Are two threats worse than one? The effects of face race and emotional expression on fear conditioning

Facial cues of racial outgroup or anger mediate fear learning that is resistant to extinction. Whether this resistance is potentiated if fear is conditioned to angry, other race faces has not been established. Two groups of Caucasian participants were conditioned with two happy and two angry face conditional stimuli (CSs). During acquisition, one happy and one angry face were paired with an aversive unconditional stimulus whereas the second happy and angry faces were presented alone. CS face race (Caucasian, African American) was varied between groups. During habituation, electrodermal responses were larger to angry faces regardless of race and declined less to other race faces. Extinction was immediate for Caucasian happy faces, delayed for angry faces regardless of race, and slowest for happy racial outgroup faces. Combining the facial cues of other race and anger does not enhance resistance to extinction of fear.

Prostacyclin synthase expression and epigenetic regulation in nonsmall cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND: Prostacyclin synthase (PGIS) metabolizes prostaglandin H(2), into prostacyclin. This study aimed to determine the expression profile of PGIS in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and examine potential mechanisms involved in PGIS regulation. METHODS: PGIS expression was examined in human NSCLC and matched controls by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western analysis, and immunohistochemistry. A 204-patient NSCLC tissue microarray was stained for PGIS and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) expression. Staining intensity was correlated with clinical parameters. Epigenetic mechanisms underpinning PGIS promoter expression were examined using RT-PCR, methylation-specific PCR, and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis. RESULTS: PGIS expression was reduced/absent in human NSCLC protein samples (P <.0001), but not mRNA relative to matched controls. PGIS tissue expression was higher in squamous cell carcinoma (P =.004) and in male patients (P <.05). No significant correlation of PGIS or COX2 expression with overall patient survival was observed, although COX2 was prognostic for short-term (2-year) survival (P <.001). PGIS mRNA expression was regulated by DNA CpG methylation and histone acetylation in NSCLC cell lines, with chromatin remodeling taking place directly at the PGIS gene. PGIS mRNA expression was increased by both demethylation agents and histone deacetylase inhibitors. Protein levels were unaffected by demethylation agents, whereas PGIS protein stability was negatively affected by histone deacetylase inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: PGIS protein expression is reduced in NSCLC, and does not correlate with overall patient survival. PGIS expression is regulated through epigenetic mechanisms. Differences in expression patterns between mRNA and protein levels suggest that PGIS expression and protein stability are regulated post-translationally. PGIS protein stability may have an important therapeutic role in NSCLC. © 2011 American Cancer Society.

Expression of 67 kDa laminin receptor in human breast cancer cells : regulation by progestins

The level of 67 kDa laminin receptor (67LR) expression on breast and colon tumor cell surfaces was previously shown to be correlated with the capacity of tumor cells to metastasize. In the present work we investigate the effects of progestins and estrogen on the expression of 67LR in two sublines of the T47D human breast cancer cells: weakly tumorigenic, poorly invasive parental T47D cells and a highly tumorigenic, more invasive T47Dco subclone. Inmmunoblotting with an affinity purified antibody directed against a synthetic peptide recognizes the 67LR in these cells. 67LR expression in the T47Dco subclone is 5,5-fold higher than in their parental T47D cells. Treatment of T47D cells with 1 nM of the synthetic progestin R5020 results in a 4-fold increase in 67LR protein expression. Estrogen also induced 67LR expression, but only by 1.5-fold. The progestin-stimulated expression of the 67LR correlates with a 4.3-fold increase in attachment of T47D cells to laminin. A monoclonal antibody, mAb 13, directed against β1 integrin, completely blocks the attachment of T47D cells to fibronectin, only partially inhibits the attachment of T47D cells to laminin, and appears not to affect the progestin-stimulated laminin attachment of T47D cells. A new antiprogestin, ZK 112.993, significantly inhibits both progestin-stimulated 67LR expression and the increased attachment to laminin. These results suggest a possible role for progestin in mediating one of the multiple events thought to be important in metastasis of steroid receptor positive human breast cancer cells.

Inpatient facial expression recognition with SMS alert

Facial expression recognition (FER) has been dramatically developed in recent years, thanks to the advancements in related fields, especially machine learning, image processing and human recognition. Accordingly, the impact and potential usage of automatic FER have been growing in a wide range of applications, including human-computer interaction, robot control and driver state surveillance. However, to date, robust recognition of facial expressions from images and videos is still a challenging task due to the difficulty in accurately extracting the useful emotional features. These features are often represented in different forms, such as static, dynamic, point-based geometric or region-based appearance. Facial movement features, which include feature position and shape changes, are generally caused by the movements of facial elements and muscles during the course of emotional expression. The facial elements, especially key elements, will constantly change their positions when subjects are expressing emotions. As a consequence, the same feature in different images usually has different positions. In some cases, the shape of the feature may also be distorted due to the subtle facial muscle movements. Therefore, for any feature representing a certain emotion, the geometric-based position and appearance-based shape normally changes from one image to another image in image databases, as well as in videos. This kind of movement features represents a rich pool of both static and dynamic characteristics of expressions, which playa critical role for FER. The vast majority of the past work on FER does not take the dynamics of facial expressions into account. Some efforts have been made on capturing and utilizing facial movement features, and almost all of them are static based. These efforts try to adopt either geometric features of the tracked facial points, or appearance difference between holistic facial regions in consequent frames or texture and motion changes in loca- facial regions. Although achieved promising results, these approaches often require accurate location and tracking of facial points, which remains problematic.

Emotional climate and high quality learning experiences in science teacher education

The role of emotion during learning encounters in science teacher education is under-researched and under-theorized. In this case study we explore the emotional climates, that is, the collective states of emotional arousal, of a preservice secondary science education class to illuminate practice for producing and reproducing high quality learning experiences for preservice science teachers. Theories related to the sociology of emotions informed our analyses from data sources such as preservice teachers’ perceptions of the emotional climate of their class, emotional facial expressions, classroom conversations, and cogenerative dialogue. The major outcome from our analyses was that even though preservice teachers reported high positive emotional climate during the professor’s science demonstrations, they also valued the professor’s in the moment reflections on her teaching that were associated with low emotional climate ratings. We co-relate emotional climate data and preservice teachers’ comments during cogenerative dialogue to expand our understanding of high quality experiences and emotional climate in science teacher education. Our study also contributes refinements to research perspectives on emotional climate.

Representation of facial expression categories in continuous arousal-valence space: Feature and correlation

Representation of facial expressions using continuous dimensions has shown to be inherently more expressive and psychologically meaningful than using categorized emotions, and thus has gained increasing attention over recent years. Many sub-problems have arisen in this new field that remain only partially understood. A comparison of the regression performance of different texture and geometric features and investigation of the correlations between continuous dimensional axes and basic categorized emotions are two of these. This paper presents empirical studies addressing these problems, and it reports results from an evaluation of different methods for detecting spontaneous facial expressions within the arousal-valence dimensional space (AV). The evaluation compares the performance of texture features (SIFT, Gabor, LBP) against geometric features (FAP-based distances), and the fusion of the two. It also compares the prediction of arousal and valence, obtained using the best fusion method, to the corresponding ground truths. Spatial distribution, shift, similarity, and correlation are considered for the six basic categorized emotions (i.e. anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise). Using the NVIE database, results show that the fusion of LBP and FAP features performs the best. The results from the NVIE and FEEDTUM databases reveal novel findings about the correlations of arousal and valence dimensions to each of six basic emotion categories.

Symptom correlates of static and dynamic facial affect processing in schizophrenia : evidence of a double dissociation?

Schizophrenia patients have been shown to be compromised in their ability to recognize facial emotion. This deficit has been shown to be related to negative symptoms severity. However, to date, most studies have used static rather than dynamic depictions of faces. Nineteen patients with schizophrenia were compared with seventeen controls on 2 tasks; the first involving the discrimination of facial identity, emotion, and butterfly wings; the second testing emotion recognition using both static and dynamic stimuli. In the first task, the patients performed more poorly than controls for emotion discrimination only, confirming a specific deficit in facial emotion recognition. In the second task, patients performed more poorly in both static and dynamic facial emotion processing. An interesting pattern of associations suggestive of a possible double dissociation emerged in relation to correlations with symptom ratings: high negative symptom ratings were associated with poorer recognition of static displays of emotion, whereas high positive symptom ratings were associated with poorer recognition of dynamic displays of emotion. However, while the strength of associations between negative symptom ratings and accuracy during static and dynamic facial emotion processing was significantly different, those between positive symptom ratings and task performance were not. The results confirm a facial emotion-processing deficit in schizophrenia using more ecologically valid dynamic expressions of emotion. The pattern of findings may reflect differential patterns of cortical dysfunction associated with negative and positive symptoms of schizophrenia in the context of differential neural mechanisms for the processing of static and dynamic displays of facial emotion.

Facial identity and facial expression matching in 5 - 12-year-old children and adults

Facial identity and facial expression matching tasks were completed by 5–12-year-old children and adults using stimuli extracted from the same set of normalized faces. Configural and feature processing were examined using speed and accuracy of responding and facial feature selection, respectively. Facial identity matching was slower than face expression matching for all age groups. Large age effects were found on both speed and accuracy of responding and feature use in both identity and expression matching tasks. Eye region preference was found on the facial identity task and mouth region preference on the facial expression task. Use of mouth region information for facial expression matching increased with age, whereas use of eye region information for facial identity matching peaked early. The feature use information suggests that the specific use of primary facial features to arrive at identity and emotion matching judgments matures across middle childhood.

Towards robust automatic affective classification of images using facial expressions for practical applications

Affect is an important feature of multimedia content and conveys valuable information for multimedia indexing and retrieval. Most existing studies for affective content analysis are limited to low-level features or mid-level representations, and are generally criticized for their incapacity to address the gap between low-level features and high-level human affective perception. The facial expressions of subjects in images carry important semantic information that can substantially influence human affective perception, but have been seldom investigated for affective classification of facial images towards practical applications. This paper presents an automatic image emotion detector (IED) for affective classification of practical (or non-laboratory) data using facial expressions, where a lot of “real-world” challenges are present, including pose, illumination, and size variations etc. The proposed method is novel, with its framework designed specifically to overcome these challenges using multi-view versions of face and fiducial point detectors, and a combination of point-based texture and geometry. Performance comparisons of several key parameters of relevant algorithms are conducted to explore the optimum parameters for high accuracy and fast computation speed. A comprehensive set of experiments with existing and new datasets, shows that the method is effective despite pose variations, fast, and appropriate for large-scale data, and as accurate as the method with state-of-the-art performance on laboratory-based data. The proposed method was also applied to affective classification of images from the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) in a task typical for a practical application providing some valuable insights.

A developmental cascade model of behavioral sleep problems and emotional and attentional self-regulation across early childhood

This paper documents the longitudinal and reciprocal relations among behavioral sleep problems, emotional and attentional self-regulation in a population sample of 4109 children participating in the Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) – Infant Cohort. Maternal reports of children’s sleep problems and self-regulation were collected at five time points from infancy to 8-9 years of age. Longitudinal structural equation modeling supported a developmental cascade model in which sleep problems have a persistent negative effect on emotional regulation, which in turn contributes to ongoing sleep problems and poorer attentional regulation in children over time. Findings suggest that sleep behaviors are a key target for interventions that aim to improve children’s self-regulatory capacities.

Threat of resource loss: The role of self-regulation in adaptive task performance

Changes at work are often accompanied with the threat of, or actual, resource loss. Through an experiment, we investigated the detrimental effect of the threat of resource loss on adaptive task performance. Self-regulation (i.e., task focus and emotion control) was hypothesized to buffer the negative relationship between the threat of resource loss and adaptive task performance. Adaptation was conceptualized as relearning after a change in task execution rules. Threat of resource loss was manipulated for 100 participants undertaking an air traffic control task. Using discontinuous growth curve modeling, 2 kinds of adaptation—transition adaptation and reacquisition adaptation—were differentiated. The results showed that individuals who experienced the threat of resource loss had a stronger drop in performance (less transition adaptation) and a subsequent slower recovery (less reacquisition adaptation) compared with the control group who experienced no threat. Emotion control (but not task focus) moderated the relationship between the threat of resource loss and transition adaptation. In this respect, individuals who felt threatened but regulated their emotions performed better immediately after the task change (but not later on) compared with those individuals who felt threatened and did not regulate their emotions as well. However, later on, relearning (reacquisition adaptation) under the threat of resource loss was facilitated when individuals concentrated on the task at hand.

A comparative study of tbe regulation of cytochrome P-450 and glutathione transferase gene expression in rat liver

A cDNA clone for the Ya subunit of glutathione transferase from rat liver was constructed in E.coli. The clone hybridized to Ya and Yc subunit messenger RNAs. On the basis of experiments involving cell-free translation and hybridization to the cloned probe, it was shown that prototype inducers of cytochrome P-450 such as phenobarbitone and 3-methylcholanthrene as well as inhibitors such as CoCl2 and 3-amino-l,2,4-triazole enhanced the glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) messenger RNA contents in rat liver. A comparative study with the induction of cytochrome P-450 (b+e) by phenobarbitone revealed that the drug manifested a striking increase in the nuclear pre-messenger RNAs for the cytochrome at 12 hr, but did not significantly affect the same in the case of glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc). 3-Amino-l, 2,4-tnazole and CoCl- blocked the phenobarbitone mediated increase in cytochrome P-450 (b+e) nuclear pre-messenger RNAs. These compounds did not significantly affect the glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) nuclear pre-messenger RNA levels. The polysomal, poly (A)- containing messenger RNAs for cytochrome P-450 (b+e) increased by 12–15 fold after phenobarbitone administration, reached a maximum around 16hr and then decreased sharply. In comparison, the increase in the case of glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) mesenger RNAs was sluggish and steady and a value of 3–4 fold was reached around 24 hr. Run-off transcription rates for cytochrome P-450 (b+e) increased by nearly 15 fold in 4 hr after phenobarbitone administration, whereas the increase for glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) was only 2.0 fold. At 12 hr after the drug administration, the glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) transcription rates were near normal. Administration of 3-amino-l,2,4-triazole and CoCl2 blocked the phenobarbitone-mediated increase in the transcription of cytochrome P-450 (b+e) messenger RNAs. These compounds at best had only marginal effects on the transcription of glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) messenger RNAs. The half-life of cytochrome P-450 (b+e) messenger RNA was estimated to be 3–4 hr, whereas that for glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) was found to be 8-9 hr. Administration of phenobarbitone enhanced the half-life of glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) messenger RNA by nearly two fold. It is suggested that while transcription activation may play a primary role in the induction of cytochrome P-450 (b+e), the induction of glutathione transferase (Ya+Yc) may essentially involve stabilization of the messenger RNAs.

Regulation of Osteoblast Differentiation and Gene Expression by Phosphodiesterases and Bioactive Peptides

Bone is a mineralized tissue that enables multiple mechanical and metabolic functions to be carried out in the skeleton. Bone contains distinct cell types: osteoblasts (bone-forming cells), osteocytes (mature osteoblast that embedded in mineralized bone matrix) and the osteoclasts (bone-resorbing cells). Remodelling of bone begins early in foetal life, and once the skeleton is fully formed in young adults, almost all of the metabolic activity is in this form. Bone is constantly destroyed or resorbed by osteoclasts and then replaced by osteoblasts. Many bone diseases, i.e. osteoporosis, also known as bone loss, typically reflect an imbalance in skeletal turnover. The cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) are second messengers involved in a variety of cellular responses to such extracellular agents as hormones and neurotransmitters. In the hormonal regulation of bone metabolism, i.e. via parathyroid hormone (PTH), parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrp) and prostaglandin E2 signal via cAMP. cAMP and cGMP are formed by adenylate and guanylate cyclases and are degraded by phosphodiesterases (PDEs). PDEs determine the amplitudes of cyclic nucleotide-mediated hormonal responses and modulate the duration of the signal. The activities of the PDEs are regulated by multiple inputs from other signalling systems and are crucial points of cross-talk between the pathways. Food-derived bioactive peptides are reported to express a variety of functions in vivo. The angiotensin-converting enzymes (ACEs) are involved in the regulation of the specific maturation or degradation of a number of mammalian bioactive peptides. The bioactive peptides offer also a nutriceutical and a nutrigenomic aspect to bone cell biology. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of PDEs and bioactive peptides on the activation and the differentiation of human osteoblast cells. The profile of PDEs in human osteoblast-like cells and the effect of glucocorticoids on the function of cAMP PDEs, were investigated at the mRNA and enzyme levels. The effects of PDEs on bone formation and osteoblast gene expression were determined with chemical inhibitors and siRNAs (short interfering RNAs). The influence of bioactive peptides on osteoblast gene expression and proliferation was studied at the mRNA and cellular levels. This work provides information on how PDEs are involved in the function and the differentiation of osteoblasts. The findings illustrate that gene-specific silencing with an RNA interference (RNAi) method is useful in inhibiting, the gene expression of specific PDEs and further, PDE7 inhibition upregulates several osteogenic genes and increases bALP activity and mineralization in human mesenchymal stem cells-derived osteoblasts. PDEs appear to be involved in a mechanism by which glucocorticoids affect cAMP signaling. This may provide a potential route in the formation of glucocorticoid-induced bone loss, involving the down-regulation of cAMP-PDE. PDEs may play an important role in the regulation of osteoblastic differentiation. Isoleucine-proline-proline (IPP), a bioactive peptide, possesses the potential to increase osteoblast proliferation, differentiation and signalling.

Regulation of Kinin receptor Expression in Heart Failure with a Focus on Vascular Endothelium

Accumulating evidence show that kinins, notably bradykinin (BK) and kallidin, have cardioprotective effects. To these include reduction of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and progression of heart failure. The effects are mediated through two G protein-coupled receptors- bradykinin type-2 receptor (BK-2R) and bradykinin type -1 receptor (BK-1R). The widely accepted cardioprotective effects of BK-receptors relate to triggering the production and release of vasodilating nitric oxide (NO) by endothelial cells. They also exert anti-proliferative effects on fibroblasts and anti-hypertrophic effects on myocytes, and thus may play an essential role in the cardioprotective response to myocardial injury. The role for BK-1Rs in HF is based on experimental animal models, where the receptors have been linked to cardioprotective- but also to cardiotoxic -effects. The BK-1Rs are induced under inflammatory and ischemic conditions, shown in animal models; no previous reports, concerning BK-1Rs in human heart failure, have been presented. The expression of BK-2Rs is down-regulated in human end-stage heart failure. Present results showed that, in these patients, the BK-1Rs were up-regulated, suggesting that also BK-1Rs are involved in the pathogenesis of human heart failure. The receptors were localized mainly in the endothelium of intramyocardial coronary vessels, and correlated with the increased TNF-α expression in the myocardial coronary vessels. Moreover, in cultured endothelial cells, TNF-α was a potent trigger of BK-1Rs. These results suggest that cytokines may be responsible for the up-regulation of BK-1Rs in human heart failure. A linear relationship between BK-2R mRNA and protein expression in normal and failing human left ventricles implies that the BK-2Rs are regulated on the transcriptional level, at least in human myocardium. The expression of BK-2Rs correlated positively with age in normal and dilated hearts (IDC). The results suggest that human hearts adapts to age-related changes, by up-regulating the expression of cardioprotective BK-2Rs. Also, in the BK-2R promoter polymorphism -58 T/C, the C-allele was accumulated in cardiomyopathy patients which may partially explain the reduced number of BK-2Rs. Statins reduce the level of plasma cholesterol, but also exert several non-cholesterol-dependent effects. These effects were studied in human coronary arterial endothelial cells (hCAEC) and incubation with lovastatin induced both BK-1 and BK-2Rs in a time and concentration-dependent way. The induced BK-2Rs were functionally active, thus NO production and cGMP signaling was increased. Induction was abrogated by mevalonate, a direct HMG-CoA metabolite. Lovastatin is known to inhibit Rho activation, and by a selective RhoA kinase inhibitor (Y27632), a similar induction of BK-2R expression as with lovastatin. Interestingly a COX-2-inhibitor (NS398) inhibited this lovastatin-induction of BK-2Rs, suggesting that COX-2 inhibitors may affect the endothelial BK-2Rs, in a negative fashion. Hypoxia is a common denominator in HF but also in other cardiovascular diseases. An induction of BK-2Rs in mild hypoxic conditions was shown in cultured hCAECs, which was abolished by a specific BK-2R inhibitor Icatibant. These receptors were functionally active, thus BK increased and Icatibant inhibited the production of NO. In rat myocardium the expression of BK-2R was increased in the endothelium of vessels, forming at the border zone, between the scar tissue and the healthy myocardium. Moreover, in in vitro wound-healing assay, endothelial cells were cultured under hypoxic conditions and BK significantly increased the migration of these cells and as Icatibant inhibited it. These results show, that mild hypoxia triggers a temporal expression of functionally active BK-2Rs in human and rat endothelial cells, supporting a role for BK-2Rs, in hypoxia induced angiogenesis. Our and previous results show, that BK-Rs have an impact on the cardiovascular diseases. In humans, at the end stage of heart failure, the BK-2Rs are down-regulated and BK-1Rs induced. Whether the up-regulation of BK-1Rs, is a compensatory mechanism against the down-regulation of BK-2Rs, or merely reflects the end point of heart failure, remains to bee seen. In a clinical point of view, the up-regulation of BK-2Rs, under hypoxic conditions or statin treatment, suggests that, the induction of BK-2Rs is protective in cardiovascular pathologies and those treatments activating BK-2Rs, might give additional tools in treating heart failure.

Stone baby: An exploration of affect and trauma in visual art

Stone Baby: An Exploration of Affect and Trauma in Visual Art was held at the Block, QUT Creative Industries Precinct on August 27-28, 2014. At the conclusion of my Masters project, this exhibition was a showcase of the outcomes of my material and digital explorations in the form of installation, sculpture and film. My primary motivation can be described as a relational and ethical attempt to find a balance between the erotic and the aggressive. This is experienced in the self as feelings of attraction and repulsion in response to the new and unknown "other". Consequently creative practice is necessarily a complex affair that is experienced as a completely immersive and self-contained psychological space. It is within this space that both physical sensation and raw emotion are able to tangibly and conceptually interact with psychoanalytic theory, and concrete materials video and sound.