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AimAstrocytes respond to stressors by acquiring a reactive state characterized by changes in their morphology and function. Molecules underlying reactive astrogliosis, however, remain largely unknown. Given that several studies observed increase in the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) in reactive astrocytes, we here test whether APP plays a role in reactive astrogliosis.MethodsWe investigated whether APP instigates reactive astroglios by examining in vitro and in vivo the morphology and function of naive and APP-deficient astrocytes in response to APP and well-established stressors.ResultsOverexpression of APP in cultured astrocytes led to remodeling of the intermediate filament network, enhancement of cytokine production, and activation of cellular programs centered around the interferon (IFN) pathway, all signs of reactive astrogliosis. Conversely, APP deletion abrogated remodeling of the intermediate filament network and blunted expression of IFN-stimulated gene products in response to lipopolysaccharide. Following traumatic brain injury (TBI), mouse reactive astrocytes also exhibited an association between APP and IFN, while APP deletion curbed the increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein observed canonically in astrocytes in response to TBI.ConclusionsThe APP thus represents a candidate molecular inducer and regulator of reactive astrogliosis. This finding has implications for understanding pathophysiology of neurodegenerative and other diseases of the nervous system characterized by reactive astrogliosis and opens potential new therapeutic avenues targeting APP and its pathways to modulate reactive astrogliosis.

Curriculum mapping provides valuable opportunities for internal reflection and external advocacy in academic libraries. Librarians at a small liberal-arts college developed a curriculum mapping project designed to measure information literacy interventions with students, despite a lack of a standardized set of courses that all students take over the course of their tenure. The project incorporated both quantitative scoring and qualitative reflections by liaison librarians to determine the extent of information literacy-focused engagements with students and allowed librarians to target interventions in a way that was designed to reach as many students as possible during their undergraduate careers.

The Monty Hall dilemma (MHD) is a probability puzzle in which humans consistently fail to adopt the optimal winning strategy. The participant chooses between three identical doors, behind one of which is a valuable prize. After the participant makes their initial decision, the host reveals that there is nothing behind one of the two remaining doors, then asks the participant if they would like to stay with their originally selected door or switch to the remaining unopened door. The optimal choice is to switch to the previously unchosen door, which increases the probability of winning from 33% to 67%. Despite this basic solution, humans repeatedly perform suboptimally. Previous attempts to improve performance by increasing the number of available doors have been successful (Burns & Weith, 2004; Franko-Watkins et al., 2003; Saenen et al., 2015; Stibel et al., 2009; Watzek et al., 2018). However, prior studies that examined whether this improved performance could generalize to different contexts have been inconclusive (Franko-Watkins et al., 2003; Watzek et al., 2018). To examine whether human performance can generalize across two computerized variations of the MHD, the present study explored how previous experience involving trials presented with eight options affects switching percentages in subsequent trials with three options. The results replicated findings from previous studies, which demonstrated that switching rates increased as a function of more available options. The findings also revealed participants can successfully generalize their behavior when returning to three-option trials. Further exploration of the MHD is needed to determine why performance generalization occurs in certain contexts, but not others.

Immediacy communicates psychological availability and warmth. In the classroom, instructor immediacy is traditionally measured with ratings of nonverbal and verbal behaviors. Although nonverbal immediacy has been accepted as a legitimate measure of immediacy, the validity of verbal items has been questioned. In the present study, we examined face and construct validity of the verbal immediacy scale. Based on factor analysis and prediction of student outcomes, we concluded that both verbal and nonverbal items offer valid measures of immediacy. However, we recommend a new iteration of the immediacy scale, omitting some items and focusing on those most strongly related to immediacy. (Contains 3 tables.)

Status planning through legislation made New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) an official language in 2006. But this strong symbolic action did not create resources or mechanisms to further the aims of the act. In this article we discuss the extent to which legal recognition and ensuing language-planning activities by state and community have affected the instrumental rights of Deaf NZSL users and consider the prospects for the vitality of NZSL. As evidence, we draw on both the findings of a 2013 Human Rights Commission inquiry into inequalities for NZSL users and data from a study of the vitality of NZSL. We conclude that progress on the language recognition outcomes desired by the Deaf community falls well short of aspirations and that the vitality of NZSL is threatened by declining community size and the current conditions for intergenerational transmission.

Because of the dearth of available partners, older women looking to date may have to relax their dating standards to find a dating partner, perhaps accepting a life situation that is not what they had hoped for. However older women may be reluctant to sacrifice an often recently-gained lifestyle free of caregiving obligations. Older men, on the other hand, have a large pool of potential dating partners and do not face the same dilemma. We compared Internet dating profiles for 100 older adults and 100 younger adults, and found that older adults (and especially older women) were more selective than younger adults when it came to the age, race, religion, income, and height of a prospective dating partner. However, older adults were willing to travel substantially farther than younger adults to meet the right partner. These findings paint a clear picture of older Internet daters as eager to meet the right person, but not desperate to meet just anyone.

The medicalized interpretation of deafness has until recently seen the rights and protections of sign language users embedded in disability law. Yet the rights and protections crucial to sign language users centre predominantly on matters of language access, maintenance and identity. Legislators, motivated by pressure from sign language communities and in response to international human rights laws, have begun to enact statutes that include provisions pertaining to sign language. The New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006 (NZSL Act 2006 hereafter) made NZSL an official language but created minimal enforceable rights or obligations. This paper explores the significance of this legislation both in New Zealand, in comparison with the Maori Language Act 1987, and internationally, in comparison with the legislative situation in Finland. Finland is considered to be a leader in sign language user rights. Similarities between New Zealand and Finland such as geography, population size, type of government and economy provide for a comparative study. This paper considers whether the NZSL Act 2006 fulfilled the intention of Parliament and the desire of the Deaf community to make a material difference to accessing citizenship through NZSL, particularly in education, or whether there were possible non-community motives for the NZSL Act 2006 that prevented it from fulfilling its potential. (Contains 19 notes.)

The political discourse of Deaf ethnolinguistic identity has empowered Deaf people in recent decades to deconstruct a pathological model of deafness and the deficit pedagogy that centres on acquisition of speech and social assimilation. The engagement of Deaf community members in consultation and employment in the New Zealand (NZ) education system has progressed the ideological recognition of Deaf claims for a bilingual identity and pedagogy in the education arena. However these priorities sit uneasily within the special education discourse which assumes an individual needs-based approach to accommodating diverse learners in regular school settings. The recognition of sign language and Deaf experience as valid cultural capital raises questions about the sociolinguistic status and educational needs of deaf children individually enrolled in mainstream schools, contexts which do not currently afford the interactional conditions for a sign bilingual education. Based on a larger study of deaf children in NZ mainstream primary schools, this paper analyses an illustrative case study of a 10-year-old deaf boy with a cochlear implant, to critically consider the extent to which mainstreamed deaf learners are constructed as potential bilinguals in the discourse that defines and addresses their needs. Analysis shows this learner to be positioned as a marginal bilingual or defective monolingual by the aggregation of beliefs, decisions, interactions and resources that construct his educational context. Finally, the paper reports the vision of Deaf informants working in the mainstream school system for changing learning outcomes, from a construct of deaf children as members of a collective with a heritage of cultural adaptations that should inform appropriate educational responses.

Following the reframing of "Deaf" as a cultural and linguistic identity, ethnic minority members of Deaf communities are increasingly exploring their plural identities in relation to Deaf and hearing communities of affiliation. This article examines "Maori" Deaf people's perceptions of identity, during a coinciding period of "Tino Rangatiratanga" ("Maori" cultural and political self-determination and empowerment) and the emergence of Deaf empowerment. Interviews with 10 "Maori" Deaf participants reveal experiences of enculturation into "Maori" and Deaf communities and how they negotiate identity in these contexts. Consistent with the model of contextual identity in Deaf minority individuals of Foster and Kinuthia (2003), participants expressed fluid identities, in which "Maori" and Deaf aspects are both central but foregrounded differently in their interactions with hearing "Maori," Deaf "Maori," and the wider Deaf community. This New Zealand case study illustrates how changing sociopolitical conditions affect Deaf minority individuals' opportunity to achieve and express identification with both Deaf-world and family heritage cultures.

A survey of teachers' and students' perceptions of the difficulty of learning American Sign Language (ASL) suggested that teachers generally rated the learning difficulty levels higher than students, and both groups cited such sociolinguistic and affective problems as cultural inhibitions, interacting with the deaf, and attitudes and motivations of ASL learners. (22 references) (Author/CB)