Effects of playing a violent video game as male versus female avatar on subsequent aggression in male and female players.

Previous research has shown that violent video games can increase aggression in players immediately after they play. The present research examines the effects of one subtle cue within violent video games that might moderate these effects-whether the avatar is male or female. One common stereotype is that males are more aggressive than females. Thus, playing a violent video game as a male avatar, compared to a female avatar, should be more likely to prime aggressive thoughts and inclinations in players and lead to more aggressive behavior afterwards. Male and female university students (N = 242) were randomly assigned to play a violent video game as a male or female avatar. After gameplay, participants gave an ostensible partner who hated spicy food hot sauce to eat. The amount of hot sauce given was used to measure aggression. Consistent with priming theory, results showed that both male and female participants who played a violent game as a male avatar behaved more aggressively afterwards than those who played as female avatar. The priming effects of the male avatar were somewhat stronger for male participants than for female participants, suggesting that male participants identified more with the male avatar than did the female participants. These results are particularly noteworthy because they are consistent with another recent experiment showing that playing a violent game as an avatar with a different stereotypically aggressive attribute (black skin color) stimulates more aggression than playing as an avatar without the stereotypically aggressive attribute (Yang et al., 2014, Social Psychological and Personality Science).

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis following jugular bulb decompression.

A 7-year-old boy was found to have hearing loss on the left side on school screening. On otolaryngology examination he was noted to have a vascular mass behind the tympanic membrane, located inferiorly. Computerized tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a dehiscent high jugular bulb. He underwent surgical decompression of the jugular bulb. Two weeks after surgery, he complained of headache and diplopia and was noted to have papilledema and a sixth nerve palsy without visual loss. Cranial MRI scan revealed thrombosis of the left internal jugular vein, transverse and sigmoid sinus. There was no cerebral venous infarct. He was treated with oral acetazolamide and anticoagulation. Two months later he was symptomatically better, neurologically intact with resolved sixth nerve palsy and markedly improved optic disc edema. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of venous thrombosis following jugular bulb surgery in the English language ophthalmologic literature.

Radiographic and endoscopic measurements of esophageal length in pediatric patients.

OBJECTIVES: Knowledge of the length between the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) and the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) in pediatric patients is essential for intraluminal impedance and dual pH probe recordings. METHODS: We measured the vertical distance between the true vocal cords (TVCs) and the LES in chest x-rays (CXRs) of 118 children (ages, 6 weeks to 13 years) and measured the vertical distance between the UES and the LES during endoscopy in 31 patients (ages, 14 months to 17 years) and correlated the measurements to height, weight, and age. RESULTS: Esophageal length correlated best with patient height (R = 0.96 by CXR, R = 0.88 by endoscopy) and less well with weight (R = 0.87, R = 0.67) and age (R = 0.94, R = 0.86). Linear regression analyses using radiographic measurements revealed that esophageal length (TVC to LES) can be estimated from a patient's height by the following equation: 1.048 + 0.167 x height (in centimeters). With the upper pH probe placed in the hypopharynx at the TVC level and the inferior probe placed in the esophagus 3 to 6 cm above the LES, the patients were divided into 6 groups corresponding to the currently available number of sizes of dual pH-impedance probes. With the patients' heights between 71.5 and 161.3 cm, 64.7% to 100% of patients were within 1 cm of the desired location with preselected probes. Confirmation of placement was performed with CXR. CONCLUSIONS: A pediatric patient's height can be used to estimate the esophageal length (TVC to LES) and facilitate the selection of dual pH-impedance probes. Our method decreases the risk of morbidity while increasing the accuracy of the study of extraesophageal reflux disease.

Adeno-associated virus type 5: transduction efficiency and cell-type specificity in the primate retina.

Gene transfer using adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) has been effective for treating inherited retinal diseases in animal models. Further evaluation in primates must be performed prior to clinical application, however, because of the difference between the retina of the primate and those of other animals. Prior work has shown that AAV2 can transduce rod-photoreceptor and RPE cells in the non-human primate retina and that AAV5 is more efficient at transducing photoreceptor cells than AAV2 in the rodent retina. In this study, we evaluated the efficiency of AAV5 in the non-human primate retina after subretinal injections of the vector to distinct anatomic retinal regions (superior, inferior, nasal, macula, temporal). rAAV5 led to a rapid onset of transgene expression (within 2 weeks), with expression persisting up to 10 months. Postoperative electrophysiology studies showed that global retinal function was preserved following gene transfer. Quantitative analysis of gene transfer demonstrated a maximum transduction efficiency of 22% in the injected areas. Evaluation of cell types using confocal microscopy and cone-specific antibodies revealed that AAV5, expressing reporter genes from the cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter/enhancer, preferentially transduced rods. No significant differences were found in the regional tropism of AAV5 among the five areas injected despite variation in retinal topography. Immunohistochemical studies revealed that the AAV5 receptor, PDGFR-A, is localized to the outer segments of rods but not cones providing a basis for the observed tropism. Our results support the utility of AAV5 for rod photoreceptor degeneration therapies.

Virus-mediated transduction of murine retina with adeno-associated virus: effects of viral capsid and genome size.

Gene therapy vectors based on adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) show promise for the treatment of retinal degenerative diseases. In prior work, subretinal injections of AAV2, AAV5, and AAV2 pseudotyped with AAV5 capsids (AAV2/5) showed variable retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor cell transduction, while AAV2/1 predominantly transduced the RPE. To more thoroughly compare the efficiencies of gene transfer of AAV2, AAV3, AAV5, and AAV6, we quantified, using stereological methods, the kinetics and efficiency of AAV transduction to mouse photoreceptor cells. We observed persistent photoreceptor and RPE transduction by AAV5 and AAV2 up to 31 weeks and found that AAV5 transduced a greater volume than AAV2. AAV5 containing full-length or half-length genomes and AAV2/5 transduced comparable numbers of photoreceptor cells with similar rates of onset of expression. Compared to AAV2, AAV5 transduced significantly greater numbers of photoreceptor cells at 5 and 15 weeks after surgery (greater than 1,000 times and up to 400 times more, respectively). Also, there were 30 times more genome copies in eyes injected with AAV2/5 than in eyes injected with AAV2. Comparing AAVs with half-length genomes, AAV5 transduced only four times more photoreceptor cells than AAV2 at 5 weeks and nearly equivalent numbers at 15 weeks. The enhancement of transduction was seen at the DNA level, with 50 times more viral genome copies in retinas injected with AAV having short genomes than in retinas injected with AAV containing full-length ones. Subretinal injection of AAV2/6 showed only RPE transduction at 5 and 15 weeks, while AAV2/3 did not transduce retinal cells. We conclude that varying genome length and AAV capsids may allow for improved expression and/or gene transfer to specific cell types in the retina.