Establishing Foundational Nonarbitrary Distinctive and Categorical Relational Responding in Children with Autism

The present study sought to evaluate a sequence of training procedures on the emergence of foundational relational responses that underly more complex distinctive (i.e., difference) and hierarchical (i.e., categorical) relational frames. In a multiple baseline design, an initial baseline period with three children with autism showed that the participants did not select nonidentical stimuli from an array when presented the contextual cue "different." Simple discrimination training was efficacious in establishing this response and the skill transferred to a novel set of stimuli without reinforcement. In a second baseline period, participants did not demonstrate conditional identical/nonidentical relational responses when provided the contextual cues "same" and "different." Conditional discrimination training with all three participants was again efficacious in establishing the conditional reflexive and distinctive responses and the skill transferred to untrained stimuli. In a third baseline period, participants did not demonstrate correct conditional categorization/sorting. Like in the prior two training conditions, training was efficacious in establishing the target response with a generalized transfer to untrained stimuli.

[Medical ethics and research ethics]

Medical ethics are important for medical professionals and can be classified into two subcategories, which are: "Research Ethics," referring to the norms that researchers should follow when engaging in research activities, and "Clinical Ethics," which are mainly norms that should be followed in routine clinical practice. Rules are the basic component of ethics and are an agreement that is enacted after the fact. On the other hand, the development of new medical care strategies requires novelty and originality. Research includes unknown and unpracticed topics; therefore, new problems arise, which are often not possible to deal with by simply following the established rules. Medical professionals need to be ethical so that they can anticipate new problems and make decisions without the rules. This can be done by understanding the background against which the rules have been formed and its preamble.

Distinct tumour antigen-specific T-cell immune response profiles at different hepatocellular carcinoma stages

BACKGROUND

Cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) and tumour-associated antigens (TAAs) are frequently expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the role of tumour-antigen-specific T cell immunity in HCC progression is poorly defined. We characterized CTA- and TAA-specific T cell responses in different HCC stages and investigated their alterations during HCC progression.

METHODS

Fifty-eight HCC patients, 15 liver cirrhosis patients, 15 chronic hepatitis B patients and 10 heathy controls were enrolled in total. IFN-γ ELSPOT using CTAs, including MAGE-A1, MAGE-A3, NY-ESO-1, and SSX2, and two TAAs, SALL4 and AFP, was performed to characterize the T-cell immune response in the enrolled individuals. The functional phenotype of T cells and the responsive T cell populations were analyzed using short-term T-cell culture.

RESULTS

T cell responses against CTAs and TAAs were specific to HCC. In early-stage HCC patients, the SALL4-specific response was the strongest, followed by MAGE-A3, NY-ESO-1, MAGE-A1 and SSX2. One-year recurrence-free survival after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization plus radiofrequency ablation treatment suggested the protective role of CTA-specific responses. The four CTA- and SALL4-specific T cell responses decreased with the progression of HCC, while the AFP-specific T cell response increased. A higher proportion of CD4+ T cells specific to CTA/SALL4 was observed than AFP-specific T cell responses.

CONCLUSIONS

The IFN-γ ELISPOT assay characterized distinct profiles of tumour-antigen-specific T cell responses in HCC patients. CTA- and SALL4-specific T cell responses may be important for controlling HCC in the early stage, whereas AFP-specific T cell responses might be a signature of malignant tumour status in the advanced stage. The application of immunotherapy at an early stage of HCC development should be considered.

The dilemma of differentiating between acute hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis B with acute exacerbation: Is quantitative serology the answer?

Background/Aims

Acute exacerbations of chronic hepatitis B (CHB-AEs) are common in endemic areas and are often presumed to be acute hepatitis B (AHB) due to their similarities in clinical and serological pictures, presenting a major diagnostic dilemma. This study aimed to identify laboratory markers for differentiating between the two groups, and to establish the cut-off value for significant markers.

Methods

A retrospective analysis of records was conducted for patients who presented with clinical features of acute hepatitis along with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and IgM antibody to hepatitis B core antigen (IgM anti-HBc) positivity from May 2015 to May 2017. A total of 172 patients were enrolled and grouped as AHB (n=89) and CHB-AE (n=83) based on their history of hepatitis B virus infection and duration of HBsAg persistence. Virological and biochemical parameters were analyzed and compared. Cut-off values, sensitivity, and specificity of the variables were calculated.

Results

The median value of signal by cut-off (S/Co) ratio for IgM anti-HBc was significantly higher in AHB group (30.44) compared to CHB-AE group (8.63) with a sensitivity and specificity of 97% and 84%, respectively, at a cut-off of 20.5 (P<0.01). The mean international normalized ratio (INR) was significantly greater in CHB-AE (1.88±1.24) group compared to AHB group (1.62±0.17) with a sensitivity and specificity of 57.9% and 45.1%, respectively, at a cut-off value of 1.27.

Conclusions

A value of 20.5 S/Co of IgM anti-HBc and 1.27 INR could be helpful in differentiating between AHB and CHB-AE. (Clin Mol Hepatol 2020;26:187-195)

Understanding cultural omnivores: social and political attitudes

In this paper, I use data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society to investigate the social and political attitudes of cultural omnivores. I report a threefold typology of cultural consumption in the domains of music and visual arts that is consistent with previous research. Then by linking data across the two panel surveys, I show that cultural omnivores have quite a distinctive profile of social attitudes. Specifically, omnivores are more trusting and risk-taking. They hold more favourable views about the European Union, and they tend to eschew subnational identities. Omnivores are politically more engaged. But they are not more 'class conscious', nor are they particularly left-wing or right-wing on distributional issues. When asked what is important to the sense of who they are, the two most important status-conferring attributes, that is, profession and education, are not more salient to omnivores than to others. But omnivores are more extravert and open to new experiences. Taken together, these results suggest that omnivorousness is an expression of cosmopolitan postmaterialism rather than a new form of distinction.

Signs and symptoms of disordered eating in pregnancy: a Delphi consensus study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to establish consensus on the expression and distinction of disordered eating in pregnancy to improve awareness across various health professions and inform the development of a pregnancy-specific assessment instrument.

METHODS

A three-round modified Delphi method was used with two independent panels. International clinicians and researchers with extensive knowledge on and/or clinical experience with eating disorders formed the first panel and were recruited using structured selection criteria. Women who identified with a lived experience of disordered eating in pregnancy formed the second panel and were recruited via expressions of interest from study advertising on pregnancy forums and social media platforms. A systematic search of academic and grey literature produced 200 sources which were used to pre-populate the Round I questionnaire. Additional items were included in Round II based on panel feedback in Round I. Consensus was defined as 75% agreement on an item.

RESULTS

Of the 102 items presented to the 26 professional panel members and 15 consumer panel members, 75 reached consensus across both panels. Both panels clearly identified signs and symptoms of disordered eating in pregnancy and endorsed a number of clinical features practitioners should consider when delineating disordered eating symptomatically from normative pregnancy experiences.

CONCLUSION

A list of signs and symptoms in consensus was identified. The areas of collective agreement may be used to guide clinicians in clinical practice, aid the development of psychometric tools to detect/assess pregnancy-specific disordered eating, in addition to serving as starting point for the development of a core outcome set to measure disordered eating in pregnancy.

How will e-cigarettes affect health inequalities? Applying Bourdieu to smoking and cessation

This paper uses the work of Bourdieu to theorise smoking and cessation through a class lens, showing that the struggle for distinction created the social gradient in smoking, with smoking stigma operating as a proxy for class stigma. This led to increased policy focus on the health of bystanders and children and later also to concerns about electronic cigarettes. Bourdieu's concept of habitus is deployed to argue that the e-cigarette helps middle-class smokers resolve smoking as a symptom of cleft habitus associated with social mobility or particular subcultures. E-cigarette use is also compatible with family responsibility and sociable hedonism; aspects of working-class habitus which map to the 'practical family quitter' and the 'recreational user' respectively. The effectiveness of class stigma in changing health behaviours is contested, as is the usefulness of youth as a category of analysis and hence the relevance of concerns about young people's e-cigarette use outside a class framework of smoking and cessation. With regard to health inequalities, whilst middle-class smokers have in class disgust a stronger incentive to quit than working-class smokers, there is potential for tobacco control to tap into a working-class ethos of family care and responsibility.

Social space and cultural class divisions: the forms of capital and contemporary lifestyle differentiation

In this article, we address whether and how contemporary social classes are marked by distinct lifestyles. We assess the model of the social space, a novel approach to class analysis pioneered by Bourdieu's Distinction. Although pivotal in Bourdieu's work, this model is too often overlooked in later research, making its contemporary relevance difficult to assess. We redress this by using the social space as a framework through which to study the cultural manifestation of class divisions in lifestyle differences in contemporary Norwegian society. Through a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) of unusually rich survey data, we reveal a structure strikingly similar to the model in Distinction, with a primary dimension of the volume of capital, and a secondary dimension of the composition of capital. While avoiding the substantialist fallacy of predefined notions of 'highbrow' and 'lowbrow' tastes, we explore how 168 lifestyle items map onto this social space. This reveals distinct classed lifestyles according to both dimensions of the social space. The lifestyles of the upper classes are distinctly demanding in terms of resources. Among those rich in economic capital, this manifests itself in a lifestyle which involves a quest for excitement, and which is bodily oriented and expensive. For their counterparts rich in cultural capital, a more ascetic and intellectually oriented lifestyle manifests itself, demanding of resources in the sense of requiring symbolic mastery, combining a taste for canonized, legitimate culture with more cosmopolitan and 'popular' items. In contrast to many studies' descriptions of the lower classes as 'disengaged' and 'inactive', we find evidence of distinct tastes on their part. Our analysis thus affirms the validity of Bourdieu's model of social class and the contention that classes tend to take the form of status groups. We challenge dominant positions in cultural stratification research, while questioning the aptness of the metaphor of the 'omnivore', as well as recent analyses of 'emerging cultural capital'.

Non-invasive Raman Spectroscopy and Quantitative Real-Time PCR Distinguish Among Undifferentiated Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Redifferentiated Nucleus Pulposus Cells and Chondrocytes In Vitro

Background:

The most common cause of lower back pain is the pathological degeneration of the nucleus pulposus (NP). Promising NP regeneration strategies involving human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) would require specific markers to confirm successful differentiation into the NP lineage and to distinguish the articular cartilage (AC).

Objective:

We sought specific NP mRNA markers that are upregulated in native NP cells but not in dedifferentiated NP cells, undifferentiated hMSCs or chondrocytes. We also considered the suitability of non-invasive Raman spectroscopy to distinguish among these classes of cells.

Method:

We used quantitative real-time PCR and Raman spectroscopy to analyse undifferentiated hMSCs in monolayers and embedded in hydrogels, and compared the results with dedifferentiated and redifferentiated human NP and AC cells.

Results:

The redifferentiation of NP cells induced the expression of annexin A3 (ANXA3), collagen type II (COL2) and proteoglycan mRNAs, whereas the redifferentiation of AC cells only induced proteoglycan expression. Redifferentiated NP cells expressed higher levels of ANXA3, COL2, paired box 1 (PAX1) and OCT4 mRNA than redifferentiated AC cells. Redifferentiated NP cells and undifferentiated hMSC-TERT cells expressed similar amount of OCT4 mRNA, indicating that only ANXA3, COL2 and PAX1 are promising markers for redifferentiated NP cells. Raman spectra clearly differed among the three cell types and highlighted their differentiation status.

Conclusion:

We recommend ANXA3, COL2 and PAX1 as markers to determine the success of hMSC-based differentiation to regenerate NP cells. Raman spectroscopy can be used to determine cell type and differentiation status especially in the context of clinical trials.

Does social distinction contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in diet: the case of 'superfoods' consumption

BACKGROUND

The key mechanisms underlying socioeconomic inequalities in dietary intake are still poorly understood, hampering the development of interventions. An important, but sparsely mentioned mechanism is that of 'social distinction', whereby those in a higher socioeconomic position adopt dietary patterns by which they can distinguish themselves from lower socioeconomic groups. We investigated the importance of distinction as a mechanism, by testing the socioeconomic gradient in the consumption of so-called 'superfoods' and the contribution of a well-established indicator of distinction, cultural participation.

METHODS

Data from participants (25-75 years) of the 2014 survey of the Dutch population-based GLOBE study were used (N = 2812). Multivariable regression models were used to analyse the association between education, income and cultural participation (e.g. visits to museums, opera, theatre, concerts) and the consumption of superfoods (spelt, quinoa and goji berries, chia seeds or wheatgrass).

RESULTS

The consumption of superfoods is far more prevalent among higher socioeconomic groups. Adjusting for cultural participation strongly attenuated the educational and income gradient in superfoods consumption, whereas cultural participation remained strongly associated with superfoods consumption. Those in the highest quintile of cultural participation reported the highest consumption of spelt products (OR = 2.97, 95% CI = 2.10;4.18), quinoa (OR = 3.50, 95% CI = 2.12;5.79) and goji berries, chia seeds or wheatgrass (OR = 2.69, 95% CI = 1.73;4.17).

CONCLUSIONS

The associations between socioeconomic position and the consumption of 'superfoods' seem to be partially driven by a process of social distinction. These findings suggest that distinction may be an important, but currently neglected mechanism in generating socioeconomic inequalities in dietary intake. It deserves a more prominent role in interventions to reduce these inequalities.

Distinction and connection between contact network, social network, and disease transmission network

In this paper we discuss the distinction and connection between three closely related networks in animal ecology and epidemiology studies: the contact, social, and disease transmission networks. We provide a robust theoretical definition and interpretation of these three networks, demonstrate that social and disease transmission networks can be derived as spanning subgraphs of contact network, and show examples based on real-world high-resolution cattle contact structure data. Furthermore, we establish a modeling framework to track potential disease transmission dynamics and construct transmission network based on the observed animal contact network.

Everyday distinction and omnivorous orientation: An analysis of food choice, attitudinal dispositions and social background

In recent years studies on cultural consumption have experienced a Bourdieusian renaissance. This is indicated by a growing body of research analysing distinctions in different areas of culture, and numerous studies on the homology thesis applying the concepts of distinction, field and capital. Concurrently, however, it has been argued that instead of distinctive tastes, distinction and class status are increasingly manifested by cultural omnivorousness. For a good part studies focussing on distinction in food have analysed eating out and stylization through restaurant preferences, rather than everyday food choices. In this article we investigate everyday food choices from the perspective of distinction and omnivorousness. Our analysis draws on cross-sectional quantitative data collected in 2012 among 15-64-year-old Finns (N = 2601). The article maps out the relationship between food choice frequencies, dispositions and social background with Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). The results show that the consumption of fruit and vegetables, ready-meals and convenience foods were among the most divisive food choices. The first structuring dimension juxtaposed processed, fatty and sugared foods with unprocessed foods and fresh ingredients. This dimension was associated with healthiness and weight control as dispositions. On the second structuring dimension there were differences in the valuation of taste, pleasure and sociability, and a contrast between moderate and restrictive choices. Particularly the first dimension was associated with educational, occupational, and gender differences. Distinction within everyday food choices was manifested in the use of healthy and unprocessed foods and 'moderate hedonism' in contrast to more restrictive tastes.

'Healthy anorexia': The complexity of care in disordered eating

This paper examines how contemporary understandings of 'health' and 'care' are engaged with and practiced by women with disordered eating. Based on findings from an Australian study investigating why people with disordered eating are reluctant to engage with treatment services (March 2012 to March 2015), we demonstrate how young women use elements of a 'health habitus' and 'care' to rationalise and justify their practices. Moving beyond Foucauldian theories of self-discipline and individual responsibility we argue that Bourdieu's concept of habitus and ethnographic concepts of care provide a deeper understanding of the ways in which people with disordered eating embody health practices as a form of care and distinction. We demonstrate how eating and bodily practices that entail 'natural', medical and ethical concerns (in particular, the new food regime known as orthorexia) are successfully incorporated into participants' eating disorder repertoires and embodied as a logic of care. Understanding how categories of health and care are tinkered with and practiced by people with disordered eating has important implications for health professionals, family members and peers engaging with and identifying people at all stages of help-seeking.

Differentiation in MALDI-TOF MS and FTIR spectra between two pathovars of Xanthomonas oryzae

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc) strains are closely related phenotypically and genetically, which make it difficult to differentiate between the two pathovars based on phenotypic and DNA-based methods. In this study, a fast and accurate method was developed based on the differences in MALDI-TOF MS and FTIR spectra between the two pathovars. MALDI-TOF MS analysis revealed that 9 and 10 peaks are specific to Xoo and Xoc, respectively, which can be used as biomarkers to identify and differentiate the two closely related pathovars. Furthermore, FTIR analysis showed that there is a significant difference in both the band frequencies and absorption intensity of various functional groups between the two pathovars. In particular, the 6 peaks at 3433, 2867, 1273, 1065, 983 and 951cm(-1) were specific to the Xoo strains, while one peak at 1572cm(-1) was specific to the Xoc strains. Overall, this study gives the first attempt to identify and differentiate the two pathovars of X. oryzae based on mass and FTIR spectra, which will be helpful for the early detection and prevention of the two rice diseases caused by both X. oryzae pathovars.