Progesterone control of human endometrial cells

The coordination of events and cellular interactions within the uterus is vital to the establishment of pregnancy, a process constrained to a narrow window of time within the ovarian cycle. The transformation of the endometrium into decidua is one such event and is considered essential to embryo implantation and to the maintenance of pregnancy. In humans these changes are most dramatic in the stromal compartment and are influenced by progesterone, secreted by the Corpus Luteum (CL). This hormone is believed to be the main factor inducing such differentiation in the oestradiol-primed stroma. However, mediators with the ability to activate the protein kinase A/cAMP pathway, such as Prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) and relaxin, are potent inducers of decidualisation when administered alongside progesterone in endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) in vitro. Uterine Natural Killer (uNK) cells increase in number in secretory phase endometrial stroma, implying the control of progesterone on their expansion. However, they lack the nuclear progesterone receptor and growth and differentiation may depend on interactions with ESCs. uNK cells replicate upon Interleukin-15 (IL-15) administration in vitro and this cytokine is expressed in the epithelial and stromal cells. The aims of this research project have been to investigate in vitro decidualisation of ESCs and regulation of IL-15 and uNK cells in order to extrapolate how ESCs and uNK cells may interact during the secretory phase and early pregnancy.The present study has explored the factors involved in decidualisation using primary human ESC cultures. Quantitative real-time PCR (Q RT-PCR) and Enzyme-linked Immunoabsorbant Assays (ELISA) have been used to investigate effective in vitro stimuli of decidualisation. A combination of treatment with a progestin and either 8- Bromo cAMP or PGE₂ was capable of stimulating decidualisation in ESC cultures as determined by increases in two markers of this process, prolactin and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1). Further analysis has revealed the changes taking place within the PGE₂ pathway in decidualising ESCs, including an upregulation in the EP₂ prostaglandin receptor messenger RNA (mRNA) upon treatment with 8-Bromo cAMP plus a progestin.The results present here have demonstrated a rise in IL-15 mRNA levels in parallel with in vitro decidualisation. It appears that both progesterone and the intracellular messenger, cAMP, are involved in decidualisation and IL-15 expression. IL-15 secretion from the cells is shown to be IFN-y dependent. The expression of IL-15 and interferon-y (IFN-y) mRNA across the menstrual cycle has been established. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine IL-15 expression during simulated early pregnancy compared with normal luteal controls and has shown that secretions of the CL, including progesterone and/or relaxin, have the ability to increase IL-15 expression in vivo. Primary cultures of human uNK and peripheral blood NK cells have been used for studying the T helper 2-type cytokine IL-10 which is believed important for the support of early pregnancy. In response to PGE2 treatment, uNK cells expressed and secreted raised levels of IL-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine.Further investigation into the interactions between the convergence of the cAMP and progesterone intracellular pathways and their receptors would be important in clarifying the exact mechanisms controlling ESC decidualisation and IL-15 regulation. The interactions between ESCs and uNK cells need to be clarified further to assess the roles of uNK cells in reproductive processes

Cleaning Up the Nuclear Weapons Complex: Exploring New Approaches

In recent years, policy experts have increasingly decried the "piecemeal" approach to environmental protection embodied in existing laws and regulations. This paper analyzes one aspect of the call for more integration: the feasibility and advisability of developing an integrated approach to regulating the cleanup of the nation's nuclear weapons complex. The Cold War has left an unprecedented set of difficulties at sites across the country where vast quantities of hazardous and radioactive materials must be properly managed. Regulatory fragmentation�particularly the phenomenon of multiple regulators and regulations driving the allocation of resources in an uncoordinated fashion�is nowhere more evident than in the current statutory and regulatory framework governing environmental management activities at this array of sites�the nuclear weapons complex. The objective of an integrated approach is to give regulators and the regulated community incentives to look holistically at environmental hazards, both existing and future, and to develop creative ways of setting priorities such that risk, cost effectiveness, and public concerns are taken into account. This paper describes recent efforts to achieve integration in the environmental arena, surveys the unique technical, regulatory, and political circumstances surrounding cleanup of the weapons complex, and offers some preliminary thoughts on how integration might be attained in this vital area. While administrative and regulatory changes could achieve some important steps in this direction, the authors conclude that legislative change is necessary for implementation of a truly integrated approach.

Financial system inquiry: final report

Executive summary This report responds to the objective in the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference to best position Australia’s financial system to meet Australia’s evolving needs and support economic growth. It offers a blueprint for an efficient and resilient financial system over the next 10 to 20 years, characterised by the fair treatment of users.   The Inquiry has made 44 recommendations relating to the Australian financial system. These recommendations reflect the Inquiry’s judgement and are based on evidence received by the Inquiry. The Inquiry’s test has been one of public interest: the interests of individuals, businesses, the economy, taxpayers and Government.   Australia’s financial system has performed well since the Wallis Inquiry and has many strong characteristics. It also has a number of weaknesses: taxation and regulatory settings distort the flow of funding to the real economy; it remains susceptible to financial shocks; superannuation is not delivering retirement incomes efficiently; unfair consumer outcomes remain prevalent; and policy settings do not focus on the benefits of competition and innovation. As a result, the system is prone to calls for more regulation.   To put these issues in context, the Overview first deals with the characteristics of Australia’s economy. It then describes the characteristics of and prerequisites for a well-functioning financial system and the Inquiry’s philosophy of financial regulation.   The Inquiry focuses on seven themes in this report (summarised in Guide to the Financial System Inquiry Final Report).   The Overview deals with the general themes of funding the Australian economy and competition.   The Inquiry has also made recommendations on five specific themes, which comprise the next chapters of this report: Strengthen the economy by making the financial system more resilient. Lift the value of the superannuation system and retirement incomes. Drive economic growth and productivity through settings that promote innovation. Enhance confidence and trust by creating an environment in which financial firms treat customers fairly. Enhance regulator independence and accountability and minimise the need for future regulation. These recommendations seek to improve efficiency, resilience and fair treatment in the Australian financial system, allowing it to achieve its potential in supporting economic growth and enhancing standards of living for current and future generations.   Financial system inquiry committee   Mr David Murray AO (Chair) Mr David Murray AO (Sydney) was most recently the inaugural Chairman of the Australian Government’s Future Fund Board of Guardians between 2006 and 2012. Mr Murray was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia between 1992 and 2005. In this time, Mr. Murray oversaw the transformation of the Commonwealth Bank from a partly privatised bank to an integrated financial services company. In 2001, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for service to Australian society in banking and corporate governance, and in 2007 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to the finance sector, both domestically and globally, and service to the community.   Professor Kevin Davis Professor Kevin Davis (Melbourne) is currently a Professor of Finance at the University of Melbourne, Research Director at the Australian Centre for Financial Studies and a Professor of Finance at Monash University. Professor Davis is also a part-time member of the Australian Competition Tribunal and Co-Chair of the Australia–New Zealand Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee.   Mr Craig Dunn Mr Craig Dunn (Sydney) was most recently Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of AMP. Mr Dunn led AMP through the global financial crisis and has extensive experience in the financial sector. He was a member of the Australian Government\u27s Financial Sector Advisory Council and the Australian Financial Centre Forum, and an executive member of the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee. Mr Dunn is a director of the Australian Government’s Financial Literacy Board.   Ms Carolyn Hewson AO Ms Carolyn Hewson AO (Adelaide) served as an investment banker at Schroders Australia for 15 years. Ms Hewson has over 30 years’ experience in the finance sector and currently serves on the boards of BHP Billiton Ltd and Stockland. Ms Hewson was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her services to the YWCA and to business. Ms Hewson has served on both the boards of Westpac and AMP and retired from the board of BT Investment Management Ltd and as the Chair of the Westpac Foundation upon her appointment to the Financial System Inquiry Committee.   Dr Brian McNamee AO Dr Brian McNamee AO (Melbourne) served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of CSL Limited from 1990 to 30 June 2013. During that time, CSL transitioned from a Government-owned enterprise to a global company with a market capitalisation of approximately $30 billion. He has extensive experience in the biotech and global healthcare industries. Dr McNamee was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to business and commerce. &nbsp

Exploring three correlates of thought suppression: attention, absorbtion, and cognitive load

Previous studies evaluating the probability of successful thought suppression (attempts to rid our minds of repeated unwanted thoughts) have relied solely upon internal mental distracters (Wegner, 1989), characterizing thought suppression to be a controlled rather than an automatic process. As an alternative approach, the effects of attention actively focused on limited external stimuli were studied in order to achieve easy, effortless, and successful thought suppression. Participants included students enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses. Experiment 1 showed that the presence of cognitive load (computerized tests of perceptual skills) occupied conscious capacity sufficiently so that attempts to suppress both mundane (tree) and exciting (sex) target thoughts were successful. Experiment 2 revealed that the physiological effects of exciting thoughts (measured via electrodermal activity) were higher for participants who were rated as having a predisposition toward successful suppression, although contrary to the results of Experiment 1, cognitive load did not have any effect on suppression or expression of target thoughts. Experiment 3 found that the type of cognitive load (motoric or attentional) was a factor in achieving successful thought suppression. Collectively, these findings suggest that experience seems to be a more effective thought distracter relative to traditional internal mental distracters, but only when attention is captured involuntarily and by an appropriately challenging level of cognitive load

Re-Establishing Food Retail in St. John, Kansas

Presenters lead a session that highlights a case study on developing a new grocery facility in a town of 1200 people. They describe what it took and the lessons learned, such as defining the size of the market; feasibility; and compensating when the market isn’t big enough to justify the investment they want from a public policy/town survival viewpoint. Some perspectives gained during the experience include conducting a market study; the value of a Citizen Committee; the real issue of population decline and job creation; how other businesses can be incorporated into the store (such as fuel, laundromat, liquor store, cell phone provider, etc.); the need for an experienced established operator; and what it takes to build a business and keep grocery stores going

Assessing Foods and Nutrition Programming Needs of Family and Consumer Sciences Agents in North Carolina

North Carolina Extension specialists conducted a needs assessment of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) agents to determine their foods and nutrition programming needs. Researchers examined agent and community needs, agent-offered programming, and barriers and facilitators to program implementation. Results will help inform the development of targeted agent trainings, materials, programs, and technical assistance related to foods and nutrition. The study is intended to help maximize the success of FCS foods and nutrition programming by supporting agents in delivering high-quality, evidence-based programs. This paper reviews study implementation, results, and relevant implications for other Extension professionals interested in performing a similar analysis

The role of estimator variables in eyewitness identification

This article was published Online First February 1, 2018Estimator variables are factors that can affect the accuracy of eyewitness identifications but that are outside of the control of the criminal justice system. Examples include (1) the duration of exposure to the perpetrator, (2) the passage of time between the crime and the identification (retention interval), (3) the distance between the witness and the perpetrator at the time of the crime. Suboptimal estimator variables (e.g., long distance) have long been thought to reduce the reliability of eyewitness identifications (IDs), but recent evidence suggests that this is not true of IDs made with high confidence and may or may not be true of IDs made with lower confidence. The evidence suggests that while suboptimal estimator variables decrease discriminability (i.e., the ability to distinguish innocent from guilty suspects), they do not decrease the reliability of IDs made with high confidence. Such findings are inconsistent with the longstanding “optimality hypothesis” and therefore require a new theoretical framework. Here, we propose that a signal-detection-based likelihood ratio account – which has long been a mainstay of basic theories of recognition memory – naturally accounts for these findings.Carolyn Semmler, John Dunn, Laura Mickes, John T. Wixte

Power and Place : A Case Study Approach to Rethinking Crisis Communication

This dissertation examines a 2003 explosion at a pharmaceutical plant in Kinston, North Carolina against the framework of both crisis communication theory and critical discourse analysis theory. In the wake of the explosion, the corporation that owned the plant engaged in communication that was widely viewed as positive by stakeholders and successful in terms of best practices in crisis communication. The communication is analyzed utilizing Timothy Coombs' Situational Crisis Communication Theory. The communication is also analyzed utilizing critical discourse analysis theory developed by Fairclough and Van Dijk to determine if the power balance between the pharmaceutical plant and the community it resided in impacted the ability of the company to frame the discourse surrounding the event and the ability of stakeholders to question that framing. This dissertation makes an argument for crisis communication theory to include aspects of critical discourse analysis in order to assess and balance the power relationship between organizations and their stakeholders.  Ph.D

Do sequential lineups impair underlying discriminability?

© 2020, The Author(s). Debate regarding the best way to test and measure eyewitness memory has dominated the eyewitness literature for more than 30 years. We argue that resolution of this debate requires the development and application of appropriate measurement models. In this study we developed models of simultaneous and sequential lineup presentations and used these to compare these procedures in terms of underlying discriminability and response bias, thereby testing a key prediction of diagnostic feature detection theory, that underlying discriminability should be greater for simultaneous than for stopping-rule sequential lineups. We fit the models to the corpus of studies originally described by Palmer and Brewer (2012, Law and Human Behavior, 36(3), 247–255), to data from a new experiment and to eight recent studies comparing simultaneous and sequential lineups. We found that although responses tended to be more conservative for sequential lineups there was little or no difference in underlying discriminability between the two procedures. We discuss the implications of these results for the diagnostic feature detection theory and other kinds of sequential lineups used in current jurisdictions

Body-Image, Self-Esteem, and Nutrition Concerns of Parents of 6th- and 7th-Grade Students

To fully address the issues of self-esteem and body image, parents, teachers, and students must be involved in creating meaningful solutions. The study discussed here sought to ascertain concerns of parents related to their children\u27s body image, self-esteem, and nutrition. Parents with children in the 6th or 7th grade were surveyed regarding factors that influenced their child\u27s perception about their body, how satisfied their child was with their body, and methods to reach children and parents with body image messages. Results will be used to assist in the development of Extension programs for parents and children that address body image