the efficacy of forensic assessment in samples diagnosed with an intellectual disability, and those that have typically focus on measures of cognitive effort rather than on feigned psychiatric symptoms. This study focuses on the applicability of the original and revised versions of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) in a sample of participants with genuine intellectual disabilities. The SIRS was administered to 43 individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities, all of whom were asked to respond honestly. A considerable proportion of these respondents were misclassified as feigning psychiatric symptoms. These misclassifications were most frequent when the respondents had comorbid psychiatric diagnoses. The updated scoring algorithm of the SIRS-2 generated a rate of misclassifications that was substantially lower but that still exceeded published normative data. The implications for forensic assessment are discussed