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Emerging evidence shows bilinguals employ different decision-making strategies in their foreign language compared to their native language (known as the Foreign Language Effect). When completing moral dilemmas, accumulating research findings indicate that bilinguals are more likely to endorse the utilitarian option. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate whether linguistic variables (proficiency, immersion, and language similarity) moderate utilitarian responding to moral dilemmas in a foreign language. A systematic literature search extracted experiments comparing binary responses to moral dilemmas among bilingual participants. Analyses confirmed a moral Foreign Language Effect within personal dilemmas, though this effect was moderated by self-reported reading proficiency, whereby bilinguals with higher self-reported reading proficiency were less likely to make a utilitarian choice. Our findings suggest that not all bilinguals may experience a Foreign Language Effect, with low self-reported reading proficiency being the most likely indicator of whether their response tendencies to a moral dilemma change in the foreign language., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Recent studies link meditation expertise with enhanced low-level attention, measured through auditory event-related potentials (ERPs). In this study, we tested the reliability and validity of a recent finding that the N1 ERP in first-time meditators is smaller during meditation than non-meditation - an effect not present in long-term meditators. In the first experiment, we replicated the finding in first-time meditators. In two subsequent experiments, we discovered that this finding was not due to stimulus-related instructions, but was explained by an effect of the order of conditions. Extended exposure to the same tones has been linked with N1 decrement in other studies, and may explain N1 decrement across our two conditions. We give examples of existing meditation and ERP studies that may include similar condition order effects. The role of condition order among first-time meditators in this study indicates the importance of counterbalancing meditation and non-mediation conditions in meditation studies that use event-related potentials., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The findings of a study by Cahn and Polich (2009) suggests that there is an effect of a meditative state on three event-related potential (ERP) brain markers of "low-level" auditory attention (i.e., acoustic representations in sensory memory) in expert meditators: the N1, the P2, and the P3a. The current study built on these findings by examining trait and state effects of meditation on the passive auditory mismatch negativity (MMN), N1, and P2 ERPs. We found that the MMN was significantly larger in meditators than non-meditators regardless of whether they were meditating or not (a trait effect), and that N1 amplitude was significantly attenuated during meditation in non-meditators but not expert meditators (an interaction between trait and state). These outcomes suggest that low-level attention is superior in long-term meditators in general. In contrast, low-level attention is reduced in non-meditators when they are asked to meditate for the first time, possibly due to auditory fatigue or cognitive overload., (Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

We assessed incidence and risk factors of cardiovascular events in 265 patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) between 1980 and 2000 and who survived at least 2 years. Results were compared with a cohort of 145 patients treated during the same period with autologous HSCT. The median age of patients with allogeneic HSCT at last follow-up was 39 years, and median follow-up was 9 years. Eighteen (6.8%) patients after allogeneic and 3 (2.1%) patients after autologous HSCT experienced an arterial event. The cumulative incidence of first arterial event after allogeneic HSCT was 22.1% (95% CI, 12.0-40.9) at 25 years. The cumulative incidence 15 years after allogeneic HSCT was 7.5% as compared with 2.3% after autologous HSCT. Adjusting for age, risk of an arterial event was significantly higher after allogeneic HSCT (RR 6.92; P =.009). In multivariate analysis, allogeneic HSCT (RR: 14.5; P =.003), and at least 2 of 4 cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity) (RR: 12.4; P =.02) were associated with a higher incidence of arterial events after HSCT. Thus, long-term survivors after allogeneic HSCT are at high risk for premature arterial vascular disease. HSCT might favor the emergence of established risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia.

The human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I loci, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A, -B, -C, encode highly polymorphic molecules that mediate immune recognition of infectious pathogens and can initiate the rapid rejection of transplanted tissue. Cloning of HLA class I alleles is complicated by polymorphism as well as interlocus homology. Here, HLA class I cDNAs are amplified by PCR using one common primer with one of three locus specific primers whose 3' ends map to conserved, locus specific nucleotides. Using these primers, HLA-A, -B, and -C alleles were cloned from a number of cell lines and two different HLA-B alleles were cloned from a single, heterozygous cell line. The amplified products encode the entire extracellular portion of the class I molecules. An amplified HLA-A allele was cloned into an expression vector and the protein product was detected on the surface of a transfected cell. A premature termination codon was engineered into the HLA-A allele by site directed mutagenesis and the soluble protein product was detected in the culture medium of transfected cells. Therefore, these primers can be used to rapidly clone, alter, and express HLA class I molecules. This method may expedite the generation of reagents for testing the antigen specificity of antibodies, natural killer cells, or T cells.

Human endothelial cells cultivated on polystyrene microcarrier beads were used to study endothelial anticoagulant activity in vitro. Spontaneous whole blood coagulation was inhibited by endothelial cells on microcarriers at a surface to volume ratio of 16 cm2/ml blood. Thrombin activity generated in nonanticoagulated whole blood during 1 hour and assessed by its fibrinogen clotting effect was reduced by 87% in the presence of endothelial cells. Consistent with this observation, prothrombin fragment1+2, fibrinopeptide A, and thrombin-antithrombin III-complex release during the same period of time were inhibited by 81%, 47%, and 88%, respectively. Immunoblotting analysis of cell-free supernatants derived from the same samples demonstrated that prothrombin activation was strongly suppressed in the presence of endothelial cells. Furthermore, the incubation of nonanticoagulated whole blood with endothelialized beads for only 5 minutes after venipuncture was sufficient to prevent subsequent prothrombin activation in the cell-free supernatants of the same whole blood sample after centrifugation. These findings suggest that interruption of the coagulation cascade is probably one major mechanism of endothelial anticoagulant activity in vivo.