Your Morals are Your Moods

We test the effect of players' moods on their behavior in a gift-exchange game.In the first stage of the game, player 1 chooses a transfer to player 2.In the second stage, player 2 chooses an effort level.Higher effort is more costly for player 2, but it increases player 1's payoff.We say that player 2 reciprocates if effort is increasing in the transfer received.Player 2 is generous if an effort is incurred even when no transfer is received.Subjects play this game in two different moods.To induce a `bad mood', subjects in the role of player 2 watched a sad movie before playing the game; to induce a `good mood', they watched a funny movie.Mood induction was effective: subjects who saw the funny movie reported a significantly better mood than those who saw the sad movie.These two moods lead to significant differences in player 2's behavior.We find that a bad mood implies more reciprocity while a good mood implies more generosity.Since high transfers are relatively more common, player 1 make more money when second movers are in a bad mood.rationality;motivation;game theory;emotions;reciprocity;gift giving

Polylactic acid-lauryl functionalized nanocellulose nanocomposites: Microstructural, thermo-mechanical and gas transport properties

Thermo-mechanical and gas transport properties of polylactic acid (PLA) matrix containing various amounts (from 1 to 20 wt%) of nanocellulose esterified with lauryl chains (LNC) were investigated on solvent cast film of about 50 micron. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that, up to a filler content of 6.5 wt%, LNC was well dispersed or formed small, sub-micrometric clusters. At higher filler contents, oval aggregates in the micrometric range were detected. The addition of LNC did not change the matrix glass transition temperature and melting temperature. Concurrently, as LNC content increased, both elastic and storage moduli at room temperature exhibited a sharp decrease up to 5 wt% of filler, and a lower reduction for LCN concentration of 10\u201320 wt.%. Nanocomposites with 3 and 5 wt% of LNC showed the highest strain at break and a large amount of plastic deformation due to a strong interfacial adhesion between the PLA and filler particles. For higher LNC fractions the presence of aggregates weakened the nanocomposite leading to lower values of maximum stress and strain at break. With the addition of LNC particles, gas barrier properties of the PLA film versus deuterium, nitrogen and carbon dioxide were improved up to a critical LNC concentration of 6.5 wt%, where the gas permeability of the nanocomposite resulted to be 70% lower than that of the PLA matrix. At higher filler contents, large LNC aggregates increased the gas permeability of the nanocomposites

Subcutaneous adipose tissue classification

The developments in the technologies based on the use of autologous adipose tissue attracted attention to minor depots as possible sampling areas. Some of those depots have never been studied in detail. The present study was performed on subcutaneous adipose depots sampled in different areas with the aim of explaining their morphology, particularly as far as regards stem niches. The results demonstrated that three different types of white adipose tissue (WAT) can be differentiated on the basis of structural and ultrastructural features: deposit WAT (dWAT), structural WAT (sWAT) and fibrous WAT (fWAT). dWAT can be found essentially in large fatty depots in the abdominal area (periumbilical). In the dWAT, cells are tightly packed and linked by a weak net of isolated collagen fibers. Collagenic components are very poor, cells are large and few blood vessels are present. The deep portion appears more fibrous then the superficial one. The microcirculation is formed by thin walled capillaries with rare stem niches. Reinforcement pericyte elements are rarely evident. The sWAT is more stromal; it is located in some areas in the limbs and in the hips. The stroma is fairly well represented, with a good vascularity and adequate staminality. Cells are wrapped by a basket of collagen fibers. The fatty depots of the knees and of the trochanteric areas have quite loose meshes. The fWAT has a noteworthy fibrous component and can be found in areas where a severe mechanic stress occurs. Adipocytes have an individual thick fibrous shell. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates evident differences among subcutaneous WAT deposits, thus suggesting that in regenerative procedures based on autologous adipose tissues the sampling area should not be randomly chosen, but it should be oriented by evidence based evaluations. The structural peculiarities of the sWAT, and particularly of its microcirculation, suggest that it could represent a privileged source for regenerative procedures based on autologous adipose tissues

Correlates of cigarette smoking among male college students in Karachi, Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>About 1.3 billion people are regular smokers world wide and every day between 8,200 and 9,900 young people start to smoke, risking rapid addiction to nicotine. Transition from high school to college is a critical period to adopt healthy habits and life style. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors that might influence their smoking habit. Our study aims to assess the influence of factors that encourage college students to smoke cigarettes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data used in this survey were obtained from a representative sample of registered colleges of Karachi. A random sample of 576 male college students of ages ranging from 15–30 years was interviewed using a questionnaire administered by survey officers, by applying multi stage cluster sampling during the academic year 2004–2005.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we found 26.7% of students had ever tried smoking, whereas 24%(95% CI: 21.0%–28.0%) of college students reported current smoking (that is whether one had smoked a cigarette in past 30 days). Among different age groups, prevalence of current smoking was 19.2% in 15–17 years, 26.5% in 18–20 years and 65% in 21 years and above. After adjusting for age of respondent, students in public schools were more likely to smoke as compared to students in private schools (adjusted OR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.3–4.2). Students whose friends are smokers were 5 times more likely to smoke compared to those whose friends are non-smokers (adjusted OR = 4.8; 95%CI: 3.1 – 7.4). Those students having fathers with no formal schooling were more likely to smoke (adjusted OR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1–4.2) as compared to those whose fathers had some degree of education. Students having non-working mothers were more likely to smoke as compared to students with working mothers (adjusted OR = 2.8; 95% CI: 0.9–9.1). Students belonging to Bin Qasim (adjusted OR = 2.1; 95% C.I: 1.1–4.1) and Gadap town (adjusted OR = 2.1; 95%C.I) were more likely to smoke as compared to students residing in other towns.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study shows that smoking is strongly associated with age, which may suggest social tolerance to smoking in this setting and that social and educational variables appear to play a significant role in smoking among college students. Our study suggests that such factors should be taken into account when designing effective tobacco control programs among college students. This is an effort which has been done to reduce tobacco consumption among college students and introduce awareness programs to amend their health risk behavior.</p

A Qualitative Methodology for Studying Parent–Child Argumentation

This chapter provides a detailed exposé of the research methodology on which the investigation of parent–child argumentation during mealtime is based. In the first part, the conceptual tools adopted for the analysis of argumentative discussions between parents and children, i.e., the pragma-dialectical ideal model of a critical discussion and the Argumentum Model of Topics, are presented. Subsequently, the process of data gathering and the procedures for the transcription of oral data are discussed. Finally, in the last part of the chapter, ethical issues and practical problems in collecting parent–child mealtime conversations present throughout the study are considered

Biomarkers of potential harm in people switching from smoking tobacco to exclusive e-cigarette use, dual use or abstinence: secondary analysis of Cochrane systematic review of trials of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation

Aims This study aims to compare biomarkers of potential harm between people switching from smoking combustible cigarettes (CC) completely to electronic cigarettes (EC), continuing to smoke CC, using both EC and CC (dual users) and using neither (abstainers), based on behaviour during EC intervention studies. Design Secondary analysis following systematic review, incorporating inverse variance random-effects meta-analysis and effect direction plots. Setting This study was conducted in Greece, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Participants A total of 1299 adults smoking CC (nine studies) and provided EC. Measurements Measurements were conducted using carbon monoxide (CO) and 26 other biomarkers. Findings In pooled analyses, exhaled CO (eCO) was lower in EC versus EC + CC [mean difference (MD) = −4.40 parts per million (p.p.m.), 95% confidence interval (CI) = −12.04 to 3.24, two studies] and CC (MD = −9.57 p.p.m., 95% CI = −17.30 to −1.83, three studies). eCO was lower in dual users versus CC only (MD = −1.91 p.p.m., 95% CI = −3.38 to −0.45, two studies). Magnitude rather than direction of effect drove substantial statistical heterogeneity. Effect direction plots were used for other biomarkers. Comparing EC with CC, 12 of 13 biomarkers were significantly lower in EC users, with no difference for the 13th. Comparing EC with dual users, 12 of the 25 biomarkers were lower for EC, and five were lower for dual use. For the remaining eight measures, single studies did not detect statistically significant differences, or the multiple studies contributing to the outcome had inconsistent results. Only one study provided data comparing dual use with CC; of the 13 biomarkers measured, 12 were significantly lower in the dual use group, with no statistically significant difference detected for the 13th. Only one study provided data on abstainers. Conclusions Switching from smoking to vaping or dual use appears to reduce levels of biomarkers of potential harm significantly

Redundancy, Deduction Schemes, and Minimum-Size Bases for Association Rules

Association rules are among the most widely employed data analysis methods in the field of Data Mining. An association rule is a form of partial implication between two sets of binary variables. In the most common approach, association rules are parameterized by a lower bound on their confidence, which is the empirical conditional probability of their consequent given the antecedent, and/or by some other parameter bounds such as "support" or deviation from independence. We study here notions of redundancy among association rules from a fundamental perspective. We see each transaction in a dataset as an interpretation (or model) in the propositional logic sense, and consider existing notions of redundancy, that is, of logical entailment, among association rules, of the form "any dataset in which this first rule holds must obey also that second rule, therefore the second is redundant". We discuss several existing alternative definitions of redundancy between association rules and provide new characterizations and relationships among them. We show that the main alternatives we discuss correspond actually to just two variants, which differ in the treatment of full-confidence implications. For each of these two notions of redundancy, we provide a sound and complete deduction calculus, and we show how to construct complete bases (that is, axiomatizations) of absolutely minimum size in terms of the number of rules. We explore finally an approach to redundancy with respect to several association rules, and fully characterize its simplest case of two partial premises.Comment: LMCS accepted pape

Pathophysiology of Post Transplant Hypertension in Kidney Transplant: Focus on Calcineurin Inhibitors Induced Oxidative Stress and Renal Sodium Retention and Implications with RhoA/Rho Kinase Pathway.

Post-transplant hypertension is a common occurrence during treatment with calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) in kidney transplant population. The pathogenesis of vasoconstriction induced by CNIs involves vascular tone alterations and kidney sodium transport regulation. Among the factors involved a key role is played by the activation of intrarenal renin-angiotensin system with enhanced release of Angiotensin II (Ang II) and increase of oxidative stress. A common pathway between oxidative stress and hypertension induced by CNIs may be identified in the involvement of the activation of RhoA/Rho kinase pathway, key for the induction of hypertension and cardiovascular-renal remodeling, of the oxidative stress mediated increased nitric oxide (NO) metabolism and increased renal sodium retention via increased activity of thiazide-sensitive sodium chloride cotransporter (NCC) in the distal tubule. We examined literature data including those coming from our group regarding the role of oxidative stress and sodium retention in CNIs induced hypertension and their involvement in cardiovascular-renal remodeling. Based on the available data, we have provided support to the activation of RhoA/Rho kinase pathway as an important effector in the pathophysiology of CNIs induced post-transplant hypertension via activation of oxidative stress and sodium retention. Clarification of how the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that regulate the processes involved in CNIs induced post transplant hypertension work and interact, would provide further insights not only into the comprehension of the pathophysiology of CNIs induced post transplant hypertension but could also have a positive impact on the clinical ground through the identification of significant targets. Their specific pharmacologic targeting might have multiple beneficial effects on the whole cardiovascular-renal function. The demonstration that in kidney transplanted patients with CNIs induced post-transplanted hypertension, the treatment of hypertension with different antihypertensive drugs inducing a comparable blood pressure reduction but different effects for example on oxidative stress and oxidative stress related proteins and/or Rho kinase and sodium retention, could be helpful for the choice of the antihypertensive treatment in these patients which takes advantage from effects of these drugs beyond blood pressure reduction

Enhanced smoking cessation support for newly abstinent smokers discharged from hospital (The Hospital to Home trial): A randomised controlled trial

Background and aimsThe United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance (NICE PH48) recommends that pharmacotherapy combined with behavioural support be provided for all smokers admitted to hospital; however, relapse to smoking after discharge remains common. This study aimed to assess the effect of adding home support for newly?abstinent smokers to conventional NICE?recommended support in smokers discharged from hospital.Designindividually?randomised parallel group trial.SettingOne UK acute hospital.Participants404 smokers aged >18 admitted to acute medical wards between June 2016 and July 2017 were randomised in equal numbers to each treatment group.Interventions and comparatorsThe intervention provided 12 weeks of at?home cessation support which included help in maintaining a smoke?free home, help in accessing and using medication, further behavioural support and personalised feedback on home air quality. The comparator was NICE PH48 care as usual.MeasuresThe primary outcome was self?reported continuous abstinence from smoking validated by an exhaled carbon monoxide level ?6ppm four?weeks after discharge from hospital.FindingsIn an intention?to?treat analysis at the four?week primary endpoint, 38 participants (18.8%) in the usual care group and 43 (21.3%) in the intervention group reported continuous abstinence from smoking (odds ratio 1.17, 95% confidence interval 0.72 to 1.90, Bayes factor 0.33). There were no significant differences in any secondary outcomes, including self?reported cessation at 3 months, having a smoke?free home, or number of cigarettes smoked per day in those who did not quit.ConclusionsProvision of a home visit and continued support to prevent relapse to smoking after hospital discharge did not appear to increase subsequent abstinence rate above usual care in accordance with UK guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence