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The existence of crime-related racial stereotypes has been well documented. People tend to associate certain groups with specific crimes, which, in turn, impacts criminal-sentencing decisions through the perceptions of crime severity. This evidence calls for regular updating of rating norms combining these variables. With this objective, and given that most of the normative studies provide norms for a small number of crimes and/or with an insufficient number of participants, a new norming study was conducted. Furthermore, norms from European countries are absent, and the existing ones (mostly with USA-based populations) do not simultaneously examine crime stereotypicality and crime severity. The Crime Stereotypicality and Severity Database (CriSSD) presents normative ratings for a set of 63 crimes on three dimensions: White stereotypicality, Black stereotypicality, and crime severity. The crimes were selected according to a comprehensive procedure. A total of 340 Portuguese participants (72.6% female; Mage = 26.86, SD = 7.65) answered an online survey. Each crime was evaluated by a range of 46–60 participants. Data allowed us to identify a crime typology with three clusters. We present descriptive data (means, standard deviations, and 95% confidence intervals) for each crime. Crime evaluations were associated with sociodemographic characteristics. Additionally, this study gives input regarding the understudied link between crime stereotypes and crime severity, showing that crime severity is predicted by ratings of both Black and White stereotypicality. The CriSSD (available at osf.io/gkbrm) provides a valuable resource for researchers in the field of social psychology to conduct studies with controlled materials on potential disparities in criminal-sentencing decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas disease, a major health problem in Latin America. Polyamines are polycationic compounds that play a critical role as regulators of cell growth and differentiation. In contrast with other protozoa, T. cruzi is auxotrophic for polyamines because of its inability to synthesize putrescine due to the lack of both, arginine and ornithine decarboxylase; therefore, the intracellular availability of polyamines depends exclusively on transport processes. In this work, the polyamine transporter TcPAT12 was overexpressed in T. cruzi epimastigotes demonstrating that growth rates at different concentrations of polyamines strongly depend on the regulation of the polyamine transport. In addition, parasites overexpressing TcPAT12 showed a highly increased resistance to hydrogen peroxide and the trypanocidal drugs nifurtimox and benznidazole, which act by oxidative stress and interfering the synthesis of polyamine derivatives, respectively. Finally, the presence of putative polyamine transporters was analyzed in T. cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leishmania major genomes identifying 3-6 genes in these trypanosomatids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of the study was to develop a novel diet based on standard AIN93G diet that would be able to induce experimental obesity and impair immune regulation with high concentrations of both carbohydrate and lipids. Methods: To compare the effects of this high sugar and butter (HSB) diet with other modified diets, male C57BL/6 mice were fed either mouse chow, or AIN93G diet, or high sugar (HS) diet, or high-fat (HF) diet, or high sugar and butter (HSB) diet for 11 weeks ad libitum. HSB diet induced higher weight gain. Therefore, control AIN93G and HSB groups were chosen for additional analysis. Regulatory T cells were studied by flow cytometry, and cytokine levels were measured by ELISA. Results: Although HF and HSB diets were able to induce a higher weight gain compatible with obesity in treated mice, HSB-fed mice presented the higher levels of serum glucose after fasting and the lowest frequency of regulatory T cells in adipose tissue. In addition, mice that were fed HSB diet presented higher levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, hyperleptinemia, increased resistin and leptin levels as well as reduced adiponectin serum levels. Importantly, we found increased frequency of CD4CD44 effector T cells, reduction of CD4CD25Foxp3 and Th3 regulatory T cells as well as decreased levels of IL-10 and TGF-β in adipose tissue of HSB-fed mice. Conclusion: Therefore, HSB represents a novel model of obesity-inducing diet that was efficient in triggering alterations compatible with metabolic syndrome as well as impairment in immune regulatory parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]