Money and happiness: the income-happiness correlation is higher when income inequality is higher

Has the income-happiness correlation changed over time? If so, what predicts such changes? We tested these questions in diverse economic, political, and cultural contexts. Drawing on nationally representative data, we found that the income-happiness correlation has increased in the USA since 1972, as GDP per capita and income inequality increased (Study 1). Study 2 examined an income-life satisfaction correlation in nationally representative surveys between 1978 and 2011 in Japan. Unlike in the USA, there was no clear increase in the income-life satisfaction correlation over time. We next examined the income-life satisfaction correlations in 16 European countries and found that on average the income-life satisfaction correlation has increased since 1970, and it was particularly high in years of high GDP per capita and high-income inequality (Study 3). Finally, we found that among Latin American countries, the income-life satisfaction correlation has, on average, decreased since 1997, as income inequality has decreased (Study 4). Over the last 5 decades, the income-happiness correlation has increased, not decreased, in the USA and several European countries. The income-happiness correlation tends to get higher when both GDP per capita and income inequality are high, whereas it tends to get lower when GDP per capita and/or income inequality are low. These findings suggest the importance of accounting for income inequality as well as national wealth in understanding the role of money in happiness.

O-015 Results of urological consultation in the setting of IVF clinic

Study question

In the management of male infertility, we investigated whether urological consultation could improve the live birth rate, and who should visit urologists in the setting of IVF clinic.

Summary answer

Urologic consultation resulted in improvement of semen quality and live birth rate with more IVF use in those with adverse semen parameters.

What is known already

Male factor infertility exists in about a half of infertility couples. This accounts for about 8% in male reproductive age. Therefore, ideally every male partner of infertility couples attempting conception should have a urological evaluation. However, it is not very easy to access urologists who specialized in reproductive medicine in Japan because we have very few of such urologists. One the other hand, a certain number of couples are wasting their time during IVF failure without urological evaluation.

Study design, size, duration

This is a single-institution retrospective study. We enrolled male partners of infertility couples who visited Kameda IVF clinic Makuhari, Chiba, Japan, between May 2016 and December 2020 and followed at least one year. Live birth rate and the frequency of IVF use were investigated according to semen quality and urological consultation status. Chi-square tests and T tests were used to compare the results between groups.

Participants/materials, setting, methods

Among 2225 couples who visited Kameda IVF clinic Makuhari, 803 male partners (Group A, 36.0%) were evaluated by urologists who were specialized in male reproductive medicine. Remaining 1422 patients did not (Group B, 64.0%). Lifestyle evaluation, physical examination, semen analyses, scrotal ultrasonography, blood test including sexual hormones and zinc concentration were performed in Group A. Semen analyses and lifestyle evaluation were performed in Group B. Urological treatments were done according to factors of male infertility.

Main results and the role of chance

Semen quality was worse in Group A as compared to Group B (sperm motility, 28.5±16.9% vs. 46.0±17.0%; total sperm count, 105±108 million/mL vs. 176±155; total motile sperm count, 34±49 vs.87±98; mean±S.D.; p = 0.0001, 0.0001, 0.0001, A vs. B, respectively). After urologic consultation and managements, sperm motility was improved to 34±18% (p = 0.001). Live birth rate in groups A and B were similar (56.0% vs. 57.2%), however couples who obtained a child in Group A used IVF more often than those in Group B (70% vs. 49.9%, p < 0.001). Among those with adverse semen quality (total motile sperm count less than 15.6 million/mL, n = 472), 350 visited urologists (Group 1, 74.2%) and remaining 122 did not (Group 2, 25.8%). Live birth rate in Group 1 was significantly better than in Group 2 (65.3% vs. 54.1%, p = 0.0359). Use of IVF was significantly more frequent in Group 1 than Group 2 (79.3% vs. 63.6%, p = 0.0359) among who obtained a child. In those with better semen quality (motile sperm count >50 million, n = 900), 119 visited urologist (31.1%, Group 3) and 781 did not (Group 4). Live birth rate and the use of IVF were not different between Groups 3 and 4 (51.1% vs.60.9%; 50.4% vs. 62.9%).

Limitations, reasons for caution

This study is a single-institution, retrospective study in the setting of IVF clinic. There may be a selection bias since men first visit gynecologists. These could affect the study results.

Wider implications of the findings

In the setting of IVF clinic, urologic consultation resulted in improved semen quality and better live birth rate with the use of IVF, especially in those who have adverse semen parameters. The results of this study encourage patients to see urologists and physicians to introduce urologist to patients.

Trial registration number

not applicable

Relationship Seekers Versus Relationship Selectors: Influence of Residential Mobility on How to Evaluate Others

The present study examined the effect of residential mobility on impression formation. In the study, participants were first engaged in a residential mobility priming task where they were asked to imagine and describe either frequent moving life (high-mobility condition) or less frequent moving life (low-mobility condition). They then evaluated their attitudes toward four types of target persons: competent vs. incompetent and warm vs. cold. As a result, in the high-mobility condition, the effect of competence was observed only when participants evaluated a warm person, whereas in the low-mobility condition, it appeared only when participants evaluated a cold person. The potential influence of individual residential mobility on the relationship formation is also discussed.

The Lure of Counterfactual Curiosity: People Incur a Cost to Experience Regret

After you make a decision, it is sometimes possible to seek information about how things would be if you had acted otherwise. We investigated the lure of this counterfactual information, namely, counterfactual curiosity. In a set of five experiments (total N = 150 adults), we used an adapted Balloon Analogue Risk Task with varying costs of information. At a cost, people were willing to seek information about how much they could have won, even though it had little utility and a negative emotional impact (i.e., it led to regret). We explored the downstream effects of seeking information on emotion, behavior adjustment, and ongoing performance, showing that it has little or even negative performance benefit. We also replicated the findings with a large-sample (N = 361 adults) preregistered experiment that excluded possible alternative explanations. This suggests that information about counterfactual alternatives has a strong motivational lure—people simply cannot help seeking it.

Socio-Ecological Hypothesis of Reconciliation: Cultural, Individual, and Situational Variations in Willingness to Accept Apology or Compensation

The main goal of the present research is to examine socio-ecological hypothesis on apology and compensation. Specifically, we conducted four studies to test the idea that an apology is an effective means to induce reconciliation in a residentially stable community, whereas compensation is an effective means in a residentially mobile community. In Studies 1, 2a, and 2b, American and Japanese participants (national difference in mobility; Study 1) or non-movers and movers (within-nation difference in mobility; Studies 2a and 2b) imagined the situations in which they were hurt by their friends and rated to what extent they would be willing to maintain their friendships upon receipt of apology or compensation. The results showed that compensation was more effective in appeasing residentially mobile people (i.e., Americans and movers) than stable people (i.e., Japanese and non-movers), while apology was slightly more effective appeasing residentially stable people than residentially mobile people (significant in Study 1; not significant in Studies 2a and 2b). In Study 3, by conducting an economics game experiment, we directly tested the hypothesis that mobility would impair the effectiveness of apology and enhance the effectiveness of compensation. The results again partially supported our hypothesis: In the high mobility condition, compensation increased one's willingness to continue the relationship with the offender, when compared to willingness in the low mobility condition. The importance of socio-ecological perspective on the forgiveness literature is discussed.

Happiness, Meaning, and Psychological Richness

What kind of life do people want? In psychology, a good life has typically been conceptualized in terms of either hedonic or eudaimonic well-being. We propose that psychological richness is another neglected aspect of what people consider a good life. In study 1 (9-nation cross-cultural study), we asked participants whether they ideally wanted a happy, a meaningful, or a psychologically rich life. Roughly 7 to 17% of participants chose the psychologically rich life. In study 2, we asked 1611 Americans and 680 Koreans what they regret most in their lives; then, if they could undo or reverse the regretful event, whether their lives would have been happier, more meaningful, or psychologically richer as a result. Roughly 28% of Americans and 35% of Koreans reported their lives would have been psychologically richer. Together, this work provides a foundation for the study of psychological richness as another dimension of a good life.

Shared striatal activity in decisions to satisfy curiosity and hunger at the risk of electric shocks

Curiosity is often portrayed as a desirable feature of human faculty. However, curiosity may come at a cost that sometimes puts people in harmful situations. Here, using a set of behavioural and neuroimaging experiments with stimuli that strongly trigger curiosity (for example, magic tricks), we examine the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying the motivational effect of curiosity. We consistently demonstrate that across different samples, people are indeed willing to gamble, subjecting themselves to electric shocks to satisfy their curiosity for trivial knowledge that carries no apparent instrumental value. Also, this influence of curiosity shares common neural mechanisms with that of hunger for food. In particular, we show that acceptance (compared to rejection) of curiosity-driven or incentive-driven gambles is accompanied by enhanced activity in the ventral striatum when curiosity or hunger was elicited, which extends into the dorsal striatum when participants made a decision.

What Makes Employees' Work So Stressful? Effects of Vertical Leadership and Horizontal Management on Employees' Stress

Work stress is a significant problem all over the world. In the present study, from the perspective of the combination of vertical and horizontal management, we investigated the relationships of managerial ethical leadership, mutual monitoring, and mutual support among employees’ work stress levels. A total of 307 white collar employees in Japan were asked to complete an online questionnaire on three separate occasions. The results showed that both ethical leadership and mutual support were negatively related to stress. In addition, mutual support mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and work stress. Further, mutual monitoring moderated the relationship between ethical leadership and work stress: when mutual monitoring was high, stress did not decline with more ethical leadership. These results may suggest that ethical leadership can reduce work stress both directly and through mutual support, indirectly. Additionally, the direct effect may be constrained under high monitoring situations. Practical implications and needed future research are also discussed.

Residential Mobility Fosters Sensitivity to the Disappearance of Happiness

We conducted two studies to examine the hypothesis that residential mobility would evoke anxiety and foster sensitivity to signs of disapproval, such as the disappearance of happiness. American and Japanese participants were asked to watch happy-to-neutral movies and sad-to-neutral movies and judge the point at which they thought that their initial expressions had disappeared. We found that, regardless of cultures, participants who had experienced frequent moving (Study 1) and those asked to imagine and describe a mobile lifestyle of frequent moving (Study 2) judged the disappearance of happy faces faster than those who did not experience or imagine frequent moving. Our results were also in line with the previous finding in which Japanese were more vigilant than Americans in regards to the disappearance of happy faces. Moreover, we found that imagining a mobile lifestyle made participants feel more concerned than when imagining a stable lifestyle. The implications for the social skills needed for people in the globalising world are discussed.

Inhibitory effects of Sanguisorba officinalis root extract on HYBID (KIAA1199)-mediated hyaluronan degradation and skin wrinkling

OBJECTIVES

Hyaluronan (HA), an important constituent of extracellular matrix in the skin, has many biological activities such as hydration that contributes to firmness and bounciness of the skin. We have reported that reduction in HA in the papillary dermis and over-expression of HYBID (HYaluronan Binding protein Involved in hyaluronan Depolymerization, alias KIAA1199 or CEMIP), a key molecule for HA degradation in skin fibroblasts, are implicated in facial skin wrinkling in Japanese and Caucasian women. However, little or no information is available for substances which inhibit the HYBID-mediated HA degradation.

METHODS

Inhibition of Sanguisorba officinalis root extract and ziyuglycoside I, one of the components of Sanguisorba officinalis root extract, to the HYBID-mediated HA degradation was assessed by size-exclusion chromatography of HA depolymerized by stable transfectants of HYBID in HEK293 cells (HYBID/HEK293 cells) or normal human skin fibroblasts (Detroit 551 cells and NHDF-Ad cells). The HYBID mRNA and protein expression was examined by quantitative real-time PCR and immunoblotting in the skin fibroblasts treated with Sanguisorba officinalis root extract, and size distribution of newly produced HA was evaluated by preparing metabolically radiolabelled HA. A double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled study was carried out in the 21 healthy Japanese women, who were topically treated with the formulation containing Sanguisorba officinalis root extract or the placebo on each side of the face including crow's foot area.

RESULTS

Sanguisorba officinalis root extract, but not ziyuglycoside I, abolished HYBID-mediated HA degradation by HYBID/HEK293 cells. Sanguisorba officinalis root extract also inhibited HYBID-mediated HA degradation in skin fibroblasts by down-regulating HYBID mRNA and protein expression. Although control untreated skin fibroblasts produced polydispersed HA, the cells treated with Sanguisorba officinalis root extract produced only high-molecular-weight HA. Treatment with Sanguisorba officinalis root extract-formulated lotion significantly improved skin elasticity, and reduced skin wrinkling scores at the outer eye corner compared with the placebo formulation.

CONCLUSION

Sanguisorba officinalis root extract showed an anti-HYBID-mediated HA degradation activity and anti-wrinkle activity on human facial skin, which is accompanied by the improvement in elasticity. Our study provides the possibility of a new strategy to inhibit HYBID-mediated HA degradation for anti-wrinkle care.

Cross-cultural consistency and relativity in the enjoyment of thinking versus doing

Which is more enjoyable: trying to think enjoyable thoughts or doing everyday solitary activities? Wilson et al. (2014) found that American participants much preferred solitary everyday activities, such as reading or watching TV, to thinking for pleasure. To see whether this preference generalized outside of the United States, we replicated the study with 2,557 participants from 12 sites in 11 countries. The results were consistent in every country: Participants randomly assigned to do something reported significantly greater enjoyment than did participants randomly assigned to think for pleasure. Although we found systematic differences by country in how much participants enjoyed thinking for pleasure, we used a series of nested structural equation models to show that these differences were fully accounted for by country-level variation in 5 individual differences, 4 of which were positively correlated with thinking for pleasure (need for cognition, openness to experience, meditation experience, and initial positive affect) and 1 of which was negatively correlated (reported phone usage). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Reduction of hyaluronan and increased expression of HYBID (alias CEMIP and KIAA1199) correlate with clinical symptoms in photoaged skin

BACKGROUND

Hyaluronan (HA) metabolism in skin fibroblasts is mediated by HYBID (hyaluronan binding protein involved in hyaluronan depolymerization, alias CEMIP and KIAA1199) and the HA synthases HAS1 and HAS2. However, photoageing-dependent changes in HA and their molecular mechanisms, and the relationship between HA metabolism and clinical symptoms in photoaged skin remain elusive.

OBJECTIVES

We examined the amount, size and tissue distribution of HA and expression levels of HYBID, HAS1 and HAS2 in photoaged skin, and analysed their relationship with the degree of photoageing.

METHODS

Photoageing-dependent changes of HA were investigated by studying skin biopsies isolated from photoprotected and photoexposed areas of the same donors, and the relationships between HA and photoageing symptoms such as skin wrinkling and sagging were examined.

RESULTS

Skin biopsy specimens showed that the amount and size of HA are decreased in photoexposed skin compared with photoprotected skin, and this was accompanied by increased expression of HYBID and decreased expression of HAS1 and HAS2. Histologically, HA staining in the papillary dermis was decreased in photoexposed skin, showing reverse correlation with HYBID expression. HYBID expression in the photoexposed skin directly correlated with skin roughness and sagging parameters, and the reduced HA staining in the papillary dermis in the photoexposed skin positively correlated with these symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

These data demonstrate that imbalance between HYBID-mediated HA degradation and HAS-mediated HA synthesis may contribute to enhanced HA catabolism in photoaged skin, and suggest that HYBID-mediated HA reduction in the papillary dermis is related to skin wrinkling and sagging of photoaged skin.

Relationship of hyaluronan and HYBID (KIAA1199) expression with roughness parameters of photoaged skin in Caucasian women

BACKGROUND

Hyaluronan (HA) is an important constituent of extracellular matrix (ECM) in the skin, and HA degradation mediated by HYBID (KIAA1199) is suggested to be implicated in facial skin wrinkling in Japanese women. Ethnic difference in skin wrinkle formation is known between Caucasian and Japanese women, but no information is available for the relations of HA and HYBID expression levels with skin wrinkling in Caucasian women.

METHODS

The skin surface roughness at the eye corner of the Caucasian female subjects was measured, and the skin specimens biopsied from the same areas were subjected to microarray gene analysis, HA staining, and immunohistochemistry for HYBID.

RESULTS

Among the ECM genes and those related to ECM metabolism, only HYBID expression levels positively correlated with the skin roughness parameters. When the skin sample groups with high expression of HYBID or low expression of HYBID were compared, the HA staining intensity and the ratio of HYBID-immunoreactive cells to total cells in the superficial dermis were significantly reduced and increased in the high-HYBID-expression group compared with the low-HYBID-expression group, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Our data suggest that like Japanese women, HYBID-mediated reduction of HA in the superficial dermis is involved in the formation of wrinkles in Caucasian women.

Providing compensation promotes forgiveness for replaceable, but not irreplaceable, losses

The present study aimed to examine how the replaceability of a loss moderates the effectiveness of compensation. In Study 1, we sampled real-life experiences of experiential loss, material loss, or loss of materials to which the victims had special attachment, and assayed subsequent feelings toward the transgressor who caused the loss. The results showed that for those who reported losses of an experience or cherished material object, perpetrators' offers of compensation did not facilitate forgiveness. In Study 2, by manipulating replaceability of hypothetical losses in vignettes, we showed that compensation for replaceable losses effectively elicits forgiveness from a victim, but compensation for irreplaceable losses is ineffective. A series of mediation analyses showed that the effect of replaceability on forgiveness is explained by the victim's perception of whether their loss was sufficiently recovered. We discuss the function of compensation and its inherent limitations.

Natural Disaster Risk and Collectivism

Previous research found that low levels of national wealth and high levels of historical pathogen prevalence are associated with collectivism. The main idea is that harsh economic and physical environments present a psychological threat, which evokes collectivism or the priority of protecting in-group members. To the extent that natural disasters pose a major threat, we hypothesized that natural disaster risk is also associated with collectivism. Consistent with our hypothesis, nations with higher levels of natural disaster risk were more collectivistic than those with lower risk using both Hofstede’s individualism–collectivism scores and Taras, Steel, and Kirkman’s meta-analytic individualism–collectivism scores from 1970 to 2010, and Taras et al.’s meta-analytic individualism–collectivism scores from the 2000s. This association remained significant when controlling for other climatic factors such as historical pathogen prevalence, climatic harshness, and distance from the equator, respectively, when Hofstede’s individualism–collectivism scores and Taras et al.’s scores from 1970 to 2010 were used. The association became marginal when Taras et al.’s scores from the 2000s were used. A multiple regression analysis showed that natural disaster risk was not a predictor of collectivism, above and beyond gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, pathogen prevalence, climatic harshness, and distance from the equator simultaneously. Finally, we found the interaction between GDP per capita and natural disaster such that the link between natural disaster risk and collectivism was present among wealthy but not among poorer nations.

Does A Major Earthquake Change Job Preferences and Human Values?

Does a major natural disaster change human values and job preferences? The present studies examined whether the experience of a natural disaster experience shifts people's values and job preferences toward pro–social directions. In Study 1 (cross–temporal analysis), we analysed job application data in nine cities in Japan over 12 years and found that the popularity of pro–social occupations (e.g. firefighter) increased after the Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake in 1995, in particular the area hit hardest by the quake. In Study 2 (a large national survey), we found that Japanese respondents who had experienced a major earthquake are more likely to hold a pro–social job than those who never experienced a major earthquake. Together, the current findings suggest that the experience of a major natural disaster shifts human values from the egocentric to the allocentric direction, which in turn could result in a social structure that values pro–social occupations. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology

Negotiating with the future: incorporating imaginary future generations into negotiations

People to be born in the future have no direct influence on current affairs. Given the disconnect between people who are currently living and those who will inherit the planet left for them, individuals who are currently alive tend to be more oriented toward the present, posing a fundamental problem related to sustainability. In this study, we propose a new framework for reconciling the disconnect between the present and the future whereby some individuals in the current generation serve as an imaginary future generation that negotiates with individuals in the real-world present. Through a laboratory-controlled intergenerational sustainability dilemma game (ISDG), we show how the presence of negotiators for a future generation increases the benefits of future generations. More specifically, we found that when faced with members of an imaginary future generation, 60% of participants selected an option that promoted sustainability. In contrast, when the imaginary future generation was not salient, only 28% of participants chose the sustainable option.

The Rural-Urban Difference in Interpersonal Regret

The present research examined rural-urban differences in interpersonal regret. In Study 1, participants who grew up in rural areas reported stronger interpersonal regret than those who grew up in large cities. In Study 2, we conducted an experiment and found that participants who were assigned to imagine a rural life reported greater interpersonal regret than those who were assigned to imagine an urban life. Moreover, this rural-urban difference was mediated by the degree to which participants wrote about informal social control such as gossip and reputation concerns. Finally, in Study 3, we used the pictorial eye manipulation, which evokes a concern for informal social control, and found that participants from large cities who were exposed to the eyes reported more intense interpersonal regret than those who were not exposed to the eyes. Together, these studies demonstrate that informal social control is a key to understanding rural-urban differences in interpersonal regret.

Trust, Cohesion, and Cooperation After Early Versus Late Trust Violations in Two-Person Exchange

We examine how the timing of trust violations affects cooperation and solidarity, including trust and relational cohesion. Past studies that used repeated Prisoner’s Dilemmas suggest that trust violations are more harmful when they occur in early rather than later interactions. We argue that this effect of early trust violations depends on cultural and individual differences in generalized trust. A laboratory study from high- and low-trust cultures (the United States vs. Japan) supported our claim. First, early trust violations were more harmful than late trust violations, but only for Americans; the pattern reversed for Japanese. Second, these patterns were mediated by individual differences in generalized trust. Finally, generalized trust also moderated the effect of trust violations in the United States but not Japan. By demonstrating that generalized trust is not only lower but also less important in low-trust cultures, our research advances our understanding of how culture affects the development of solidarity in exchange relations.

Association of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the SH2D1A intronic region with systemic lupus erythematosus

SH2D1A, also known as signaling lymphocytic activation molecule (SLAM)-associated protein (SAP), is an adaptor protein. Recently, it was reported that SAP deficient mice were protected from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, we postulated SH2D1A gene to be a candidate susceptibility gene for SLE and analyzed its association with SLE. A case-control association study was conducted on 5 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SH2D1A region in 506 Japanese female SLE patients and 330 healthy female controls. The luciferase assay was performed to determine the functional role of the SNP associated with SLE. One SNP in the intron 2, rs2049995, showed association with SLE (p=0.0110, odds ratio (OR) 1.97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-3.34, under the dominant model). The association of rs2049995 seemed to be stronger in the subset with the age of onset less than 20 years (p=0.0067, OR 2.65, 95% CI 1.28-5.46). Functional evaluation of rs2049995 showed that reporter gene activity was increased 1.9-fold for the susceptible allele compared with the resistant allele. An intronic SNP of SH2D1A is associated with SLE.

Three-dimensional continuation study of convection in a tilted rectangular enclosure

A continuation method developed from a three-dimensional spectral finite element code is used to study natural convection in a tilted rectangular cavity. The cavity has its length equal to two times the side of its square cross section and it contains a fluid with a Prandtl number Pr = 1. A detailed bifurcation diagram is first obtained in the case without inclination in order to get the sequence of the different branches of solutions and determine the stable solutions. The focus is then put on the stable solutions in the inclined cavity, when the tilt occurs around its longest axis. The subtle changes induced by the tilt on the convective system are clarified. Three different stable solutions are obtained: the longitudinal roll L- solution (with the same sense of rotation as the inclination angle), which develops smoothly from zero Rayleigh number on the leading branch; the longitudinal roll L+ solution (with a sense of rotation opposite to the inclination angle), which is on a disconnected branch and is stabilized beyond a secondary bifurcation point; the oblique roll O ± solutions (corresponding to transverse roll solutions perturbed by the longitudinal flow induced by the tilt), which quickly appear beyond saddle-node points on new disconnected branches. The domain of existence of these stable solutions is eventually obtained and described in the Rayleigh number-inclination parameter space. Finally, the Nusselt number is determined as a function of the inclination at a constant Rayleigh number for the different stable solutions. The Nusselt number is maximum at an inclination of 49.55° for the leading longitudinal roll L- solution.

Cultural adaptation of visual attention: calibration of the oculomotor control system in accordance with cultural scenes

Previous studies have found that Westerners are more likely than East Asians to attend to central objects (i.e., analytic attention), whereas East Asians are more likely than Westerners to focus on background objects or context (i.e., holistic attention). Recently, it has been proposed that the physical environment of a given culture influences the cultural form of scene cognition, although the underlying mechanism is yet unclear. This study examined whether the physical environment influences oculomotor control. Participants saw culturally neutral stimuli (e.g., a dog in a park) as a baseline, followed by Japanese or United States scenes, and finally culturally neutral stimuli again. The results showed that participants primed with Japanese scenes were more likely to move their eyes within a broader area and they were less likely to fixate on central objects compared with the baseline, whereas there were no significant differences in the eye movements of participants primed with American scenes. These results suggest that culturally specific patterns in eye movements are partly caused by the physical environment.

Cultural grounding of regret: regret in self and interpersonal contexts

The purpose of this study was to explore cultural similarities and differences in regret, focusing on distinctions between interpersonal and self-situations, and between action and inaction regrets. Japanese and American undergraduates were asked to describe regrets experienced in interpersonal and self-situations. We found that both situational and cultural contexts influenced the likelihood of regretting inactions over actions. Participants were more likely to recall inaction regrets in self-situations than in interpersonal situations, and that the likelihood of recalling inaction regrets was more pronounced for Americans than for Japanese. Furthermore, we examined the intensity of the regret. Whereas American students experienced regret as intense as that of Japanese students in self-situations, Japanese students experienced regret more strongly than American students in interpersonal situations. Detailed content analysis also showed that individuals experienced regret in ways consistent with cultural values. The situational and cultural grounding of regret is discussed.

Molecular evidence for the existence of two distinct IL-8 lineages of teleost CXC-chemokines

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a CXC-type chemokine with a chemotactic activity mainly on neutrophils and plays a key role in promoting inflammation. In teleosts, several CXC-chemokines have been cloned and characterized as being IL-8-like. Phylogenetic data however indicate that the reported teleost IL-8-like chemokines are substantially remote from mammalian IL-8, forming a fish-specific clade of IL-8-like chemokines distinct from that of tetrapod IL-8. In the present study, a novel IL-8-like chemokine, designated CaIL-8, has been found in the expressed sequence tags of carp gills and identified as an orthologue of mammalian IL-8. The CaIL-8 transcript encodes 99 amino acids containing a typical CXC motif but lacks an ELR motif, as in most teleost IL-8-like chemokines. Phylogenetic tree constructed by the maximum likelihood method suggests a closer relationship of CaIL-8 with mammalian IL-8 than with other teleost CXC-chemokines reported to be IL-8-like. In a normal unstimulated carp, CaIL-8 mRNA was detected by RT-PCR only in gills, kidney, spleen, heart and peripheral blood leukocytes, in contrast to a previously reported carp IL-8-like chemokine CXCa, which shows ubiquitous basal expression. The results, taken together, are strongly indicative of the presence of two major IL-8-like lineages of CXC-chemokines in teleost.

Neutrophil CD64 expression in the diagnosis of local musculoskeletal infection and the impact of antibiotics

We examined the usefulness of neutrophil CD64 expression in detecting local musculoskeletal infection and the impact of antibiotics on its expression. Of 141 patients suspected of musculoskeletal infection, 46 were confirmed by microbiological culture to be infected and 95 had infection excluded. The median CD64 count of patients with localised infection was 2230 molecules per cell (interquartile range (IQR) 918 to 4592) and that of the patients without infection was 937 molecules per cell (IQR 648 to 1309) (p < 0.001). The level of CD64 correlated with the CRP level in patients with infection, but not in those without infection (r = 0.59, p < 0.01). Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis revealed that CD64 was a good predictor of local infection. When the patients were subdivided into two groups based on the administration of antibiotics at the time of CD64 sampling, the sensitivity for detecting infection was better in those who had not received antibiotics.

These results suggest that measurement of CD64 expression is a useful marker for local musculoskeletal infection.

Activation of basophils by stem cell factor: comparison with insulin-like growth factor-I

BACKGROUND

Basophils are an active participant in the pathogenesis of local inflammation in allergic diseases such as asthma, but it is not fully known how basophil activation is regulated in inflamed tissue.

OBJECTIVE

In order to clarify the control mechanisms of basophil activation in chronic inflammation and at remodeling sites, we analyzed the effects of fibroblast-derived cytokines, stem cell factor (SCF), and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) on basophils.

METHODS

The effects of SCF and IGF-I on degranulation and surface activation marker expression by basophils were assessed and compared.

RESULTS

SCF enhanced human basophil histamine release elicited by some, but not all, secretagogues; degranulation in response to IgE- or FcepsilonRI-mediated stimulation and 12-o-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was enhanced by SCF. SCF slightly enhanced ionophore A23187-induced histamine release by basophils from some donors, but it failed to affect the release elicited by monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) or C5a. The repertoire of secretagogues responsive to SCF was similar to that of IGF-I. Expression levels of both CD11b and CD69 markers were significantly enhanced by the combination of SCF and IGF-I.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that SCF and IGF-I may modify the activation of basophils in a similar and/or synergistic fashion. Interaction of basophils with these cytokines might be involved in the pathogenesis of local inflammation and the remodeling process in asthma.

Genetic changes in pT2 and pT3 prostate cancer detected by comparative genomic hybridization

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening has led to a remarkable increase in prostate cancer cases undergoing operative therapy. Over half of patients with locally advanced cancer (>or=pT3) develop rising PSA levels (biochemical failure) within 10 years. It is very difficult to predict which patients will progress rapidly to advanced disease following biochemical failure (BF). Therefore, a more useful prognostic factor is needed to suggest the most appropriate therapies for each patient. To determine chromosomal aberrations, we examined 30 patients with stage pT2 or pT3 primary prostate adenocarcinomas and no metastases (pN0M0) by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). Laser capture microdissection (LCM) was used to gather cancer cells from frozen prostate specimens. Common chromosomal alterations included losses on 2q23-24, 4q26-28, 6q14-22, 8p12-22 and 13q21-31, as well as gains on 1p32-36, 6p21 and 17q21-22. Losses at 8p12-22 and 13q21-31 were observed more frequently in pT3 than pT2 tumors (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). Losses at 8p12-22 were more frequent in tumors with BF (P<0.05), and those at 13q12-21 were more frequent in tumors with Gleason score (GS) 7 or more than lower GS (P<0.05). These findings suggest that losses of 8p12-22 and 13q21-31 are important determinants of prostate cancer progression.

[Regret in individual and group decision making]

We compared the regret that people report in individual and group decision-making in two experimental studies. In the first study, thirty-nine participants were randomly assigned to either an individual or a group decision-making condition, and then failed on an assigned task. They were asked to rate their regret and cognitive variables of controllability, internal and external factors related to their failure. Participants in the group decision condition, reported less regret than in the individual decision condition. In the second study, we added individual and group decision conditions where the participants heard others express regret. Fifty-eight participants played and lost the same game in the four conditions. In the group decision condition, we found that the participants who heard others express regret reported more regret than the participants who did not hear others' regret. These findings suggest that the expression of regret enhances others' regret. Some implications of the findings are discussed.

Identification and characterization of Birt-Hogg-Dubé associated renal carcinoma

The Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) gene is responsible for BHD syndrome, a rare autosomal dominant disease, characterized by benign hair follicle tumours, spontaneous pneumothorax and renal neoplasms with diverse histology. To elucidate its involvement in the development of renal neoplasms, we examined a total of 100 sporadic renal tumours with various histological subtypes for BHD mutation by SSCP-sequencing analyses. We found one germline insertion mutation in the C8 hotspot of exon 11 (c.1733insC), which is known to have a strong association with renal tumour occurrence. The germline-mutated patient suffered from solitary renal cell carcinoma (RCC) but did not have any other BHD manifestations or family history. The tumour revealed heterogeneous cytomorphology, mainly a mixture of eosinophilic and focally clear cells with tubulopapillary architecture. In this tumour, both BHD alleles were inactivated by germline mutation concomitant with loss of heterozygosity, and the amount of BHD mRNA detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) was very low. Renal tumour subtype/nephron segment-specific gene expression detected by RQ-PCR demonstrated that the tumour expressed relatively high amounts of alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR) and the KIT oncogene, but relatively low amounts of carbonic anhydrase IX (CA9), aquaporin 1 (AQP1), claudin 7 (CLDN7), parvalbumin (PVALB), chloride channel Kb (CLCNKB) and 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (HSD11B2), suggesting diverse mRNA signatures. Further clustering analysis of 88 renal tumours based on expression of these eight genes sub-classified the tumour as close to oncocytomas and chromophobe RCCs, which are considered distal nephron-associated tumours. These data suggest that somatic mutation of BHD is relatively rare in Japanese patients. The BHD-mutated RCC identified in this study, which exhibits heterogeneous biological features in both morphology and gene expression signatures, seems to deviate from our current understanding of renal tumour classification.

Acceleration of de novo Cholesterol Synthesis in the Epidermis Influences Desquamation of the Stratum Corneum in Aged Mice

Cholesterol, a component of intercellular lipids, is important for stratum corneum (SC) homeostasis, including its barrier function and desquamation. However, cholesterologenesis in the epidermis decreases under basal conditions with aging. We found that the number of horny layers in murine SC increased with the decrease of desquamation in the outermost corneocytes associated with aging. The cholesterol content decreased and the cholesterol sulfate content increased in the horny layer with aging, which resulted in an increase in the ratio of cholesterol sulfate to cholesterol. Moreover, we investigated the effects of accelerated cholesterologenesis on desquamation in aged murine skin following topical application of mevalonic acid. The ratio of cholesterol sulfate to cholesterol in aged murine SC significantly decreased following topical treatment with mevalonic acid, which resulted from an increase in cholesterol content via the acceleration of cholesterologenesis. Treatment with mevalonic acid also significantly reduced the number of cell layers in the SC along with the acceleration of desquamation, as measured by desmoglein I content, corneocyte surface area and proteinase activity. These results indicate that an improvement in the ratio of cholesterol sulfate to cholesterol content by de novo cholesterologenesis may be important for desquamation of the SC in aged epidermis.

Treatment and prognosis of patients with paraplegia or quadriplegia because of metastatic spinal cord compression in prostate cancer

Metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) is a serious complication of metastatic prostate cancer (PCa). This study retrospectively evaluated patients who presented with paraplegia or quadriplegia because of MSCC of PCa. Of 847 patients with PCa who were treated between 1989 and 1998, 26 (3.1%) demonstrated paraplegia or quadriplegia because of MSCC. Characteristics, treatment efficacy, and prognosis of these patients were analyzed. In total, 15 cases became paraplegic despite androgen ablation therapy (Group I). Average time to paraplegia from initial hormonal treatment was 34 months. Out of nine cases who underwent radiation therapy (RT) to spinal lesions with/without chemotherapy, one patient became ambulatory. However, this patient subsequently had recurrent compression. Two cases had remission of paralysis. Two cases underwent laminectomy plus RT and in one case paralysis improved. MSCC was the first indication of PCa in 11 cases (Group II). Two cases underwent laminectomy plus hormone therapy and nine cases underwent hormone therapy alone. Four patients became ambulatory and two cases showed improved motor capacity. Average interval from paraplegia to death was 7.4 months in Group I and 27.1 months in Group II. However, there was no statistical difference in these two groups on disease-specific survival from the start of initial treatment. It is difficult to recover the ability to walk if paraplegia or quadriplegia occurs in PCa patients although decompression surgery plus hormone therapy seemed to impair the prognosis. Stage M1 patients with paraplegia had survival rates as good as stage M1 patients without paralysis. This should encourage an aggressive treatment approach. However, for patients with hormone-independent disease there seems to be no effective treatment and prognosis is poor.

Augmentation ileocystoplasty in patients with neurogenic bladder due to spinal cord injury or spina bifida

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of augmentation ileocystoplasty for neurogenic bladder.

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the effects and complications of augmentation ileocystoplasty in patients with neurogenic bladder due to spinal cord injury (SCI) or spina bifida retrospectively.

SETTING

Department of Urology, Kanagawa Rehabilitation Hospital, Japan.

METHODS

We have treated 11 patients with neurogenic bladder due to SCI and 10 patients with spinal bifida with augmentation ileocystoplasty since 1989. The purpose of the treatment was to stop vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) and/or amelioration of urinary incontinence. In 17 of 21 cases, the antireflux operation was received simultaneously. All cases performed clean intermittent self catheterization postoperatively.

RESULTS

Urinary incontinence improved in all cases and only transient recurrence of VUR was observed in the follow-up term. Complications occurred in patients with SCI, but they could be treated conservatively.

CONCLUSION

Augmentation ileocystoplasty is a good treatment option for contracted bladder or VUR, which occurs in patients with neurogenic bladder.

Pretreatment serum level of testosterone as a prognostic factor in Japanese men with hormonally treated stage D2 prostate cancer

Pretreatment serum level of testosterone (T) is a potential prognostic factor for prostate cancer. However, T levels in Japanese prostate cancer patients are unknown to date. To evaluate the clinical significance of pretreatment serum T level in such patients, serum T level was analyzed in relation to several clinical factors in a total of 130 patients with various stages of prostate cancer, 74 of whom had metastatic disease (stage D2) and received endocrine therapy as first-line treatment. The mean pretreatment T level in patients with non-metastatic prostate cancer (stages B + C) was significantly lower than that in stage D2 patients (B + C: 4.05 +/- 2.01 ng/ml; D2: 4.85 +/- 2.18 ng/ml, p = 0.0344). On the other hand, the mean serum level of T was higher in stage D2 patients who showed good response to endocrine therapy (CR: 5.42 +/- 1.55 ng/ml; non-CR: 4.30 +/- 2.63 ng/ml, p = 0.0320). When the 74 stage D2 patients were divided into high and low T level groups according to the median value, those patients with a high T level had significantly better cause-specific and progression-free survival. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that extent of bone metastases (EOD) grade, pretreatment serum T level and tumor marker response to endocrine therapy were significant predictors for progression-free survival. In conclusion, a higher pretreatment T level appears to be predictive of the marker response to endocrine therapy, showing positive prognostic value and indicating good prognosis in patients at the metastatic stage. However, a higher T level was also associated with stage progression of this disease.

Regulation of mouse mast cell surface Fc epsilon RI expression by dexamethasone

It is now clear that the mast cell's functional response to IgE-dependent stimulation can be influenced significantly by the level of expression of the high-affinity IgE receptor (Fc epsilon RI) on the cell's surface. Thus, modulation of Fc epsilon RI surface expression represents a potentially important mechanism for regulating mast cell activity in allergic reactions. In this study, we examined whether a glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (DEX), can influence levels of mast cell Fc epsilon RI expression either in the presence or absence of IgE, an up-regulator of the mast cell surface Fc epsilon RI level. In the absence of IgE, DEX decreased the surface Fc epsilon RI levels in mouse peritoneal mast cells, mouse bone marrow-derived cultured mast cells and a mouse mast cell line, Cl.MC/C57.1. Moreover, DEX also partially suppressed the ability of IgE to enhance surface expression of Fc epsilon RI in these cells. Three different glucocorticoids, DEX, methylprednisolone and hydrocortisone, suppressed Fc epsilon RI expression in mast cells, whereas sex steroids, i.e. estradiol, progesterone and testosterone, did not, indicating that the Fc epsilon RI-suppressing effect is glucocorticoid specific. On the other hand, DEX did not affect levels of Fc epsilon RI alpha, beta or gamma mRNA, suggesting that its ability to decrease surface Fc epsilon RI reflects a post-transcriptional mechanism. Finally, DEX-treated mast cells showed a reduced degranulation response to antigenic stimulation through down-regulation of surface Fc epsilon RI expression in addition to DEX-induced changes in downstream signals. These results show that mast cell surface Fc epsilon RI expression is suppressed by glucocorticoids in both the presence and absence of IgE, and suggest that reduction of mast cell surface Fc epsilon RI levels may be one of the favorable anti-allergic actions of glucocorticoids.

Aberrant expression of Pax-2 mRNA in renal cell carcinoma tissue and parenchyma of the affected kidney

BACKGROUND

Pax proteins are transcription factors that demonstrate oncogenic properties and appear to play a crucial role in ontogenesis. Pax-2 is expressed in early kidney organogenesis, Wilms' tumor and renal cell carcinoma. In order to determine whether the expression of Pax-2 mRNA is a frequent and specific event in renal cell carcinoma, its expression in nephrectomized specimens and cell lines was investigated.

METHODS

The expression of Pax-2 mRNA was examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in 55 nephrectomized specimens, nine renal parenchyma specimens from patients without renal cell carcinoma and 16 cell lines from various malignant diseases.

RESULTS

All tumor tissue specimens expressed Pax-2 mRNA. In addition, 38 of 55 specimens from the renal parenchyma of the affected kidney expressed Pax-2 mRNA. In contrast, only two of the nine kidney specimens from patients without renal cell carcinoma expressed Pax-2 mRNA, indicating that expression of this protein is significantly higher in renal cell carcinoma (P < 0.01). All three cell lines from renal cell carcinoma expressed Pax-2. In contrast, Pax-2 was only expressed in two of three cell lines from transitional cell carcinoma and in none of the other lines.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that Pax-2 expression is a frequent and highly specific event in renal cell carcinoma.

Laparoscopic adrenalectomy for functioning adrenal tumors: clinical experiences with 38 cases and comparison with open adrenalectomy

We reviewed 38 cases of transperitoneal or retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy for unilateral benign functioning adrenal tumors and compared the results with those of a recent series of 36 patients undergoing an open adrenalectomy. The tumors were removed successfully in all but two cases with laparoscopy that required open laparotomy. In the other 36 cases of the laparoscopy group, mean operative time and blood loss were 225 minutes and 138 mL, respectively. Mean operative time was significantly longer for the laparoscopy group (122 minutes for open surgery: P < 0.0001), whereas mean blood loss of the laparoscopy group was almost equal to that of the open surgery group. Mean intervals to first ambulation and oral intake, and postoperative hospital stay of the laparoscopy group were significantly less than those of the open surgery group (1.4 vs 2.0 days: P = 0.014; 1.8 vs 2.9 days: P < 0.0001; and 8.5 vs 12.9 days: P < 0.0001, respectively). We conclude that laparoscopic adrenalectomy is equally effective and less invasive than open adrenalectomy. and that it should be considered as the first-choice therapy for benign adrenal tumors.

A rapid DNA probe method for detection of Porphyromonas gingivalis and Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

BACKGROUND

The objective of the present study was to develop a rapid DNA probe method for the microbiological detection of periodontitis that can be used in dental clinics. By using the DNA probe, we also investigated the correlation between the occurrence of putative periodontopathic bacteria and clinical parameters.

METHODS

This rapid DNA probe method minimizes the use of a water bath for ordinary hybridization and washing in order to shorten the total reaction time. The detection process could be completed within 2 hours. In order to evaluate the clinical application of the DNA probe, subgingival plaque samples were taken from patients with periodontitis before initial therapy. After the therapy, the patients were microbiologically and clinically evaluated.

RESULTS

When the DNA probe method was compared with the culture method, the agreement was 88% for Porphyromonas gingivalis and 67% for Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. A statistically significant association was found between the detection of P. gingivalis and probing depth, bleeding on probing (chi2 test: P <0.001, P <0.05). A significant association was also shown between the detection of A. actinomycetemcomitans and probing depth in patients aged 35 or older (chi2 test: P <0.001). The detection rate of A. actinomycetemcomitans was highest in teenagers. At shallow periodontal pocket sites (PD < or =3 mm) in teenagers, no P. gingivalis was found, while 22% of the sites harbored A. actinomycetemcomitans. After the therapy, the frequency of detection of P. gingivalis decreased significantly only in the clinically improved sites (chi2 test: P <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The rapid DNA probe method appears promising as an efficient tool for rapid clinical detection of periodontopathic bacteria.