950 research outputs found

    Judges on Judging

    Get PDF

    The icing on the cake. Or is it frosting? The influence of group membership on children's lexical choices

    Get PDF
    Adults are skilled at using language to construct/negotiate identity and to signal affiliation with others, but little is known about how these abilities develop in children. Clearly, children mirror statistical patterns in their local environment (e.g., Canadian children using zed instead of zee), but do they flexibly adapt their linguistic choices on the fly in response to the choices of different peers? To address this question, we examined the effect of group membership on 7- to 9-year-olds' labeling of objects in a trivia game, exploring whether they were more likely to use a particular label (e.g., sofa vs. couch) if members of their “team” also used that label. In a preregistered study, children (N = 72) were assigned to a team (red or green) and were asked during experimental trials to answer questions—which had multiple possible answers (e.g., blackboard or chalkboard)—after hearing two teammates and two opponents respond to the same question. Results showed that children were significantly more likely to produce labels less commonly used by the community (i.e., dispreferred labels) when their teammates had produced those labels. Crucially, this effect was tied to group membership, and could not be explained by children simply repeating the most recently used label. These findings demonstrate how social processes (i.e., group membership) can guide linguistic variation in children

    Gender-dependent differences in plasma matrix metalloproteinase-8 elevated in pulmonary tuberculosis.

    Get PDF
    Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health pandemic and greater understanding of underlying pathogenesis is required to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic approaches. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are emerging as key effectors of tissue destruction in TB but have not been comprehensively studied in plasma, nor have gender differences been investigated. We measured the plasma concentrations of MMPs in a carefully characterised, prospectively recruited clinical cohort of 380 individuals. The collagenases, MMP-1 and MMP-8, were elevated in plasma of patients with pulmonary TB relative to healthy controls, and MMP-7 (matrilysin) and MMP-9 (gelatinase B) were also increased. MMP-8 was TB-specific (p<0.001), not being elevated in symptomatic controls (symptoms suspicious of TB but active disease excluded). Plasma MMP-8 concentrations inversely correlated with body mass index. Plasma MMP-8 concentration was 1.51-fold higher in males than females with TB (p<0.05) and this difference was not due to greater disease severity in men. Gender-specific analysis of MMPs demonstrated consistent increase in MMP-1 and -8 in TB, but MMP-8 was a better discriminator for TB in men. Plasma collagenases are elevated in pulmonary TB and differ between men and women. Gender must be considered in investigation of TB immunopathology and development of novel diagnostic markers

    Coexistence of Several Novel Hantaviruses in Rodents Indigenous to North America

    Get PDF
    AbstractThree genetically distinct members of the Hantavirus genus have been detected in Nevada rodents by RT-PCR and nucleotide sequence analysis. These include Sin Nombre (SN), El Moro Canyon (ELMC), and Prospect Hill (PH)-like viruses which are primarily associated with Peromyscus maniculatus (deer mouse), Reithrodontomys megalotis (western harvest mouse), and Microtus spp. (voles), respectively. Although this region of the United States is ecologically diverse, rodents infected with different hantaviruses appear to coexist in several different geographical and ecological zones. In two widely separated states, Nevada and North Dakota, PH-like viruses are present in three different species of vole. In addition, ELMC-like virus has been detected in both R. megalotis and M. montanus (mountain vole). SN virus is a cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome throughout much of the United States. SN virus RNA is found in 12.5% of P. maniculatus in Nevada and eastern California. Two lineages of SN virus coexist in this region and differ from SN viruses originally found in infected rodents in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. These data show the complexity of hantavirus maintenance in rodents. Distinct hantaviruses or virus lineages can coexist either in different or the same rodent species and in either different or tile same geographic or ecological zones

    Multifunctional hybrid materials based on transparent poly(methyl methacrylate) reinforced by lanthanoid hydroxo clusters

    Get PDF
    Three pentanuclear lanthanoid hydroxo clusters of composition [Ln(OH)5(abzm)10], where Ln = Eu, Tb,Ho and abzm = di(4-allyloxy)benzoylmethanide, have been prepared. The structures have beencharacterised by means of IR, Raman, elemental analyses and X-ray diffraction, showing a pyramidalsquare-based cluster core. The clusters (Tb and Ho) exhibit Curie?Weiss Law behaviour, displayingantiferromagnetic ordering at low temperatures. The emission properties of the Eu cluster demonstratethe abzm- ligand is an efficient antenna (lex = 420 nm) only for the sensitisation of Eu luminescence inthe visible range, via energy transfer to the 5D0 state of the trivalent metal. The clusters have beenreacted in the presence of methyl methacrylate and azobisisobutyronitrile to prepare reinforcedpolymers via radical polymerisation. The obtained materials exhibit swelling upon immersion intoorganic solvents up to 110% of their original size, in agreement with the presence of cluster-crosslinked polymeric chains. Also, no loss of transparency was observed in the preparation of the materials. The characteristic red emission of the Eu cluster in also retained in the polymeric material

    Expression Profiling of FSHD-1 and FSHD-2 Cells during Myogenic Differentiation Evidences Common and Distinctive Gene Dysregulation Patterns

    Get PDF
    BACKGROUND: Determine global gene dysregulation affecting 4q-linked (FSHD-1) and non 4q-linked (FSHD-2) cells during early stages of myogenic differentiation. This approach has been never applied to FSHD pathogenesis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: By in vitro differentiation of FSHD-1 and FSHD-2 myoblasts and gene chip analysis we derived that gene expression profile is altered only in FSHD-1 myoblasts and FSHD-2 myotubes. The changes seen in FSHD-1 regarded a general defect in cell cycle progression, probably due to the upregulation of myogenic markers PAX3 and MYOD1, and a deficit of factors (SUV39H1 and HMGB2) involved in D4Z4 chromatin conformation. On the other hand, FSHD-2 mytubes were characterized by a general defect in RNA metabolism, protein synthesis and degradation and, to a lesser extent, in cell cycle. Common dysregulations regarded genes involved in response to oxidative stress and in sterol biosynthetic process. Interestingly, our results also suggest that miRNAs might be implied in both FSHD-1 and FSHD-2 gene dysregulation. Finally, in both cell differentiation systems, we did not observe a gradient of altered gene expression throughout the 4q35 chromosome. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: FSHD-1 and FSHD-2 cells showed, in different steps of myogenic differentiation, a global deregulation of gene expression rather than an alteration of expression of 4q35 specific genes. In general, FSHD-1 and FSHD-2 global gene deregulation interested common and distinctive biological processes. In this regard, defects of cell cycle progression (FSHD-1 and to a lesser extent FSHD-2), protein synthesis and degradation (FSHD-2), response to oxidative stress (FSHD-1 and FSHD-2), and cholesterol homeostasis (FSHD-1 and FSHD-2) may in general impair a correct myogenesis. Taken together our results recapitulate previously reported defects of FSHD-1, and add new insights into the gene deregulation characterizing both FSHD-1 and FSHD-2, in which miRNAs may play a role

    A Genome-Wide Linkage and Association Scan Reveals Novel Loci for Hypertension and Blood Pressure Traits

    Get PDF
    Hypertension is caused by the interaction of environmental and genetic factors. The condition which is very common, with about 18% of the adult Hong Kong Chinese population and over 50% of older individuals affected, is responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality. To identify genes influencing hypertension and blood pressure, we conducted a combined linkage and association study using over 500,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped in 328 individuals comprising 111 hypertensive probands and their siblings. Using a family-based association test, we found an association with SNPs on chromosome 5q31.1 (rs6596140; P<9×10−8) for hypertension. One candidate gene, PDC, was replicated, with rs3817586 on 1q31.1 attaining P = 2.5×10−4 and 2.9×10−5 in the within-family tests for DBP and MAP, respectively. We also identified regions of significant linkage for systolic and diastolic blood pressure on chromosomes 2q22 and 5p13, respectively. Further family-based association analysis of the linkage peak on chromosome 5 yielded a significant association (rs1605685, P<7×10−5) for DBP. This is the first combined linkage and association study of hypertension and its related quantitative traits with Chinese ancestry. The associations reported here account for the action of common variants whereas the discovery of linkage regions may point to novel targets for rare variant screening
    corecore