Regulatory focus in relationships and conflict resolution strategies

Motives for security (prevention focus) and advancement (promotion focus) influence goal pursuit, but less is known about how such motives operate in the relationship domain. Regulatory focus in relationships (RFR) is a dispositional trait specific to relationship motives, whereby relationship promotion facilitates effective conflict resolution strategies, and relationship prevention leads to conflict avoidance. This research sought to examine if RFR operates in conjunction with commitment, a relationship motive, to facilitate outcomes during relationship conflict. A correlational survey of 701 romantically involved heterosexuals in Portugal and Croatia revealed an interaction between RFR and commitment on conflict resolution strategies. Results showed that relationship promotion (vs. prevention) was associated with more constructive resolution strategies (e.g., constructive accommodation, greater mutual negotiation and less mutual blame), but this effect was greater for highly (vs. less) committed individuals. High commitment also facilitated individuals predominantly focused on relationship prevention to engage in more mutual expression of feelings and negotiation. No interaction emerged for destructive accommodation. These patterns were similar across the two countries. Findings suggest the need to consider the interplay of RFR and commitment on different relationship outcomes

Axonal stress kinase activation and tau misbehavior induced by kinesin-1 transport defects

Many neurodegenerative diseases exhibit axonal pathology, transport defects, and aberrant phosphorylation and aggregation of the microtubule binding protein tau. While mutant tau protein in frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP17) causes aberrant microtubule binding and assembly of tau into filaments, the pathways leading to tau-mediated neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders in which tau protein is not genetically modified remain unknown. To test the hypothesis that axonal transport defects alone can cause pathological abnormalities in tau protein and neurodegeneration in the absence of mutant tau or amyloid β deposits, we induced transport defects by deletion of the kinesin light chain 1 (KLC1) subunit of the anterograde motor kinesin-1. We found that upon aging, early selective axonal transport defects in mice lacking the KLC1 protein (KLC1-/-) led to axonopathies with cytoskeletal disorganization and abnormal cargo accumulation. In addition, increased c-jun N-terminal stress kinase activation colocalized with aberrant tau in dystrophic axons. Surprisingly, swollen dystrophic axons exhibited abnormal tau hyperphosphorylation and accumulation. Thus, directly interfering with axonal transport is sufficient to activate stress kinase pathways initiating a biochemical cascade that drives normal tau protein into a pathological state found in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease.Fil: Falzone, Tomas Luis. Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Stokin, Gorazd B.. University Psychiatric Hospital; EsloveniaFil: Lillo, Concepción. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Rodrigues, Elizabeth M.. Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Westerman, Eileen L.. Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Williams, David S.. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Goldstein, Lawrence S. B.. Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Estados Unido

Accelerating networks

Evolving out-of-equilibrium networks have been under intense scrutiny recently. In many real-world settings the number of links added per new node is not constant but depends on the time at which the node is introduced in the system. This simple idea gives rise to the concept of accelerating networks, for which we review an existing definition and -- after finding it somewhat constrictive -- offer a new definition. The new definition provided here views network acceleration as a time dependent property of a given system, as opposed to being a property of the specific algorithm applied to grow the network. The defnition also covers both unweighted and weighted networks. As time-stamped network data becomes increasingly available, the proposed measures may be easily carried out on empirical datasets. As a simple case study we apply the concepts to study the evolution of three different instances of Wikipedia, namely, those in English, German, and Japanese, and find that the networks undergo different acceleration regimes in their evolution.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Sociosexual attitudes and quality of life in (non)monogamous relationships: the role of attraction and constraining forces among users of the Second Love web site

Research has typically shown that unrestricted sociosexuality is negatively associated with relationship quality and that relationship quality is positively associated with quality of life (QoL). However, these findings may be restricted to individuals in monogamous relationships, especially those with prior extradyadic interactions (i.e., non-consensual non-monogamous; NCNM). Indeed, individuals in consensual non-monogamous (CNM) relationships have more unrestricted sociosexuality and are also more satisfied with and committed to their relationships. Still, little research has examined whether both relationship agreements are associated differently with attraction forces (wanting to be) and constraining forces (having to be) in the relationship and how they are related to QoL. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 373 heterosexuals (73.2% men, Mage = 41.15, SD = 10.18) registered on Second Love, a dating Web site for romantically involved individuals. Results showed differences in the hypothesized model, according to relationship agreement. For individuals in CNM relationships, unrestricted sociosexuality was associated with stronger attraction forces, which were then associated with greater QoL. The opposite pattern was found for those in NCNM relationships. Furthermore, and regardless of relationship agreement, unrestricted sociosexuality was associated with weaker constraining forces, which were associated with greater QoL. These results make a novel contribution to the literature on relationship agreements and how they relate to QoL

Systematic assessment of pathway databases, based on a diverse collection of user-submitted experiments

A knowledge-based grouping of genes into pathways or functional units is essential for describing and understanding cellular complexity. However, it is not always clear a priori how and at what level of specificity functionally interconnected genes should be partitioned into pathways, for a given application. Here, we assess and compare nine existing and two conceptually novel functional classification systems, with respect to their discovery power and generality in gene set enrichment testing. We base our assessment on a collection of nearly 2000 functional genomics datasets provided by users of the STRING database. With these real-life and diverse queries, we assess which systems typically provide the most specific and complete enrichment results. We find many structural and performance differences between classification systems. Overall, the well-established, hierarchically organized pathway annotation systems yield the best enrichment performance, despite covering substantial parts of the human genome in general terms only. On the other hand, the more recent unsupervised annotation systems perform strongest in understudied areas and organisms, and in detecting more specific pathways, albeit with less informative labels

Collagen-coated magnetic nanoparticles to capture pathogens from biological samples

Conventional methods of diagnosing bacterial infections such as microbial culture and molecular techniques, while highly sensitive, rely on expensive equipment and highly skilled operators. There is a need for affordable and portable diagnostic systems which are simple to operate while preserving reliability. Pre-enrichment of bacteria present in a sample coupled with subsequent bacterial identification steps can serve as a simple yet effective diagnostic technique. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with collagen were used to demonstrate enrichment of E.coli recombinantly expressing adhesins YadA and UspA2 since these adhesins are known to target and adhere to host collagen. The MNPs were synthesized chemically and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Dynamic light scattering and the most stable MNPs were selected. Adhesion assays were performed together with fluorescent microscopy imaging to assess the pre-enrichment of bacteria by the collagen MNPs. Capture of bacteria by the collagen MNPs was successfully observed and capture efficiency of the collagen MNPs for E.coli YadA and E.coli UspA2 was calculated to be 50% and 68% respectively.VibrANT H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017, agreement no. 765042. FCT UIDB/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A qualitative study about college students' attitudes, knowledge and perceptions regarding sugar intake

Excessive sugar intake has been associated with multiple health conditions (e.g., higher risk for non-communicable diseases). Hence, health organizations have issued guidelines defining the maximum daily intake of free or added sugars. However, data from several countries suggests that these guidelines are rarely met, particularly by young adults. For example, almost half of Portuguese adolescents and young adults exceed the recommended sugar intake. In this work, we aim to further explore college students' attitudes, knowledge, and perceptions about sugar intake, as well as about sugar intake guidelines. A thematic analysis on data from five focus groups (N = 40) indicated that participants reported difficulty in the comprehension of added/free sugars definition and sugar intake recommendations. Overall, attitudes toward sugar were ambivalent. Sugar was simultaneously perceived as pleasurable and needed, but also as addictive and harmful. Although aware of the potential negative health outcomes associated with excessive sugar intake, most participants did not perceive being at risk due to their youth, exercise habits, or type of diet. The few concerns expressed were mostly associated with the negative impact of high sugar intake on body image (e.g., weight gain). The main barriers to reducing sugar intake identified were environmental (e.g., time restrictions, food available at the university). Still, participants could identify several individual strategies to effectively regulate sugar intake. By identifying knowledge gaps and sources of bias related to sugar consumption, our findings are useful to inform future interventions aiming to address the problem of high sugar intake among university students.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio