The existential function of right-wing authoritarianism.

OBJECTIVE: Four studies tested the existential and existential buffering functions of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). We tested whether the facets of meaning mediated these functions. METHOD: All studies measured RWA and meaning in life (MIL). Study 1, N = 2,319, also measured covariates, including Protestant Work Ethic and religiosity. Study 2, N = 505, examined RWA and meaning facets (purpose, coherence, and significance), and measured religiosity. Study 3, N = 971, measured psychological distress to test the existential buffering function of RWA. Study 4, N = 833, tested this hypothesis using meaning facets and tested for moderated mediation. RESULTS: In all studies, RWA and MIL were positively correlated. In Study 1, Protestant Work Ethic and religiosity weakened this association. In Study 2, significance mediated the association between RWA and global MIL. Religiosity wiped out the relationship between RWA and meaning variables, except significance. Study 3 supported the existential buffering hypothesis: distress and global MIL were less strongly related among those high on RWA. Study 4 replicated this finding for MIL facets. Significance mediated the existential buffering function of RWA. CONCLUSIONS: Findings extend scientific knowledge by demonstrating that RWA contributes to MIL, particularly existential mattering, and especially for those experiencing distress. We discuss implications for our understanding of RWA and MIL.

Genomic data support the taxonomic validity of Middle American livebearers Poeciliopsis gracilis and Poeciliopsis pleurospilus (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae).

Poeciliopsis (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae) is a genus comprised of 25 species of freshwater fishes. Several well-known taxonomic uncertainties exist within the genus, especially in relation to the taxonomic status of Poeciliopsis pleurospilus and P. gracilis. However, to date, no studies have been conducted to specifically address the taxonomic status of these two species. The goal of this study was to examine the taxonomic validity of P. pleurospilus and P. gracilis using genomic data (ddRADseq) in phylogenetic, population genetic, and species delimitation frameworks. Multiple analyses support the recognition of both taxa as distinct species and also permits us to revise their respective distributions. A species delimitation analysis indicates that P. pleurospilus and P. gracilis are distinct species, each of which consists of two distinct lineages that are geographically structured. Phylogenetic and population genetic analyses provide clear evidence that individuals of P. gracilis are distributed north and west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in both Pacific and Atlantic river systems in Mexico, whereas individuals of P. pleurospilus are distributed in both Atlantic and Pacific river systems south and east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, from southern Mexico to Honduras.

Terminal Delirium in Hospice: The Experiences and Perspectives of Caregivers Providing Care to Terminally Ill Patients in Home Settings.

OBJECTIVES: Little is known about the experiences of caregivers who provide care to persons with terminal delirium (TD) in home settings. This scarcity of information is suggestive that further research is needed about care for hospice patients with delirium in the home and community. AIM: To elicit views, feelings, and end-of-life care experiences of primary caregivers assisting dying persons with TD in hospice at home. DESIGN: Qualitative, exploratory, cross-sectional study design was chosen. In-depth semistructured interviews explored caregiver experiences in caring for persons with TD. Qualitative thematic framework analysis was used. PARTICIPANTS: Fifteen bereaved adult primary caregivers who received services from a hospice care program affiliated with a large nonprofit health system in the US Midwest. RESULTS: Caregiver experiences were broad and reflected 4 major themes: symptomology, coping, effective and noneffective interventions, and support. The most distressing factors for caregivers were behaviors and symptomology of TD. They did not know what to say, how to respond, and how best to behave with someone who had delirium. Many caregivers had the impression that medication does not lessen delirium symptoms and that nonpharmacologic interventions are effective and beneficial only when they were important and meaningful to patients before delirium onset. CONCLUSIONS: This study added new knowledge from direct and personal perspectives of caregivers providing end-of-life care to patients at home. Understanding developed about provision of care to someone with TD in home hospice. Improved comprehension of caregiver experiences can help professional hospice and palliative care staff better prepare caregivers for when patients have TD.

Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.

Five studies tested the effect of exposure to authoritarian values on positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 (N = 1,053) showed that simply completing a measure of right-wing authoritarianism (vs. not) prior to rating MIL led to higher MIL. Preregistered Study 2 (N = 1,904) showed that reading speeches by real-world authoritarians (e.g., Adolf Hitler) led to lower PA, higher NA, and higher MIL than a control passage. In preregistered Studies 3 (N = 1,573) and 4 (N = 1,512), Americans read authoritarian, egalitarian, or control messages and rated mood, MIL, and evaluated the passages. Both studies showed that egalitarian messages led to better mood and authoritarian messages led to higher MIL. Study 5 (N = 148) directly replicated these results with Canadians. Aggregating across studies (N = 3,401), moderational analyses showed that meaning in life, post manipulation, was associated with more favorable evaluations of the authoritarian passage. In addition, PA was a stronger predictor of MIL in the egalitarian and control conditions than in the authoritarian condition. Further results showed no evidence that negative mood (or disagreement) spurred the boost in MIL. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Clinical and translational advances in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is among the most deadly forms of human malignancy characterized by late stage diagnosis, metastasis, therapy resistance and frequent recurrence. Clinical management of ESCC remains challenging and the disease presently lacks approved targeted therapeutics. However, emerging data from recent clinical and translational investigations hold great promise for future progress toward improving patient outcomes in this deadly disease. Here, we review current clinical perspectives in ESCC epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical care, highlighting recent advances with potential to impact ESCC prevention, diagnosis and management. We further provide an overview of recent translational investigations contributing to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying ESCC development, progression and therapy response, including insights gained from genetic studies and various murine model systems. Finally, we discuss future perspectives in the clinical and translational realms, along with remaining hurdles that must be overcome to eradicate ESCC.

Moral self-regulation, moral identity, and religiosity.

The association between religiosity and morality identified in self-reports has received limited support from studies of actual behavior. We propose that religiosity variables are likely to contribute to moral behavior in the context of moral self-regulation. Five studies examined the prediction that people who strongly endorse the items "I try hard to live all my life according to my religious beliefs" and "My whole approach to life is based on my religion" and people who report strong God belief would exhibit heightened moral emotions and prosocial behaviors after moral self-image (MSI) threats. Study 1 (N = 169) demonstrated that considering a recent moral transgression (the manipulation used in Studies 2-5) resulted in lower MSI, regardless of participants' levels of endorsement of religion-related items. Study 2 (N = 207) showed that following a threat to MSI, religiosity variables predicted heightened negative affect and self-conscious moral emotions. Studies 3 through 5 (combined N = 616) showed that following MSI threats, individuals endorsing intrinsic religiosity and God belief items showed increased prosocial task completion (Studies 3 and 5) and decreased cheating on a word-solving task (Study 4). Study 5 demonstrated that moral identity accounted for the role of religiosity variables in promoting moral self-regulation following MSI threat. Noting that these findings are limited to people representative of the participants in these samples (Mechanical Turk workers; University of Missouri undergraduate students), and to the precise measures and manipulations used, implications of these findings and constraints on their generalizability are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Gender Differences in Emotion Explain Women's Lower Immoral Intentions and Harsher Moral Condemnation.

Why do men view morally questionable behaviors as more permissible than women do? Five studies investigated emotional factors as explanations for gender differences in moral decision-making. In Study 1 ( N = 324), gender differences in perceptions of moral wrongness were explained by guilt and shame proneness. Studies 2a and 2b (combined N = 562) demonstrated that instructions to adopt an unemotional perspective (vs. standard instructions) led women to have higher immoral intentions, no longer lower than men's, as they were in the control group. Studies 3 and 4 ( N = 834) showed that men expected immoral actions to result in higher positive and lower self-conscious moral emotions than women do. Study 4 ( N = 424) showed that these emotional expectancies account for gender differences in immoral intentions. Study 5 ( N = 450) showed that women-but not men-experience heightened self-conscious moral emotions and regret when recalling past transgressions done for personal gain.

Individual differences in reliance on intuition predict harsher moral judgments.

The notion that intuition guides moral judgment is widely accepted. Yet, there is a dearth of research examining whether individual differences in reliance on intuition influence moral judgment. Five studies provided evidence that faith in intuition (FI) predicts higher condemnation of moral transgressions. Studies 1 and 2 (combined N = 543) demonstrated that FI predicted higher moral condemnation of strange actions characterized by ambiguous harm. This association maintained controlling for a host of relevant ideological and emotional "third" variables. Three experiments demonstrated this relationship to be robust in the face of manipulations. In Study 3 (N = 320), participants rated whether moral scenarios involved harm or victims prior to (vs. after) moral judgments. Although considering harm and victims prior to judgments lowered condemnation toward these actions, the manipulation did not moderate the association between FI and condemnation. FI related to moral condemnation of unconventional actions even after consideration of harm and victims. In Study 4 (N = 236), a manipulation designed to enhance deliberation lowered overall moral condemnation (vs. control group), but did not attenuate the relationship between FI and moral condemnation. In Study 5 (N = 204), participants quickly categorized actions according to whether or not they were immoral, harmful, or involved victims. FI predicted higher condemnation of ambiguously harmful actions even when these judgments were made rapidly. Implications for examining individual differences in intuition in the context of dominant theories in moral psychology (dyadic morality, Moral Foundations Theory) are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Glycosyl disulfides: novel glycosylating reagents with flexible aglycon alteration.

[reaction: see text] Glycosyl disulfides have been shown for the first time to be effective glycosyl donors. Glucosylation and galactosylation of a panel of representative alcohol acceptors allowed the formation of 28 simple glycosides, disaccharides, and glycoamino acids in yields of up to 90%. As well as providing a novel class of effective glycosyl donors, the ability to easily alter the nature of the aglycon and the ability to differently activate donors that differ only in their aglycon simply through altering conditions lends glycosyl disulfide donors to their use in latent-active reactivity tuning strategies.

Glycosyl phenylthiosulfonates (glyco-PTS): novel reagents for glycoprotein synthesis.

Controlled site-selective glycosylation can be achieved by combining site-directed cysteine mutagenesis with chemical modification of the introduced thiol; a new class of more efficient chemoselective reagents, glycosyl phenylthiosulfonates, allow rapid glycosylations of representative simple thiols, peptides and proteins.