The self-conscious emotions have been linked with both amends making and avoidance behaviors. The field has largely assumed that these divergent motivations are due to guilt eliciting amends motivations and shame eliciting avoidance motivations. Empirical support for this theory, however, has been largely inconsistent. This dissertation, therefore, presents a new approach to predicting the reactions that follow a social or moral transgression. Specifically, data will be presented in which amends and avoidance motivations are consistently and differentially predicted from the specific sub-components of emotional experience rather than the emotion as a whole. In Chapter 2, participants reported on past experiences of shame, guilt, and embarrassment and the theoretically important affective cognitions and situational factors associated with these emotions. The data suggest that behavior condemnation and the degree of control one has over the resolution predict amends motivations. Self-condemnation and fear of negative evaluation predict avoidance motivations. In Chapter 3, participants reported on a past shaming experience with a physician. Within that experience, avoidance behaviors, such as ceasing visits with the physician, were predicted by self-condemnation and perceptions that the physician was intentionally trying to induce shame or guilt. Amends behaviors, such as improvement in health and motivation to change the problem behavior, were predicted by behavior condemnation. In Chapter 4, participants took part in a laboratory experiment in which they were forced to transgress against another person and their wrongdoing was either exposed to the victim or not. Contrary to theoretical expectations and results from hypothetical studies, the exposure of the transgression to the victim did not change participants' amends behaviors or avoidance desires. Overall, these findings suggest that when people feel a self-conscious emotion (e.g., shame, guilt, or embarrassment), they are motivated to both avoid and amend. The specific affective cognitions that occur during that experience, such as behavior condemnation, self-condemnation, and fear of negative evaluation, predict which path they will take

Objective

Cancer during young adulthood can limit the extent to which one adopts an adult self-image. However, the relationship of adult self-image to cancer-related adjustment remains unexplored. The current study examines relationships of adult self-image and social/emotional well-being and job-related problems in young testicular cancer survivors. Factors thought to facilitate future-oriented goals (i.e. agency and meaning) are examined as intermediary processes.

Design

Testicular cancer survivors (N = 171) between the ages of 18 and 29 completed questionnaire measures of adult self-image, agency, sense of meaning and indicators of adjustment.

Main outcome measures

Social and emotional well-being were measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General. Job problems were assessed using the EORTC's testicular cancer supplement (EORTC QLQ-TC26).

Results

Path model results revealed direct associations of survivors' adult self-image with social (β = .20, p < .05), but not emotional well-being (β = .14, p < .01). Both agency and meaning mediated the relationship of adult self-image and well-being indicators. Finally, the relationship between adult self-image and job problems was only significant for those who were employed or in school (β = -.19, p < .05).

Outcomes

Assessment of adult self-image might be useful in identifying risk for poor adjustment. Interventions that target agency and meaning might facilitate developmental goals.

N-linked glycosylation is a central regulatory factor that influences the immune system in varied and profound ways, including leukocyte homing, T cell receptor signaling and others. Moreover, N-glycan branching has been demonstrated to change as a function of infection and inflammation. Our previous findings suggest that complex-type N-glycans on the class II major histocompatibility complex play an important role in antigen selection within antigen presenting cells (APCs) such that highly branched N-glycans promote polysaccharide (glycoantigen, GlyAg) presentation following Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)-dependent antigen processing. In order to explore the impact of N-glycan branching on the myeloid-derived APC population without the confounding problems of altering the branching of lymphocytes and non-hematopoietic cells, we created a novel myeloid-specific knockout of the β-1,2-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase II (Mgat2) enzyme. Using this novel mouse, we found that the reduction in multi-antennary N-glycans characteristic of Mgat2 ablation had no impact on GlyAg-mediated TLR2 signaling. Likewise, no deficits in antigen uptake or cellular homing to lymph nodes were found. However, we discovered that Mgat2 ablation prevented GlyAg presentation and T cell activation in vitro and in vivo without apparent alterations in protein antigen response or myeloid-mediated protection from infection. These findings demonstrate that GlyAg presentation can be regulated by the N-glycan branching pattern of APCs, thereby establishing an in vivo model where the T cell-dependent activity of GlyAgs can be experimentally distinguished from GlyAg-mediated stimulation of the innate response through TLR2.

Bird control often entails the use of sound to disperse birds from croplands or other sites. Little information is available concerning the sound levels produced by noise-making devices or the effective area of coverage. In 1998 and 1999 we measured the sound levels of American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) distress calls produced by 2 models of a commercially available broadcast unit. With the units set up at different heights (0.9 to 4.9 m) in an open area or in an almond orchard, we used a sound meter to measure sound levels at distances of 1 m and 15 m, and then at 15-m intervals out to a distance of 90 m from the speakers. Sound levels decreased from about 102 dB at 1 m down to or nearly to background noise levels at a distance of 90 m. Sound levels from a unit set up to broadcast at a 4.9-m height through the orchard canopy were lower than for a unit set up at a 0.9-m height broadcasting under the canopy. Sound levels from a unit set at the 0.9-m height in the open were greater than those from the 0.9-m setup under the canopy only at a distance of 90 m. We set up a broadcast unit at various roadside locations in Yolo County, California, to determine the distance over which crows heard and reacted to the broadcast calls. Upon activation of the unit, we scanned the surrounding area for any crows flying from their perches. When crows reacted to the call we recorded the distance to the site of origin with a laser rangefinder and the number of crows. We also recorded the distance and number as above for any 2nd or 3rd flocks responding. We broadcast the calls on 11 days and on 27 occasions crows responded, typically by flying up from their perches, sometimes flying overhead, and then flying away. The average distance for the 1st flocks was 142 m + 73 SD (range 22 - 275 m). On 7 occasions 2nd flocks responded from an average distance of 174 m + 110 SD (range 71 - 312 m). On all but one occasion the 2nd flocks originated from a more distant location than the associated primary responders. We observed one instance of a 3rd flock responding. Fourteen (51.8%) of the 27 primary responses were from distances >122 m, about the distance at which the sound levels from the broadcast unit drop to background levels. These data indicate crows detected sounds from the broadcast units at distances greater than suggested by the sound meter. Using the average distance of 142 m for the 1st flocks responding, we calculated crows in a 6.3 ha open area could hear the broadcast calls. Using the maximum distances we observed of 275 m for 1st flocks and 312 m for 2nd flocks, we suggest that under some conditions crows within open areas of nearly 24.3 ha and 30.4 ha, respectively, heard the calls or responded to other crows hearing the calls.

Background

Testicular cancer diagnosis and treatment, especially given its threat to sexuality and reproductive health, can be distressing in the formative period of young adulthood and the majority of young survivors experience impairing, distressing, and modifiable adverse outcomes that can persist long after medical treatment. These include psychological distress, impairment in pursuit of life goals, persistent physical side effects, elevated risk of secondary malignancies and chronic illness, and biobehavioral burden (e.g., enhanced inflammation, dysregulated diurnal stress hormones). However, few targeted interventions exist to assist young survivors in renegotiating life goals and regulating cancer-related emotions, and none focus on reducing the burden of morbidity via biobehavioral mechanisms. This paper describes the methodology of a randomized controlled biobehavioral trial designed to investigate the feasibility and preliminary impact of a novel intervention, Goal-focused Emotion-Regulation Therapy (GET), aimed at improving distress symptoms, emotion regulation, goal navigation skills, and stress-sensitive biomarkers in young adult testicular cancer patients.

Methods

Participants will be randomized to receive six sessions of GET or Individual Supportive Therapy (ISP) delivered over 8 weeks. In addition to indicators of intervention feasibility, we will measure primary (depressive and anxiety symptoms) and secondary (emotion regulation and goal navigation skills, career confusion) psychological outcomes prior to (T₀), immediately after (T₁), and 12 weeks after (T₂) intervention. Additionally, identified biomarkers will be measured at baseline and at T₂.

Discussion

GET may have the potential to improve self-regulation across biobehavioral domains, improve overall cancer adjustment, and address the need for targeted supportive care interventions for young adult cancer survivors.

Trial registration

Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04150848. Registered on 28 October 2019.

Perspiration-based wearable biosensors facilitate continuous monitoring of individuals' health states with real-time and molecular-level insight. The inherent inaccessibility of sweat in sedentary individuals in large volume (≥10 µL) for on-demand and in situ analysis has limited our ability to capitalize on this noninvasive and rich source of information. A wearable and miniaturized iontophoresis interface is an excellent solution to overcome this barrier. The iontophoresis process involves delivery of stimulating agonists to the sweat glands with the aid of an electrical current. The challenge remains in devising an iontophoresis interface that can extract sufficient amount of sweat for robust sensing, without electrode corrosion and burning/causing discomfort in subjects. Here, we overcame this challenge through realizing an electrochemically enhanced iontophoresis interface, integrated in a wearable sweat analysis platform. This interface can be programmed to induce sweat with various secretion profiles for real-time analysis, a capability which can be exploited to advance our knowledge of the sweat gland physiology and the secretion process. To demonstrate the clinical value of our platform, human subject studies were performed in the context of the cystic fibrosis diagnosis and preliminary investigation of the blood/sweat glucose correlation. With our platform, we detected the elevated sweat electrolyte content of cystic fibrosis patients compared with that of healthy control subjects. Furthermore, our results indicate that oral glucose consumption in the fasting state is followed by increased glucose levels in both sweat and blood. Our solution opens the possibility for a broad range of noninvasive diagnostic and general population health monitoring applications.

Polymer thin films that emit and absorb circularly polarised light have been demonstrated with the promise of achieving important technological advances; from efficient, high-performance displays, to 3D imaging and all-organic spintronic devices. However, the origin of the large chiroptical effects in such films has, until now, remained elusive. We investigate the emergence of such phenomena in achiral polymers blended with a chiral small-molecule additive (1-aza[6]helicene) and intrinsically chiral-sidechain polymers using a combination of spectroscopic methods and structural probes. We show that - under conditions relevant for device fabrication - the large chiroptical effects are caused by magneto-electric coupling (natural optical activity), not structural chirality as previously assumed, and may occur because of local order in a cylinder blue phase-type organisation. This disruptive mechanistic insight into chiral polymer thin films will offer new approaches towards chiroptical materials development after almost three decades of research in this area.