Reciprocal Pattern Research Articles

The Amount and Pattern of Reciprocal Compensations Predict Performance Stability in a Visually Guided Finger Force Production Task.

Previous work suggests that synergistic activity among motor elements implicated in force production tasks underlies enhanced performance stability associated with visual feedback. A hallmark of synergistic activity is reciprocal compensation, that is, covariation in the states of motor elements that stabilizes critical performance variables. The present study examined if characteristics of reciprocal compensation are indicators of individuals' capacity to respond adaptively to variations in the resolution of visual feedback about criterion performance. Twenty healthy adults (19.25 ± 1.25years; 15 females and five males) pressed two sensors with their index fingers to produce a total target force equivalent to 20% of their maximal voluntary contraction under nine conditions that differed in the spatial resolution of real-time feedback about their performance. By combining within-trial uncontrolled manifold and sample entropy analyses, we quantified the amount and degree of irregularity (i.e.,non-repetitiveness) of reciprocal compensations over time. We found a U-shaped relationship between performance stability and gain. Importantly, this relationship was moderated by the degree of irregularity of reciprocal compensation. Lower irregularity in reciprocal compensation patterns was related to individuals' capacity to maintain (or minimize losses in) performance under changes in feedback resolution. Results invite future investigation into how interindividual variations in reciprocal compensation patterns relate to differences in control strategies supporting adaptive responses in complex, visually guided motor tasks.

MiR-137 confers robustness to the territorial restriction of the neural plate border.

The neural plate border (NPB) of vertebrate embryos is segregated from the neural plate (NP) and epidermal regions, and comprises an intermingled group of progenitors with multiple fate potential. Recent studies have shown that, during the gastrula stage, TFAP2A acts as a pioneer factor in remodeling the epigenetic landscape required to activate components of the NPB induction program. Here, we show that chick Tfap2a has two highly conserved binding sites for miR-137, and both display a reciprocal expression pattern at the NPB and NP, respectively. In addition, ectopic miR-137 expression reduced TFAP2A, whereas its functional inhibition expanded their territorial distribution overlapping with PAX7. Furthermore, we demonstrate that loss of the de novo DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A expanded miR-137 expression to the NPB. Bisulfite sequencing revealed a markedly elevated presence of non-canonical CpH methylation within the miR-137 promoter region when comparing NPB and NP samples. Our findings show that miR-137 contributes to the robustness of NPB territorial restriction in vertebrate development.

The reciprocity of perceived organizational support and employee engagement in SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper examines the reciprocal relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and employee engagement within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this crisis, a positive association was observed: SMEs that committed to their employees tended to see a corresponding engagement from their employees. To assess how performance influenced this relationship, the study also explored whether this reciprocal pattern varied with different levels of business performance—decreased, unchanged, or improved—relative to pre-crisis economic performance. An empirical analysis was conducted on a sample of 114 SMEs from the Andalusian region (Spain) using a regression model with mediating effects. The findings reveal that reciprocity between POS and employee engagement was evident during the pandemic and was particularly strong among SMEs belonging to the sub-sample with negative economic results.

Problematic pornography use and novel patterns of escalating use: A cross-sectional network analysis with two independent samples

Modern internet pornography allows users to harness sexual novelty in numerous ways, which can be used to overcome desensitisation through increasing volume of use (quantitative tolerance), progressing to more stimulating genres (qualitative escalation), skipping between stimuli (tab-jumping), delaying orgasm (‘edging’), and engaging in pornographic binges. However, existing research has not yet evaluated how these potentially reciprocal consumption patterns relate to problematic pornography use (PPU). To this end, we recruited two independent samples of male pornography users (N1 = 1,356, Mage = 36.86, SD = 11.26; N2 = 944, Mage = 38.69, SD = 12.26) and examined the relationships between these behavioural dimensions and self-reported difficulties in controlling one’s pornography use. Data were analysed through the network analysis approach (using Gaussian graphical models). As hypothesised, i) quantitative tolerance was centrally placed within the overall network, and ii) acted as a statistical bridge node between other patterns of pornography use (e.g., pornographic binges), and all measured facets of PPU. Our results are consistent with other emerging literature suggesting that tolerance, pornographic binges, tab-jumping, and edging behaviours as relevant features ofPPU, and that upscaling overall usage may connect broader patterns of use with problematic engagement. Clinical and theoretical implications, as well as future research directions, are discussed.

Three-wave cross-lagged model on the correlations between critical thinking skills, self-directed learning competency and AI-assisted writing

The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on English writing is gaining prominence. This study aimed to examine the interplay between critical thinking skills, self-directed learning competency, and Artificial Intelligence writing by cross-lagged model, with the focus on the moderating role of self-directed learning competency on critical thinking skills and Artificial Intelligence writing. A total of 204 participants completed a critical thinking test, self-directed learning questionnaire and a writing task. The results revealed significant correlations between critical thinking skills, self-directed learning competence, and AI-assisted writing. However, the temporal correlations between critical thinking skills and self-directed learning exhibited a reciprocal pattern over three times, while the correlations between critical thinking skills, self-directed learning, and AI-assisted writing were unidirectional. Interestingly, the findings indicated that self-directed learning moderated the relationship between critical thinking skills and AI-assisted writing over two times, but not in the third time. These findings emphasized the pivotal roles of critical thinking skills and self-directed learning in AI-assisted writing among EFL learners. They also suggested that using AI-assisted tools critically and independently in writing can mitigate the tendency to over-rely on these tools.

Production of fertile YY pseudofemales in Nile tilapia with LG23 as the sex chromosome

Nile tilapia display conspicuous differences in growth rates between genders, as males tend to outpace and outgrow females. The production of all male Nile tilapia populations using genetically male tilapia (GMT) technology represents the most efficient and scientifically grounded approach. Most of the Nile tilapia stocks in aquaculture use LG23 as sex chromosome. The crux of GMT lies in the acquisition of YY supermales and YY pseudofemales (pF). Nonetheless, the utilization of GMT is impeded by the lower fertility and even infertility of feminized YY-pF. In this study, we found that YY-pF exhibited male-like genital papillae, and exhibited significantly higher androgen levels and lower E2 levels compared with that of fertile XY-pF. YY-pF carries two copies of Amhy but lacks Amh, and XY-pF possesses one Amhy and one Amh. In XY-pF, the expression of Amh/Amhy was only observed in granulosa cells of phase I and II follicles, while in YY-pF, Amhy expression persisted from phase I to IV. On the contrary, Cyp19a1a was found to be highly expressed in granulosa cells of phase III and IV follicles in XY-pF, but significantly reduced in granulosa cells of phase III and IV follicles in YY-pF, exhibiting a reciprocal expression pattern with Amhy. Consistently, YY-pF with one copy of Amhy mutation (YY-Amhy+/−-pF) were fertile. These results indicated that prolonged expression of Amhy led to a decrease in the expression of Cyp19a1a, followed by a decrease in serum E2 levels and an increase in androgen levels. Based on these data, we treated YY-pF with both E2 and trilostane (androgen synthetase inhibitors) simultaneously at the vitellogenic stage to make it fertile. The acquisition of fertile YY-pF laid the foundation for the widespread application of GMT.

Abstract 251: MCAM controls mammary cell state in luminal progenitor-derived breast cancer and alveologenesis

Abstract To establish and maintain functional and properly formed tissues, cells must integrate cues from their environment into fate decisions. External cues—from other cells and the extracellular matrix for instance—must be met with appropriate responses to ensure cell fate decisions that control lineage plasticity and favor proper development, maintenance, or regeneration of tissues while suppressing neoplastic transformation. MCAM (CD146; MUC18; S-endo-1; and Gicerin) is an integral membrane glycoprotein whose misexpression is associated with a variety of epithelial cancers, including breast cancer. However, the mechanisms by which MCAM conveys extracellular cues into malignant cellular outputs is not well understood. Our observation that MCAM is normally expressed in transplantable fetal and adult mammary stem cells (MaSCs) with multilineage potential, suggested it could control mammary cell state plasticity in both neoplastic and normal mammary tissue. Using a plastic, mouse mammary tumor cell line derived from the MMTV-PyMT mouse (Py230) that has been reported to exhibit mammary stem cell and luminal progenitor features, we tested the role of Mcam in controlling the tumorigenicity and lineage/cell-state relationships of mammary tumor cells. We found that Mcam knockdown in Py230 cells increases STAT3 expression, activation, and downstream target transcription, leading to a shift in the predominant cell state away from a luminal progenitor state toward more differentiated alveolar and basal phenotypes. Mechanistically, these changes involve altered activity of casein kinase II (CK2) against multiple substrates including STAT3 and PTEN. This effect may be mediated by direct coupling and sequestration of CK2 to various substrates via the cytoplasmic tail of MCAM. We have also found that inhibition of Ck2 or Stat3 reversed the transcriptional state change elicited by Mcam knockdown. In grafted tumors in vivo, this state switch correlates with reduced overall tumorigenicity and attenuated expression of Sox10, a gatekeeper of neural crest-like invasive features. In the normal gland, we hypothesize that this activity regulates multilineage stem cell potential upon transplantation and multilineage regenerative potential across lactation/involution cycles as we found reciprocal expression patterns for MCAM and STAT3 in alveolar mammary epithelial cells. These data point to an integral role for MCAM in lineage plasticity of normal mammary epithelial cells that is co-opted during transformation to potentiate tumor cell plasticity, progression, and evasion of targeted cancer therapies. Citation Format: Brooke L. Gates, Ozlen Balcioglu, David W. Freeman, Berhane M. Hagos, Benjamin T. Spike. MCAM controls mammary cell state in luminal progenitor-derived breast cancer and alveologenesis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 251.

Un/Certain Borderlands: Multimodal Discourses of Border Renaissance in Polish and German Media

Since geopolitical crises accelerate migration from warzones or places of forced cultural homogeneity, we can notice an increasing meaning of borders today in a changing society, not only in Western but also in Eastern Europe and in-between. At the same time, findings from interdisciplinary border research emphasize precarious phenomena of ‘uncertainty’ or ‘in-between-ness’ and hybridity, suggesting that borders have a ‘liminal quality’. In the emblematic case study on re/bordering at the German–Polish borderland, traits of a renaissance of the border and territorial un/certainty, mean irritation in space, cultures, and forms of belonging. In developing discursive practices in time such as symbolic and socio-spatial phenomena of demarcation, exclusion, and transformation, this report refers to empirical phenomena like the “Rosary to the border” and “LGBT-free zones” in Poland or the “Willkommenskultur” in Germany. It juxtaposes interpretive reciprocal patterns of borders, like ‘fear’ and ‘irony’ that weave a tapestry of un/certainty. These examples show how the Polish–German borderland is affected by re/bordering practices without necessarily being geographically close to it and therefore show its liminal quality.

기본심리욕구 충족, 수업참여, 학업성취의 종단관계: 행동적, 인지적, 정서적, 주도적 참여에 따른 차이

Purpose: In this study, we examined the longitudinal reciprocal relationships between basic
 psychological need satisfaction, classroom engagement, and academic achievement. In particular, we
 sought to identify the differences in the reciprocal interaction patterns between basic psychological
 need satisfaction and classroom engagement depending on behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic
 aspects of classroom engagement.
 Methods: We analyzed the data of 142 sixth graders, which was collected five times in six weeks
 during Science classes. Using the autoregressive cross-lagged panel model, we separately tested the
 reciprocal relationships between basic psychological need satisfaction, classroom engagement, and quiz
 scores for the four engagement aspects.
 Results: The longitudinal reciprocal interactions between basic psychological needs and classroom
 engagement showed different patterns depending on four distinct aspects of classroom engagement.
 In terms of the behavioral and cognitive aspects, basic psychological need satisfaction and classroom
 engagement had reciprocal causal effects, which subsequently influenced achievement. Agentic
 engagement only had a longitudinal causal effect on basic psychological need satisfaction, and this
 effect led to achievement. In terms of the emotional aspect, basic psychological need satisfaction only
 had a longitudinal causal effect on classroom engagement, and this effect did not lead to achievement.
 Conclusion: The longitudinal reciprocal interactions of behavioral and cognitive engagement with
 basic psychological need satisfaction were consistent with previous findings. There is a need to design
 classes so that students can experience satisfactions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, thereby
 eliciting behavioral and cognitive engagement. At the same time, students should be encouraged to
 engage more behaviorally and cognitively to enhance their experience of satisfying basic psychological
 needs. Findings related to agentic engagement have educational implications in terms of student agency.
 That is, classes that provide agentic and proactive roles for students can be classes that support students'
 motivation and achievement.

Angiogenesis-on-a-chip coupled with single-cell RNA sequencing reveals spatially differential activations of autophagy along angiogenic sprouts

Several functions of autophagy associated with proliferation, differentiation, and migration of endothelial cells have been reported. Due to lack of models recapitulating angiogenic sprouting, functional heterogeneity of autophagy in endothelial cells along angiogenic sprouts remains elusive. Here, we apply an angiogenesis-on-a-chip to reconstruct 3D sprouts with clear endpoints. We perform single-cell RNA sequencing of sprouting endothelial cells from our chip to reveal high activation of autophagy in two endothelial cell populations- proliferating endothelial cells in sprout basements and stalk-like endothelial cells near sprout endpoints- and further the reciprocal expression pattern of autophagy-related genes between stalk- and tip-like endothelial cells near sprout endpoints, implying an association of autophagy with tip-stalk cell specification. Our results suggest a model describing spatially differential roles of autophagy: quality control of proliferating endothelial cells in sprout basements for sprout elongation and tip-stalk cell specification near sprout endpoints, which may change strategies for developing autophagy-based anti-angiogenic therapeutics.

Instrumental helping and short‐term reciprocity in chimpanzees and human children

AbstractChimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and humans cooperate in reciprocal patterns, but it is unclear whether these interactions are based on the same psychological foundations. While there is evidence suggesting that both species engage in long‐term forms of reciprocity, there is very little work exploring their short‐term behavioural contingencies with suitable methods. Here, we present a direct comparative study on short‐term reciprocity in chimpanzees and human children using a novel, low‐cost instrumental helping task. We investigated whether participants help a conspecific partner to obtain a tool for accessing a reward, and whether the level of helping depends on the partner's previous helpful or unhelpful behaviour. In line with prior research, both chimpanzees and children demonstrated helping behaviour towards their partner. However, the extent to which the two species showed short‐term reciprocity differed considerably. After receiving help, tested children always helped in return. They helped substantially less when interacting with an unhelpful partner. Chimpanzees showed a higher tendency to help when interacting with a helpful compared to an unhelpful partner only in the first half the experiment. With increasing trial number, chimpanzees stopped discriminating between helpful and unhelpful partners. This study provides evidence for short‐term reciprocity in human children and, to a lesser extent, in our closest living relatives. Our findings demonstrate that helping paradigms provide a useful context to investigate reciprocal motives in humans and chimpanzees alike.

The dynamic recruitment of LAB proteins senses meiotic chromosome axis differentiation in C. elegans.

During meiosis, cohesin and meiosis-specific proteins organize chromatin into an axis-loop architecture, coordinating homologous synapsis, recombination, and ordered chromosome segregation. However, how the meiotic chromosome axis is assembled and differentiated with meiotic progression remains elusive. Here, we explore the dynamic recruitment of two long arms of the bivalent proteins, LAB-1 and LAB-2, in Caenorhabditis elegans. LAB proteins directly interact with the axis core HORMA complexes and weak interactions contribute to their recruitment. LAB proteins phase separate in vitro, and this capacity is promoted by HORMA complexes. During early prophase, synapsis oppositely regulates the axis enrichment of LAB proteins. After the pachytene exit, LAB proteins switch from a reciprocal localization pattern to a colocalization pattern, and the normal dynamic pattern of LAB proteins is altered in meiotic mutants. We propose that LAB recruitment senses axis differentiation, and phase separation of meiotic structures helps subdomain establishment and accurate segregation of the chromosomes.

Religion and cooperation across the globe

Social science research has stressed the important role of religion in sustaining cooperation among non-kin. We contribute to this multidisciplinary literature with a large-scale empirical study documenting the relationship between religion and cooperation. We analyze newly available, experimentally validated, and globally representative data on social preferences and world religions (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism). We find that individuals who report believing in such religions exhibit more prosocial preferences, as measured by their levels of positive reciprocity, altruism and trust. We further document heterogeneous patterns of negative reciprocity and punishment—two key elements for cooperation—across world religions. The association between religion and prosocial preferences is stronger in more populous societies and weaker in countries with better formal institutions. The interactive results between these variables point again towards the substitutability between religious and secular institutions, when it comes to sustaining cooperation.

Thalamocortical control of cell-type specificity drives circuits for processing whisker-related information in mouse barrel cortex

Excitatory spiny stellate neurons are prominently featured in the cortical circuits of sensory modalities that provide high salience and high acuity representations of the environment. These specialized neurons are considered developmentally linked to bottom-up inputs from the thalamus, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying their diversification and function are unknown. Here, we investigated this in mouse somatosensory cortex, where spiny stellate neurons and pyramidal neurons have distinct roles in processing whisker-evoked signals. Utilizing spatial transcriptomics, we identified reciprocal patterns of gene expression which correlated with these cell-types and were linked to innervation by specific thalamic inputs during development. Genetic manipulation that prevents the acquisition of spiny stellate fate highlighted an important role for these neurons in processing distinct whisker signals within functional cortical columns, and as a key driver in the formation of specific whisker-related circuits in the cortex.

Impact of Climate Change on Crop Yields: Insights from the Abruzzo Region, Central Italy

Climate change poses a major sustainability challenge, with potential far-reaching economic and social impacts, including fluctuations in agricultural yields and subsequent volatility in the availability and prices of essential food resources. In this study, we analyze the changes in climatic variables and agricultural yields for main crops cultivated in the Abruzzo Region (Central Italy), as well as their reciprocal correlation pattern in the time range, 1952–2014. Central Italy exhibits a well-developed agricultural sector and is characterized by a Mediterranean climate; given its proximity to the semi-arid and arid North African climate zone, such a region may be particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The analysis reveals an increase in drought intensity and persistence, starting from the 1980s, with a shift towards more temperate conditions in winter months and a transition to a warmer and more arid climate during the summer season. Moreover, the study identifies an overall increase in the correlation magnitude between crop yield fluctuations and climatic variables in the period 1983–2014 compared to that during the previous thirty-year time range. This finding can be interpreted as a change in the resilience (or increased vulnerability) of the agricultural production system to climate change. This work can be thus considered as an interesting case study in the Mediterranean region, offering valuable insights for constructing probabilistic models of fluctuations in agricultural production possibly induced by climate change.

Design principles for social exchange in social virtual reality-enabled virtual teams

AbstractSocial virtual reality (SVR) is a novel technology that can simulate and potentially enhance our face-to-face interactions. However, our understanding of interpersonal communication in SVR is still limited. To address this research gap, we describe how SVR enables social exchange (i.e., fundamental communication patterns of trust and reciprocity between individuals), which is closely related to virtual team performance. We present an information systems design theory for social exchange in SVR-enabled virtual teams (SE-SVR). Drawing from affordance theory and social exchange theory, we describe how SVR material properties (i.e., avatars, virtual objects, virtual space, and verbal and nonverbal communication features) enable and foster social exchange in SVR. As a theoretical contribution, we propose design principles for social exchange in SVR and connect them with testable theoretical propositions. Furthermore, we present the concept of interacting with presence, which facilitates users’ affordance perceptions in SVR. We conceptually validate our design principles and illustrate our design through an artifact instantiation: XR Campus, which is a minimum viable product of a collaborative platform for the ECIU University. Our SE-SVR theory has important research and practice implications because it explains how critical aspects of organizational remote communication can be considered in SVR design.

Demethylation in promoter region of severely damaged hepatocytes enhances chemokine receptor CXCR4 gene expression.

The liver is known to possess remarkable regenerative potential, but persistent inflammation or severe acute injury can lead to liver fibrosis and incomplete regeneration, ultimately resulting in liver failure. Recent studies have shown that the axis of two types of CXCL12 receptors, CXCR4 and CXCR7, plays a crucial role in liver fibrosis and regeneration. The present study aimed to investigate the regulatory factors involved in CXCR4 expression in injured liver. Immunohistochemical screening of liver tissue samples collected during liver transplantation revealed a reciprocal expression pattern between CXCR4 and MeCP2. An in vitro system involving cultured cell lines and H2O2 treatment was established to study the impact of oxidative stress on signaling pathways and epigenetic alterations that affect CXCR4 mRNA expression. Operating through distinct signaling pathways, H2O2 treatment induced a dose-dependent increase in CXCR4 expression in both hepatocyte- and intrahepatic cholangiocyte-derived cells. Treatment of the cells with trichostatin and azacytidine modulated CXCR4 expression in hepatocytes by modifying the methylation status of CpG dinucleotides located in a pair of TA repeats adjacent to the TATA box of the CXCR4 gene promoter. Only MeCP2 bound to oligonucleotides representing the TATA box region when the cytosine residues within the sequence were methylated, as revealed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Methylation-specific PCR analysis of microdissected samples revealed a correlation between the loss of CpG methylation and the upregulation of CXCR4 in injured hepatocytes, replicating the findings from the in vitro study. Besides the conventional MEK/ERK and NF-κB signaling pathways that activate CXCR4 in intrahepatic cholangiocytes, the unique epigenetic modifications observed in hepatocytes might also contribute to a shift in the CXCR4-CXCR7 balance towards CXCR4, leading to irreversible liver injury and fibrosis. This study highlights the importance of epigenetic modifications in regulating CXCR4 expression in liver injury and fibrosis.

Beyond Animal Husbandry: The Role of Herders Among the Wayuu of Colombia

The territory of the Wayuu indigenous people comprises a small, low mountain range surrounded by a large desert that extends from Colombia to Venezuela in the Guajira peninsula. In pre-Columbian times, Wayuu livelihoods relied mainly on fishing and hunting in the littoral zone. Following the Spanish conquest, in their fight to maintain their territorial integrity they turned to rearing cattle, goats, and sheep they captured from colonists. They maintained their struggle against colonisation post-independence. In Colombia they have only recently obtained political devolution through legal recognition of their indigenous territories. Their economy now relies on animal husbandry to combat food insecurity. Our ethnographic study of Wayuu pastoralism confirmed our hypothesis that rearing goats and sheep has become integral to maintaining their cultural traditions, and revealed that the role of both male and female herders has become instrumental in their rituals, and integral to maintaining their longstanding patterns of reciprocity.

Retromer Chaperones: Potential Therapeutics for Treatment of Skin Disease?

Retromer Chaperones: Potential Therapeutics for Treatment of Skin Disease?

Precursors and aftermath of severe targeted aggression in captive cotton-top tamarins.

We observed a zoo-housed group of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) before and after a bout of severe targeted aggression directed towards two of its members. The aggression was so severe and repeated that the zoo personnel was forced to remove the two victims and the main aggressor. In the tense period that preceded removal, the tamarins showed increased aggression, a steeper and linear dominance hierarchy, and reduced post-conflict reconciliation compared to the period following removal. In contrast, affiliative interactions such as grooming and peaceful food transfers did not differ in the two periods of observations. Patterns of reciprocity also remained stable. These results highlight the flexibility of tamarin social relationships and provide useful information for managing captive colonies and improving animal welfare.