Bacteria synchronize the expression of genes with related functions by organizing genes into operons so that they are cotranscribed together in a single polycistronic messenger RNA. However, some cellular processes may benefit if the simultaneous production of the operon proteins coincides with the inhibition of the expression of an antagonist gene. To coordinate such situations, bacteria have evolved noncontiguous operons (NcOs), a subtype of operons that contain one or more genes that are transcribed in the opposite direction to the other operon genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen someone violates a social norm, others may think that some sanction would be appropriate. We examine how the experience of emotions like anger and disgust relate to the judged appropriateness of sanctions, in a pre-registered analysis of data from a large-scale study in 56 societies. Across the world, we find that individuals who experience anger and disgust over a norm violation are more likely to endorse confrontation, ostracism and, to a smaller extent, gossip.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvidence suggests that Latin Americans display elevated levels of emotional expressivity and positivity. Here, we tested whether Latin Americans possess a unique form of interdependence called expressive interdependence, characterized by the open expression of positive emotions related to social engagement (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCultural psychology-the research field focusing on the mutual constitution of culture and the mind-has made great strides by documenting robust cultural variations in how people think, feel, and act. The cumulative evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that Westerners are independent, whereas those in the rest of the world are interdependent. Although this research traditionally examined North Americans and East Asians, recent research has extended this literature to other non-Western regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNorm enforcement may be important for resolving conflicts and promoting cooperation. However, little is known about how preferred responses to norm violations vary across cultures and across domains. In a preregistered study of 57 countries (using convenience samples of 22,863 students and non-students), we measured perceptions of the appropriateness of various responses to a violation of a cooperative norm and to atypical social behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has become increasingly clear that COVID-19 is transmitted between individuals. It stands to reason that the spread of the virus depends on sociocultural ecologies that facilitate or inhibit social contact. In particular, the community-level tendency to engage with strangers and freely choose friends, called , creates increased opportunities to interact with a larger and more variable range of other people.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNoonan syndrome and related disorders are caused by mutations in genes encoding for proteins of the RAS-ERK1/2 signaling pathway, which affect development by enhanced ERK1/2 activity. However, the mutations' effects throughout adult life are unclear. In this study, we identify that the protein most commonly affected in Noonan syndrome, the phosphatase SHP2, known in as (CSW), controls life span, triglyceride levels, and metabolism without affecting ERK signaling pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntellectual disability is a common feature in genetic disorders with enhanced RAS-ERK1/2 signaling, including neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and Noonan syndrome (NS). Additional training trials and additional spacing between trials, respectively, restores memory deficits in animal models of NF1 and NS. However, the relationship between the underlying mechanisms in these strategies remain obscure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe conducted a survey about the 2014 FIFA World Cup that measured attitudes about FIFA, players, and officials in 18 languages with 4600 respondents from 29 countries. Sixty percent of respondents perceived FIFA officials as being dishonest, and people from countries with less institutional corruption and stronger rule of law perceived FIFA officials as being more corrupt and less competent running the tournament than people from countries with more corruption and weaker rule of law. In contrast, respondents evaluated players as skilled and honest and match officials as competent and honest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArabs represent a major cultural group, yet one that is relatively neglected in cultural psychology. We hypothesized that Arab culture is characterized by a unique form of interdependence that is self-assertive. Arab cultural identity emerged historically in regions with harsh ecological and climatic environments, in which it was necessary to protect the survival of tribal groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pers Soc Psychol
April 2019
We hypothesized that individuals in cultures typified by lower levels of relational mobility would tend to show more attention to the surrounding social and physical context (i.e., holistic vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiologists and social scientists have long tried to understand why some societies have more fluid and open interpersonal relationships and how those differences influence culture. This study measures relational mobility, a socioecological variable quantifying voluntary (high relational mobility) vs. fixed (low relational mobility) interpersonal relationships.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHansen's disease (HD) is caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It has a chronic course and preferentially affects the skin and the peripheral nerves. It's an emergent infection in Chile due to migration waves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
September 2017
ATP-dependent proteases translocate proteins through a narrow pore for their controlled destruction. However, how a protein substrate containing a knotted topology affects this process remains unknown. Here, we characterized the effects of the trefoil-knotted protein MJ0366 from on the operation of the ClpXP protease from ClpXP completely degrades MJ0366 when pulling from the C-terminal ssrA-tag.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn contrast to trials of training without intervals (massed training), training trials spaced over time (spaced training) induce a more persistent memory identified as long-term memory (LTM). This phenomenon, known as the spacing effect for memory, is poorly understood. LTM is supported by structural synaptic plasticity; however, how synapses integrate spaced stimuli remains elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntellectual disability, commonly known as mental retardation in the International Classification of Disease from World Health Organization, is the term that describes an intellectual and adaptive cognitive disability that begins in early life during the developmental period. Currently the term intellectual disability is the preferred one. Although our understanding of the physiological basis of learning and learning disability is poor, a general idea is that such condition is quite permanent.
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