The role of endogenous versus exogenous sources in the exposome of putative genotoxins and consequences for risk assessment.

The "totality" of the human exposure is conceived to encompass life-associated endogenous and exogenous aggregate exposures. Process-related contaminants (PRCs) are not only formed in foods by heat processing, but also occur endogenously in the organism as physiological components of energy metabolism, potentially also generated by the human microbiome. To arrive at a comprehensive risk assessment, it is necessary to understand the contribution of in vivo background occurrence as compared to the ingestion from exogenous sources.

Tracing and measuring the COVID-19 Colombian vaccination network.

The COVID-19 vaccination process in Colombia has been a major challenge not only in terms of public health but also in terms of supply chain management and logistics processes. To support the monitoring of these processes and associated decision-making, a dashboard was designed in Google Data Studio focused on analyzing the progress of COVID-19 vaccination and its logistics efficiency. This article describes the design and implementation of the dashboard using a design science approach and discusses the main lessons learned.

Sterigmatocystin moderately induces oxidative stress in male Wistar rats after short-term oral treatment.

This study aimed to explore involvement of oxidative stress in sterigmatocystin (STC) toxicity in male Wistar rats. Animals were orally treated with a single STC dose (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg b.w.

Urinary Calprotectin Differentiates Between Prerenal and Intrinsic Acute Renal Allograft Failure.

Background: Urinary calprotectin has recently been identified as a promising biomarker for the differentiation between prerenal and intrinsic acute kidney injury (AKI) in the nontransplant population. The present study investigates whether calprotectin is able to differentiate between these 2 entities in transplant recipients as well.

Methods: Urinary calprotectin was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 328 subjects including 125 cases of intrinsic acute allograft failure, 27 prerenal graft failures, 118 patients with stable graft function, and 58 healthy controls.

Analysis of transmitted drug resistance and HIV-1 subtypes using dried serum spots of recently HIV-infected individuals in 2013 in Germany.

Introduction: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) aimed to assess a molecular surveillance strategy based on filter-dried serum spots (DSS) of all newly diagnosed HIV infections in Germany. In 2013, diagnostic laboratories sent DSS to the RKI representing 55% of the newly diagnosed HIV infections reported to the RKI (protection against infection act). DSS were first tested serologically to identify recently acquired infections (<140 days duration of infection); those classified as "recent infection" were processed for HIV-1 genotyping.

Effectiveness of Short-Term Inpatient Psychotherapy Based on Transactional Analysis With Patients With Personality Disorders: A Matched Control Study Using Propensity Score.

Controlled studies on the effectiveness of inpatient psychotherapy with patients with personality disorders (PD) are rare. This study aims to compare 3-month short-term inpatient psychotherapy based on transactional analysis (STIP-TA) with other psychotherapies (OP) up to 36-month follow-up. PD patients treated with STIP-TA were matched with OP patients using the propensity score.

Effectiveness of Day Hospital Mentalization-Based Treatment for Patients with Severe Borderline Personality Disorder: A Matched Control Study.

The present study extends the body of evidence regarding the effectiveness of day hospital Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) by documenting the treatment outcome of a highly inclusive group of severe borderline personality disorder (BPD) patients, benchmarked by a carefully matched group who received other specialized psychotherapeutic treatments (OPT). Structured diagnostic interviews were conducted to assess diagnostic status at baseline. Baseline, 18-month treatment outcome and 36-month treatment outcome (after the maintenance phase) on psychiatric symptoms (Brief Symptom Inventory) and personality functioning (118-item Severity Indices of Personality Problems) were available for 29 BPD patients assigned to MBT, and an initial set of 175 BPD patients assigned to OPT.

[Does routine outcome monitoring have a promising future? An investigation into the use of shared decision-making combined with ROM for patients with a combination of physical and psychiatric symptoms].

Background: Although routine outcome monitoring (ROM) has been developed and widely used in the course of patient centered outcome research in the Netherlands, so far the technique has hardly ever been used to improve the treatment of individual patients.

Aim: To describe how a rom technique based on the principles of shared decision-making (SDM) was developed and evaluated at the Center for Body, Mind and Health at GGz Breburg, a specialised mental health institution in the Netherlands.

Method: We have developed a conceptual model for SDM that involves patient participation and the use of evidence-based decision-aids with cut-off scores.

Effectiveness of Psychotherapy in Personality Disorders Not Otherwise Specified: A Comparison of Different Treatment Modalities.

Objective: Although personality disorder not otherwise specified (PDNOS) is highly prevalent and associated with a high burden of disease, only a few treatment studies in this patient group exist. This study is the first to investigate the effectiveness of different modalities of psychotherapy in patients with PDNOS, i.e.

Can ki-67 play a role in prediction of breast cancer patients' response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy?

Background: Currently the choice of breast cancer therapy is based on prognostic factors. The proliferation marker Ki-67 is used increasingly to determine the method of therapy. The current study analyses the predictive value of Ki-67 in foreseeing breast cancer patients' responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Personality functioning in patients with avoidant personality disorder and social phobia.

Avoidant personality disorder (APD) and social phobia (SP) are closely related, such that they are suggested to represent different severity levels of one social anxiety disorder. This cross-sectional study aimed to compare patients with APD to patients with SP, with particular focus on personality dysfunction. Ninety-one adult patients were examined by diagnostic interviews and self-report measures, including the Index of Self-Esteem and the Severity Indices of Personality Problems.

Draft genome sequence of Wickerhamomyces ciferrii NRRL Y-1031 F-60-10.

Wickerhamomyces ciferrii is a microorganism characterized by the production and secretion of large amounts of acetylated sphingoid bases, in particular tetraacetyl phytosphingosine. Here, we present the 15.90-Mbp draft genome sequence of W.

Treatment outcome of 18-month, day hospital mentalization-based treatment (MBT) in patients with severe borderline personality disorder in the Netherlands.

Psychoanalytically oriented day hospital therapy, later manualized and named mentalization-based treatment (MBT), has proven to be a (cost-) effective treatment for patients with severe borderline personality disorder and a high degree of psychiatric comorbidity (BPD) in the United Kingdom (UK). As to yet it has not been shown whether manualized day hospital MBT would yield similar results when conducted by an independent institute outside the UK. We investigated the applicability and treatment outcome of 18-month, manualized day hospital MBT in the Netherlands by means of a prospective cohort study with 45 Dutch patients with severe BPD and a high degree of comorbid Axis I and Axis II disorders.

Metabolic engineering of the non-conventional yeast Pichia ciferrii for production of rare sphingoid bases.

The study describes the identification of sphingolipid biosynthesis genes in the non-conventional yeast Pichia ciferrii, the development of tools for its genetic modification as well as their application for metabolic engineering of P. ciferrii with the goal to generate strains capable of producing the rare sphingoid bases sphinganine and sphingosine. Several canonical genes encoding ceramide synthase (encoded by PcLAG1 and PcLAF1), alkaline ceramidase (PcYXC1) and sphingolipid C-4-hydroxylase(PcSYR2), as well as structural genes for dihydroceramide Δ(4)-desaturase (PcDES1) and sphingolipid Δ(8)-desaturase (PcSLD1) were identified, indicating that P.

High-level production of tetraacetyl phytosphingosine (TAPS) by combined genetic engineering of sphingoid base biosynthesis and L-serine availability in the non-conventional yeast Pichia ciferrii.

The non-conventional yeast Pichia ciferrii is known to secrete the sphingoid long-chain base phytosphingosine in a tetraacetylated form (TAPS). Sphingolipids are important ingredients in cosmetic applications as they play important roles in human skin. Our work aimed to improve TAPS production by genetic engineering of P.

Relationship between patient characteristics and treatment allocation for patients with personality disorders.

Within a large multi-center study in patients with personality disorders, we investigated the relationship between patient characteristics and treatment allocation. Personality pathology, symptom distress, treatment history, motivational factors, and sociodemographics were measured at intake in 923 patients, who subsequently enrolled in short-term or long-term outpatient, day hospital, or inpatient psychotherapy for personality pathology. Logistic regressions were used to examine the predictors of allocation decisions.

Cognitive coping and defense styles in patients with personality disorders.

This study investigates the associations between cognitive coping (as measured with the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; CERQ), defense mechanisms (as measured with the Defense Style Questionnaire-60; DSQ-60) and personality disorders (PDs; as measured with the SIDP-IV interview) in a large sample of patients with PDs (n = 1,435). Explorative factor analyses indicated that the nine CERQ subscales can be clustered into three higher-order factors (adaptive coping, non-adaptive coping and external attribution style). When compared to a general population sample, the PD sample particularly scored higher on nonadaptive coping styles.

Patients with cluster a personality disorders in psychotherapy: an effectiveness study.

Background: While psychopharmacological studies are common in patients with cluster A personality disorders, the effects of psychotherapy have received little attention. The aim of this study is to explore whether psychotherapeutic treatment yields health gains for these patients.

Methods: The study was conducted between March 2003 and June 2008 in 6 mental health care centres in the Netherlands, with a sample of 57 patients with a DSM-IV-TR axis II cluster A diagnosis.

Effectiveness of outpatient, day hospital, and inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment for patients with cluster B personality disorders.

Background: For patients with cluster B personality disorders there is no consensus regarding the optimal treatment setting. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of different psychotherapeutic settings for patients with cluster B personality disorders, i.e.

The multiple propensity score as control for bias in the comparison of more than two treatment arms: an introduction from a case study in mental health.

Background And Objective: The propensity score method (PS) has proven to be an effective tool to reduce bias in nonrandomized studies, especially when the number of (potential) confounders is large and dimensionality problems arise. The PS method introduced by Rosenbaum and Rubin is described in detail for studies with 2 treatment options. Since in clinical practice we are often interested in the comparison of multiple interventions, there was a need to extend the PS method to multiple treatments.

Effectiveness of different modalities of psychotherapeutic treatment for patients with cluster C personality disorders: results of a large prospective multicentre study.

Background: No previous studies have compared the effectiveness of different modalities of psychotherapeutic treatment, as defined by different settings and durations, for patients with cluster C personality disorders. The aim of this multicentre study was to compare the effectiveness of 5 treatment modalities for patients with cluster C personality disorders in terms of psychiatric symptoms, psychosocial functioning, and quality of life. The following treatment modalities were compared: long-term outpatient (more than 6 months), short-term day hospital (up to 6 months), long-term day hospital, short-term inpatient, and long-term inpatient psychotherapy.

Reliability and validity of the Dutch Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Short Form (DAPP-SF), a shortened version of the DAPP-Basic Questionnaire.

The Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ) appears to be a good choice for the assessment of personality pathology. However, due to its length, administration of the instrument is rather time-consuming, hindering standard inclusion of the DABB-BQ in a battery of assessment instruments at intake. We developed the 136-item DAPP-SF (Short Form), and investigated its psychometric characteristics in various samples, i.

The use of propensity score methods in psychotherapy research. A practical application.

Background: Randomized controlled trials are considered the best scientific proof of effectiveness. There is increasing concern, though, about their feasibility in psychotherapy research. We discuss a quasi-experimental study design for situations in which a randomized controlled trial is not feasible.