Increasing Group Entitativity

Previous research has shown the strength of the linguistic intergroup bias across different intergroup settings. However, there is no evidence of linguistic discrimination within minimal groups. This experiment aimed to shed light on the phenomenon of linguistic intergroup discrimination in a minimal group setting, and to investigate the impact of group entitativity on this bias. Four group entitativity conditions were created by altering the mere categorization condition toward less entitativity and toward more entitativity. Participants were asked to describe the choice allegedly made by another participant in allocating resources to ingroup and outgroup members. Results showed an overall linguistic bias, whereby ingroup behaviors were described more positively and abstractly than outgroup behaviors. Increasing group entitativity resulted in increasingly biased outgroup descriptions, which in the most entitative condition revealed a predominant use of negative abstract terms

The effects of recalling positive and negative contacts on linguistic discrimination towards migrant people

The present research aims to test whether varying the sequential position in which majority members recall positive and negative contacts with migrants affects the linguistic descriptions of these episodes - in terms of abstraction and valence - provided by majority group members. We also tested whether participants' prior contact with migrants and distance in time of the recalled contact experiences moderated the effect of the recall on linguistic discrimination. Across two experimental studies, evidence consistently showed that participants who recalled first positive and then negative interactions expressed less linguistic discrimination against migrants in the second event recalled, compared to those who recalled two negative interactions. Moreover, participants who reported having fewer positive intergroup experiences expressed less linguistic discrimination against migrants in recalling negative and then positive interactions, compared to recalling two positive interactions. Findings of Study 2 also revealed an effect of the temporal distance of the recalled events, with more beneficial effects of positive-negative sequences of contact when participants retrieved temporally recent compared to distant intergroup encounters. Overall, this research highlights the key role of positive contact in counteracting the effects of negative contact, leading to a reduction in linguistic discrimination

Reflectionless tunneling in planar Nb/GaAs hybrid junctions

Reflectionless-tunneling was observed in Nb/GaAs superconductor/semiconductor junctions fabricated through a two-step procedure. First, periodic $\delta$-doped layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy near the GaAs surface, followed by an As cap layer to protect the surface during {\it ex-situ} transfer. Second, Nb was deposited by dc-magnetron sputtering onto the GaAs(001) 2 $\times$ 4 surface {\it in-situ} after thermal desorption of the cap layer. The magnetotransport behavior of the resulting hybrid junctions was successfully analyzed within the random matrix theory of phase-coherent Andreev transport. The impact of junction morphology on reflectionless tunneling and the applicability of the fabrication technique to the realization of complex superconductor/semiconductor mesoscopic systems are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Appl. Phys. Let

Modulation of STAT3 signaling, cell redox defenses and cell cycle checkpoints by β-caryophyllene in cholangiocarcinoma cells: possible mechanisms accounting for doxorubicin chemosensitization and chemoprevention

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive group of biliary tract cancers, characterized by late diagnosis, low effective chemotherapies, multidrug resistance, and poor outcomes. In the attempt to identify new therapeutic strategies for CCA, we studied the antiproliferative activity of a combination between doxorubicin and the natural sesquiterpene β-caryophyllene in cholangiocarcinoma Mz-ChA-1 cells and nonmalignant H69 cholangiocytes, under both long-term and metronomic schedules. The modulation of STAT3 signaling, oxidative stress, DNA damage response, cell cycle progression and apoptosis was investigated as possible mechanisms of action. β-caryophyllene was able to synergize the cytotoxicity of low dose doxorubicin in Mz-ChA-1 cells, while producing cytoprotective effects in H69 cholangiocytes, mainly after a long-term exposure of 24 h. The mechanistic analysis highlighted that the sesquiterpene induced a cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase along with the doxorubicin-induced accumulation in S phase, reduced the γH2AX and GSH levels without affecting GSSG. ROS amount was partly lowered by the combination in Mz-ChA-1 cells, while increased in H69 cells. A lowered expression of doxorubicin-induced STAT3 activation was found in the presence of β-caryophyllene in both cancer and normal cholangiocytes. These networking effects resulted in an increased apoptosis rate in Mz-ChA-1 cells, despite a lowering in H69 cholangiocytes. This evidence highlighted a possible role of STAT3 as a final effector of a complex network regulated by β-caryophyllene, which leads to an enhanced doxorubicin-sensitivity of cholangiocarcinoma cells and a lowered chemotherapy toxicity in nonmalignant cholangiocytes, thus strengthening the interest for this natural sesquiterpene as a dual-acting chemosensitizing and chemopreventive agent

Serum Biomarkers of Renal Fibrosis: A Systematic Review

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a widely diffuse pathological condition which deeply impacts upon an affected patient’s quality of life and its worldwide rate is predicted to further rise. The main biological mechanism underlying CKD is renal fibrosis, a non-reversible process representing, for the affected system, a point of no return of tissue damage and dysfunction, deeply reducing the possible therapeutic strategies at the disposal of physicians. The best tool clinicians can use to address the extent of renal fibrosis at any level (glomeruli, tubule-interstitium, vasculature) is kidney biopsy that, despite its overall safety, remains an invasive procedure showing some shortcomings. Thus, the identification of novel non-invasive renal fibrosis biomarkers would be of fundamental importance. Here, when systematically reviewing the available evidence on serological biomarkers associated with renal fibrosis evaluated in patients suffering from CKD in the last five years, we found that despite the presence of several promising biomarkers, the level of observed evidence is still very scattered. Probably, the use of multiple measures capable of addressing different aspects involved in this condition would be the most suitable way to capture the high complexity characterizing the renal fibrotic process, having consequently a great impact on clinical practice by maximizing prevention, diagnosis, and management

Shmt2: a stat3 signaling new player in prostate cancer energy metabolism

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a multifactorial disease characterized by the aberrant activity of different regulatory pathways. STAT3 protein mediates some of these pathways and its activation is implicated in the modulation of several metabolic enzymes. A bioinformatic analysis indicated a STAT3 binding site in the upstream region of SHMT2 gene. We demonstrated that in LNCaP, PCa cells' SHMT2 expression is upregulated by the JAK2/STAT3 canonical pathway upon IL-6 stimulation. Activation of SHTM2 leads to a decrease in serine levels, pushing PKM2 towards the nuclear compartment where it can activate STAT3 in a non-canonical fashion that in turn promotes a transient shift toward anaerobic metabolism. These results were also confirmed on FFPE prostate tissue sections at different Gleason scores. STAT3/SHMT2/PKM2 loop in LNCaP cells can modulate a metabolic shift in response to inflammation at early stages of cancer progression, whereas a non-canonical STAT3 activation involving the STAT3/HIF-1α/PKM2 loop is responsible for the maintenance of Warburg effect distinctive of more aggressive PCa cells. Chronic inflammation might thus prime the transition of PCa cells towards more advanced stages, and SHMT2 could represent a missing factor to further understand the molecular mechanisms responsible for the transition of prostate cancer towards a more aggressive phenotyp

A multidimensional implicit approach to gender stereotypes

Research has widely explained gender inequalities in terms of gender stereotypes, according to which women are considered more nurturing, empathic, and emotional but less competent – than men. Recent evidence highlights that especially women are portrayed along multiple dimensions. In this research, we adopted an implicit Semantic Misattribution procedure to detect whether gender stereotypes have a multidimensional structure and are differently attributed to men and women. Results showed that Competence and Dominance-related terms were considered more masculine ones. In contrast, Morality and Physical Attractiveness were attributed to feminine ideograms to a higher and significant extent than masculine ones. Sociability was related to feminine and masculine ideograms almost to the same extent. The gathered evidence provided a multidimensional picture even composed of more judgment dimensions with reference to women highlighting how it can be difficult for them to meet all those multiple expectancies