Does Stigmatized Social Risk Lead to Denialism? Results from a Survey Experiment on Race, Risk Perception, and Health Policy in the United States

In this article, we report findings from an original survey experiment investigating the effects of different framings of disease threats on individual risk perceptions and policy priorities. We analyze responses from 1,946 white and African-American participants in a self-administered, web-based survey in the United States. We sought to investigate the effects of: 1) frames emphasizing disparities in the racial prevalence of disease and 2) frames emphasizing non-normative (blameworthy or stigmatized) behavioral risk factors. We find some evidence that when treated with the first frame, African-Americans are more likely to report higher risk of infection (compared to an African-American control group and to whites receiving the same treatment); and that whites are more likely to report trust in government data (compared to a White control group and to African-Americans receiving the same treatment). Notwithstanding, we find no support for our hypotheses concerning the interactive effects of providing both frames, which was a central motivation for our study. We argue that this may be due to very large differences in risk perception at baseline (which generate limits on possible treatment effects) and the fact that in the context of American race relations, it may not be possible to fully differentiate racialized and stigmatized frames.Princeton University. Center for Health and Wellbein

The Relationship Between Cross-Cultural Psychological Capital and Organizational Commitment

For many organizations, the cultural demographics of the workforce reflect the growing diversity of the global workforce. Effective intercultural interactions require individuals to have several personal psychological resources, including cross-cultural psychological capital (PsyCap). Without such resources, employees may not have the ability to effectively work with individuals from other cultures, making working in these environments stressful. These stressful situations may negatively impact employee commitment levels, potentially increasing turnover rates. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence that employees’ cross-cultural PsyCap has on their organizational commitment (OC) as indicated by the three-component model of OC. To date, researchers have not explored the influential relationship between cross-cultural PsyCap and OC; this study aimed to fill that gap using health care employees. This quantitative study collected data from 382 participants through online surveys and used partial least squares, structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the cross-cultural PsyCap and OC relationships. After measurement and structural model evaluation, findings indicated statistically significant positive relationships between cross-cultural PsyCap and affective and normative commitment. Additionally, findings showed no significant difference in the relationship based on the employees’ type of employment. The results of this study may provide positive social change through insights to organizations concerning the positive organizational outcomes (i.e., OC) that organizations can achieve through increasing cross-cultural PsyCap through training and development sessions

Integrated Main Propulsion System Performance Reconstruction Process/Models

The Integrated Main Propulsion System (MPS) Performance Reconstruction process provides the MPS post-flight data files needed for postflight reporting to the project integration management and key customers to verify flight performance. This process/model was used as the baseline for the currently ongoing Space Launch System (SLS) work. The process utilizes several methodologies, including multiple software programs, to model integrated propulsion system performance through space shuttle ascent. It is used to evaluate integrated propulsion systems, including propellant tanks, feed systems, rocket engine, and pressurization systems performance throughout ascent based on flight pressure and temperature data. The latest revision incorporates new methods based on main engine power balance model updates to model higher mixture ratio operation at lower engine power levels

Uric Acid as a Potential Peripheral Biomarker for Disease Features in Huntington's Patients.

Oxidative stress has long been implicated in the pathophysiology and progression of Huntington's disease (HD). Uric acid (UA) is a naturally occurring antioxidant that is present in the brain and periphery. Growing evidence has implicated UA as a molecular biomarker for several neurodegenerative diseases, most notably Parkinson's disease (PD). In this study, we investigated UA levels in clinical samples from HD patients and normal controls (NCs) and assessed potential relationships between UA levels and disease and clinical data. UA levels were measured in plasma (n = 107) and saliva (n = 178) samples from premanifest (pre-HD) and manifest HD patients and control subjects. Gender effects of UA levels were observed in both biofluids, with male patients showing higher UA levels compared to female patients. Comparisons of UA levels across diagnostic groups, separated by gender, revealed that both plasma and salivary UA levels were significantly lower in female pre-HD and manifest HD patients compared to NCs. Salivary levels of UA were also significantly lower in male manifest HD patients versus controls, but not in plasma. Correlations of peripheral UA levels to clinical data also showed differences according to gender. In male HD patients, both plasma and salivary UA levels were significantly negatively correlated with total functional capacity (TFC), while positive correlations were observed with total motor score (TMS). Female HD patients showed a significant positive correlation between plasma UA levels and TMS, while salivary UA levels from female patients were significantly correlated to disease burden. Finally, in a separate cohort, we show that UA levels are decreased in postmortem prefrontal cortical samples (n = 20) from HD subjects compared to matched controls. These findings suggest that decreased levels of UA in the brains of HD patients can be reflected in peripheral fluids, with salivary measures of UA particularly offering significant promise as a potentially relevant, non-invasive biomarker of disease symptoms and burden. Our findings further highlight the impact of sexual dimorphism in HD pathophysiology

Interchannel coupling effects in the spin polarization of energetic photoelectrons

Effects of the interchannel coupling on the spin polarization of energetic photoelectrons emitted from atomic Ne valence subshells are examined. Like previously obtained results for cross sections and angular distributions, the photoelectron spin polarization parameters too are found considerably influenced by the coupling. The result completes a series of studies to finally conclude that the independent particle description is inadequate for the {\em entire} range of photoionization dynamics over the {\em full} spectral energy domainComment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Revisiting Protocols for the NMR Analysis of Bacterial Metabolomes

Over the past decade, metabolomics has emerged as an important technique for systems biology. Measuring all the metabolites in a biological system provides an invaluable source of information to explore various cellular processes, and to investigate the impact of environmental factors and genetic modifications. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an important method routinely employed in metabolomics. NMR provides comprehensive structural and quantitative information useful for metabolomics fingerprinting, chemometric analysis, metabolite identification and metabolic pathway construction. A successful metabolomics study relies on proper experimental protocols for the collection, handling, processing and analysis of metabolomics data. Critically, these protocols should eliminate or avoid biologicallyirrelevant changes to the metabolome. We provide a comprehensive description of our NMR-based metabolomics procedures optimized for the analysis of bacterial metabolomes. The technical details described within this manuscript should provide a useful guide to reliably apply our NMR-based metabolomics methodology to systems biology studies