Reconsidering the ethics of provocation techniques for Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Attacks and proposed ethical guidelines for use.

Patients with psychogenic non-epileptic attacks (PNEA) are subject to considerable direct and indirect comorbid psycho-socio-economic impact from their condition. Fortunately, diagnosis and treatment of PNEA has shown to be both medically effective and cost-efficient, ultimately improving PNEA symptoms, mental health, quality of life, and healthcare resource utilization. Though provocation techniques for PNEA have proven highly effective in diagnosing and providing expedited treatment to these patients, they have recently begun to fall out of favor due to ethical concerns about their use.

Epidemiology of Antibiotic Use and Drivers of Cross-Border Procurement in a Mexican American Border Community.

Background: The U.S.-Mexico Border is an area of opportunity for improved health care access; however, gaps remain as to how and where U.

Beam Energy and Centrality Dependence of Direct-Photon Emission from Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions.

The PHENIX collaboration presents first measurements of low-momentum (0.4 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Suppresses Innate Immune Responses via a Ubiquitin and ISG15 Specific Protease.

Antiviral responses are regulated by conjugation of ubiquitin (Ub) and interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) to proteins. Certain classes of viruses encode Ub- or ISG15-specific proteases belonging to the ovarian tumor (OTU) superfamily. Their activity is thought to suppress cellular immune responses, but studies demonstrating the function of viral OTU proteases during infection are lacking.

Nonantimicrobial drug targets for Clostridium difficile infections.

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a major public health problem worldwide. Treatment has become complicated due to the emergence of strains with increased toxigenicity and sporulation rate, together with rampant antibiotics use that disrupts colonization resistance of the colonic microbiota. As a result, there is a critical need for nonantibiotic treatments.

Biochemical and Structural Insights into the Preference of Nairoviral DeISGylases for Interferon-Stimulated Gene Product 15 Originating from Certain Species.

Unlabelled: The regulation of the interferon type I (IFN-I) response has been shown to rely on posttranslational modification by ubiquitin (Ub) and Ub-like interferon-stimulated gene product 15 (ISG15) to stabilize, or activate, a variety of IFN-I signaling and downstream effector proteins. Unlike Ub, which is almost perfectly conserved among eukaryotes, ISG15 is highly divergent, even among mammals. Since zoonotic viruses rely on viral proteins to recognize, or cleave, ISG15 conjugates in order to evade, or suppress, innate immunity, the impact of ISG15 biodiversity on deISGylating proteases of the ovarian tumor family (vOTU) from nairoviruses was evaluated.

Measurements of Elliptic and Triangular Flow in High-Multiplicity 3He+Au Collisions at √(s(NN))=200 GeV.

We present the first measurement of elliptic (v(2)) and triangular (v(3)) flow in high-multiplicity (3)He+Au collisions at √(s(NN))=200  GeV. Two-particle correlations, where the particles have a large separation in pseudorapidity, are compared in (3)He+Au and in p+p collisions and indicate that collective effects dominate the second and third Fourier components for the correlations observed in the (3)He+Au system. The collective behavior is quantified in terms of elliptic v(2) and triangular v(3) anisotropy coefficients measured with respect to their corresponding event planes.

Validity of the School-age Assessment of Attachment for moderate-risk, rural early adolescents.

Introduction: This study provides evidence of validity of the School-age Assessment of Attachment (SAA) through longitudinal comparison with the Preschool Assessment of Attachment (PAA) and with concurrent attachment assessments and measures of risk and parenting. Determining which assessment had the greatest validity with this moderate-risk sample would be of benefit to those working with troubled young people and their families.

Hypotheses: Children's SAA classifications were expected to correspond to their PAA, a behavioral attachment assessment, parenting, and risk.

The vOTU domain of highly-pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus displays a differential substrate preference.

Arterivirus genus member Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes an economically devastating disease, recently exacerbated by the emergence of highly pathogenic strains (HP-PRRSV). Within the nonstructural protein 2 of PRRSV is a deubiquitinating enzyme domain belonging to the viral ovarian tumor (vOTU) protease superfamily. vOTUs, which can greatly vary in their preference for their host ubiquitin (Ub) and Ub-like substrates such as interferon stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), have been implicated as a potential virulence factor.

Overliming detoxification of pyrolytic sugar syrup for direct fermentation of levoglucosan to ethanol.

The application of pyrolytic sugars for biofuel production through fermentation is challenged by inhibitory contaminant compounds. Inhibition is so severe that only 0.25% sugar syrup can be used.

Medium modification of jet fragmentation in Au+Au collisions at √[s(NN)]=200 GeV measured in direct photon-hadron correlations.

The jet fragmentation function is measured with direct photon-hadron correlations in p+p and Au+Au collisions at √[s(NN)]=200 GeV. The p(T) of the photon is an excellent approximation to the initial p(T) of the jet and the ratio z(T)=p(T)(h)/p(T)(γ) is used as a proxy for the jet fragmentation function. A statistical subtraction is used to extract the direct photon-hadron yields in Au+Au collisions while a photon isolation cut is applied in p+p.

Diversity of ubiquitin and ISG15 specificity among nairoviruses' viral ovarian tumor domain proteases.

Nairoviruses are responsible for numerous diseases that affect both humans and animal. Recent work has implicated the viral ovarian tumor domain (vOTU) as a possible nairovirus virulence factor due to its ability to edit ubiquitin (Ub) bound to cellular proteins and, at least in the case of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), to cleave the Ub-like protein interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), a protein involved in the regulation of host immunity. The prospective roles of vOTUs in immune evasion have generated several questions concerning whether vOTUs act through a preserved specificity for Ub- and ISG15-conjugated proteins and where that specificity may originate.

Tear lacritin levels by age, sex, and time of day in healthy adults.

Purpose: Several small proteomic studies suggest that the prosecretory tear protein lacritin may be selectively downregulated in dry eye syndrome and in blepharitis, yet little information is available about normal baseline levels. This study assessed lacritin levels in tears from healthy individuals and addressed whether they differ according to sex, age, or time of day.

Methods: Rabbit antibodies against lacritin N-terminal peptide EDASSDSTGADPAQEAGTS (Pep Lac N-Term) were generated and characterized against human recombinant lacritin and N-65 truncation mutant.

Structural and biochemical characterization of human adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) and the R303C ADSL deficiency-associated mutation.

Adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, which causes a defect in purine metabolism resulting in neurological and physiological symptoms. ADSL executes two nonsequential steps in the de novo synthesis of AMP: the conversion of phosphoribosylsuccinyl-aminoimidazole carboxamide (SAICAR) to phosphoribosylaminoimidazole carboxamide, which occurs in the de novo synthesis of IMP, and the conversion of adenylosuccinate to AMP, which occurs in the de novo synthesis of AMP and also in the purine nucleotide cycle, using the same active site. Mutation of ADSL's arginine 303 to a cysteine is known to lead to ADSL deficiency.

A respiratory alert model for the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA.

Respiratory morbidity (particularly COPD and asthma) can be influenced by short-term weather fluctuations that affect air quality and lung function. We developed a model to evaluate meteorological conditions associated with respiratory hospital admissions in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, USA. We generated ensembles of classification trees based on six years of respiratory-related hospital admissions (64,620 cases) and a suite of 83 potential environmental predictor variables.

Structural and functional characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis triosephosphate isomerase.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major infectious disease that accounts for over 1.7 million deaths every year. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, enters the human host by the inhalation of infectious aerosols.

Enhanced production of direct photons in Au + Au collisions at square root(S(NN)) = 200 GeV and implications for the initial temperature.

The production of e+ e- pairs for m(e+ e-)<0.3 GeV/c2 and 1 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Measurement of bottom versus charm as a function of transverse momentum with electron-hadron correlations in p + p collisions at square root of s = 200 GeV.

The momentum distribution of electrons from semileptonic decays of charm and bottom quarks for midrapidity |y|<0.35 in p+p collisions at square root of s=200 GeV is measured by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider over the transverse momentum range 2 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Suppression pattern of neutral pions at high transverse momentum in Au + Au collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200 GeV and constraints on medium transport coefficients.

For Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV, we measure neutral pion production with good statistics for transverse momentum, pT, up to 20 GeV/c. A fivefold suppression is found, which is essentially constant for 5 < pT < 20 GeV/c. Experimental uncertainties are small enough to constrain any model-dependent parametrization for the transport coefficient of the medium, e.

Onset of pi(0) suppression studied in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt S NN=22.4, 62.4, and 200 GeV.

Neutral pion transverse momentum (p(T)) spectra at midrapidity (|y| less than or approximately 0.35) were measured in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=22.4, 62.

J/psi production in sqrt s_NN=200 GeV Cu+Cu collisions.

Yields for J/psi production in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt s_NN=200 GeV have been measured over the rapidity range |y|<2.2 and compared with results in p+p and Au+Au collisions at the same energy. The Cu+Cu data offer greatly improved precision over existing Au+Au data for J/psi production in collisions with small to intermediate numbers of participants, in the range where the quark-gluon plasma transition threshold is predicted to lie.

Trekking poles increase physiological responses to hiking without increased perceived exertion.

Trekking poles are used by hikers for improved stability and lowered leg fatigue due to increased upper body muscle involvement. However, the weight of the poles and exaggerated upper body movement when using poles may increase total energy expenditure at a given walking speed. Few studies have investigated the physiological responses of hiking with trekking poles outside the laboratory setting.

System size and energy dependence of jet-induced hadron pair correlation shapes in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=200 and 62.4 GeV.

We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from dijets in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from Delta phi=pi in central and semicentral collisions in all the systems.

J/psi production versus centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity in Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV.

The PHENIX experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has measured J/psi production for rapidities -2.2 View Article and Find Full Text PDF