bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
NK
Cell Receptors
Authors: Tian Zhigang , Zhang Cai 
Published: May 2015

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cell effector functions are regulated by integrated signals across the array of stimulatory and inhibitory receptors engaged upon interaction with target cell surface ligands. A delicate balance between activating and inhibiting receptors determines the outcome of NK cell activation. Moreover, NK cell receptors also instruct or confer the responsiveness of NK cells to activation events at both development and mature stages. In pathological condition, some strategies have been developed to tilt the balance of NK cell receptor signalling, which are involved in the onset and progress of malignant tumour, viral infection and other pertinent diseases. More understanding of the nature of interaction of NK cell receptors and their ligands as well as the regulation mechanisms should facilitate the development of effective therapy.

Key Concepts

The activity of NK cells is regulated by the delicate balance of signals from inhibitory and stimulatory cell surface receptors engaged upon interaction with their ligands.

Inhibitory NK cell receptors for MHC class I molecules not only have a critical role in controlling NK cell responses but also confer the functional competence of NK cells in response to activation signals.

Several models (missing‐self and induced‐self recognition model; licensing, arming, rheostat or cis interaction education model) have been proposed to depict the mechanisms for NK cell recognition and adaption.

Tumour cells and virus have developed various strategies to tilt the balance of NK cell receptor signalling, leading to escape from NK cell‐mediated immunosurveillance.

Therapeutic strategies targeting regulation of NK cell receptor and ligand system have shown great promise for treatment of cancer and viral infectious diseases.
Cell Death during Developmental Processes
Authors: Zakeri Zahra , Loos Ben , Lockshin Richard A 
Published: May 2015

AbstractEmbryonic development and differentiation to adult form depends on orchestration of cell division and death. In embryos, programmed death sculpts form, opens lumens, separates or splits tissue layers, allows tissue layers to fuse and removes vestigial organs. Both the central nervous and immune systems overproduce cells and destroy those that do not form successful synapses or produce unusable antibodies. Cell death is first seen in mammalian embryos when the blastocyst expands, but elsewhere, the first deaths are not seen before the maternal–zygotic transition. Abnormal timing, amount or localisation of cell death leads to abnormalities or death of embryos.Several signalling pathways trigger cell death. Usually, the signals activate caspases (first discovered in embryonic cell death in nematodes) and lead to apoptosis, although apoptosis is not the only form of cell death. The signalling mechanisms that control cell death in embryos are not well understood, but should be if we hope to understand normal and teratological development.Key ConceptsCell death can be seen in both embryonic development and normal growth of adult tissue.The embryonic cell deaths are highly programmed in that they are predictable in location, time and amount. In the simplest instances, such as in nematodes, control of cell death is under direct control of a small number of genes.Most but not all of the embryonic deaths are apoptotic.Embryonic cell to sculpt the embryo and define the boundaries of tissues and organs. In the central nervous system and the immune system, overgrowth (production of excessive cells) and subsequent pruning by cell death generate the high specificity that characterises these systems.Deregulation of apoptosis can produce many embryonic abnormalities and teratologies and, later in life, produces cancers, autoimmune disease or neurodegenerative disease.There are many means to study cell death, but only a few are directly applicable to the study of cell death in embryos. Nevertheless, further study is needed to understand the signalling mechanisms that decide the death of cells in specific locations and times.Autophagy is increasingly recognised as a factor influencing the likelihood of onset of apoptosis and cell death.New ultra‐resolution fluorescence microscopic techniques, capable of simultaneously analysing energy flux, autophagy and apoptosis, may lead to new insights into these questions.Learning more about cell death in embryos will help us understand how it is controlled in adults.
West Nile Virus Infection
Authors: Bahuon Céline , Lecollinet Sylvie , Beck Cécile 
Published: May 2015

AbstractWest Nile virus (WNV) is an arthropod‐borne virus transmitted mainly by mosquito bites. Wild avifauna constitutes its natural reservoir. Mammals are dead‐end hosts as they generally do not develop a viraemia high enough to trigger a new infection cycle. WNV belongs to theFlavivirusgenus and can be responsible for a disease known asWNfever. Humans and horses are the most sensitive hosts as they may develop severe neurological signs. WNV has a worldwide distribution and caused numerous outbreaks since the late 1990s, most notably in North America and Europe. Lineage 1 strains have caused the most severe outbreaks to date. However, the situation has recently evolved with the emergence in the late 2000s of pathogenic lineage 2 strains in South Africa, Russia and Eastern and Southern Europe. Many developments in the fields of WN diagnosis and vaccination have been described in the recent years and may help control WNV spread.Key ConceptsWest Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic arbovirus mainly transmitted by mosquitoes. It is an enveloped, positive‐stranded RNA virus belonging to the genusFlavivirusin the familyFlaviviridae.WNV has a wide geographical range that includes Europe, the Middle East, Western Asia, Africa, Australia (Kunjin virus) and North, Central and South America.Most WNV infections are asymptomatic, but can be responsible for a disease known as WN fever (10–20% of WNV infections) or severe neurological signs (1–10% of WNV infections) in humans and horses.Humans and horses are the most sensitive hosts.Since the late 1990s, pathogenic WNV strains have begun to emerge.Diagnosis can be difficult as flaviviruses are antigenically related.There are no effective drugs or treatments against WNV infections.Approved vaccines are available in equids, and human vaccines are under development.Control of WNV outbreaks largely depends on vector control measures and interventions.
Macaque Fertility Signals
Authors: Higham James P , Dubuc Constance 
Published: May 2015

AbstractFemales of many animal species exhibit signals of fertility, but few animal groups do so with such prevalence, diversity of signal types, and variability between closely related species, as anthropoid primates. An excellent group for studying the evolution of such signals is the macaques, a group of some 22 species of Old World monkey. The macaques exhibit the same general mating system, but a great amount of inter‐specific variation in the type and number of different signals they display. In this article, we discuss the evolution of these traits, including the types of variation in fertility that they may indicate and the hormonal mechanisms that underlie them. We discuss the different signals that macaques exhibit, and review the distribution and abundance of these signals across species. Even closely related species differ in the type and number of signals displayed, as well as in their apparent accuracy in reflecting the timing of female ovulation. We offer some potential explanations for this variation, though much is still poorly understood. We finish by discussing future directions for research that are likely to prove fruitful.Key ConceptsFemales of many anthropoid primates, including macaques, exhibit signals of fertility.Macaque signals of fertility include swellings of the hindquarters, changes in facial colour, olfactory signals, and auditory oestrus and copulation calls.Three types of variation in fertility might potentially be communicated to others: intra‐cycle variation in the probability of ovulation; inter‐cycle, intra‐female variation in the probability of conception in that cycle, and inter‐female differences in overall fecundity.The expression of intra‐cycle signals of the probability of ovulation is linked to the hormones oestrogen (positively) and progesterone (negatively).There is a great deal of inter‐specific variation in the presence and type of fertility signals shown, as well as in their apparent accuracy in reflecting ovulatory function.Though we understand some of the evolutionary pressures that may have led to inter‐specific variation, the sources of much of the variation remain unclear.
Next‐Generation Sequencing in Cancer: Tools for Fusion Gene Detection
Authors: Tuna Musaffe 
Published: May 2015

Abstract

Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) technology has a striking impact on genomics research, especially in complex diseases, including cancer. NGS technology is allowing the discovery of novel genomic alterations and screening for known driver mutations and structural alterations as well as understanding interactions between gene and environmental factors. Structural alterations including translocations inversions, tandem duplications, deletions, insertions, chromothripsis and chromoplexy can result in oncogenic fusion genes or fusion transcripts, which are important in carcinogenesis. Rapid advances in NGS technology and analytical tools have allowed them to be used routinely in molecular diagnosis and personalised therapy. However, NGS technologies have significant challenges, such as analysis time, false‐positive rate and storage to be overcome in the near future. This article discusses the current analytical tools for detection of fusion genes and reviews their pros and cons.

Key Concepts

Fusion genes/transcripts are common events in epithelial tumours.

Whole‐transcriptome sequencing (RNA‐seq) is the most commonly selected method for fusion‐transcript detection.

Sequel algorithms are used for detection of fusion transcripts.

Mapping algorithms and filtering are crucial for detection of true fusion transcripts.

Current fusion‐detection tools yield false‐positive and false‐negative results.
Are Humans Descended from a Knuckle‐Walking Ancestor?
Authors: Makedonska Jana A , Strait David S 
Published: May 2015

AbstractA central topic in human evolution pertains to the emergence of habitual bipedalism [i.e., upright walking (UW)], a behavioural characteristic that defines the human lineage and is unique among primates. To pinpoint the factors that led to the appearance of UW, one has to reconstruct the locomotor behaviour of the last common ancestor of humans and their closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Chimpanzees and gorillas adopt a peculiar mode of locomotion when travelling on the ground, knuckle‐walking (KW). This article evaluates the evidence for and against the hypothesis that humans have descended from a KW ancestor. The conflicting nature of this evidence does not allow firm conclusions, but future avenues of research are proposed.Key ConceptsThe context for the emergence of habitual bipedalism/upright walking is a key topic in human evolutionary studies.Bipedalism/upright walking is a characteristic that defines the human lineage.Some evidence suggests that the ancestor of the earliest hominins was a knuckle‐walker.However, other evidence appears to contradict this possibility.The role of knuckle‐walking in human evolution will be better understood as more data about the functional anatomy of knuckle‐walking is gathered and as more fossils are described that shed light on the morphology of the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees.
Attitude: Construction versus Disposition
Authors: Lord Charles G. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract

Although Charles Darwin conceptualized attitudes as things that organisms
do
, many psychologists and laypeople today make the fundamental attribution error of conceptualizing attitudes as dispositions people
have
that make them do what they do. Recent attitudes research, however, has begun to explore the basic process by which people construct attitudes—a process that operates in the same way when answering general attitude questions as for any other evaluative response to an attitude object. In the basic evaluation process, the evaluator activates associations to the attitude object, perceives the implications of those associations, and bases evaluative responses at least in part on those implications. Instead of trying to measure a relatively stable disposition that predicts future behavior, the emerging research investigates influences on which associations get activated (e.g., chance, recency, and priming) and influences on how the activated associations are perceived (including subjective ease, the perceived source, and their perceived relevance). Interestingly, the two steps in the basic evaluation process parallel the two strategies that people use when they try to change their own attitudes. Emerging research directions that were suggested by conceptualizing attitudes as things people
do
, not what they
have
, include understanding the effects of evaluation goals on activating and perceiving associations, assessing attitude accuracy according to how adaptive are the attitudes that people take, and applying network theory to the basic evaluation process.
Deep Brain Stimulation for Psychiatric Disorders
Authors: Widge Alik S. , Arulpragasam Amanda R. , Deckersbach Thilo , Dougherty Darin D. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
In this monograph, we briefly review the rationale for deep brain stimulation (DBS) for psychiatric illness, beginning with current noninvasive treatment options and progressing to the evolution and success of DBS as a therapy. This discussion will focus on obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) particularly, as these are the only two diagnoses that have been subjected to adequately controlled DBS trials to date. The majority of the essay then describes the significant limitations that DBS is currently facing and emerging approaches to address them. This will lead into a discussion of new technologies such as patient‐specific modeling of electric fields and closed‐loop DBS systems and how we can best utilize these to increase our understanding of DBS and the overall efficacy of this novel therapy.
Identity‐Based Motivation
Authors: Oyserman Daphna 
Published: May 2015

Abstract

People believe that they know who they are and that who they are matters for what they do. These core beliefs seem so inherent to conceptualizations of what it means to have a self as to require no empirical support. After all, what is the point of a concept of self if there is no stable thing to have a concept about, and who would care if that concept was stable if it was not useful in making it through the day? Yet the evidence for action‐relevance and stability are surprisingly sparse. This entry outlines identity‐based motivation theory which takes a new look at these assumptions and makes three core predictions termed
dynamic construction
,
action‐readiness
, and
interpretation of difficulty
. That is, rather than being stable, which identities come to mind and what they mean are dynamically constructed in context. People interpret situations and difficulties in ways that are congruent with currently active identities and prefer identity‐congruent to identity‐incongruent actions. When action feels identity‐congruent, experienced difficulty highlights that the behavior is important and meaningful. When action feels identity‐incongruent, the same difficulty suggests that the behavior is pointless and “not for people like me.”
Lived Religion
Authors: Ammerman Nancy T. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
Research on “lived religion” focuses on the everyday practices of ordinary people, in contrast to the study of official texts, organizations, and experts. It includes attention to rituals and stories and spiritual experiences that may draw on official religious traditions, but may also extend beyond them. Lived religion is closely related to “popular religion”, but is a more encompassing category. As with the study of popular religion, the focus is on ordinary people and often includes festivals and shrines and healing practices that may happen without the approval of religious authorities. Lived religion research pays special attention to the lives of women, of populations of color, and of people in the Global South. Both approved traditional practices and new innovations may be “lived”.
Being “lived” points especially to the material, embodied aspects of religion as they occur in everyday life. The study of lived religion includes attention to how and what people eat, how they dress, how they deal with birth and death and sexuality and nature, even how they modify hair and body through tattoos or dreadlocks, for instance. The study of lived religion includes everyday sacralized spaces and the physical and artistic things people do together, such as singing, dancing, and other folk or community traditions that enact a spiritual sense of solidarity and transcendence.
The focus on lived religion has enriched and complicated the efforts of social scientists to understand the place and role of religion in society.
Organizational Populations and Fields
Authors: Haveman Heather A. , Kluttz Daniel N. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
This essay examines two major perspectives on organizations that have been prominent since the 1970s: ecology and institutionalism, both of which emerged as reactions against rationalist approaches to the study of organizations. Both take as their primary units of analysis collections of organizations, rather than individual organizations: “populations” for ecologists (groups of organizations with the same form) and “fields” for institutionalists (groups of organizations of different forms that interact with each other in some social sector). Ecologists seek to explain the changing distribution of organizations (rates of founding, failure, growth, and change) in terms of the features of organizations' environments. Institutionalists seek to explain organizational legitimacy, variety, and change by reference to cultural norms, values, and expectations about what is the “right” or “normal” way to organize. While ecologists seek general explanations that apply to all populations, institutionalists seek explanations that are sensitive to the peculiarities of the field under study. Ecological and institutional studies of organizations have converged in the past decade, which has yielded studies that minimize the weaknesses of each perspective and maximize their strengths. Ecologists have examined many explanatory factors, such as pressures to imitate legitimate organizational forms, which were originally highlighted by institutionalists. In the same vein, institutionalists have turned their attention to founding and failure, outcomes that were ecologists' original focus, and have used factors such as the number of organizations, much studied by ecologists, to explain these outcomes. We conclude by suggesting potential fruitful avenues for further integration between these perspectives.
Reconciliation and Peace‐Making: Insights from Studies on Nonhuman Animals
Authors: Koski Sonja E. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
Conflict resolution is the part and parcel of living in groups. In social circumstances competition over limited resources is inevitable. For individuals to benefit from group living, the costs should not disrupt social cohesion or relationships. Animals use many ways to avoid conflicts and to mitigate their damage. Post‐conflict reconciliation is an effective way to reduce emotional stress after aggression and to repair the damaged relationship between the former opponents. We now know that reconciliation is common in social species with individualized relationships. The necessity to reconcile is higher when individuals fight with someone who provides them with valuable benefits. Also, general benevolence between individuals reduces the risk to reconcile, increasing thus its likelihood. There are also preventive mechanisms to avoid costly conflicts, and ways to prevent its escalation once started. In many species, bystanders interact with conflict participants when aggression is over, often with affinitive behavior. Such ‘bystander affiliation” serves many functions, some of which may be cognitively demanding and resemble human consolation or mediating. However, we still know little of the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of animal conflict resolution. Understanding the mechanisms of behavior is the next step in animal conflict resolution research. It will help illuminate the mysterious minds of social animals and, ultimately, the evolutionary history of human peacekeeping.
Did That Brownie Do Its Job? Stress, Eating, and the Biobehavioral Effects of Comfort Food
Authors: Janet Tomiyama A. , Finch Laura E. , Cummings Jenna R. 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
Comfort eating is a widespread behavior, but does it actually work? The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the existing research on the potentially comforting effects of comfort food. We begin by summarizing the existing nonhuman animal research in this area, and then summarize the human research. On the basis of this foundational research, we provide a conceptual model of comfort eating that can be used as a hypothesis‐generating tool to guide future research. Finally, we highlight what we consider to be the most exciting future directions in comfort eating. These include (i) determining whether comfort eating is trait‐like or state‐like, (ii) understanding the antecedents and sequelae of comfort eating, (iii) elucidating the types of food implicated in comfort eating, (iv) creating linkages between comfort eating and comfort drinking, (v) incorporating measures of the autonomic nervous and immune systems in addition to the current focus on the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenocortical axis, (vi) studying both short‐term and long‐term effects, and (vii) testing the biological and psychological mechanisms of comfort eating. Given that comfort eating has been practiced for centuries, we conclude that the time is ripe to advance the science of comfort eating.
Positive Emotion Disturbance
Authors: Gruber June , Purcell John 
Published: May 2015

Abstract
The longstanding assumption has been that positive emotions and associated feelings are entirely adaptive. As a result, less scientific attention has been devoted to understanding the ways in which positive emotions might also be a source of dysfunction for our psychological health. However, the empirical tides have recently begun to change, and with it, a new wave of research has pointed to ways in which positive emotionality is also related to a range of poor health outcomes and maladaptive clinical syndromes. How might this be possible? Here, we provide cutting‐edge insights into unpacking the nature of positive emotion disturbance by highlighting six key themes outlining the ways positive emotion may go awry. We conclude by providing a roadmap for future research aimed at providing an integrative model for understanding positive emotion as well as how to harness and cultivate appropriate positive feelings.