The Profiles, Predictors, and Intergroup Outcomes of Cultural Attachment.

The recent backlash against cultural globalization has raised a conundrum regarding how individuals should navigate their relationship with their cultural groups to both meet their basic need for belongingness and embrace diversity to fully leverage the benefits of globalization. Here we take an attachment perspective to tackle this issue. Employing both person- and variable-centered approaches in two studies (n1 = 328; n2 = 1,317), we verify that people can develop different cultural attachment styles toward their cultural groups (i.e., secure, preoccupied, dismissing, and fearful), which are influenced by various societal, interpersonal and intrapersonal factors. People who securely attach to their cultures will perceive less out-group threat, exhibit more identity inclusiveness, hold less intergroup biases and excessive collective self-esteem, display a greater willingness to engage in intergroup contact, and demonstrate better psychological functioning. All these effects of cultural attachment are independent from and incremental to those of general and place attachment.

The regulatory role of the transcription factor Crz1 in stress tolerance, pathogenicity, and its target gene expression in Metarhizium acridum.

In fungi, the Ca2+/calcineurin signaling pathway is critical in mediating growth, morphology, stress responses, and pathogenicity. Crz1 is a calcineurin-responsive zinc finger transcription factor. Here, MaCrz1 was identified and functionally characterized in the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium acridum by characterization of a targeted gene knockout strain. Conidia of the ΔMacrz1 mutant were aberrant in cell surface features and lacked the characteristic hydrophobic rodlet layer, and the mutant displayed increased sensitivity to oxidative stress, cell wall perturbing agents, heat stress, and ultraviolet irradiation as compared to the wild-type and complemented strains. Insect bioassay using locusts revealed decreased virulence for the ΔMaCrz1 mutant, with defects in the ability of the mutant to penetrate the host cuticle. The ΔMaCrz1 mutant also showed greatly reduced chitin and ß-1,3-glucan level in the cell wall. Transcriptomic profiling revealed genes involved in cell wall synthesis, conidiation, stress tolerance, and calcium transport that were downregulated in the ΔMaCrz1 mutant. Our results demonstrate that MaCrz1 plays important roles in stress susceptibility and pathogenicity, and provides clues as to the genes and pathways targeted by the transcription factor.

Research on the change of complex refractive index of porcine muscle during natural dehydration.

The physical changes of tissue are complicated to evaluate during optical clearing (OC) treatment. Monitoring the changes of optical parameters, including the complex refractive index (CRI), helps people better understand the OC process. From the imaginary part of CRI, we can deduce the extinction coefficient of tissue. Based on the total internal reflection method, the time-dependent CRI of porcine muscle during natural dehydration is well determined. Results show that the real RI increases continuously with the increase of dehydration time, whereas the extinction coefficient initially increases and then decreases. Finally, the extinction coefficient becomes much smaller than the initial value, which demonstrates that better tissue optical clarity is obtained. The change tendency of the extinction coefficient of tissue is used to qualitatively explain the dynamic change of transmittance of a natural dehydrated tissue. Consequently, CRI, especially its imaginary part, is a very useful optical parameter by which to evaluate the OC effect.

Effect of the gradient of complex refractive index at boundary of turbid media on total internal reflection.

We analyze the existence of non-uniformity at the boundary of turbid media, and develop a gradient complex refractive index multilayered model in terms of this fact. Our model reveals the physics mechanism of the discrepancies between experimental data above the critical angle and the fitting curve with Fresnel's Formula. Also, from the perspective of the energy flow, reflectance R is obtained by the simplified models. We get complex refractive indexes and reflectance curves by fitting experimental data of 20% and 30% Intralipid solutions and rutile TiO2 powder suspension with two different methods. Compared with Fresnel's Formula, our model can fit experimental data better.

Isolation and characterization of a novel zinc finger gene, ZNFD, activating AP1(PMA) transcriptional activities.

ZFPs (Zinc Finger Proteins) play important roles in various cellular functions, including transcriptional activation, transcriptional repression, cell proliferation, and development. C(2)H(2) (Cys-Cys-His-His motif) ZFPs are the most abundant proteins among the founding members of the ZFP super family in eukaryotes. In this study, we isolate a novel C(2)H(2) ZNF (Zinc Finger) gene ZNFD. It contains an ORF (Open Reading Frame) with a length of 990 bp, encoding 329 amino acids. The predicted protein contains a C(2)H(2) zinc finger. RT-PCR analysis in 18 human adult tissues indicated that it was expressed in five human adult tissues. Green fluorescence protein localization analysis showed that human ZNFD was located in the nucleus of Hela cells. Overexpression of ZNFD in the COS7 cells activates the transcriptional activities of AP1(PMA) (Activator of protein 1, that responds specifically to phorbol ester). Together the data indicate that ZNFD is probably a new type of C(2)H(2) ZFP and the ZNFD protein may act as a transcriptional activator in PKC (protein kinase C) signal pathway to mediate cellular functions.