The persuasive power of emotions: Effects of emotional expressions on attitude formation and change

Despite a long-standing interest in the intrapersonal role of affect in persuasion, the interpersonal effects of emotions on persuasion remain poorly understood—how do one person’s emotional expressions shape others’ attitudes? Drawing on emotions as social information (EASI) theory (Van Kleef, 2009), we hypothesized that people use the emotional expressions of others to inform their own attitudes, but only when they are sufficiently motivated and able to process those expressions. Five experiments support these ideas. Participants reported more positive attitudes about various topics after seeing a source’s sad (rather than happy) expressions when topics were negatively framed (e.g., abandoning bobsleighing from the Olympics). Conversely, participants reported more positive attitudes after seeing happy (rather than sad) expressions when topics were positively framed (e.g., introducing kite surfing at the Olympics). This suggests that participants used the source’s emotional expressions as information when forming their own attitudes. Supporting this interpretation, effects were mitigated when participants’ information processing was undermined by cognitive load or was chronically low. Moreover, a source’s anger expressions engendered negative attitude change when directed at the attitude object and positive change when directed at the recipient’s attitude. Effects occurred regardless of whether emotional expressions were manipulated through written words, pictures of facial expressions, film clips containing both facial and vocal emotional expressions, or emoticons. The findings support EASI theory and indicate that emotional expressions are a powerful source of social influence

Influence of temperature on bud break, shoot growth, flower bud atrophy and winter production of glasshouse roses

The influence of temperature in the range 15-22 °C on growth, production, quality and flower bud atrophy ('blindness') of the rose cultivars Sweet Promise and Varlon was studied. The roses were grown in Dutch glasshouse soil under natural light conditions and studied from October until May during 7 successive years. The influence of the distribution of the air temperature between day and night was studied. Besides the usual night-lower-than-day-temperature regime, also the reverse situation was studied. 'Models' were constructed for: bud break, development time from bud break until harvest, shoot and flower bud weight, shoot length, the length, width, volume and freshweight of the flower bud during harvest and the diameter of shoot and neck, in relation to date of bud break and mean daily temperature during shoot growth.Complementary studies including roses of the cv. Sweet Promise grown in transferable containers were performed in glasshouses and in growth rooms (Phytotron). In these experiments the interaction of temperature and shoot stage with the development time of a shoot, with shoot weight and with shoot length was studied. Shoot weight showed a clear interaction with temperature if night temperature was higher than day temperature. Various shoot stages showed a different sensitivity to temperature with respect to the formation of flowerless ('blind') shoots. A low night temperature during the period cut until shoot elongation (=4cm) decreased blindness, but increased blindness when given in the next period until the flower bud is clearly visible. Higher night temperatures than those commonly used increased production by decreasing the percentage of blind shoots.At a given daily mean temperature an increase in night temperature showed no significant influence on bud break and development time of a shoot but fresh shoot weight and shoot length are significantly reduced, if night temperature increases above day temperature. The mean temperature and the mean irradiance during shoot growth could account for 98 % of the variation in the relevant 'models' when analysed by linear regression analysis. Adding the variable 'relative humidity' to the regression equation explained 97 % of the variation in shoot weight. To explain 87 % of shoot length the variable 'Weight of the Parent shoot' and the square of the temperature had also to be introduced.Heavy parent shoots produced heavier daughter shoots than light parent shoots. The difference in fresh weight for daughters of heavy parent shoots compared to those of light shoots decreased in autumn and increased again in spring. If light intensity decreased in autumn, less light was used to produce one gram fresh shoot weight, while under increasing light intensities more light was used.Fresh weight production per shoot per day increased with temperature for the cultivar Varlon and as a consequence, the amount of light needed per gram fresh weight decreased. In the period December until the middle of March 'Sweet Promise' showed another, reversed, situation: fresh weight production decreased with temperature. This was caused by the fact that 'Sweet Promise' was weakened more by a raise in temperature than "Varlon'. Production in number of flowers and in grams fresh weight per shrub showed a positive linear correlation with temperature for both cultivars.The course of bud break and harvest was studied for 9 night/day temperature combination. A lower temperature resulted in delayed bud break and production.The research made it clear that it is possible and profitable to control temperature on the basis of the daily mean temperature or the temperature sum during bud break and shoot growth, instead of in the orthodox way with a fixed night-lower-than-day temperature regime. Practical applications of the results are given for commercial rose growing. Heating glasshouses on a basis of a daily mean temperature or temperature sum instead of a given day and night temperature is a possibility of saving energy, as also is the maintaining of a diurnal period of up till 6 hours with a higher night than day temperature beginning at sunset when the thermal screens are closed.Soil heating until 20 °C did not influence production and quality,whilst a 12% reduction in light had a negative effect on both.</TT

Synthesis of pseudo-disaccharide analogues of lipid A: haptens for the generation of antibodies with glycosidase activity towards lipid A

Bio-organic Synthesi

Synthesis of glycosylated 1-deoxynojirimycins starting from natural and synthetic disaccharides

Iminosugars are an important class of natural products and have been subject to extensive studies in organic synthesis, bioorganic chemistry and medicinal chemistry, yet only a limited number of these studies are on glycosylated iminosugars. Here, a general route of synthesis is presented towards glycosylated 1‐deoxynojirimycin derivatives based on the oxidation–reductive amination protocol that in the past has also been shown to be a versatile route towards 1‐deoxynojirimycin. The strategy can be applied on commercial disaccharides, as shown in four examples, as well as on disaccharides that are not commercially available and are synthesized for this purpose, as shown by a fifth example.Medical BiochemistryBio-organic Synthesi

Ortho-Carborane-modified N-substituted Deoxynojirimycins

Medical Biochemistr

Effects of direct renin blockade on renal & systemic hemodynamics and on raas activity, in weight excess and hypertension: A randomized clinical trial

Aim: The combination of weight excess and hypertension significantly contributes to cardiovascular risk and progressive kidney damage. An unfavorable renal hemodynamic profile is thought to contribute to this increased risk and may be ameliorated by direct renin inhibition (DRI). The aim of this trial was to assess the effect of DRI on renal and systemic hemodynamics and on RAAS activity, in men with weight excess and hypertension. Methods: A randomized, double-blind, cross-over clinical trial to determine the effect of DRI (aliskiren 300 mg/day), with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition (ACEi; ramipril 10 mg/day) as a positive control, on renal and systemic hemodynamics, and on RAAS activity (n = 15). Results: Mean (SEM) Glomerular filtration rate (101 (5) mL/min/1.73m2) remained unaffected by DRI or ACEi. Effective renal plasma flow (ERPF; 301 (14) mL/min/1.73m2) was increased in response to DRI (320 (14) mL/min/1.73m2, P = 0.012) and ACEi (317 (15) mL/min/1.73m2, P = 0.045). Filtration fraction (FF; 34 (0.8)%) was reduced by DRI only (32 (0.7)%, P = 0.044). Mean arterial pressure (109 (2) mmHg) was reduced by DRI (101 (2) mmHg, P = 0.008) and ACEi (103 (3) mmHg, P = 0.037). RAAS activity was reduced by DRI and ACEi. Albuminuria (20 [9±42] mg/d) was reduced by DRI only (12 [5±28] mg/d, P = 0.030). Conclusions: In men with weight excess and hypertension, DRI and ACEi improved renal and systemic hemodynamics. Both DRI and ACEi reduced RAAS activity. Thus, DRI provides effective treatment in weight excess and hypertension

Synthesis of a panel of carbon-13-labelled (glyco)sphingolipids

Medical Biochemistr

Endothelial and Inflammation Biomarker Profiles at Diagnosis Reflecting Clinical Heterogeneity and Serving as a Prognostic Tool For Treatment Response in Two Independent Cohorts of Patients With Juvenile Dermatomyositis

Objective: Juvenile dermatomyositis (DM) is a heterogeneous systemic immune-mediated vasculopathy. This study was undertaken to 1) identify inflammation/endothelial dysfunction–related biomarker profiles reflecting disease severity at diagnosis, and 2) establish whether such biomarker profiles could be used for predicting the response to treatment in patients with juvenile DM. Methods: In total, 39 biomarkers related to activation of endothelial

LC-MS/MS-based reference intervals for hair cortisol in healthy children

Background: Human scalp hair is a valuable matrix for determining long-term cortisol concentrations, with wide-spread applicability in clinical care as well as research. However, pediatric reference intervals are lacking. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to establish age-adjusted reference intervals for hair cortisol in children and to gain insight into hair growth velocity in children up to 2 years old. Methods: A total of 625 healthy children were enrolled through recruitment in pregnancy, infant-welfare clinics, and school visits. Scalp hair cortisol levels were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Age-adjusted reference intervals were established in children from birth to 18 years old. Hair growth velocity was determined in children 0−2 years of age by measuring hair length at 4- to 10-week intervals. Results: Hair cortisol levels were high (162.4 pg/mg, 2.5th-97.5th percentile: 28.8–961) after birth with a sharp fall in the first 3 months of life. This is followed by lower values until age 6 and then by graduated and subtle higher values to adult concentrations are reached at the age of 18 years (3.0 pg/mg, 2.5th-97.5th percentile: 0.53–17.8). Average hair growth velocity measured in mm/month was significantly lower in infants 0–6 months of age compared to children 12–24 months (3.5 versus 9.4, P < 0.001). Conclusions: This is the first study to provide age-adjusted reference intervals for hair cortisol in children from 0−18 years. Higher hair cortisol concentrations in infants might be explained by the significantly lower hair growth rate in the first year of life. The establishment of pediatric hair cortisol reference ranges broadens the potential applications of this biomarker in pediatric clinical care