University of Kentucky

About: University of Kentucky is a education organization based out in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 43933 authors who have published 92195 publications receiving 3256087 citations. The organization is also known as: UK.

How Behaviors are Influenced by Perceived Norms A Test of the Theory of Normative Social Behavior

Abstract: Normative restructuring strategies currently under way to combat alcohol-related problems among U.S. college students are based on the idea that students harbor inflated perceptions about the prevalence of drinking on campus and that if these misperceptions can be corrected, then alcohol consumption will decrease. Evidence for the effectiveness of these strategies is lacking, and there is little discussion in the literature about how or why people’s normative beliefs exert influence on their behaviors. The theory of normative social behavior that is proposed in this article includes three mechanisms—injunctive norms, outcome expectations, and group identity—that are hypothesized to moderate the influence of descriptive norms on behavior. This theory is tested through a survey (N = 1,352) conducted among incoming college students. Although all normative mechanisms predicted behavioral intention, four of the six variables also interacted with descriptive norms to influence intention, with relatively smaller...

Tumor necrosis factors alpha and beta protect neurons against amyloid beta-peptide toxicity: evidence for involvement of a kappa B-binding factor and attenuation of peroxide and Ca2+ accumulation

Abstract: In Alzheimer disease (AD) the amyloid beta-peptide (A beta) accumulates in plaques in the brain. A beta can be neurotoxic by a mechanism involving induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and elevation of intracellular free calcium levels ([Ca2+]i). In light of evidence for an inflammatory response in the brain in AD and reports of increased levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in AD brain we tested the hypothesis that TNFs affect neuronal vulnerability to A beta. A beta-(25-35) and A beta-(1-40) induced neuronal degeneration in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Pretreatment of cultures for 24 hr with TNF-beta or TNF-alpha resulted in significant attenuation of A beta-induced neuronal degeneration. Accumulation of peroxides induced in neurons by A beta was significantly attenuated in TNF-pretreated cultures, and TNFs protected neurons against iron toxicity, suggesting that TNFs induce antioxidant pathways. The [Ca2+]i response to glutamate (quantified by fura-2 imaging) was markedly potentiated in neurons exposed to A beta, and this action of A beta was suppressed in cultures pretreated with TNFs. Electrophoretic mobility-shift assays demonstrated an induction of a kappa beta-binding activity in hippocampal cells exposed to TNFs. Exposure of cultures to I kappa B (MAD3) antisense oligonucleotides, a manipulation designed to induce NF-kappa B, mimicked the protection by TNFs. These data suggest that TNFs protect hippocampal neurons against A beta toxicity by suppressing accumulation of ROS and Ca2+ and that kappa B-dependent transcription is sufficient to mediate these effects. A modulatory role for TNF in the neurodegenerative process in AD is proposed.

The cultural evolution of prosocial religions.

Abstract: We develop a cultural evolutionary theory of the origins of prosocial religions and apply it to resolve two puzzles in human psychology and cultural history: (1) the rise of large-scale cooperation among strangers and, simultaneously, (2) the spread of prosocial religions in the last 10-12 millennia. We argue that these two developments were importantly linked and mutually energizing. We explain how a package of culturally evolved religious beliefs and practices characterized by increasingly potent, moralizing, supernatural agents, credible displays of faith, and other psychologically active elements conducive to social solidarity promoted high fertility rates and large-scale cooperation with co-religionists, often contributing to success in intergroup competition and conflict. In turn, prosocial religious beliefs and practices spread and aggregated as these successful groups expanded, or were copied by less successful groups. This synthesis is grounded in the idea that although religious beliefs and practices originally arose as nonadaptive by-products of innate cognitive functions, particular cultural variants were then selected for their prosocial effects in a long-term, cultural evolutionary process. This framework (1) reconciles key aspects of the adaptationist and by-product approaches to the origins of religion, (2) explains a variety of empirical observations that have not received adequate attention, and (3) generates novel predictions. Converging lines of evidence drawn from diverse disciplines provide empirical support while at the same time encouraging new research directions and opening up new questions for exploration and debate.

Agn dusty tori. i. handling of clumpy media

Abstract: Accordingtounifiedschemesof activegalactic nuclei(AGNs), thecentralengine issurroundedbydusty,optically thickcloudsinatoroidalstructure.Wehaverecentlydevelopedaformalismthatforthefirsttimetakesproperaccount of the clumpy nature of the AGN torus. We now provide a detailed report of our findings in a two-paper series. Here wepresentourgeneralformalismforradiativetransferinclumpymediaandconstructitsbuildingblocksfortheAGN problem—the source functions of individual dusty clouds heated by the AGN radiation field. We show that a fundamental difference from smooth density distributions is that in a clumpy medium, a large range of dust temperatures coexist at the same distance from the radiation central source. This distinct property explains the low dust temperatures found close to the nucleus of NGC 1068 in 10� m interferometric observations. Wefind that, irrespective of the overallgeometry,aclumpydustdistributionshowsonlymoderate variationinitsspectralenergydistribution, andthe 10� mabsorptionfeatureisneverdeep.Furthermore,theX-rayattenuatingcolumndensityiswidelyscatteredaround the column density that characterizes the IR emission. All of these properties are characteristic of AGN observations. The assembly of clouds into AGN tori and comparison with observations are presented in the companion paper. Subject headingg dust, extinction — galaxies: active — galaxies: Seyfert — infrared: general — quasars: general — radiative transfer

Ticagrelor with or without Aspirin in High-Risk Patients after PCI

Abstract: Background Monotherapy with a P2Y12 inhibitor after a minimum period of dual antiplatelet therapy is an emerging approach to reduce the risk of bleeding after percutaneous coronary interve...