In the field of qualitative health research on children, scholars have called for the inclusion of children’s perspectives. Still, health care research on children appears to be characterized by an ...exclusionary approach that stems from a conception of disability and sickness as equivalent to a lack of agency. This article responds to the call to include children’s perspectives. It presents the Double-view (Dovi)-river interview, which is a drawing- and metaphor-based interview method that enables ambiguous and multi-layered life course narratives. Based on two steps – (1) a life course interview conducted while drawing a river of the child’s life and (2) revisiting and unfolding the child’s stories – the method allows for an arts-based, joint exploration of life experiences. Inspired by childhood studies as well as a poststructuralist epistemology, the article discusses and proposes ways to challenge power relations between the adult interviewer and the child interviewee. It is argued that the method can also challenge the predominant deficit view and the dichotomous understanding of children’s experiences of their life and capabilities that characterize much health care practice and health research, by focusing both on challenges and opportunities. Doing so enables a more nuanced and appreciative approach to children. We draw on empirical examples from a study with children with disabilities. However, we suggest that the method’s potential for enabling articulation of the complex and ambiguous can inspire qualitative research and health care practice more broadly.
Recent studies have noted the differential effects of marine versus terrestrial diets on the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope (
13
C and
15
N, respectively) diet-to-tissue discrimination values and ...incorporation rates for omnivorous and carnivorous mammals. Inaccurate estimates of these parameters may result in misrepresentation of diet composition or in the timing of diet shifts. Here, we present the results of a diet-switch experiment designed to estimate diet-to-tissue discrimination values and incorporation rates for tissues of gray wolves (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) fed a diet of Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus Suckley, 1861). Our results demonstrate substantial differences in both parameters between wolves maintained on a marine (salmon) diet and wolves maintained on terrestrially sourced prey (beef, Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758). Increased awareness of the significance of marine resources to omnivorous and carnivorous consumers, like wolves, highlights the importance of phenomenological and mechanistic understandings of the effects of fish and other marine prey on dietary investigations based on stable isotopes.
The influence of intracerebroventricular-administered selective corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 2 (CRF(2)) antagonists (antisauvagine-30, astressin-2B), on rat anxiety-like behavior, ...expression levels of c-Fos and CRF, and plasma corticosterone levels were examined in the present study. In fear-conditioned animals, both CRF receptor antagonists enhanced a conditioned freezing fear response and increased the conditioned fear-elevated concentration of serum corticosterone. Exogenously administered antisauvagine-30 increased the aversive context-induced expression of c-Fos in the 1 and 2 areas of the cingulate cortex (Cg1, Cg2), the central amygdala (CeA) and parvocellular neurons of the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (pPVN), and it enhanced the effect of conditioned fear in the secondary motor cortex (M2) and medial amygdala (MeA). Immunocytochemistry demonstrated an increase in CRF expression in the Cg1, M2 areas of the cortex, and pPVN, and it revealed the effect of conditioned fear in the CeA 35 min after antisauvagine-30 administration and 10 min after the conditioned fear test. Furthermore, astressin-2B, another CRF(2) receptor antagonist, enhanced expression of c-Fos and CRF in the CeA and pPVN, and revealed the effect of conditioned fear in the Cg1. These data support a model in which an excess in CRF(1) receptor activation, combined with reduced CRF(2) receptor signaling, may contribute to stronger expression of anxiety-like responses.
Backward angle (
u
-channel) scattering provides complementary information for studies of hadron spectroscopy and structure, but has been less comprehensively studied than the corresponding forward ...angle case. As a result, the physics of
u
-channel scattering poses a range of new experimental and theoretical opportunities and questions. We summarize recent progress in measuring and understanding high energy reactions with baryon charge exchange in the
u
-channel, as discussed in the first
Backward angle (u-channel) Physics Workshop
. In particular, we discuss backward angle measurements and their theoretical description via both hadronic models and the collinear factorization approach, and discuss planned future measurements of
u
-channel physics. Finally, we propose outstanding questions and challenges for
u
-channel physics.
► High anxiety rats (HR) have a lower expression of GRs to aversive context. ► Corticosterone attenuates conditioned fear in HR. ► Corticosterone potentiates the expression of GRs in the limbic ...structures of HR.
The aim of our experiments was to assess the effect of acutely administered corticosterone on the expression of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) in the brain of rats with high (HR) and low (LR) levels of anxiety. The rats were divided into groups according to their conditioned fear-induced freezing responses and then were subjected to a second conditioned fear session one week after the initial fear conditioning. Immunocytochemical analysis revealed that the second exposure to contextual aversive stimuli resulted in higher levels of GRs expression in cingulate cortex area 1 (Cg1), the secondary motor cortex (M2) of the prefrontal cortex and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (DG) in LR rats compared with HR rats. The pretreatment of HR rats with corticosterone (20mg/kg, sc) increased the expression levels of GRs in Cg1, the M2 area and the DG to the levels observed in the LR vehicle group. The increase in the GRs levels was accompanied by a significant decrease in the conditioned fear response in the HR group. The control animals that were not exposed to aversive stimuli had similar levels of receptor-related immunoreactivity in all brain regions, and corticosterone did not change these expression levels. Our results suggest that HR animals may have deficits in the expression of stress-induced GRs in the prefrontal cortex and the DG. In addition, pretreatment with corticosterone increases the expression of GRs and normalizes the fear response in HR rats.
Alexander disease (AxD) is a rare autosomal dominant leukodystrophy with three clinical subtypes: infantile, juvenile and adult. Forms differ by age of symptoms occurrence and the clinical ...presentation. Although recent data suggest considering only two subtypes: type I (infantile onset with lesions extending to the cerebral hemispheres); type II (adult onset with primary involvement of subtentorial structures). Dominant mutations in the glial fibrillary acidic protein (
) gene in AxD cause dysfunction of astrocytes (a type III intermediate filament). The authors discuss the clinical picture of a boy with infantile form of AxD confirmed by the presence of
heterozygous mutation c.236G>A in the
gene and without striking symptoms such as macrocephaly and with exceptional late-onset epileptic spasms with hypsarrhyth- mia on electroencephalogram (EEG).
Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) belongs to a group of multiple congenital anomaly/developmental delay disorders. Its primary cause lies in the defect in cholesterol ...biosynthesis—7-dehydrocholesterol reductase (DHCR7)—caused by pathogenic variants in the homonymous gene. Anthropometric anomalies, especially growth restriction and microcephaly, are among the most common physical manifestations of SLOS. There have been no studies analyzing the correlation between genotype, biochemical marker (7-dehydrocholesterol), and the birth and growth parameters for individuals with SLOS. This paper presents anthropometric data from the group of 65 Polish patients (aged 0.1 to 18 years) with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, with genotype and biochemical correlations for birth parameters, as well as growth in relation to molecular
DHCR7
variants.
The small β-barrel (SBB) is an ancient protein structural domain characterized by extremes: it features a broad range of structural varieties, a deeply intricate evolutionary history, and it is ...associated with a bewildering array of cellular pathways. Here, we present a thorough, survey-based analysis of the structural properties of SBBs. We first consider the defining properties of the SBB, including various systems of nomenclature used to describe it, and we introduce the unifying concept of an “urfold.” To begin elucidating how vast functional diversity can be achieved by a relatively simple domain, we explore the anatomy of the SBB and its representative structural variants. Many SBB proteins assemble into cyclic oligomers as the biologically functional units; these oligomers often bind RNA, and typically exhibit great quaternary structural plasticity (homomeric and heteromeric rings, variable subunit stoichiometries, etc.). We conclude with three themes that emerge from the rich structure ↔ function versatility of the SBB.
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Youkharibache et al. describe small β-barrel (SBB) structures, which are adopted by a vast range of protein sequences. SBBs feature many intriguing properties, including a conserved three-dimensional architecture (despite differing β-topologies), extensive modularity and structural variation, multiple assembly states, and a deep diversity of RNA-, DNA-, and protein-related functions.
The goal of this research was to examine the influence of chronic mild stress (CMS) on prepulse inhibition (PPI). We used an amphetamine challenge to study the role of the dopaminergic system in ...limbic structures. Chronic stress caused a reduction in both sucrose preference and body weight. It was found that the initially strong response to amphetamine in the control rats was weakened after stress on both the behavioural and biochemical levels: improved PPI, decreased dopamine D2 receptor expression in the central nucleus of amygdala (CeA) and nucleus accumbens (NAC), and decreased dopamine and 3-MT (3-methoxytyramine) levels in NAC. We observed that the stress-evoked attenuation of amphetamine-induced stimulation was also paralleled by changes in corticosterone level. These effects were accompanied by a decrease in both glutamate and the glutamate/gamma-aminobutric acid (GABA) ratio in the NAC. The interpretation of these results is that prolonged stress induces compensatory mechanisms in the mesolimbic system which are responsible for psychostimulant (amphetamine) effects.
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