Spirituality,Religiosity, and Thriving Among Adolescents: Identification and Confirmation of Factor Structures

Using a data set from Search Institute's research archive, Young Adolescents and Their Parents (YAP), this study ascertained whether religiosity, spirituality, and thriving could be identified and confirmed as separate latent constructs among a randomly selected subsample of 1,000 youth drawn from the larger YAP sample. Factor analytic and structural equation modeling findings provided evidence of the separate, multidimensional presence of the latent constructs (second-order factors) and confirmed the presence of 4 religiosity first-order factors (e.g., role of a faith institution in one's life), 3 spirituality first-order factors (e.g., orientation to help people other than the self), and 9 thriving first-order factors (e.g., future orientation/path to a hopeful future). Limitations of this analyses and directions for future research with this, and related data sets, are discussed.     

A complete graphical criterion for the adjustment formula in mediation analysis

Various assumptions have been used in the literature to identify natural direct and indirect effects in mediation analysis. These effects are of interest because they allow for effect decomposition of a total effect into a direct and indirect effect even in the presence of interactions or non-linear models. In this paper, we consider the relation and interpretation of various identification assumptions in terms of causal diagrams interpreted as a set of non-parametric structural equations. We show that for such causal diagrams, two sets of assumptions for identification that have been described in the literature are in fact equivalent in the sense that if either set of assumptions holds for all models inducing a particular causal diagram, then the other set of assumptions will also hold for all models inducing that diagram. We moreover build on prior work concerning a complete graphical identification criterion for covariate adjustment for total effects to provide a complete graphical criterion for using covariate adjustment to identify natural direct and indirect effects. Finally, we show that this criterion is equivalent to the two sets of independence assumptions used previously for mediation analysis.     

Trait Self-Control,Identified-Introjected Religiosity and Health-Related-Feelings in Healthy Muslims: A Structural Equation Model Analysis

AimThe present study attempted to test McCullough and Willoughby’s hypothesis that self-control mediates the relationships between religiosity and psychosocial outcomes. Specifically, this study examined whether trait self-control (TSC) mediates the relationship of identified-introjected religiosity with positive and negative health-related-feelings (HRF) in healthy Muslims.MethodsTwo hundred eleven French-speaking participants (116 females, 95 males; M_age = 28.15, SD_age = 6.90) answered questionnaires. One hundred ninety participants were retained for the analyses because they reported to be healthy (105 females, 85 males; M_age = 27.72, SD_age = 6.80). To examine the relationships between religiosity, TSC and HRF, two competing mediation models were tested using structural equation model analysis: While a starting model used TSC as mediator of the religiosity-HRF relationship, an alternative model used religiosity as mediator of the TSC-HRF relationship.ResultsThe findings revealed that TSC mediated the relationship between identified religiosity and positive HRF, and that identified religiosity mediated the relationship between TSC and positive and negative HRF, thereby validating both models. Moreover, the comparison of both models showed that the starting model explained 13.211% of the variance (goodness of fit = 1.000), whereas the alternative model explained 6.877% of the variance (goodness of fit = 0.987).ConclusionThese results show that the starting model is the most effective model to account for the relationships between religiosity, TSC, and HRF. Therefore, this study provides initial insights into how religiosity influences psychological health through TSC. Important practical implications for the religious education are suggested.     

On causal mediation analysis with a survival outcome

Suppose that having established a marginal total effect of a point exposure on a time-to-event outcome, an investigator wishes to decompose this effect into its direct and indirect pathways, also known as natural direct and indirect effects, mediated by a variable known to occur after the exposure and prior to the outcome. This paper proposes a theory of estimation of natural direct and indirect effects in two important semiparametric models for a failure time outcome. The underlying survival model for the marginal total effect and thus for the direct and indirect effects, can either be a marginal structural Cox proportional hazards model, or a marginal structural additive hazards model. The proposed theory delivers new estimators for mediation analysis in each of these models, with appealing robustness properties. Specifically, in order to guarantee ignorability with respect to the exposure and mediator variables, the approach, which is multiply robust, allows the investigator to use several flexible working models to adjust for confounding by a large number of pre-exposure variables. Multiple robustness is appealing because it only requires a subset of working models to be correct for consistency; furthermore, the analyst need not know which subset of working models is in fact correct to report valid inferences. Finally, a novel semiparametric sensitivity analysis technique is developed for each of these models, to assess the impact on inference, of a violation of the assumption of ignorability of the mediator.     

Regional Homogeneity of Resting-State Brain Activity Suppresses the Effect of Dopamine-Related Genes on Sensory Processing Sensitivity

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is an intrinsic personality trait whose genetic and neural bases have recently been studied. The current study used a neural mediation model to explore whether resting-state brain functions mediated the effects of dopamine-related genes on SPS. 298 healthy Chinese college students (96 males, mean age = 20.42 years, SD = 0.89) were scanned with magnetic resonance imaging during resting state, genotyped for 98 loci within the dopamine system, and administered the Highly Sensitive Person Scale. We extracted a “gene score” that summarized the genetic variations representing the 10 loci that were significantly linked to SPS, and then used path analysis to search for brain regions whose resting-state data would help explain the gene-behavior association. Mediation analysis revealed that temporal homogeneity of regional spontaneous activity (ReHo) in the precuneus actually suppressed the effect of dopamine-related genes on SPS. The path model explained 16% of the variance of SPS. This study represents the first attempt at using a multi-gene voxel-based neural mediation model to explore the complex relations among genes, brain, and personality.     

WW Domains of the Yes-Kinase-Associated-Protein (YAP) Transcriptional Regulator Behave as Independent Units with Different Binding Preferences for PPxY Motif-Containing Ligands

YAP is a WW domain-containing effector of the Hippo tumor suppressor pathway, and the object of heightened interest as a potent oncogene and stemness factor. YAP has two major isoforms that differ in the number of WW domains they harbor. Elucidating the degree of co-operation between these WW domains is important for a full understanding of the molecular function of YAP. We present here a detailed biophysical study of the structural stability and binding properties of the two YAP WW domains aimed at investigating the relationship between both domains in terms of structural stability and partner recognition. We have carried out a calorimetric study of the structural stability of the two YAP WW domains, both isolated and in a tandem configuration, and their interaction with a set of functionally relevant ligands derived from PTCH1 and LATS kinases. We find that the two YAP WW domains behave as independent units with different binding preferences, suggesting that the presence of the second WW domain might contribute to modulate target recognition between the two YAP isoforms. Analysis of structural models and phage-display studies indicate that electrostatic interactions play a critical role in binding specificity. Together, these results are relevant to understand of YAP function and open the door to the design of highly specific ligands of interest to delineate the functional role of each WW domain in YAP signaling.     

Causal mediation analysis with a latent mediator

Health researchers are often interested in assessing the direct effect of a treatment or exposure on an outcome variable, as well as its indirect (or mediation) effect through an intermediate variable (or mediator). For an outcome following a nonlinear model, the mediation formula may be used to estimate causally interpretable mediation effects. This method, like others, assumes that the mediator is observed. However, as is common in structural equations modeling, we may wish to consider a latent (unobserved) mediator. We follow a potential outcomes framework and assume a generalized structural equations model (GSEM). We provide maximum‐likelihood estimation of GSEM parameters using an approximate Monte Carlo EM algorithm, coupled with a mediation formula approach to estimate natural direct and indirect effects. The method relies on an untestable sequential ignorability assumption; we assess robustness to this assumption by adapting a recently proposed method for sensitivity analysis. Simulation studies show good properties of the proposed estimators in plausible scenarios. Our method is applied to a study of the effect of mother education on occurrence of adolescent dental caries, in which we examine possible mediation through latent oral health behavior.     

Family Structure as a Correlate of Organized Sport Participation among Youth

Organized sport is one way that youth participate in physical activity. There are disparities in organized sport participation by family-related factors. The purpose of this study was to determine whether non-traditional family structure and physical custody arrangements are associated with organized sport participation in youth, and if so whether this relationship is mediated by socioeconomic status. Data were from the 2009–10 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey, a nationally representative cross-section of Canadian youth in grades 6–10 (N = 21,201). Information on family structure was derived from three survey items that asked participants the number of adults they lived with, their relationship to these adults, and if applicable, how often they visited another parent outside their home. Participants were asked whether or not they were currently involved in an organized sport. Logistic regression was used to compare the odds of organized sport participation according to family structure. Bootstrap-based mediation analysis was used to assess mediation by perceived family wealth. The results indicated that by comparison to traditional families, boys and girls from reconstituted families with irregular visitation of a second parent, reconstituted families with regular visitation of a second parent, single-parent families with irregular visitation of a second parent, and single-parent families with regular visitation of a second parent were less likely to participate in organized sport than those from traditional families, with odds ratios ranging from 0.48 (95% confidence interval: 0.38–0.61) to 0.78 (95% confidence interval: 0.56–1.08). The relationship between family structure and organized sport was significantly mediated by perceived family wealth, although the magnitude of the mediation was modest (ie, <20% change in effect estimate). In conclusion, youth living in both single-parent and reconstituted families experienced significant disparities in organized sport participation that was partially mediated by perceived family wealth.     

Spiritual and religious beliefs: do they matter in the medication adherence behaviour of hypertensive patients?

Background

Medication non-adherence is often a predominant problem in the management of hypertension and other chronic conditions. In explaining health behaviours, social determinants like spirituality and religiosity are increasingly identified to impact health and treatment. Although a number of researchers have found spirituality and religiosity to be primary resources among persons dealing with chronic disability and illness, studies relating this specifically to medication adherence have been limited.

Methods

Our study sought to examine the interrelationship between spirituality/ religiosity and medication adherence among 400 hypertensive patients 18 years old and above. Spiritual Perspective Scale, Duke Religion Index, and the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale were used to determine spirituality, religiosity and medication adherence respectively.

Results

The majority (93.25%) of patients poorly adhered to their medications. While high spiritual and religious beliefs formed core components of the lifestyles of patients, spirituality (p?=?0.018) and not religiosity (p?=?0.474) related directly with medication non-adherence. Likewise, after controlling for demography and other medical co-morbidities, patients with high spirituality were 2.68 times more likely to be poorly adherent than patients who place lower emphasis on the association between spirituality and health.

Conclusion

Our study suggests that while spirituality/ religiosity was dominant among hypertensive patients, these spiritual attachments of patients with a supreme being potentially increased their trust in the expectation of divine healing instead of adhering adequately with their anti-hypertensive medications.

     

Responsiveness to “social” releasers in cattle. I. A study of the differential and additive effects of visual and sound stimuli,with special reference to the law of heterogeneous summation

Two experiments (Exp.1, Exp.2) were carried out to investigate the effects of social releasers, i.e. models and calls of conspecifics, on the approach responses of Friesian-Dutch heifers. In Exp.1, models consisted of either a vague representation of a conspecific's shape, or of a life-sized photograph of a conspecific. Sound (S) stimulations (calls) and movement (M) were combined to these visual (V) models. In Exp.2, V models and S stimulations were presented either separately or in combination. Models consisted of a ♂ and of a ♀ life-sized photograph and S stimulations consisted of recorded calls of ♂♂ or of ♀♀ conspecifics. In Exp.1, a significant increase in responsiveness was found after addition of sound S to the V models, especially to the photographs. Adding S to V models resulted in a much higher increase in responsiveness than adding M to V models. An additive effect was also found in Exp.2: combined presentations of V and S increased significantly the number of responses and of responding subjects as compared to either V or S separate presentations. In both Exp.1 and Exp.2, the total number of responses was a little more than twice as high for combined presentation of V and S as it was for V separate presentations, or for S separate presentations (Exp.2). In Exp.2, a complete verification of Seitz's law of heterogeneous summation of the stimuli was attempted by a further comparison, demonstrating that the releasing effect of V and S presented in combination (simultaneously) was equivalent to the number of responses found after addition of the partial effects of V and S presented separately (successively).     

Preliminary exploration of the Measurement of Diverse Adolescent Spirituality (MDAS) among Mexican youth

In the current article we propose and offer a preliminary test of an ecologically sensitive theoretical and methodological framework for understanding diverse adolescent spiritual development. The study summarizes the initial stages of development of the Measurement of Diverse Adolescent Spirituality (MDAS) that assesses three dimensions of spirituality: transcendence, fidelity, and contribution. We report our procedures and findings from an initial effort to contextualize the measure and validate the resulting scales with youth in Tijuana, Mexico. In the current study, 391 (211 females, M age = 13.78 years old) Mexican youth completed a self-report survey including the MDAS and measures of prosocial tendencies, daily spiritual experiences, and intrinsic religious motivation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor models, reliability, and structural analysis affirm the MDAS as a valid and reliable multidimensional measure of adolescent spirituality within the tested sample. Implications for further study of adolescent spiritual development and culturally valid research methods are discussed.     

Complex segregation analysis of obsessive-compulsive disorder in families with pediatric probands

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the mode of inheritance for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in families ascertained through pediatric probands. METHODS: We ascertained 52 families (35 case and 17 control families) through probands between the ages of 10 and 17 years. Direct interviews were completed with 215 individuals. Family informant data were collected on another 450 individuals without direct interviews, forming two data sets with one contained within the other. Complex segregation analyses were performed using regressive models as programmed in REGTL in the S.A.G.E. package.All models used in the analyses included sex-specific age and type parameters. RESULTS: All models that excluded a residual effect of an affected parent were rejected. With that parameter included, the environmental and sporadic models were rejected in comparisons with the most general model in both data sets (all p < 0.005). With the direct interview data, the general codominant Mendelian model was not rejected when compared with the most general model (p = 0.140). We could not distinguish between any of the simple Mendelian models using either data set. However, the dominant Mendelian model provided a somewhat better fit than the other Mendelian models to the direct interview data. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide evidence for a major susceptibility locus in families with OCD when age at onset is incorporated into the model. Mendelian factors at most partially explained the familial aggregation of the phenotype, and residual familial effects were necessary to fit the data adequately. The results support the importance of linkage efforts by suggesting that a major locus is segregating within a proportion of families with OCD ascertained through pediatric probands.     

CD44 acts through RhoA to regulate YAP signaling

The Hippo pathway plays an important role in both physical and pathogenesis processes. As crucial downstream effectors of Hippo pathway, YAP is inhibited by Lats1/2 through phosphorylation. However, upstream signals that regulate the Hippo pathway have been still poorly understood. Here, we found that knockdown of CD44 reduced YAP expression and nuclear localization, but nearly had no effect on its upstream effectors, Mst1 and Lats1. Downregulated CD44 expression also significantly decreased the expression of YAP downstream effectors CTGF, Cyr61 and EDN1 at mRNA level. Our next study showed that knockdown of CD44 inhibited RhoA expression, which was consistent with RhoA knockdown mediated YAP downregulation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that over expression of the constitutively active RhoA (RhoA-V14) could block the YAP expression decrease mediated by CD44 knockdown. Moreover, downregulation of CD44 significantly promoted cell apoptosis and inhibited cell proliferation, cell cycle progression and migration, which were consistent with the effects of RNAi-mediated YAP knockdown in both A549 and HepG2 cells. Overall, data are presented showing that CD44 could act through RhoA signaling to regulate YAP expression and this study also provide new insights into the regulatory mechanisms of the Hippo–YAP pathway.     

Yes-associated protein is essential for proliferative vitreoretinopathy development via the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in retinal pigment epithelial fibrosis

This study was aim to investigate whether the progression of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) depended on the activation of Yes-associated protein (YAP) and the subsequent epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell. The effect of YAP activation on retinal fibrosis in a PVR mouse model and in human ARPE-19 cells in vitro was studied. After treated with transforming growth factor-β2(TGF-β2), the expressions of fibrogenic molecules, YAP activation and the TGF-β2-Smad signalling pathway in ARPE-19 cells were detected by Western blot and immunocytochemical analyses. The effect of YAP on change in fibrosis and EMT was tested by knockdown experiment using verteporfin (YAP inhibitor). YAP was upregulated in the PVR mouse model and during TGF-β2–induced RPE cell EMT. In an in vivo study, verteporfin attenuated PVR progression in a mouse model. Additionally, YAP knockdown retained phenotype of RPE cells and ameliorated TGF-β2–induced migration, gel contraction and EMT in vitro. YAP knockdown inhibited the TGF-β2–induced upregulation of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), smooth muscle actin (SMA-α) and fibronectin. YAP was essential for the TGF-β2–induced nuclear translocation and phosphorylation of Smad2/3. Our work provides direct evidence that YAP is an essential regulator of EMT and profibrotic responses in PVR and indicates that YAP inhibition could be a potential target in PVR therapeutic intervention.