An exploration of the differential effects of parents\u2019 authoritarianism dimensions on pre-school children\u2019s epistemic, existential, and relational needs.

Research on adult populations has widely investigated the deep differences that characterize individuals who embrace either conservative or liberal views of the world. More recently, research has started to investigate these differences at very early stages of life. One major goal is to explore how parental political ideology may influence children's characteristics that are known to be associated to different ideological positions. In the present work, we further investigate the relations between parents' ideology and children cognitive processing strategies within the framework of political ideology as motivated social cognition (Jost et al., 2003) and the dual process model of political ideology (Duckitt et al., 2002). Specifically, epistemic (implicit attitudes toward order vs. chaos), existential (negativity and threat bias), and relational needs (conformity measure) were assessed in pre-school children (N = 106; 4-6 years). For each child at least one parent completed both the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and the Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) measures. Interestingly, results indicated that mothers' and fathers' responses had unique associations with children's socio-cognitive motivations, and different findings emerged in relation to the two facets of parental authoritarianism, namely dominance (i.e., SDO) and submission (i.e., RWA). More specifically, children's existential needs appeared to be more related to mothers' RWA scores, whereas children's epistemic needs appeared to be more related to fathers' SDO. Finally, parents' RWA and SDO scores appeared to have opposite effects on children's relational needs: children's conformity increased at increasing levels of mothers' RWA and decreased at increasing levels of fathers' SDO. Overall, however, results were relatively weak and several links between the responses of parents and their children were not significant, suggesting caution in drawing strong conclusions about the impact of parents' ideology. Limitations and future developments will be discussed

Growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality of growing pigs on different feeding regimes slaughtered at 145\u2009kg BW

This study investigated the effects of feeding regime on growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality of pigs slaughtered at around 145 kg BW. A total of 96 barrows housed in eight pens were allotted to three groups in each pen. One group was fed ad libitum (AL) and the others were fed according to two quasi AL feeding regimes adjusting feed allowances with increasing BW. At slaughterhouse, the weights of the main lean and fat cuts were recorded, and a sample of longissimus lumborum (LL) was taken for physical and chemical analyses. Average daily gain (ADG) approached 940 g d1, and gain to feed ratio (G:F) was close to 0.38. Compared with the AL-feeding regime, the feed restriction reduced the pigs\u2019 ADG (3.5%), feed intake (7.4%) and carcass weight (3%) (p<0.01), but improved their G:F (\ufe4%, p<0.01). Feeding regime did not affect meat quality traits and exerted only minor effects on the weight of primal cuts and on the fatty acid composition of the intramuscular fat of the LL. However, AL-fed pigs tended to yield heavier fat cuts and showed a greater proportion of saturated fatty acid in the LL when compared to restricted feed barrows. In conclusion, moderate restriction in the feeding of medium\u2013heavy pigs seems advisable, as it improves feed efficiency and could cut feed costs compared with the AL-feeding regime without affecting carcass and meat characteristics

The Automatic Conservative: Ideology-Based Attentional Asymmetries in the Processing of Valenced Information

Research has widely explored the differences between conservatives and liberals, and it has been also recently demonstrated that conservatives display different reactions toward valenced stimuli. However, previous studies have not yet fully illuminated the cognitive underpinnings of these differences. In the current work, we argued that political ideology is related to selective attention processes, so that negative stimuli are more likely to automatically grab the attention of conservatives as compared to liberals. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated that negative (vs. positive) information impaired the performance of conservatives, more than liberals, in an Emotional Stroop Task. This finding was confirmed in Experiment 2 and in Experiment 3 employing a Dot-Probe Task, demonstrating that threatening stimuli were more likely to attract the attention of conservatives. Overall, results support the conclusion that people embracing conservative views of the world display an automatic selective attention for negative stimuli

The effects of perceived competence and sociability on electoral outcomes

Previous research demonstrated that inferences of competence from the face are good predictors of electoral outcomes (Todorov et al., 2005). In the current work we examined the role of another key dimension in social perception, namely perceived sociability. Results showed that people considered both competence and sociability, as inferred from the face, as related to higher chances of winning the elections. A different pattern emerged in relation to the actual electoral outcomes. Indeed, perceived competence was related to higher chances of winning, whereas perceived sociability was negatively related to electoral success. It is thus shown that these two fundamental dimensions in social perception exert opposite effects on voting behaviors

Energy Balance Estimated from Individual Measurements of Body Weight and Backfat Thickness of Heavy Pigs of Four Genetic Lines Fed Different Diets

Pigs of four genetic lines (GL): Anas (A), DanBred (D), Goland (G) and Topigs received either a conventional (140 g CP/kg and 46 g lysine/kg CP; C-CP) or a low protein diet (106 g CP/kg and 46 g lysine/kg CP; L-CP). Body weight (BW) and backfat depth (P2) were individually measured at the start and the end of two growing periods and individual feed intake (FI) was recorded daily. Body protein and lipid mass at the start and at the end of each period were estimated from BW and P2, and hence protein (Pr) and lipid (Lr) retention were computed. Energy requirement for maintenance (MEm), and growth (MEg) were estimated according to National Research Council guidelines, while ME intake (MEI) was computed from measured FI and ME content of the diets. The MEI/(MEm + MEg) ratio was used as index of efficiency. Differences among GL (P<0.001) were observed for Pr, which averaged 103, 113, 108 and 101 g/d for A, D, G and T, respectively, and Lr which averaged 204, 186, 194 and 172 g/d for A, D, G, and T, respectively. The L-CP diet reduced (P = 0.014) Pr by 8% compared to C-CP, but not Lr. Th e MEI/(MEm+MEg) index was influenced by GL (P<0.001) being 0.99, 0.96, 0.99 and 1.03 for A, D, G and T, respectively. Measurements of BW and P2 permits to achieve acceptable quantification of Pr and Lr. In this range of BW (90 to 165kg), gain composition is influenced more by GL than by the substantial reduction of CP and essential amino acids dietary density used in this trial

Parenting motives: Validation of the Italian version of the parental care and tenderness scale

Relevant individual differences can be observed in relation to parenting motives. The Parental Care and Tenderness (PCAT) scale is an important tool aimed at assessing them. We here investigated the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the scale (N = 946). The scale had a very high reliability and its internal structure closely reproduced the one obtained in different cultural contexts. Two major subscales, namely nurturance and protection, could be identified. In addition, we explored the validity of the scale in relation to a novel domain. Individual differences in parenting motivations, and more specifically those related to nurturance, emerged to be associated with a spontaneous behavioral tendency to approach children. Scores in the PCAT, and more specifically scores in the protection subscale, were also associated with a more conservative political orientation. The present work contributes to the growing literature about the key role of parenting motives in affecting social behaviors

Body and milk quality traits of purebred Holstein and three-generation crossbred cows from Viking Red, Montbéliarde, and Holstein sires

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of 3-way rotational crossbreeding scheme of Holstein (HO) cows with Montbéliarde (MO), Viking Red (VR) and HO sires on body and milk quality traits. Cows were purebred HO; F1: (MO × HO; VR × HO); F2: [MO × (VR × HO); VR × (MO × HO)]; F3: {HO × [MO × (VR × HO)]}; HO × [VR x (MO × HO)]}. Data were collected on 745 cows kept in a commercial farm located in Northern Italy. Milk data were acquired from official milk recording and body condition score (BCS) and conformation traits were measured once by trained evaluator. Data were analyzed using a linear model including fixed effects of parity, DIM class and breed combinations. Average body traits: height at withers (HW), body length (BL) and heart girth (HG) of cows were 139,162 and 207 cm respectively. Crossbred cows had shorter HW, BL and HG than pure HO but greater BCS. Milk yield averaged 31.5 kg/d, with fat and protein content close to 3.8 and 3.75%, respectively. Purebred HO produced greater volume of milk than crossbreds but milk from HO had lower protein content. Different combinations of crossbred cows showed similar performance in terms of milk yield traits, but evidenced different body size. The trial is currently in progress to increase cow sample size and widen the number of herds involved

Energy Balance Estimated from Individual Measurements of Body Weight and Backfat Thickness of Heavy Pigs of Four Genetic Lines Fed Different Diets

Pigs of four genetic lines (GL): Anas (A), DanBred (D), Goland (G) and Topigs received either a conventional (140 g CP/kg and 46 g lysine/kg CP; C-CP) or a low protein diet (106 g CP/kg and 46 g lysine/kg CP; L-CP). Body weight (BW) and backfat depth (P2) were individually measured at the start and the end of two growing periods and individual feed intake (FI) was recorded daily. Body protein and lipid mass at the start and at the end of each period were estimated from BW and P2, and hence protein (Pr) and lipid (Lr) retention were computed. Energy requirement for maintenance (MEm), and growth (MEg) were estimated according to National Research Council guidelines, while ME intake (MEI) was computed from measured FI and ME content of the diets. The MEI/(MEm + MEg) ratio was used as index of efficiency. Differences among GL (P<0.001) were observed for Pr, which averaged 103, 113, 108 and 101 g/d for A, D, G and T, respectively, and Lr which averaged 204, 186, 194 and 172 g/d for A, D, G, and T, respectively. The L-CP diet reduced (P = 0.014) Pr by 8% compared to C-CP, but not Lr. Th e MEI/(MEm+MEg) index was influenced by GL (P<0.001) being 0.99, 0.96, 0.99 and 1.03 for A, D, G and T, respectively. Measurements of BW and P2 permits to achieve acceptable quantification of Pr and Lr. In this range of BW (90 to 165kg), gain composition is influenced more by GL than by the substantial reduction of CP and essential amino acids dietary density used in this trial

The p50 NF-\u3baB subunit is a prognostic regulator of colorectal cancer-associated inflammation

In most tumors, tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) express an M2-skewed phenotype and are therefore associated with unfavorable prognosis. However, the impact of TAMs in colorectal cancer (CRC) development and outcome is still controversial. We first demonstrate, by parallel studies in colitis-associated cancer (CAC) and in genetically driven ApcMin mouse models, that p50 NF-\u3baB is essential for CRC development by restraining M1-dependent antitumor response. In absence of p50 mice developed fewer and smaller CRC lesions which express enhanced levels of M1/Th1 cytokines/chemokines including IL-12 and CXCL10, whose administration restrained CAC development in vivo. Moreover colons from p50-/- tumor bearers showed a reduced number of TAMs, as opposed to increased NK, NKT, CD8+ T cells and apoptotic cancer cells. Consistently, in CRC patients, high burden of p50+ TAMs was associated with decreased M1/Th1 inflammation and worse outcome indicating p50 as a new candidate for prognostic and target therapeutic intervention