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In this study, we compared changes in female rape myth acceptance (RMA) between 1998 and 2018 in two separate samples of college students from the same university in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The primary measure was the Attitudes Toward Rape Victims Scale (ARVS). First, we examined the factor structure of the ARVS with confirmatory factor analysis, finding good fit for a four-factor model comprising Assigning Blame or Responsibility to the Victim (Blame/Responsibility), Considering the Victim as Deserving of Sexual Violence (Deserving), Undermining the Victim’s Credibility (Undermine Credibility), and Trivializing the Experience or Denigrating the Victim (Trivialization/Denigration). Second, we used profile analysis, a type of multivariate repeated-measures ANOVA, to examine the main and interactive effects of Survey Year, Gender, and ARVS Subscale and Item within each subscale. At the subscale level, we found large main effects for Survey Year, Gender, and Subscale, with lower scores for the 2018 sample, women, and Deserving and Trivialization/Denigration, relative to Undermine Credibility and Blame/Responsibility. We also found interactions between Survey Year and Subscale and Gender and Subscale, indicating non-parallel profiles for the 1998 versus 2018 samples and women versus men. We found similar patterns at the item level within each subscale. These results indicate a substantial decline of female RMA in college students over a 20-year period, replicate the well-established gender difference in female RMA, and demonstrate that RMA varies by item content.

The properties and utility of the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) remain unstudied in community-based populations. This study evaluates the performance of the PC-PTSD-5 to determine whether it can be used as a brief alternative to the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) in a large public hospital in the southeastern United States. Participants ( N  = 422; 92.7% Black; 85.8% female; M age  = 42.0 years, SD age  = 13.4 years) completed the PCL-5 and PC-PTSD-5 after recruitment from medical clinic waiting rooms and admission lists. Using chance-corrected test quality indices and item response theory (IRT) analyses, we determined optimal cut-scores for screening and examined item performance. Approximately 45.0% of the sample screened positive for probable DSM-5 PTSD using the PCL-5. The PC-PTSD-5 demonstrated high internal consistency and strong associations with PCL-5 scores (total, r  = .79; items, r s = .51–.61). A cut-score of one was optimally sensitive for screening (κ[1] = .96), and a cut-score of four had the highest quality of probable efficiency (κ[.5] = .66) for detecting self-reported DSM-5 PTSD on the PCL-5. IRT analyses indicated Item 1 (nightmares, intrusive memories) provided the most information, and other items may not be incrementally useful for this sample. Findings provide preliminary support for the use of the PC-PTSD-5 as a brief alternative to the PCL-5 among chronically trauma-exposed patients in the public healthcare setting.

The Resilience Evaluation Scale (RES) is a newly developed measure of resilience written in both English and Dutch languages. To date, there have not been comprehensive psychometric evaluations of the RES’ performance, including validity for use in non-Western cultural populations and languages. In our attempt to address this void, we conducted a psychometric evaluation of the RES utilizing a Western, sample of U.S. college students and non-Western sample of Chinese college students. Our psychometric evaluation of the RES in a Western, English-speaking sample of U.S. college students indicated mixed results on the construct validity of the RES for measuring resilience. We also found that the factor structure of the RES lacked configural invariance across U.S. college student and Chinese college student samples. Results suggested that additional research is needed to assess whether the RES appropriately measures internal factors of resilience or requires modification. We also highlight the need for continued development of cross-culturally valid measures, and possibly different conceptualizations, of resilience across cultural and linguistic groups.

As one component of a functional behavioral assessment, descriptive assessments (DA) can help determine the maintaining variable of a student's problem behavior in school. School districts often employ board-certified behavior analysts as consultants to conduct DAs by observing a student and recording the environmental variables surrounding problem behavior. However, consultants may have to rely on school personnel to conduct DAs due to environmental constraints. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which 18 school staff accurately collected DA data with two types of recording formats, narrative and structured, prior to and after receiving a group training that consisted of verbal review and group feedback. Results based on visual analysis indicate that (a) 4 participants engaged in high levels of accurate, narrative DA recording in baseline; (b) 10 of 14 participants reached mastery criteria after training for both narrative and structured DA recording formats; and (c) 4 participants did not reach mastery criteria after training for either recording format. Despite sub-mastery performance by some participants, supplemental statistical analyses and visual inspection indicate that the group training improved all participants' accuracy from baseline. These findings have important implications for training school staff members to collect DA data.

The structure has been determined by electron cryomicroscopy of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase from Mycobacterium smegmatis. This analysis confirms features in a prior description of the structure of the enzyme, but it also describes other highly significant attributes not recognized before that are crucial for understanding the mechanism and regulation of the mycobacterial enzyme. First, we resolved not only the three main states in the catalytic cycle described before but also eight substates that portray structural and mechanistic changes occurring during a 360° catalytic cycle. Second, a mechanism of auto-inhibition of ATP hydrolysis involves not only the engagement of the C-terminal region of an α-subunit in a loop in the γ-subunit, as proposed before, but also a “fail-safe” mechanism involving the b′-subunit in the peripheral stalk that enhances engagement. A third unreported characteristic is that the fused bδ-subunit contains a duplicated domain in its N-terminal region where the two copies of the domain participate in similar modes of attachment of the two of three N-terminal regions of the α-subunits. The auto-inhibitory plus the associated “fail-safe” mechanisms and the modes of attachment of the α-subunits provide targets for development of innovative antitubercular drugs. The structure also provides support for an observation made in the bovine ATP synthase that the transmembrane proton-motive force that provides the energy to drive the rotary mechanism is delivered directly and tangentially to the rotor via a Grotthuss water chain in a polar L-shaped tunnel.

The Detailed Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress (DAPS; Briere, 2001) is a comprehensive, multiscale questionnaire that assesses all posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criteria, as well as peritraumatic responses and associated problems including dissociation, suicidality, and substance abuse. Although relatively few psychometric studies of the DAPS have been conducted, DAPS scores have been shown to have excellent reliability, validity, and clinically utility, performing as well or better than leading PTSD questionnaires. The DAPS was recently revised for DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The present study was an initial psychometric evaluation of the DAPS for DSM-5 (DAPS-II) in a community sample with mixed trauma exposure (N = 367). DAPS-II total PTSD scores demonstrated high internal consistency (α = .98), strong convergent validity with the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (r = .91), and good discriminant validity with other measures of trauma-related intrusions and avoidance, dissociation, depression, anxiety, appetite gain, interpersonal needs, and well-being (rs = -.13 to .75). DAPS-II associated features scales also demonstrated high internal consistency and good convergent and discriminant associations. In confirmatory factor analyses the DSM-5 four-factor model of PTSD provided adequate fit, but leading alternative six- and seven-factor models (Armour, Mullerova, & Elhai, 2016) provided better fit. Taken together, these results indicate that the DAPS-II is a psychometrically sound measure of DSM-5 PTSD symptoms and would be a useful evidence-based tool in both research and clinical settings with diverse trauma populations.

Sustainable performance and sustainability are concepts that have been growing worldwide not only in companies, but by other stakeholders (stakeholders). The concept of sustainability is recognized as the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and seeks to encompass the social, environmental and economic dimensions. Market indicators, in turn, reflect expectations of future profitability in organizations, showing long-term returns. According to the literature, no studies have been found that have investigated the causal relationship between the three performances of the Triple Bottom Line in conjunction with market performance. Adding up the disagreement and the lack of studies in the literature in terms of one variable influencing another, it is uncertain whether companies invest in environmental and social issues because they have better economic and financial performance, or the fact of implementing environmental and social practices that generate a better economic-financial performance, influencing a greater return in relation to the company's market value. Thus, the general objective of the present research is to evaluate the cause-effect relationship between environmental, social, economic-financial and market performance indicators of Brazilian companies. The theoretical basis of the study was based on the Stakeholder Theory. Regarding the design, this research was classified as descriptive, documentary and quantitative. The population is the companies listed in [B] 3 (Brazil, Bolsa, Balcão) and the sample was composed of 53 companies with information contained in the Thomson Reuters® database, collected in October 2019 over a ten-year period (2008- 2018). The technique used to analyze was causation in the Granger sense. In general, in the final balance, the group of performance indicators that most influenced the other indicators were the environmental performance indicators. On the other hand, the performance indicators that were most influenced by the other indicators were the economic and financial indicators. The companies that stood out with the greatest number of influences had more than five members on the board of directors, most companies have an independent audit belonging to the Big Four, work with exports and have an audit committee, in addition to belonging to the Novo Mercado segment of [B] 3. These actions attract investors because they show security, credibility and trust. The relationship that most stands out as endogenous is in the group of market and economic-financial performance indicators. Therefore, it is assumed that these market and economic-financial indicators go together, where one directly impacts the other. This research contributes to different stakeholders. The theoretical contribution is made in discussing the cause-effect relationship between the environmental, social, economic-financial and market performance indicators of Brazilian companies, a relevant topic, but little discussed in the accounting literature. As for the practical contribution, the study allows decision makers to recognize how each performance indicator influences their decisions in search of greater efficiency, sustainability and profitability. It also contributes to companies that seek to improve their market values compared to their competitors. It also contributes to regulatory bodies and investors, proposing greater awareness of the value of information. Finally, it contributes to the social environment by showing society that organizations are valuing environmental and social actions, not just economic-financial and market actions.

The efficacy of antibiotic treatments targeting polymicrobial communities is not well predicted by conventional in vitro susceptibility testing based on determining minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in monocultures. One reason for this is that inter-species interactions can alter the community members’ susceptibility to antibiotics. Here we quantify, and identify mechanisms for, community-modulated changes of efficacy for clinically relevant antibiotics against the pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in model cystic fibrosis (CF) lung communities derived from clinical samples. We demonstrate that multi-drug resistant Stenotrophomonas maltophilia can provide high levels of antibiotic protection to otherwise sensitive P. aeruginosa . Exposure protection to imipenem was provided by chromosomally encoded metallo-β-lactamase that detoxified the environment; protection was dependent upon S. maltophilia cell density and was provided by S. maltophilia strains isolated from CF sputum, increasing the MIC of P. aeruginosa by up to 16-fold. In contrast, the presence of S. maltophilia provided no protection against meropenem, another routinely used carbapenem. Mathematical ordinary differential equation modelling shows that the level of exposure protection provided against different carbapenems can be explained by differences in antibiotic efficacy and inactivation rate. Together, these findings reveal that exploitation of pre-occurring antimicrobial resistance, and inter-specific competition, can have large impacts on pathogen antibiotic susceptibility, highlighting the importance of microbial ecology for designing successful antibiotic treatments for multispecies communities.

Small plastic particles such as micro- (<5 mm), sub-micro- (1 µm–100 nm) and nanoplastics (<100 nm) are known to be ubiquitous within our surrounding environment. However, to date relatively few methods exist for the reliable detection of nanoplastic particles in relevant sample matrices such as foods or environmental samples. This lack of relevant data is likely a result of key limitations (e.g., resolution and/or scattering efficiency) for common analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared or Raman spectroscopy. This study aims to address this knowledge gap in the field through the creation of surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy substrates utilizing spherical gold nanoparticles with 14 nm and 46 nm diameters to improve the scattering signal obtained during Raman spectroscopy measurements. The substrates are then used to analyze polystyrene particles with sizes of 161 nm or 33 nm and poly(ethylene terephthalate) particles with an average size of 62 nm. Through this technique, plastic particles could be detected at concentrations as low as 10 µg/mL, and analytical enhancement factors of up to 446 were achieved.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus for short) is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue in organs across the body. The cause is unknown, but people with the illness make antibodies that stick to proteins that are normally found inside the cell nucleus, where DNA is stored. To make these antibodies, the immune system must first ‘see’ these proteins and mistakenly recognise them as a threat. But how does the immune system recognise proteins that are normally hidden inside cells? During infection, a type of immune cell called a neutrophil releases DNA from its nucleus to form structures called neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs for short. The role of these NETs is to capture and kill pathogens, but they also expose the neutrophil’s DNA and the proteins attached to it to other immune cells. It is therefore possible that other immune cells interacting with NETs during infection may contribute to the development of lupus. Two proteins of interest are AIM2 and IFI16. These proteins form large, shield-like structures around strands of DNA, and previous work has shown that some people with lupus make antibodies against IFI16. Antiochos et al. wondered whether IFI16 and AIM2 might stick to NETs, exposing themselves to the immune system. Examining the blood of people with lupus revealed that one in three of them made antibodies that could stick to AIM2. Those people were also more likely to have antibodies that could stick to IFI16 and to strands of DNA. Using microscopy, Antiochos et al. also found AIM2 and IFI16 on NETs in the kidneys of some people with lupus. Further investigation showed that the presence of AIM2 and IFI16 prevents NETs from breaking down. If proteins like AIM2 and IFI16 can stop NETs from breaking down, they could allow the immune system more time to develop antibodies against them. Further investigation could reveal whether this is one of the causes of lupus. A clearer understanding of the antibodies could also boost research into diagnosis and treatment.