Personalities & Traditional Political Participation in Young Adults, 18–24

This thesis investigates the different political patterns that young adults have in comparison to older generations, and certain personality or attitudinal traits that may encourage traditional participation through voting or joining a political party. Previous research in this field suggests many different factors that encourage or inhibit participation. Parental influence and declining trust in government are considered to be two of the largest indicators of whether a young adult will decide to participate in politics in a traditional way. This thesis will provide an alternative explanation to why we see lower participation in politics for young adults, by exploring the attitudes of young adults when going through the decision-making process. Analyses of the American National Election Studies and the Youth-Parent Socialization Survey was used to evaluate three different trends in young adult participation. First, the ANES is used to confirm that the act of voting or joining a political party is indeed lower for young adults compared to other generations, and that there are certain attitudes such as social trust that are declining in only those ages 18-24. Second, the ANES shows that certain attitudes such as social trust and interest in elections are declining for 18-24 year olds, while at the same time young adults are becoming less likely to vote and less likely to identify as a strong partisan. Third, the YPSS is used to evaluate the consistency of attitudes compared with the likelihood that a young adult will vote or join a political party over time. Lastly, both the ANES and the YPSS are used to see if the same patterns persist for non-traditional participation as traditional political participation. Through these analyses, we see that young adults who have low social trust and low self-confidence are consistently less likely to vote, join parties, or participate in non-traditional ways

A deoxyribozyme that synthesizes 2′,5′-branched RNA with any branch-site nucleotide

RNA molecules with internal 2′,5′-branches are intermediates in RNA splicing, and branched RNAs have recently been proposed as retrotransposition intermediates. A broadly applicable in vitro synthetic route to branched RNA that does not require self-splicing introns or spliceosomes would substantially improve our ability to study biochemical processes that involve branched RNA. We recently described 7S11, a deoxyribozyme that was identified by in vitro selection and has general RNA branch-forming ability. However, an important restriction for 7S11 is that the branch-site RNA nucleotide must be a purine (A or G), because a pyrimidine (U or C) is not tolerated. Here, we describe the compact 6CE8 deoxyribozyme (selected using a 20 nt random region) that synthesizes 2′,5′-branched RNA with any nucleotide at the branch site. The Mn(2+)-dependent branch-forming ligation reaction is between an internal branch-site 2′-hydroxyl nucleophile on one RNA substrate with a 5′-triphosphate on another RNA substrate. The preference for the branch-site nucleotide is U > C ≅ A > G, although all four nucleotides are tolerated with useful ligation rates. Nearly all other nucleotides elsewhere in both RNA substrates allow ligation activity, except that the sequence requirement for the RNA strand with the 5′-triphosphate is 5′-pppGA, with 5′-pppGAR (R = purine) preferred. These characteristics permit 6CE8 to prepare branched RNAs of immediate practical interest, such as the proposed branched intermediate of Ty1 retrotransposition. Because this branched RNA has two strands with identical sequence that emerge from the branch site, we developed strategies to control which of the two strands bind with the deoxyribozyme during the branch-forming reaction. The ability to synthesize the proposed branched RNA of Ty1 retrotransposition will allow us to explore this important biochemical pathway in greater detail

ER stress and UPR in Alzheimer's disease : mechanisms, pathogenesis, treatments

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder characterized by gradual loss of memory and cognitive function, which constitutes a heavy burden on the healthcare system globally. Current therapeutics to interfere with the underlying disease process in AD is still under development. Although many efforts have centered on the toxic forms of A beta to effectively tackle AD, considering the unsatisfactory results so far it is vital to examine other targets and therapeutic approaches as well. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress refers to the build-up of unfolded or misfolded proteins within the ER, thus, perturbing the ER and cellular homeostasis. Emerging evidence indicates that ER stress contributes to the onset and development of AD. A thorough elucidation of ER stress machinery in AD pathology may help to open up new therapeutic avenues in the management of this devastating condition to relieve the cognitive dementia symptoms. Herein, we aim at deciphering the unique role of ER stress in AD pathogenesis, reviewing key findings, and existing controversy in an attempt to summarize plausible therapeutic interventions in the management of AD pathophysiology.Peer reviewe

Singapore’s Policy Advancement Paradox: Online Political Participation under Authoritarianism

Autocratic regimes have undergone profound political changes in the past decade as the digital revolution unfolds. At the start of the 2010s, the fall of autocratic governments through peaceful revolution in the Middle East led scholars to believe that social media would act as a tool facilitating democratic empowerment and challenging autocratic governance. However, despite this belief, the world has become definitively more authoritarian as the decade closes. Sites that previously appeared to empower citizens in a decentralized fashion are now being utilized by governments to consolidate power. This thesis explores how the Singaporean People's Action Party is able to utilize sites that appear to embody characteristics of democracy- namely increased participation and mobilization- to advance autocratic public policy. Exploring three popular websites in Singapore- The Straits Times Online Mobile Print, The Straits Times, and Change.org- this thesis proposes several ways in which the People's Action Party is able to control the narrative of popular support for government policy without engaging in overt censorship or otherwise explicitly controlling the Internet.Bachelor of Art

Characterizing historical transformation trajectories of the forest landscape in Rome's metropolitan area (Italy) for effective planning of sustainability goals

With the aim at developing a landscape dynamics framework for environmental planning and management and testing the effectiveness of protected areas in achieving the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations sustainability goals, we characterized the historical transformation trajectories of forest area changes from 1936 to 2010 in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital (Italy). Remote sensing-based products coupled with landscape pattern metrics and fragmentation analysis have been implemented, comparing different historical forest maps. The results show a remarkable forest area gain – from 17.6% to 25.5% – thanks to 68,299 ha of recently established forest. Statistical descriptors showed that the highest relative gain occurred in mountain zones, confirming a wide European forest recovery pattern in marginal areas from past deforestation and overexploitation. Deforestation mainly occurred in the flat and hilly areas where almost 26,000 ha of forests were lost since 1936. In summary, two main forest landscape dynamics were reconstructed: (I) the increase of forest cover fragmentation in the lowland areas; and (II) the rise in the forest area in the interior sectors of the mountain landscape, mainly within protected areas. Restoring the forest ecosystem's bioecological integrity has been highlighted as an urgent action for biodiversity conservation and carbon mitigation. In lowland areas, the study revealed the urgent need to establish new protected areas and rewilding spaces as landscape metrics are relatively below the sustainability targets for healthy forest ecosystems. The proposed framework can be used for testing the effectiveness of environmental planning and management in other forest landscapes to achieve the Agenda 2030 goals

Adeno-associated virus-mediated brain delivery of 5-lipoxygenase modulates the AD-like phenotype of APP mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The 5-lipoxygenase (5LO) enzymatic pathway is widely distributed within the central nervous system. Previous works showed that this protein is up-regulated in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and that its genetic absence results in a reduction of Amyloid beta (Aβ) levels in the Tg2576 mice.</p> <p>Here by employing an adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector system to over-express 5LO in the same mouse model, we examined its contribution to their cognitive impairments and brain AD-like amyloid pathology.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results showed that compared with controls, 5LO-targeted gene brain over-expression in Tg2576 mice results in significant memory deficits. On the other hand, brain tissues had a significant elevation in the levels of Aβ peptides and deposition, no change in the steady state levels of amyloid-β precursor protein (APP), BACE-1 or ADAM-10, but a significant increase in PS1, nicastrin, and Pen-2, three major components of the γ-secretase complex. Additional data indicate that the transcription factor CREB was elevated and so were the mRNA levels for PS1, nicastrin and Pen-2.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data demonstrate that neuronal 5LO plays a functional role in the pathogenesis of AD-like amyloidotic phenotype by modulating the γ-secretase pathway. They support the hypothesis that this enzyme is a novel therapeutic target for the treatment and prevention of AD.</p

N-acetylcysteine for the prevention of stricture after circumferential endoscopic submucosal dissection of the esophagus: a randomized trial in a porcine model

BACKGROUND: Circumferential endoscopic submucosal dissection (CESD) of the esophagus would allow for both the eradication of Barrett’s esophagus and its related complications, such as advanced neoplasia. However, such procedures generally induce inflammatory repair resulting in a fibrotic stricture. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is an antioxidant that has shown some efficacy against pulmonary and hepatic fibrosis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the benefit of NAC in the prevention of esophageal cicatricial stricture after CESD in a swine model. ANIMALS AND METHODS: Two groups of six pigs each were subjected to general anesthesia and CESD: after randomization, a first group received an oral NAC treatment regimen of 100 mg/kg/day, initiated one week before the procedure, whereas a second group was followed without any prophylactic treatment. Follow-up endoscopies took place seven, fourteen, twenty-one, and twenty-eight days after CESD. Necropsy, histological assessment of esophageal inflammation, and fibrosis were performed on day 28. RESULTS: The median esophageal lumen diameter on day 21 (main judgment criterion) was 4 mm (range 2 to 5) in group 1 and 3 mm (range 1 to 7) in group 2 (P = 0.95). No significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding clinical evaluation (time before onset of clinically significant esophageal obstruction), number of dilations, esophageal inflammation and fibrosis, or oxidative stress damage on immunohistochemistry. CONCLUSIONS: Despite its antioxidant effect, systemic administration of NAC did not show significant benefit on esophageal fibrosis in our animal model of esophageal wound healing within the experimental conditions of this study. Since the administered doses were relatively high, it seems unlikely that NAC might be a valuable option for the prevention of post-endoscopic esophageal stricture

Plasma methionine sulfoxide in persons with familial Alzheimer’s disease mutations

The final, published version of this article is available at http://www.karger.com/?doi=10.1159/000338546.BACKGROUND: Convergent evidence suggests that oxidative stress plays a central role in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We asked if consequently, oxidation of methionine residues to methionine sulfoxide (MetO) increased in plasma proteins of persons carrying familial AD (FAD) mutations. METHODS: Plasma was collected from 31 persons from families harboring PSEN1 or APP mutations. Using Western blot analysis with a novel anti-MetO polyclonal antibody, MetO levels were measured and compared between FAD mutation carriers (MCs) and non-mutation carrying (NCs) kin. RESULTS: A MetO-positive 120 kDa gel band distinguished FAD MCs and NCs (mean 11.4 ± 2.8 vs. 4.0 ± 3.1, p = 0.02). In a subset of subjects for whom both measurements were available, MetO levels correlated well with plasma F2-isoprostane (r = 0.81, p < 0.001) and superoxide dismutase 1 (r = 0.52, p = 0.004) levels. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide evidence for elevated MetO levels in persons carrying FAD mutations that correlate with other indices of oxidative stress and suggest that plasma oxidative stress markers may be useful for diagnosis of AD