The Effect of Mood on Wishful Thinking and NFL Outcome Predictions

People make judgments and decisions on an everyday basis. From picking an NCAA Tournament bracket to judging the likelihood of rain, people often have a preference for one outcome over another. Wishful thinking is the idea that people’s desires exhibit a causal influence on their expectations—specifically, a desire for an outcome increases people’s optimism about that outcome. Past research has found wishful thinking (or “the desirability bias”) in a variety of contexts, including sports and political decisions. Separate research has shown that differing mood states can affect interpretation of information, judgments, and decisions. Because people rarely make decisions when in a neutral mood, our study investigated the influence of mood on wishful thinking. We hypothesized that putting participants into a happy mood would increase the amount of wishful thinking they exhibited relative to putting participants into a sad mood. To test this, we manipulated participants’ moods by having them watch either a happy or a sad video clip. Afterwards, they made predictions for each of the 16 games played in the first week of the 2014-15 NFL season. Overall, we found that people exhibited wishful thinking in that they were far more likely to predict their favorite team winning as compared to the other teams. However, mood did not appear to affect people’s predictions. In other words, both happy and sad participants exhibited similar levels of wishful thinking

The burden of congenital Chagas disease and implementation of molecular diagnostic tools in Latin America

It is estimated that between 8000 and 15 000 Trypanosoma cruzi infected babies are born every year to infected mothers in Chagas disease endemic countries. Currently, poor access to and performance of the current diagnostic algorithm, based on microscopy at birth and serology at 8-12 months after delivery, is one of the barriers to congenital Chagas disease (CCD) control. Detection of parasite DNA using molecular diagnostic tools could be an alternative or complement to current diagnostic methods, but its implementation in endemic regions remains limited. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of CCD cases would have a positive clinical and epidemiological impact. In this paper, we analysed the burden of CCD in Latin America, and the potential use of molecular tests to improve access to early diagnosis and treatment of T. cruzi infected newborns.Fil: Picado, Albert. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Cruz, Israel. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Redard Jacot, Maël. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Schijman, Alejandro Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Torrico, Faustino. Universidad Mayor de San Simón; Bolivia. Fundación CEADES; BoliviaFil: Sosa-Estani, Sergio Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública; Argentina. Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative; BrasilFil: Katz, Zachary. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; SuizaFil: Ndung'u, Joseph Mathu. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics; Suiz

Site-specific and mRNA-specific control of accurate mRNA editing by a helicase complex in trypanosomes

Trypanosome U-insertion/deletion RNA editing in mitochondrial mRNAs involves guide RNAs (gRNAs) and the auxiliary RNA editing substrate binding complex (RESC) and RNA editing helicase 2 complex (REH2C). RESC and REH2C stably copurify with editing mRNAs but the functional interplay between these complexes remains unclear. Most steady-state mRNAs are partially edited and include misedited “junction” regions that match neither pre-mRNA nor fully edited transcripts. Editing specificity is central to mitochondrial RNA maturation and function, but its basic control mechanisms remain unclear. Here we applied a novel nucleotide-resolution RNA-seq approach to examine ribosomal protein subunit 12 (RPS12) and ATPase subunit 6 (A6) mRNA transcripts. We directly compared transcripts associated with RESC and REH2C to those found in total mitochondrial RNA. RESC-associated transcripts exhibited site-preferential enrichments in total and accurate edits. REH2C loss-of-function induced similar substrate-specific and site-specific editing effects in total and RESC-associated RNA. It decreased total editing primarily at RPS12 5′ positions but increased total editing at examined A6 3′ positions. REH2C loss-of-function caused site-preferential loss of accurate editing in both transcripts. However, changes in total or accurate edits did not necessarily involve common sites. A few 5′ nucleotides of the initiating gRNA (gRNA-1) directed accurate editing in both transcripts. However, in RPS12, two conserved 3′-terminal adenines in gRNA-1 could direct a noncanonical 2U-insertion that causes major pausing in 3′–5′ progression. In A6, a noncanonical sequence element that depends on REH2C in a region normally targeted by the 3′ half of gRNA-1 may hinder early editing progression. Overall, we defined transcript-specific effects of REH2C loss

Genome Sequences of 18 Salmonella enterica Serotype Hadar Strains Collected from Patients in the United States

Despite being linked to a number of recent poultry-associated outbreaks in the United States, few reference genomes are available for Salmonella enterica serotype Hadar. Here, we address this need by reporting 18 Salmonella Hadar genomes from samples collected from patients in the United States between 2014 and 2020

Socioemotional wealth in family firms: a longitudinal content analysis of corporate disclosures

This is the Accepted Manuscript of the article published in Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2019, 10(2), pp. 119-132, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2018.11.002. Please cite the published version. This Accepted Manuscript is deposited under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.Family business literature has noted the nature and presence of socioemotional wealth (SEW) in family firms. One method of observing SEW is by a five-dimension approach, collectively termed FIBER. While the dimensions are well defined, they have been critiqued, as have the theoretical foundations of SEW. Regardless, given the concept of SEW is about a decade old and the FIBER dimensions less so, it is reasonable to argue more research is needed. One potentially useful research approach is an historical one, which we will here term SEW history – the use of historical research to support (or question) the development of SEW as a concept. We undertake a content analysis of corporate disclosures through the Chairman’s Statement of two Irish family breweries over a period of about two decades. To conduct the analysis, we develop a coding scheme based on the FIBER dimensions and offer some research propositions around these dimensions of SEW being stable (or not) over time. Our findings reveal that the Chairman’s Statement does include FIBER dimensions in both breweries and they do change over time. Subsequent statistical analysis reveals significant differences in the FIBER dimensions between the two breweries and context is revealed as a key issue in the assessment of SEW, something prior research has noted. The study also raises some questions on the nature of some FIBER dimensions, in particular the “I” dimension. This is the Accepted Manuscript of the article published in Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2019, 10(2), pp. 119-132, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2018.11.002. Please cite the published version. This Accepted Manuscript is deposited under a CC-BY-NC-ND license

Country activities of Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD): focus presentations at the 11th GARD General Meeting, Brussels

© Journal of Thoracic Disease. All rights reserved.The Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD) is a voluntary network of national and international organizations, institutions and agencies led by the World Health Organization (WHO), working towards the vision of a world where all people breathe freely (1). GARD is supporting WHO in successfully implementing the WHO’s Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) 2013–2020. The GARD report on GARD activities is published on a regular basis. Collaboration among GARD countries is critical for sharing experiences and providing technical assistance to developing countries based on each country’s needs (2). The annual GARD meeting is a unique opportunity for assembling all of the GARD participants from developed and developing countries: European countries, North and South American Countries, China, Vietnam as well as Eastern Mediterranean, and African countries. Coordinator for Management of NCDs in the WHO Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention (Cherian Varghese) is present at this meeting. The annual meeting of GARD is a forum for exchanging opinions in order to improve care for chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) and to achieve the GARD goal—a world where all people breathe freely. Experts—in collaboration with WHO—are helping developing countries to achieve their projects regarding teaching, research and programming for CRD. Each year, there is a poster presentation session on country activities. Each participant is able to present his/her country activities that have been achieved since the last meeting. This is followed by discussion. In this paper, we summarize the posters presented during the 11th GARD general meeting. We hope that this will give readers of the GARD section an opportunity to learn for their countries. We can find all posters on the link: https://gard-breathefreely.org/resources-poster/.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Health for sale: the medicinal plant markets in Trujillo and Chiclayo, Northern Peru

Traditional methods of healing have been beneficial in many countries with or without access to conventional allopathic medicine. In the United States, these traditional practices are increasingly being sought after for illnesses that cannot be easily treated by allopathic medicine. More and more people are becoming interested in the knowledge maintained by traditional healers and in the diversity of medicinal plants that flourish in areas like Northern Peru. While scientific studies of medicinal plants are underway, concern has arisen over the preservation of both the large diversity of medicinal plants and the traditional knowledge of healing methods that accompanies them. To promote further conservation work, this study attempted to document the sources of the most popular and rarest medicinal plants sold in the markets of Trujillo (Mayorista and Hermelinda) and Chiclayo (Modelo and Moshoqueque), as well as to create an inventory of the plants sold in these markets, which will serve as a basis for comparison with future inventories. Individual markets and market stalls were subjected to cluster analysis based on the diversity of the medicinal plants they carry. The results show that markets were grouped based on the presence of: (1) common exotic medicinal plants; (2) plants used by laypeople for self-medication related to common ailments ("everyday remedies"); (3) specialized medicinal plants used by curanderos or traditional healers; and (4) highly "specialized" plants used for magical purposes. The plant trade in the study areas seems to correspond well with the specific health care demands from clientele in those areas. The specific market patterns of plant diversity observed in the present study represent a foundation for comparative market research in Peru and elsewhere