Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: Abnormalities in brain development have been reported in dyslexic patients. All four genes thus far linked to developmental dyslexia, DYX1C1, ROBO1, KIAA0319 and DCDC2, participate in brain development. Here, we explored the role of Dcdc2, the member of DCX superfamily, in neuronal migration and dendrite outgrowth in neocortical pyramidal cells. RNAi knock down of Dcdc2, in addition to migration arrest, caused defects in process growth in migrating neurons. We found that Dcdc2 overexpression induced process-like outgrowths in non-neuronal Cos7 cells and exuberant dendrite growth in neocortical pyramidal cells. Additionally, the migration impairment in Dcdc2 knock down was rescued by expression of human Dcdc2 but not by DCX or TAU.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study investigates the link between exposure to cigarette promotion and adolescent susceptibility to smoking. Using a structural equation modeling, the direct, indirect and total effect of exposure to and participation in cigarette promotion was assessed. The data used for this study were collected through a self-administered survey of 12,290 7th through 12th grade students in Tucson, Arizona in 1996 and 1998. Results show that participation in cigarette promotion has a direct effect on increased smoking susceptibility controlling for personal and behavioral factors. It also has a significant indirect effect on susceptibility via positive social images. This study supports the concerns that cigarette promotion contributes to the long-term process of accepting and internalizing positive images of smoking and to the eventual uptake of smoking among adolescents. As such, a more comprehensive restriction on cigarette promotion is warranted.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Print news stories about genetics convey information to the public that is relevant to their assumptions about their own genetic predispositions. The objectives of this study are to assess the effects of priming a belief in genetic susceptibility to smoking addiction on smokers’ inferences about their own susceptibility to a genetic addiction to smoking, their efficacy to quit smoking, and their intention to get a genetic test for addiction susceptibility. Subjects were 450 young adult smokers recruited in a national random-digit-dialing sample. They were surveyed on the telephone in a randomized experiment embedded in a survey about cigarette smoking practices. In the priming condition, respondents heard an abbreviated news story about genes for smoking addiction. In the unprimed condition, participants heard a news story concerning the gender of the offspring of smokers. Priming with the genetics news story did not affect respondents’ inferences about personal genetic susceptibility to smoking addiction. However, those finding the news story credible and having a strong family history of smoking were more likely to infer a greater personal genetic susceptibility. The impact of the news story about genetic susceptibility on the intention to get a genetic test and the efficacy to quit smoking is not direct, but is mediated through the inference of genetic susceptibility to smoking addiction.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Are political knowledge and exposure to the news exchangeable resources that render citizens immune to the political purport of the news? On the basis of a multi-wave panel survey and a longitudinal content analysis of newspapers and television news magazines during the 2002 Dutch parliamentary election campaign, this question is answered by comparing news effects on lowly- and highly-knowledgeable audiences, either with a sporadic or a frequent exposure to the news. Results show that knowledge and exposure are not interchangeable. Citizens with a poor political knowledge who pay frequent attention to the news are most strongly affected by the news, as mediated cognitively through their perceptions of party performance. Knowledgeable voters with a sporadic exposure to media rely most strongly on predispositions. Every audience is susceptible to the news, especially for attributions of successes and failures.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: 200 community members from the 12th Judicial Circuit in Florida completed the following measures: 1) case-specific items regarding a veritable, pending capital case (FL v. Michael Lee King); 2) level of support for the death penalty; 3) death-qualification status; 4) ATDP; 5) BJW; 6) LOC; 7) NFC; 8) RLAQ; and 9) standard demographic questions. Results indicated that recall confidence, level of support for the death penalty, death-qualification status, attitudes toward the death penalty, belief in a just world, locus of control, need for cognition, and legal authoritarianism were significantly related to capital jurors’ susceptibility to pretrial publicity.