Computational and AI-driven 3D structural analysis of human papillomavirus (HPV) oncoproteins E5, E6, and E7 reveal significant divergence of HPV E5 between low-risk and high-risk genotypes.

There are over 220 identified genotypes of Human papillomavirus (HPV), and the HPV genome encodes 3 major oncogenes, E5, E6, and E7. Conservation and divergence in protein sequence and function between low-risk versus high-risk oncogenic HPV genotypes has not been fully characterized. Here, we used modern computational and structural folding algorithms to perform a comparative analysis of HPV E5, E6, and E7 between multiple low risk and high risk genotypes.

Postpartum Sciatic Neuropathy After Uncomplicated Vaginal Delivery.

Postpartum neuropathies are common, including femoral neuropathy, peroneal neuropathy, lumbosacral trunk plexopathy, and lateral femoral cutaneous neuropathy. Sciatic mononeuropathy in the peripartum period is rare. Postpartum sciatic neuropathy (PSN) in the setting of cesarean section has been reported before.

Streamlined Purification of RNA-Protein Complexes Using UV Cross-Linking and RNA Antisense Purification.

RNA-protein interactions are important in development and disease, but identification of novel RNA-protein interactions remains challenging. Here, we describe an updated capture method to identify direct and specific RNA-protein interactions. First, RNA and protein are covalently cross-linked in living cells by treatment with UV light at 254 nanometers wavelength.

Psychosocial Stress, Epileptic-Like Symptoms and Psychotic Experiences.

Background: Current research suggests that stressful life experiences and situations create a substantive effect in the development of the initial manifestations of psychotic disorders and may influence temporo-limbic epileptic-like activity manifesting as cognitive and affective seizure-like symptoms in non-epileptic conditions.

Methods: The current study assessed trauma history, hair cortisol levels, epileptic-like manifestations and other psychopathological symptoms in 56 drug naive adult young women experiencing their initial occurrence of psychosis.

Results: Hair cortisol levels among patients experiencing their initial episode of psychosis, were significantly correlated with stress symptoms measured by Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 ( = - 0.

A geometric basis for surface habitat complexity and biodiversity.

Structurally complex habitats tend to contain more species and higher total abundances than simple habitats. This ecological paradigm is grounded in first principles: species richness scales with area, and surface area and niche density increase with three-dimensional complexity. Here we present a geometric basis for surface habitats that unifies ecosystems and spatial scales.

Isolated epileptiform activity in children and adolescents: prevalence, relevance, and implications for treatment.

In the field of psychiatry diagnoses are primarily based on the report of symptoms from either the patient, parents, or both, and a psychiatrist's observations. A psychiatric diagnosis is currently the most widely used basis for medication selection and the brain is seldom investigated directly as a source of those symptoms. This study addresses the request from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria Project (RDoC) for scientific research into neurological abnormalities that can be linked to psychiatric symptoms for the purpose of predicting medication response.

Climate-driven shift in coral morphological structure predicts decline of juvenile reef fishes.

Rapid intensification of environmental disturbances has sparked widespread decline and compositional shifts in foundation species in ecosystems worldwide. Now, an emergent challenge is to understand the consequences of shifts and losses in such habitat-forming species for associated communities and ecosystem processes. Recently, consecutive coral bleaching events shifted the morphological makeup of habitat-forming coral assemblages on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR).

Normalization of EEG in depression after antidepressant treatment with sertraline? A preliminary report.

Background: MDD patients with abnormal EEG patterns seem more likely to be non-responsive to the antidepressants escitalopram and venlafaxine, but not sertraline, than patients without EEG abnormalities. This finding suggests that patients with both MDD and abnormal EEGs may differentially respond to antidepressant treatment. In the current study, we investigated whether depressed patients with an abnormal EEG show a normalization of the EEG related to antidepressant treatment and response and whether such effect is drug specific, and whether having had early life stress (ELS) increases the chance of abnormal activity.

Deficit Versus Nondeficit Schizophrenia: An MEG-EEG Investigation of Resting State and Source Coherence-Preliminary Data.

This study investigated the magneto- and electroencephalography (MEG and EEG, respectively) resting state to identify the deviations closely associated with the deficit syndrome (DS) in schizophrenia patients. Ten subjects in each group (control, DS, and nondeficit schizophrenia [NDS]) were included. Subjects underwent MEG-EEG recordings during a resting state condition.

Diagnostic Utility of Sodium Lactate Infusion and CO2-35% Inhalation for Panic Disorder.

Laboratory measures have played an integral role in diagnosing pathology; however, compared to traditional medicine, psychiatric medicine has lagged behind in using such measures. A growing body of literature has begun to examine the viability and development of different laboratory measures in order to diagnose psychopathologies. The present review examines the current state of development of both sodium lactate infusion and CO2-35% inhalation as potential ancillary measures to diagnose panic disorder (PD).

Electroencephalogram (EEG) for children with autism spectrum disorder: evidential considerations for routine screening.

Routine electroencephalograms (EEG) are not recommended as a screen for epileptic discharges (EDs) in current practice guidelines for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, a review of the research from the last three decades suggests that this practice should be reevaluated. The significant comorbidity between epilepsy and ASD, its shared biological pathways, risk for developmental regression, and cognitive challenges demand increased clinical investigation requiring a proactive approach.

Evoked Potentials Investigations of Deficit Versus Nondeficit Schizophrenia: EEG-MEG Preliminary Data.

Heterogeneity of schizophrenia is a major obstacle toward understanding the disorder. One likely subtype is the deficit syndrome (DS) where patients suffer from predominantly negative symptoms. This study investigated the evoked responses and the evoked magnetic fields to identify the neurophysiological deviations associated with the DS.

Preliminary Evidence for Limbic-Frontal Hyperexcitability in Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizure Patients.

Objectives: The goal of the current pilot project was to probe the resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG) in individuals with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) and ascertain if there is evidence for frontal temporal cortical hyperexcitability, as evidenced by increased focal coherence in these regions.

Methods: Six patients with PNES and without any evidence of epilepsy were included. Nine healthy control (HC) subjects (age matched as a group) were also included.

A cyclical path to recovery: Calling into question the wisdom of incarceration after restoration.

Around 20-25% of the current offenders in Cook County Jail of Chicago Illinois are mentally ill. Each one of these offenders had to be named competent to stand trial when they were first being tried in court. The majority of these offenders that were considered incompetent to stand trial (IST) had to go through the competency restoration process where they were housed in a state hospital and received treatment until the court could deem them to be competent to stand trial.

Effects of adolescent alcohol exposure on stress-induced reward deficits, brain CRF, monoamines and glutamate in adult rats.

Background: Adolescent alcohol exposure may increase depression vulnerability in adulthood by increasing the anhedonic response to stress.

Methods: Male Wistar rats (postnatal days 28-53) were exposed to binge-like adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) or water. In adulthood, rats were exposed to social defeat, consisting of daily confrontations with an aggressive conspecific, followed by testing of brain reward function in a discrete-trial current-intensity intracranial self-stimulation procedure for 10 consecutive days.

The forsaking of the clinical EEG by psychiatry: how justified?

Despite decades of publications attesting to the role of the clinical EEG in diagnosing and managing psychiatric disorders, the procedure remains highly underutilized in the practice of psychiatry. The visually inspected EEG (vEEG) can detect various forms of abnormalities, each with its own clinical significance. Abnormalities can be paroxysmal (i.

A magnetoencephalography investigation of coherence source imaging in panic disorder.

Limbic and frontal structures are largely implicated in panic disorder (PD). Decreased coherence imaging values, as determined by magnetoencephalography (MEG), are suggestive of decreased or inefficient communication among these structures. We have previously demonstrated that coherence source imaging (CSI) values could be similar or higher in some PD patients.

Comparing EEG Nonlinearity in Deficit and Nondeficit Schizophrenia Patients: Preliminary Data.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) contains valuable information obtained noninvasively that can be used for assessment of brain's processing capacity of patients with psychiatric disorders. The purpose of the present work was to evaluate possible differences in EEG complexity between deficit (DS) and nondeficit (NDS) subtypes of schizophrenia as a reflection of the cognitive processing capacities in these groups. A particular nonlinear metric known as Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) was used as a computational tool in order to determine the randomness in EEG alpha band time series from 3 groups (deficit schizophrenia [n = 9], nondeficit schizophrenia [n = 10], and healthy controls [n = 10]) according to time series randomness.

Effects of early life stress and adolescent ethanol exposure on adult cognitive performance in the 5-choice serial reaction time task in Wistar male rats.

Rationale: Early life stress combined with heavy adolescent alcohol use predicts impaired neuropsychological functioning in adulthood. We investigated whether adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure combined with neonatal maternal separation in rats altered attentional processes and impulsivity in adulthood.

Methods: Male Wistar rat pups were exposed to maternal separation (postnatal days (PNDs) 1-14) and moderate AIE exposure (PNDs 28-57).

Inhibitory deficits in prepulse inhibition, sensory gating, and antisaccade eye movement in schizotypy.

Schizotypy is a term that refers to a continuum of personality characteristics, emerging from mental states ranging from organized and normal to unorganized and disordered; with the latter tending to include individuals with high schizotypal scores as well as those diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder. Evidence from psychophysiological studies has found a relative weakness in the inhibitory functioning, including prepulse inhibition (PPI), sensory gating (SG), and antisaccade eye movement (AEM) in schizotypy and schizophrenia. As schizotypy and schizophrenia are in the same spectrum, understanding the nature of sensory and motor inhibitory weakness associated with schizotypy will optimize the prevention and intervention for both schizotypy and schizophrenia populations.

Risky choice and brain CRF after adolescent ethanol vapor exposure and social stress in adulthood.

Adolescent ethanol exposure increases risky choice and alters corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) systems in adulthood. The impact of stress on risky choice after adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure is not known. We investigated time-specific effects of AIE vapor exposure during early adolescence on risky choice after stress or no stress in adulthood.

EEG Abnormalities Are Associated With Poorer Depressive Symptom Outcomes With Escitalopram and Venlafaxine-XR, but Not Sertraline: Results From the Multicenter Randomized iSPOT-D Study.

Rationale Limited research is available on electrophysiological abnormalities such as epileptiform EEG or EEG slowing in depression and its association with antidepressant treatment response. Objectives We investigated the association between EEG abnormalities and antidepressant treatment response in the international Study to Predict Optimized Treatment in Depression (iSPOT-D). Methods Of 1008 participants with major depressive disorder randomized to escitalopram, sertraline, or venlafaxine-XR, 622 completed 8 weeks of treatment per protocol.

Epilepsy spectrum disorders: A concept in need of validation or refutation.

Episodic psychiatric symptoms are not uncommon and range from panic attacks to repeated violent acts. Some evidence has accumulated over the years that at least in a subset of patients exhibiting these symptoms there may be evidence for the presence of focal cortical/subcortical hyperexcitability. In these cases the condition could be conceptualized as an epilepsy spectrum disorder (ESD) with significant treatment implications.