Prevalence of the polymorphic H-ficolin (FCN3) genes and mannosebinding lectin-associated serine protease-2 (MASP2) in indigenous populations from the Russian Arctic regions

Lectins, being the main proteins of the lectin pathway activating the complement system, are encoded by polymorphic genes, wherein point mutations cause the protein conformation and expression to change, which turns out to have an effect on the functionality and ability to respond to the pathogen. In the current study, largescale data on the population genotype distribution of the genes for H-ficolin FCN3 rs28357092 and mannose-binding lectin-associated serine protease MASP2 rs72550870 among the indigenous peoples of the Russian Arctic regions (Nenets, Dolgans and Nganasans, a mixed population and Russians: a total sample was about 1000 newborns) have been obtained for the first time. Genotyping was carried out using RT-PCR. The frequency of the homozygous variant del/del FCN3 rs28357092 associated with the total absence of the most powerful activator of the lectin complement pathway, N-ficolin, was revealed; 0 % in the Nenets, 0.8 % in the Dolgans and Nganasans, and 3.5 % among the Russians ( p < 0.01). Analysis of the prevalence of the MASP2 genotypes has shown the predominance of the homozygous variant AA in all studied populations, which agrees with the available world data. The heterozygous genotype AG rs72550870 associated with a reduced level of protease was found to occur rarely in the Nenets, Dolgans and Nganasans compared to newborns of Caucasoid origin from Krasnoyarsk: 0.5 % versus 3.3 %, respectively. Moreover, among 323 examined Nenets, one AG carrier was identified, whereas in Russians, 16 out of 242 examined newborns were found to be AG carriers ( p < 0.001). A homozygous variant (GG) in total absence of protease with impaired binding of both MBL and ficolins was not detected in any of the 980 examined newborns. An additional analysis of infectious morbidity in Arctic populations allows one to find phenotypic characteristics related to a high functional activity of the lectin pathway of complement activation as an most important factor for the first-line of anti-infectious defense, including such new viral diseases as COVID-19.

Judgments of Object Size and Distance across Different Virtual Reality Environments: A Preliminary Study

Emerging technologies offer the potential to expand the domain of the future workforce to extreme environments, such as outer space and alien terrains. To understand how humans navigate in such environments that lack familiar spatial cues this study examined spatial perception in three types of environments. The environments were simulated using virtual reality. We examined participants’ ability to estimate the size and distance of stimuli under conditions of minimal, moderate, or maximum visual cues, corresponding to an environment simulating outer space, an alien terrain, or a typical cityscape, respectively. The findings show underestimation of distance in both the maximum and the minimum visual cue environment but a tendency for overestimation of distance in the moderate environment. We further observed that depth estimation was substantially better in the minimum environment than in the other two environments. However, estimation of height was more accurate in the environment with maximum cues (cityscape) than the environment with minimum cues (outer space). More generally, our results suggest that familiar visual cues facilitated better estimation of size and distance than unfamiliar cues. In fact, the presence of unfamiliar, and perhaps misleading visual cues (characterizing the alien terrain environment), was more disruptive than an environment with a total absence of visual cues for distance and size perception. The findings have implications for training workers to better adapt to extreme environments.

Transformative Communication Radar: Practices, Action and Praxis Communication in Solidarity Economy Networks in Portugal and Catalonia

This article explores the transformational character of solidarity economy network communication in Portugal and Catalonia, focusing on the first two months of the crisis brought on by COVID-19. We assume that what these networks choose to convey (or remain silent on) in their public communications reflects their positions in the fields of action and values and their theoretical alignment, establishing an ethico-political orientation. Through the analysis of virtual content conveyed by solidarity economy organisations, we analyse the topics covered, the types of content and sources cited, and the level of demand in the discourse, as well as their individual, institutional and collective character. The results reveal very different communicative approaches in each of the cases analysed: from silence or total absence of communicative practices to what can be considered a transformational praxis communication, based on collective action challenging the structures of power and domination and pointing out ways to overcome them. The article proposes a transformative communication radar linking Habermas’s theory of communicative action and Fuchs’s Marxist-inspired praxis communication concept, as a way of distinguishing merely instrumental communicative approaches from those guided by communicative and cooperative rationality driving new agreements and societal transformations.

Caveolar Dysfunction and Lipodystrophies

Congenital generalized lipodystrophy (CGL) is a rare, heterogeneous, autosomal recessive disorder characterized by near total absence of body fat with increased muscularity noticed at birth or in early infancy. Four distinct genetic subtypes of CGL have been reported to date. Types 1 and 2 are caused by biallelic variants in the 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase 2 (AGPAT2) and Berardinelli-Seip Congenital Lipodystrophy 2 (BSCL2) genes, respectively, and are the most common subtypes (1). Types 3 and 4 are extremely rare and are caused by biallelic variants in the caveolin 1 (CAV1) (2), and Caveolae Associated Protein-1 (CAVIN1; also known as polymerase I and transcript release factor (PTRF)]) genes (3), respectively. Patients with all CGL subtypes are predisposed to metabolic complications of insulin resistance, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia and hepatic steatosis; however, each subtype presents with some unique clinical features.

INTRODUCING THEORY LINKING GENESIS OF HAIR SHAFT BIPOLARITY WITH ARRECTOR PILI MUSCLE PROXIMAL ATTACHMENT

Previous publications described the presence of bipolarity or (+−) electrical charges in the human hair shaft, this due to an apparent segmental electromagnetic radiation Gap demonstrated by a total absence of precipitated Potassium Ferricyanide crystals. In this manuscript additional data is presented elucidating the genesis of said absence. The in vitro experiments showing a correlation between a segmental absence of longitudinal terminal palisades nervous endings prevalent in the rest of the outer membrane in the hair follicle anatomy. Due to their intrinsic metabolism, nerve cells do emit electromagnetic radiation; their absence not allowing for the positive (+) charge of zero precipitated Potassium Ferricyanide crystals to reach one side of the shaft. In addition it was concluded that there are two types of human hair images. The first by optical microscopy, the second a functional one obtained from electromagnetic radiation precipitating Ferricyanide crystals.

On Writing from a Postcolonial Perspective

Sindiwe Magona started writing in pursuit of agency as opposed to victimhood. With no training in writing, she felt nonetheless she could paint a much better, more realistic picture than what she found in stories of her people written by white people, to say nothing of how history books represented black Africans or “Bantu” as the terminology of the day went. Another fact that pushed her to dare to write was the almost total absence of records left to her generation by the preceding one. She wanted to close that lacuna. Her first book, To My Children’s Children, was published in 1990 when she was almost fifty years old. Magona wrote the autobiography as a record of life lived in a specific period, by specific people, using hers as an example. The book references other lives, not only that of her family. The cultural milieu and the overarching theme, given the times, however, is of the oppressive system of apartheid—legalized racism. Memory represents not only what is remembered but the inescapable past as represented by the still felt, still visible, still “performing” insights, ideas, ideology, actions, and reactions of South Africans almost a quarter of a century since the end of apartheid came with the first democratic elections of April 27, 1994. Each of her books—four novels, two collections of short stories, two autobiographies, two published plays, three biographies, a book of poetry, as well as her articles, essays, and talks—gives evidence of Magona’s witness of what happens, how it happens, and its observed or acknowledged consequences. She takes the journey further, exploring the inner meanings of the observed. The inner lives of victims and perpetrators, of oppressed and oppressor, and all the other binaries of which she is aware concern her. She set out to write, to leave a record for all posterity, not only black posterity, for it is her firm belief, hope, and prayer that, ere long, humanity will find itself, regain its former oneness or sense of belonging, and understand there are no races but one, the human race.

Expressive language development in ASD context- Case Study

This paper aims to highlight a way of approach for a child with ASD in the field of speech therapy alone, despite the unfavorable forecast (prognosis). The structure of the paper consists of two main parts: a theoretical one regarding the diagnosis and its involvement in the field of language development, and in the second part will be presented a case study carried out over a period of 6 months and with possible future opportunities progress. It is well known that most children with ADS have major language deficiencies coupled with their lack of social skills which worsens (accentuates) the course of further development and, therefore, early intervention can substantially reduce their disabilities. But, in this case study, it is presented a thirteen-year-old boy with ADS and its total absence (lack) of expressive language although the receptive language is at a pretty good level. The main goal of the program was to develop, somehow, (at first hand) first of all, a phonological basis in order to establish a pragmatic (functional) verbal communication. It is known that children with ADS are quite difficult to engage in activities that require focused attention and proper response to multiple requests and what was really remarkable and quite unusual, in the same time, is his full cooperation that led to significant results that will help him in the future.

Reentry in Practice: Sexual Offending, Self-Narratives, and the Implications of Stigma in Norway

Reentering society after serving a prison sentence involves many challenges and particularly so for one of the most stigmatized groups in modern society: people who have sexually offended. While most research on their reentry has been conducted in countries with Sex Offender Registration and Notification (SORN) laws, this study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to qualitatively investigate the accounts and experiences of men released from prison after serving a sex offense conviction in Norway ( n = 8). Results showed that despite less restrictive policies and a total absence of SORN laws, the social stigma linked to being convicted of such crimes severely affected the men. To some degree, they all experienced feelings of stress or anxiousness and they withdrew and isolated more. Their narratives highlight a need for increased social support and recognition from others in the reentry process. Subjective and societal consequences as well as practical implications are discussed.

Hydrogen production via methane dry reforming process over CoAl and CoMgAl-Hydrotalcite derived catalysts

Co0.67Al0.31 and Co0.14Mg0.54Al0.31 hydrotalcite based catalysts were prepared by a co-precipitation method at a fixed pH=11, exhibiting a suitable hydrotalcite structure to be used as a catalyst in the reaction of the dry reforming of methane (DRM). Calcination at 450 °C provides the best conditions to prepare the most adapted structure and morphology to be later used in the DRM reaction. The samples were characterised by XRD, FTIR, SEM and it was shown that they exhibit a specific surface in the 30-70 g/cm2 and a crystallite size of approximately 20 nm. The results of the TPR analysis showed clearly that CoAl-HT has better catalytic performances than CoMgAl-HT. This result can be explained by the presence of the Co0 for the catalyst CoAl-HTc-R and the total absence in the sample CoMgAl-HTc-R. The solid CoMgAl-HTc-R requires high reduction temperature compared to CoAl-HTc-R due to the strong CoO-MgO interactions.

Pet–Human Relationships: Dogs versus Cats

The study of human–animal interactions has increased, focusing on the dog–owner relationship, leaving a lag in research on the cat–owner relationship and practically a total absence of studies that compare the dog–owner relationship with the cat-owner relationship. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to make this comparison based on the perception of people living with both dogs and cats, considering interaction, emotional closeness, and perceived cost of the relationship. A total of 132 residents in Mexico participated. To evaluate the pet–human relationship, the dog and cat versions of the Monash dog owner relationship scale were used, thus obtaining comparable scores for the relationship with dogs and cats. Based on what the owners reported, significant differences were found. Relationships with cats were better than relationships with dogs, a finding that was confirmed when comparing male dogs and cats and when comparing female dogs and cats. It was concluded that relationships with cats are better because the perceived cost of such a relationship is lower. However, emotional closeness is greater with dogs than with cats.