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Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) and matrix-induced ACI (MACI) have demonstrated improved clinical outcomes and reduced revision rates for treating osteochondral and chondral defects. However, their ability to achieve lasting, fully functional repair remains limited. To overcome these challenges, scaffold-enhanced ACI, particularly utilizing hydrogel-based biomaterials, has emerged as an innovative strategy. These biomaterials are intended to mimic the biological composition, structural organization, and biomechanical properties of native articular cartilage. This review aims to provide comprehensive and up-to-date information on advancements in hydrogel-enhanced ACI from the past decade. We begin with a brief introduction to cartilage biology, mechanisms of cartilage injury, and the evolution of surgical techniques, particularly looking at ACI. Subsequently, we review the diversity of hydrogel scaffolds currently undergoing development and evaluation in preclinical studies for articular cartilage regeneration, emphasizing chondrocyte-laden hydrogels applicable to ACI. Finally, we address the key challenges impeding effective clinical translation, with particular attention to issues surrounding fixation and integration, aiming to inform and guide the future progression of tissue engineering strategies.

Standard quantitative abdominal MRI techniques are time consuming, require breath-holds, and are susceptible to patient motion artifacts. Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) is naturally multi-parametric and quantifies multiple tissue properties, including T 1 and T 2 . This work includes T 2 * and off-resonance mapping into a free-breathing MRF framework utilizing a pilot tone navigator. The new acquisition and reconstruction are compared to current clinical standards. Prospective. Ten volunteers. 3 T scanner, Quadratic-RF MRF, Balanced SSFP, Inversion recovery spin-echo, LiverLab. MRI ROIs were evaluated in the liver, spleen, pancreas, kidney (cortex and medulla), and paravertebral muscle by two abdominal imaging investigators for ten healthy adult volunteers for clinical standard, breath-Hold (BH) qRF-MRF, and free-breathing qRF-MRF with pilot-tone (PT) acquisitions. Bland-Altman analysis as well as Student's T tests were used to evaluate and compare the respective ROI analyses. Quantitative values between breath-Hold (BH) and free-breathing qRF-MRF with pilot-tone (PT) results show good agreement with clinical standard T1 and T2 quantitative mapping, and Dixon q-VIBE (acquired using the Siemens LiverLAB). In this work, we show free-breathing abdominal MRF (T 1 , T 2 ) with T 2 * results that are quantitatively comparable to current breath-hold MRF and clinical techniques., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB).)

The hydrogenolysis of polymers is emerging as a promising approach to deconstruct plastic waste into valuable chemicals. Yet, the complexity of plastic waste, including multilayer packaging, is a significant barrier to handling realistic waste streams. Herein, we reveal fundamental insights into a new chemical route for transforming a previously unaddressed fraction of plastic waste - poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVOH) and related polymer blends - into alkane products. We report that Ru/ZrO 2 is active for the concurrent hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation, and hydrodeoxygenation of EVOH and its thermal degradation products into alkanes (C 1 -C 35 ) and water. Detailed reaction data, product analysis, and catalyst characterization reveal that the in-situ thermal degradation of EVOH forms aromatic intermediates that are detrimental to catalytic activity. Increased hydrogen pressure promotes hydrogenation of these aromatics, preventing catalyst deactivation and improving alkane product yields. Calculated apparent rates of C-C scission reveal that the hydrogenolysis of EVOH is slower than low-density polyethylene. We apply these findings to achieve hydrogenolysis of EVOH/polyethylene blends and elucidate the sensitivity of hydrogenolysis catalysts to such blends. Overall, we demonstrate progress towards efficient catalytic processes for the hydroconversion of waste multilayer film plastic packaging into valuable products., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background and Purpose: Understanding sex-based differences in patients with glioblastoma is necessary for accurate personalized treatment planning to improve patient outcomes. Our purpose was to investigate sex-specific differences in molecular, clinical, and radiologic tumor parameters, as well as survival outcomes in patients with glioblastoma, isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 wild-type ( IDH1 -WT), grade 4., Materials and Methods: Retrospective data of 1832 patients with glioblastoma, IDH1 -WT with comprehensive information on tumor parameters was acquired from the Radiomics Signatures for Precision Oncology in Glioblastoma consortium. Data imputation was performed for missing values. Sex-based differences in tumor parameters, such as age, molecular parameters, preoperative Karnofsky performance score (KPS), tumor volumes, epicenter, and laterality were assessed through nonparametric tests. Spatial atlases were generated by using preoperative MRI maps to visualize tumor characteristics. Survival time analysis was performed through log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazard analyses., Results: Glioblastoma was diagnosed at a median age of 64 years in women compared with 61.9 years in men (false discovery rate [FDR] = 0.003). Men had a higher KPS (above 80) as compared with women (60.4% women versus 69.7% men, FDR = 0.044). Women had lower tumor volumes in enhancing (16.7 cm 3 versus 20.6 cm 3 in men, FDR = 0.001), necrotic core (6.18 cm 3 versus 7.76 cm 3 in men, FDR = 0.001), and edema regions (46.9 cm 3 versus 59.2 cm 3 in men, FDR = 0.0001). The right temporal region was the most common tumor epicenter in the overall population. Right as well as left temporal lobes were more frequently involved in men. There were no sex-specific differences in survival outcomes and mortality ratios. Higher age, unmethylated O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase promoter and undergoing subtotal resection increased the mortality risk in both men and women., Conclusions: Our study demonstrates significant sex-based differences in clinical and radiologic tumor parameters of patients with glioblastoma. Sex is not an independent prognostic factor for survival outcomes and the tumor parameters influencing patient outcomes are identical for men and women., (© 2024 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.)

Objective: The psychological profile of the moral person might depend on whose perspective is being used. Here, we decompose moral impressions into three components: (a) Shared Moral Character (shared variance across self- and informant reports), (b) Moral Identity (how a person uniquely views their morality), and (c) Moral Reputation (how others uniquely view that person's morality)., Method: In two samples (total N  = 458), we used an extended version of the Trait-Reputation-Identity model to examine the extent to which each perspective accounts for the overall variance in moral impressions and the degree to which social and personal outcomes were associated with each perspective, controlling for method variance (i.e., positivity and acquiescence bias)., Results: Results suggest that moral character impressions are strongly influenced by positivity and largely idiosyncratic. All components were related to higher levels of agreeableness. For the most part, however, the three components had unique correlates: people higher in Shared Moral Character tended to have higher standings on conscientiousness and honesty-humility, were more respected, and donated more during an in-lab game; people higher in Moral Identity endorsed various moral foundations to a greater extent; and people higher in Moral Reputation valued the loyalty foundation less., Conclusion: These results demonstrate the value of considering multiple perspectives when measuring moral character., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

People vary in how they perceive, think about, and respond to moral issues. Clearly, we cannot fully understand the psychology of morality without accounting for individual differences in moral functioning. But decades of neglect of and explicit skepticism toward such individual differences has resulted in a lack of integration between moral psychology and personality psychology-the study of psychological differences between people. In recent years, these barriers to progress have started to break down. This special issue aims to celebrate and further increase the visibility of the personality psychology of morality. Here, we introduce the articles in this special issue by highlighting some important contributions a personality-based perspective has to offer moral psychology-particularly in comparison to the currently prominent social psychological approach. We show that personality psychology is well-placed to (a) contribute toward a rigorous empirical foundation for moral psychology, (b) tackle the conceptualization and assessment of stable moral tendencies, (c) assess the predictive validity of moral traits in relation to consequential outcomes, (d) uncover the mechanisms underlying individual differences in moral judgments and behavior, and (e) provide insights into moral development. For these reasons, we believe that moral psychology needs personality psychology to reach its full scholarly potential., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: What types of moral improvements do people wish to make? Do they hope to become more good, or less bad? Do they wish to be more caring? More honest? More loyal? And why exactly do they want to become more moral? Presumably, most people want to improve their morality because this would benefit others, but is this in fact their primary motivation? Here, we begin to investigate these questions., Method: Across two large, preregistered studies (N = 1818), participants provided open-ended descriptions of one change they could make in order to become more moral; they then reported their beliefs about and motives for this change., Results: In both studies, people most frequently expressed desires to improve their compassion and more often framed their moral improvement goals in terms of amplifying good behaviors than curbing bad ones. The strongest predictor of moral motivation was the extent to which people believed that making the change would have positive consequences for their own well-being., Conclusions: Together, these studies provide rich descriptive insights into how ordinary people want to be more moral, and show that they are particularly motivated to do so for their own sake., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Purpose: To propose a new reconstruction method for multidimensional MR fingerprinting (mdMRF) to address shading artifacts caused by physiological motion-induced measurement errors without navigating or gating., Methods: The proposed method comprises two procedures: self-calibration and subspace reconstruction. The first procedure (self-calibration) applies temporally local matrix completion to reconstruct low-resolution images from a subset of under-sampled data extracted from the k-space center. The second procedure (subspace reconstruction) utilizes temporally global subspace reconstruction with pre-estimated temporal subspace from low-resolution images to reconstruct aliasing-free, high-resolution, and time-resolved images. After reconstruction, a customized outlier detection algorithm was employed to automatically detect and remove images corrupted by measurement errors. Feasibility, robustness, and scan efficiency were evaluated through in vivo human brain imaging experiments., Results: The proposed method successfully reconstructed aliasing-free, high-resolution, and time-resolved images, where the measurement errors were accurately represented. The corrupted images were automatically and robustly detected and removed. Artifact-free T1, T2, and ADC maps were generated simultaneously. The proposed reconstruction method demonstrated robustness across different scanners, parameter settings, and subjects. A high scan efficiency of less than 20 s per slice has been achieved., Conclusion: The proposed reconstruction method can effectively alleviate shading artifacts caused by physiological motion-induced measurement errors. It enables simultaneous and artifact-free quantification of T1, T2, and ADC using mdMRF scans without prospective gating, with robustness and high scan efficiency., (© 2023 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Purpose: To explore whether MR fingerprinting (MRF) scans provide motion-robust and quantitative brain tissue measurements for non-sedated infants with prenatal opioid exposure (POE)., Study Type: Prospective., Population: 13 infants with POE (3 male; 12 newborns (age 7-65 days) and 1 infant aged 9-months)., Field Strength/sequence: 3T, 3D T1-weighted MPRAGE, 3D T2-weighted TSE and MRF sequences., Assessment: The image quality of MRF and MRI was assessed in a fully crossed, multiple-reader, multiple-case study. Sixteen image quality features in three types-image artifacts, structure and myelination visualization-were ranked by four neuroradiologists (8, 7, 5, and 8 years of experience respectively), using a 3-point scale. MRF T1 and T2 values in 8 white matter brain regions were compared between babies younger than 1 month and babies between 1 and 2 months., Statistical Tests: Generalized estimating equations model to test the significance of differences of regional T1 and T2 values of babies under 1 month and those older. MRI and MRF image quality was assessed using Gwet's second order auto-correlation coefficient (AC 2 ) with confidence levels. The Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test was used to assess the difference in proportions between MRF and MRI for all features and stratified by the type of features. A P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: The MRF of two infants were excluded in T1 and T2 value analysis due to severe motion artifact but were included in the image quality assessment. In infants under 1 month of age (N = 6), the T1 and T2 values were significantly higher compared to those between 1 and 2 months of age (N = 4). MRF images showed significantly higher image quality ratings in all three feature types compared to MRI images., Conclusions: MR Fingerprinting scans have potential to be a motion-robust and efficient method for nonsedated infants., Level of Evidence: 2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 1., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Purpose: Quantitative MRI techniques such as MR fingerprinting (MRF) promise more objective and comparable measurements of tissue properties at the point-of-care than weighted imaging. However, few direct cross-modal comparisons of MRF's repeatability and reproducibility versus weighted acquisitions have been performed. This work proposes a novel fully automated pipeline for quantitatively comparing cross-modal imaging performance in vivo via atlas-based sampling., Methods: We acquire whole-brain 3D-MRF, turbo spin echo, and MPRAGE sequences three times each on two scanners across 10 subjects, for a total of 60 multimodal datasets. The proposed automated registration and analysis pipeline uses linear and nonlinear registration to align all qualitative and quantitative DICOM stacks to Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) 152 space, then samples each dataset's native space through transformation inversion to compare performance within atlas regions across subjects, scanners, and repetitions., Results: Voxel values within MRF-derived maps were found to be more repeatable (σ T1  = 1.90, σ T2  = 3.20) across sessions than vendor-reconstructed MPRAGE (σ T1w  = 6.04) or turbo spin echo (σ T2w  = 5.66) images. Additionally, MRF was found to be more reproducible across scanners (σ T1  = 2.21, σ T2  = 3.89) than either qualitative modality (σ T1w  = 7.84, σ T2w  = 7.76). Notably, differences between repeatability and reproducibility of in vivo MRF were insignificant, unlike the weighted images., Conclusion: MRF data from many sessions and scanners can potentially be treated as a single dataset for harmonized analysis or longitudinal comparisons without the additional regularization steps needed for qualitative modalities., (© 2024 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

The cytochrome P450 3As (CYP3As) are abundantly expressed in the liver and metabolize many commonly prescribed medications. Their expression is highly variable between individuals with little known genetic cause. Despite extensive investigation, cis-acting genetic elements that control the expression of the CYP3As remain uncharacterized. Using chromatin conformation capture (4C assays), we detected reciprocal interaction between a distal regulatory region (DRR) and the CYP3A4 promoter. The DRR colocalizes with a variety of enhancer marks and was found to promote transcription in reporter assays. CRISPR-mediated deletion of the DRR decreased expression of CYP3A4, CYP3A5, and CYP3A7, supporting its role as a shared enhancer regulating the expression of three CYP3A genes. Using reporter gene assays, we identified two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs115025140 and rs776744/rs776742) that increased DRR-driven luciferase reporter expression. In a liver cohort (n = 246), rs115025140 was associated with increased expression of CYP3A4 mRNA (1.8-fold) and protein (1.6-fold) and rs776744/rs776742 was associated with 1.39-fold increased expression of CYP3A5 mRNA. The rs115025140 is unique to the African population and in a clinical cohort of African Americans taking statins for lipid control rs115025140 carriers showed a trend toward reduced statin-mediated lipid reduction. In addition, using a published cohort of Chinese patients who underwent renal transplantation taking tacrolimus, rs776744/rs776742 carriers were associated with reduced tacrolimus concentration after adjusting for CYP3A5*3. Our results elucidate a complex regulatory network controlling expression of three CYP3A genes and identify two novel regulatory variants with potential clinical relevance for predicting CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 expression., (© 2022 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.)

What do people think their best and worst personality traits are? Do their friends agree? Across three samples, 463 college students ("targets") and their friends freely described two traits they most liked and two traits they most disliked about the target. Coders categorized these open-ended trait descriptors into high or low poles of six trait domains (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness, and honesty-humility) and judged whether targets and friends reported the same specific best and worst traits. Best traits almost exclusively reflected high levels of the major trait domains (especially high agreeableness and extraversion). In contrast, although worst traits typically reflected low levels of these traits (especially low emotional stability), they sometimes also revealed the downsides of having high levels of these traits (e.g., high extraversion: "loud"; high agreeableness: "people-pleaser"). Overall, targets and friends mentioned similar kinds of best traits; however, targets emphasized low emotional stability worst traits more than friends did, whereas friends emphasized low prosociality worst traits more than targets did. Targets and friends also showed a moderate amount of self-other agreement on what the targets' best and worst traits were. These results (a) shed light on the traits that people consider to be most important in themselves and their friends, (b) suggest that the desirability of some traits may be in the eye of the beholder, (c) reveal the mixed blessings of different traits, and, ultimately, (d) provide a nuanced perspective on what it means for a trait to be "good" or "bad." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Participants in experience sampling method (ESM) studies are "beeped" several times per day to report on their momentary experiences-but participants do not always answer the beep. Knowing whether there are systematic predictors of missing a report is critical for understanding the extent to which missing data threatens the validity of inferences from ESM studies. Here, 228 university students completed up to four ESM reports per day while wearing the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR)-an unobtrusive audio recording device-for a week. These audio recordings provided an alternative source of information about what participants were doing when they missed or completed reports (3,678 observations). We predicted missing ESM reports from 46 variables coded from the EAR recordings, and found very little evidence that missing an ESM report was correlated with constructs typically of interest to ESM researchers. These findings provide reassuring evidence for the validity of ESM research among relatively healthy university student samples.

Nanoparticles must recognize, adhere to, and/or traverse multiple barriers in sequence to achieve cytosolic drug delivery. New nanoparticles often exhibit a unique ability to cross a single barrier (i.e. the vasculature, cell membrane, or endosomal compartment), but fail to deliver an adequate dose to intracellular sites of action because they cannot traverse other biological barriers for which they were not optimized. Here, we developed poly(acrylamide-co-methacrylic acid) nanogels that were modified in a modular manner with bioactive peptides. This nanogel does not recognize target cells or disrupt endosomal vesicles in its unmodified state, but can incorporate peptides with molecular recognition or environmentally responsive properties. Nanogels were modified with up to 15 wt% peptide without significantly altering their size, surface charge, or stability in aqueous buffer. Nanogels modified with a colon cancer-targeting oligopeptide exhibited up to a 324% enhancement in co-localization with SW-48 colon cancer cells in vitro, while influencing nanogel uptake by fibroblasts and macrophages to a lesser extent. Nanogels modified with an endosome disrupting peptide failed to retain its native endosomolytic activity, when coupled either individually or in combination with the targeting peptide. Our results offer a proof-of-concept for modifying synthetic nanogels with a combination of peptides that address barriers to cytosolic delivery individually and in tandem. Our data further motivate the need to identify endosome disrupting moieties which retain their activity within poly(acidic) networks., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Personality is not the most popular subfield of psychology. But, in one way or another, personality psychologists have played an outsized role in the ongoing "credibility revolution" in psychology. Not only have individual personality psychologists taken on visible roles in the movement, but our field's practices and norms have now become models for other fields to emulate (or, for those who share Baumeister's (2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.02.003) skeptical view of the consequences of increasing rigor, a model for what to avoid). In this article we discuss some unique features of our field that may have placed us in an ideal position to be leaders in this movement. We do so from a subjective perspective, describing our impressions and opinions about possible explanations for personality psychology's disproportionate role in the credibility revolution. We also discuss some ways in which personality psychology remains less-than-optimal, and how we can address these flaws., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: Brent Donellan, David Funder, Brent Roberts, Julia Rohrer, Luke Smillie, and Simine Vazire are members of the editorial board of the journal.

Social relationships are often touted as critical for well-being. However, the vast majority of studies on social relationships have relied on self-report measures of both social interactions and well-being, which makes it difficult to disentangle true associations from shared method variance. To address this gap, we assessed the quantity and quality of social interactions using both self-report and observer-based measures in everyday life. Participants (N = 256; 3,206 observations) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), an unobtrusive audio recorder, and completed experience sampling method self-reports of their momentary social interactions, happiness, and feelings of social connectedness, 4 times each day for 1 week. Observers rated the quantity and quality of participants' social interactions based on the EAR recordings from the same time points. Quantity of social interactions was robustly associated with greater well-being in the moment and on average, whether they were measured with self-reports or observer reports. Conversational (conversational depth and self-disclosure) and relational (knowing and liking one's interaction partners) aspects of social interaction quality were also generally associated with greater well-being, but the effects were larger and more consistent for self-reported (vs. observer-reported) quality variables, within-person (vs. between-person) associations, and for predicting social connectedness (vs. happiness). Finally, although most associations were similar for introverts and extraverts, our exploratory results suggest that introverts may experience greater boosts in social connectedness, relative to extraverts, when engaging in deeper conversations. This study provides compelling multimethod evidence supporting the link between more frequent and deeper social interactions and well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Recent popular claims surrounding virtual assistants suggest that computers will soon be able to hear our emotions. Supporting this possibility, promising work has harnessed big data and emergent technologies to automatically predict stable levels of one specific emotion, happiness, at the community (e.g., counties) and trait (i.e., people) levels. Furthermore, research in affective science has shown that nonverbal vocal bursts (e.g., sighs, gasps) and specific acoustic features (e.g., pitch, energy) can differentiate between distinct emotions (e.g., anger, happiness) and that machine-learning algorithms can detect these differences. Yet, to our knowledge, no work has tested whether computers can automatically detect normal, everyday, within-person fluctuations in one emotional state from acoustic analysis. To address this issue in the context of happy mood, across 3 studies (total N = 20,197), we asked participants to repeatedly report their state happy mood and to provide audio recordings-including both direct speech and ambient sounds-from which we extracted acoustic features. Using three different machine learning algorithms (neural networks, random forests, and support vector machines) and two sets of acoustic features, we found that acoustic features yielded minimal predictive insight into happy mood above chance. Neither multilevel modeling analyses nor human coders provided additional insight into state happy mood. These findings suggest that it is not yet possible to automatically assess fluctuations in one emotional state (i.e., happy mood) from acoustic analysis, pointing to a critical future direction for affective scientists interested in acoustic analysis of emotion and automated emotion detection. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Most people want to change some aspects of their personality, but does this phenomenon extend to moral character and to close others? Targets ( n = 800) rated their personality traits and reported how much they wanted to change on each trait; well-acquainted informants ( n = 958) rated targets' personality traits and how much they wanted the targets to change on those same traits. Targets and informants reported a lower desire to change more morally relevant traits (e.g., honesty, compassion, fairness) compared with less morally relevant traits (e.g., anxiety, sociability, productiveness)-even after we controlled for current trait levels. Moreover, although targets generally wanted to improve more on traits that they had less desirable levels of, and informants wanted their targets to improve more on those traits as well, targets' moral change goals were less calibrated to their current trait levels. Finally, informants wanted targets to change in similar ways, but to a lesser extent, than targets themselves did. These findings suggest that moral considerations take a back seat when it comes to self-improvement.

The words that people use have been found to reflect stable psychological traits, but less is known about the extent to which everyday fluctuations in spoken language reflect transient psychological states. We explored within-person associations between spoken words and self-reported state emotion among 185 participants who wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR; an unobtrusive audio recording device) and completed experience sampling reports of their positive and negative emotions 4 times per day for 7 days (1,579 observations). We examined language using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program (LIWC; theoretically created dictionaries) and open-vocabulary themes (clusters of data-driven semantically-related words). Although some studies give the impression that LIWC's positive and negative emotion dictionaries can be used as indicators of emotion experience, we found that when computed on spoken language, LIWC emotion scores were not significantly associated with self-reports of state emotion experience. Exploration of other categories of language variables suggests a number of hypotheses about substantive everyday correlates of momentary positive and negative emotion that can be tested in future studies. These findings (a) suggest that LIWC positive and negative emotion dictionaries may not capture self-reported subjective emotion experience when applied to everyday speech, (b) emphasize the importance of establishing the validity of language-based measures within one's target domain, (c) demonstrate the potential for developing new hypotheses about personality processes from the open-ended words that are used in everyday speech, and (d) extend perspectives on intraindividual variability to the domain of spoken language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence suggests that extraverted (i.e., bold, agentic) behavior increases positive affect (PA), and could be targeted in wellbeing interventions. However, this evidence is either causally ambiguous or has questionable ecological validity, and the potential costs of sustained extraverted behavior have received minimal attention. To address these limitations, we conducted a randomized controlled trial examining the wellbeing benefits and costs of an extraverted behavior intervention conducted in everyday life. Participants ( n = 147) were randomly assigned to an "act-extraverted" intervention or a "sham" (active control) intervention for 1 week in everyday life. Additional data for a contact control condition were obtained from a previous study ( n = 76). Wellbeing outcomes included PA and negative affect (NA), feelings of authenticity, and tiredness-assessed both in the moment and retrospectively. There was a positive overall effect of the acting extraverted intervention on PA and authenticity. However, wellbeing outcomes also depended on dispositional extraversion: more introverted participants had weaker PA increases, experienced increased NA and tiredness, and decreased feelings of authenticity. Implications for wellbeing interventions and personality theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Two common genetic polymorphisms in the beta-1 adrenergic receptor (ADRB1 Ser49Gly [rs1801252] and Arg389Gly [rs1801253]) significantly affect receptor function in vitro. The objective of this study was to determine whether ADRB1 Ser49Gly and Arg389Gly are associated with recovery of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in patients with heart failure. Patients with heart failure and baseline LVEF ≤ 40% were genotyped (n = 98), and retrospective chart review assessed the primary outcome of LVEF recovery to ≥ 40%. Un/adjusted logistic regression models revealed that Ser49Gly, but not Arg389Gly, was significantly associated with LVEF recovery in a dominant genetic model. The adjusted odds ratio for Ser49 was 8.2 (95% CI = 2.1-32.9; p = 0.003), and it was the strongest predictor of LVEF recovery among multiple clinical variables. In conclusion, patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction that are homozygous for ADRB1 Ser49 were significantly more likely to experience LVEF recovery than Gly49 carriers.

Much of the recent gains in knowledge regarding the influence of patient genetics on medication pharmacokinetics (drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination) how patients process medications) and pharmacodynamics (drug response) have been attributed to the technologic advances in genetic testing methodologies and the involvement of large clinical data sets and biobanks. Indeed, Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and Phenome Wide Association Studies (PWAS) along with ever-evolving biomedical informatics techniques and the expansion of the -omics sciences ( e.g., transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics) have brought about unprecedented advances in precision medicine. Although the simpler candidate-gene analysis technique is not considered cutting-edge, it is reliable and important to the translation of pharmacogenomic research and the advancement of precision medicine. Leveraging the knowledge of biological plausibility ( i.e., genetic mutation → altered function of protein product → altered drug pharmacokinetics/dynamics) to appropriately select genes for inclusion, the candidate-gene analysis technique does not necessitate large patient cohorts nor extensive multi-gene genetic analysis arrays. It is often the ideal method for clinicians to begin evaluating whether genetic information might improve their pharmacologic treatment strategies for their patients. Having access to specific patient populations and expertise regarding their medical subspecialty, physician scientists can implement a candidate-gene analysis in small cohorts. Even with less than 100 patients, results can often be used to determine whether further investigation is warranted and to inform future studies. Herein, we present a comparison of select contemporary methodologies regarding collection, processing and genotype testing applicable to the efficient implementation of candidate-gene studies.

Knowing yourself requires knowing not only what you are like in general (trait self-knowledge) but also how your personality fluctuates from moment to moment (state self-knowledge). We examined this latter form of self-knowledge. Participants (248 people; 2,938 observations) wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), an unobtrusive audio recorder, and completed experience-sampling self-reports of their personality states four times each day for 1 week. We estimated state self-knowledge by comparing self-reported personality states with consensual observer ratings of personality states coded from the EAR files, which formed the criterion for what participants were "actually" like in the moment. People had self-insight into their momentary extraversion, conscientiousness, and likely neuroticism, suggesting that people can accurately detect fluctuations in some aspects of their personality. However, the evidence for self-insight was weaker for agreeableness. This apparent self-ignorance may be partly responsible for interpersonal problems and for blind spots in trait self-knowledge.

Objective: Personality traits are associated with well-being, but the precise correlates vary across well-being dimensions and within each Big Five domain. This study is the first to examine the unique associations between the Big Five aspects (rather than facets) and multiple well-being dimensions., Method: Two samples of U.S. participants (total N = 706; M age  = 36.17; 54% female) recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk completed measures of the Big Five aspects and subjective, psychological, and PERMA well-being., Results: One aspect within each domain was more strongly associated with well-being variables. Enthusiasm and Withdrawal were strongly associated with a broad range of well-being variables, but other aspects of personality also had idiosyncratic associations with distinct forms of positive functioning (e.g., Compassion with positive relationships, Industriousness with accomplishment, and Intellect with personal growth)., Conclusions: An aspect-level analysis provides an optimal (i.e., parsimonious yet sufficiently comprehensive) framework for describing the relation between personality traits and multiple ways of thriving in life., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Dijksterhuis and van Knippenberg (1998) reported that participants primed with a category associated with intelligence ("professor") subsequently performed 13% better on a trivia test than participants primed with a category associated with a lack of intelligence ("soccer hooligans"). In two unpublished replications of this study designed to verify the appropriate testing procedures, Dijksterhuis, van Knippenberg, and Holland observed a smaller difference between conditions (2%-3%) as well as a gender difference: Men showed the effect (9.3% and 7.6%), but women did not (0.3% and -0.3%). The procedure used in those replications served as the basis for this multilab Registered Replication Report. A total of 40 laboratories collected data for this project, and 23 of these laboratories met all inclusion criteria. Here we report the meta-analytic results for those 23 direct replications (total N = 4,493), which tested whether performance on a 30-item general-knowledge trivia task differed between these two priming conditions (results of supplementary analyses of the data from all 40 labs, N = 6,454, are also reported). We observed no overall difference in trivia performance between participants primed with the "professor" category and those primed with the "hooligan" category (0.14%) and no moderation by gender.

Why are trait extraversion and extraverted behaviors both associated with greater positive affect? Across 3 studies, we examined whether 2 aspects of social experience-perceived social contribution and social power-mediate the relation between extraversion and positive affect. Study 1 (N = 205) showed that trait measures of social contribution and power mediated the relation between trait extraversion and trait positive affect. Study 2 (N = 78) showed that state social contribution and power helped to explain the greater levels of state positive affect reported by participants who were instructed to enact extraverted behaviors. Finally, Study 3 (N = 62) showed that social contribution and power mediated the relation between natural fluctuations in extraverted behavior and positive affect states in daily life. In all 3 studies, multiple-mediator models showed that social contribution, but not power, independently mediated the relations that trait and state extraversion had with positive affect. This suggests that perceptions of positive influence-more so than a general sense of power-help to explain why extraverts and extraverted moments are happier. We link these findings to emerging trends in the study of personality dynamics and the potential benefits of acting "out of character." (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Covalent conjugation of water-soluble polymers to proteins is critical for evading immune surveillance in the field of biopharmaceuticals. The most common and long-standing polymer modification is the attachment of methoxypoly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG), termed PEGylation, which has led to several clinically approved pharmaceuticals. Recent data indicate that brush-type polymers significantly enhance in vitro and in vivo properties. Herein, the polymer conformation of poly(ethylene glycol) is detailed and compared with those of water-soluble polyacrylate and polynorbornene (PNB) when attached to icosahedral virus-like particles. Small-angle neutron scattering reveals vastly different polymer conformations of the multivalent conjugates. Immune recognition of conjugated particles was evaluated versus PEGylated particles, and PNB conjugation demonstrated the most effective shielding from antibody recognition.

MAX8 β-hairpin peptide hydrogel is a solid, preformed gel that can be syringe injected due to shear-thinning properties and can recover solid gel properties immediately after injection. This behavior makes the hydrogel an excellent candidate as a local drug delivery vehicle. In this study, vincristine, a hydrophobic and commonly used chemotherapeutic, is encapsulated within MAX8 hydrogel and shown to release constantly over the course of one month. Vincristine was observed to be cytotoxic in vitro at picomolar to nanomolar concentrations. The amounts of drug released from the hydrogels over the entire time-course were in this concentration range. After encapsulation, release of vincristine from the hydrogel was observed for four weeks. Further characterization showed the vincristine released during the 28 days remained biologically active, well beyond its half-life in bulk aqueous solution. This study shows that vincristine-loaded MAX8 hydrogels are excellent candidates as drug delivery vehicles, through sustained, low, local and effective release of vincristine to a specific target. Oscillatory rheology was employed to show that the shear-thinning and re-healing, injectable-solid properties that make MAX8 a desirable drug delivery vehicle are unaffected by vincristine encapsulation. Rheology measurements also were used to monitor hydrogel nanostructure before and after drug encapsulation.

Gels formed via metal-ligand coordination typically have very low branch functionality, f, as they consist of ∼2-3 polymer chains linked to single metal ions that serve as junctions. Thus, these materials are very soft and unable to withstand network defects such as dangling ends and loops. We report here a new class of gels assembled from polymeric ligands and metal-organic cages (MOCs) as junctions. The resulting 'polyMOC' gels are precisely tunable and may feature increased branch functionality. We show two examples of such polyMOCs: a gel with a low f based on a M2L4 paddlewheel cluster junction and a compositionally isomeric one of higher f based on a M12L24 cage. The latter features large shear moduli, but also a very large number of elastically inactive loop defects that we subsequently exchanged for functional ligands, with no impact on the gel's shear modulus. Such a ligand substitution is not possible in gels of low f, including the M2L4-based polyMOC.

Recent research suggests that anthropomorphism can be harnessed as a tool to boost intentions to comply with social cause campaigns. Drawing on the human tendency to extend moral concern to entities portrayed as humanlike, it has been argued that adding personified features to a social campaign elevates anticipated guilt at failing to comply, and this subsequently boosts intentions to comply with that campaign. The present research aimed to extend extant research by disentangling the effects of emotional and non-emotional anthropomorphism, and differentiating amongst other emotional mechanisms of the anthropomorphism-compliance effect (namely, anticipated pride and anticipated regret). Experiment 1 (N = 294) compared the effectiveness of positive, negative, and emotionally-neutral anthropomorphized campaign posters for boosting campaign compliance intentions against non-anthropomorphized posters. We also measured potential mechanisms including anticipated guilt, regret, and pride. Results failed to support the anthropomorphism-compliance effect, and no changes in anticipated emotion according to anthropomorphism emerged. Experiments 2 (N = 150) and 3 (N = 196) represented further tests of the anthropomorphism-compliance effect. Despite high statistical power and efforts to closely replicate the conditions under which the anthropomorphism-compliance effect had been previously observed, no differences in compliance intention or anticipated emotion according to anthropomorphism emerged. A meta-analysis of the effects of anthropomorphism on compliance and anticipated emotion across the three experiments revealed effect size estimates that did not differ significantly from zero. The results of these three experiments suggest that the anthropomorphism-compliance effect is fragile and perhaps subject to contextual and idiographic influences. Thus, this research provides important insight and impetus for future research on the applied and theoretical utility of anthropomorphizing social cause campaigns.

Integrins play a key role in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. Artificial surfaces grafted with integrin ligands, mimicking natural interfaces, have been used to study integrin-mediated cell adhesion. Here we report the use of a new chemical engineering technology in combination with single-molecule nanomechanical measurements to quantify peptide binding to integrins. We prepared latex beads with covalently-attached dextran. The beads were then functionalized with the bioactive peptides, cyclic RGDFK (cRGD) and the fibrinogen γC-dodecapeptide (H12), corresponding to the active sites for fibrinogen binding to the platelet integrin αIIbβ3. Using optical tweezers-based force spectroscopy to measure non-specific protein-protein interactions, we found the dextran-coated beads nonreactive towards fibrinogen, thus providing an inert platform for biospecific modifications. Using periodate oxidation followed by reductive amination, we functionalized the bead-attached dextran with either cRGD or H12 and used the peptide-grafted beads to measure single-molecule interactions with the purified αIIbβ3. Bimolecular force spectroscopy revealed that the peptide-functionalized beads were highly and specifically reactive with the immobilized αIIbβ3. Further, the cRGD- and H12-functionalized beads displayed a remarkable interaction profile with a bimodal force distribution up to 90 pN. The cRGD-αIIbβ3 interactions had greater binding strength than that of H12-αIIbβ3, indicating that they are more stable and resistant mechanically, consistent with the platelet reactivity of RGD-containing ligands. Thus, the results reported here describe the mechanistic characteristics of αIIbβ3-ligand interactions, confirming the utility of peptide-functionalized latex beads for the quantitative analysis of molecular recognition., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012)