We tested how attachment orientations are related to empathic accuracy (i.e., the accuracy with which one infers a partner’s private thoughts/feelings) during attachment-relevant discussions. In Study 1, married couples were videotaped while discussing a severe or a less severe relationship issue that involved intimacy or jealousy. In Study 2, dating couples were videotaped while trying to resolving a relationship conflict. Consistent with the revised Empathic Accuracy Model (Ickes & Simpson, 2001), highly avoidant individuals were less empathically accurate in general in both studies. Relative to less anxious persons, highly anxious individuals were more empathically accurate when discussing intimacy issues that posed a potential threat to their relationship (in Study 1), and when they were rated as more distressed when discussing a relationship conflict (in Study 2). The findings are discussed in terms of how highly anxious and highly avoidant people differentially “manage” empathic accuracy to regulate negative affect and facilitate their interpersonal goals.

Oxidative stress is characterized as the imbalance between the cellular production of oxidants and cellular antioxidant defenses and contributes to the development of numerous cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, including hypertension and insulin resistance. The effects of prolonged oxidant stress in vitro on the insulin-dependent glucose transport system in mammalian skeletal muscle are not well understood. The current study examined the in vitro effects of low-level oxidant stress (60-90 μM, H2O2) for 4 hr on insulin-stimulated (5 mU/ml) glucose transport activity (2-deoxyglucose uptake) and on protein expression of critical insulin signaling factors (insulin receptor (IR), IR substrates IRS-1 and IRS-2, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3-kinase), Akt, and glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3)) in isolated soleus muscle of lean Zucker rats. This oxidant stress exposure caused significant (50%, p<0.05) decreases in insulin-stimulated glucose transport activity that was associated with selective loss of IRS-1 (59%) and IRS-2 (33%) proteins, increased (64%) relative IRS-1 Ser307 phosphorylation, and decreased phosphorylation of Akt Ser473 (50%) and GSK-3ß Ser9 (43%). Moreover, enhanced (37%) phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) was observed. Selective inhibition of p38 MAPK (10 μM A304000) prevented a significant portion (29%) of the oxidant stress-induced loss of IRS-1 (but not IRS-2) protein and allowed partial recovery of the impaired insulin-stimulated glucose transport activity. These results indicate that in vitro oxidative stress in mammalian skeletal muscle leads to substantial insulin resistance of distal insulin signaling and glucose transport activity, associated with a selective loss of IRS-1 protein, in part due to a p38 MAPK-dependent mechanism.

Arabidopsis thaliana mur1 is a dwarf mutant with altered cell-wall properties, in which l-fucose is partially replaced by l-galactose in the xyloglucan and glycoproteins. We found that the mur1 mutation also affects the primary structure of the pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan II (RG-II). In mur1 RG-II a non-reducing terminal 2- O-methyl l-galactosyl residue and a 3,4-linked l-galactosyl residue replace the non-reducing terminal 2- O-methyl l-fucosyl residue and the 3,4-linked l-fucosyl residue, respectively, that are present in wild-type RG-II. Furthermore, we found that a terminal non-reducing l-galactosyl residue, rather than the previously reported d-galactosyl residue, is present on the 2- O-methyl xylose-containing side chain of RG-II in both wild type and mur1 plants. Approximately 95% of the RG-II from wild type and mur1 plants is solubilized as a high-molecular-weight (>100 kDa) complex, by treating walls with aqueous potassium phosphate. The molecular mass of RG-II in this complex was reduced to 5-10 kDa by treatment with endopolygalacturonase, providing additional evidence that RG-II is covalently linked to homogalacturonan. The results of this study provide additional information on the structure of RG-II and the role of this pectic polysaccharide in the plant cell wall.

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