Is it me, is it you or is it both of US? Applying the social relations model to disentangle the components of the therapeutic bond.

Objective: The study investigated the contribution of therapists and patients to the therapeutic bond and their associations (at the within and between levels) to treatment outcome. On this aim, the social relations model (SRM, aimed to analyze dyadic interpersonal data) was implemented.

Method: A novel design for individual psychotherapy studies was adopted, a many-with-many asymmetrical block dyadic design, in which several patients interact with several therapists.

Highly Virulent and Multidrug-Resistant Sequence Type 58 from a Sausage in Germany.

Studies have previously described the occurrence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli in human and veterinary medical settings, livestock, and, to a lesser extent, in the environment and food. While they mostly analyzed foodborne E. coli regarding phenotypic and sometimes genotypic antibiotic resistance and basic phylogenetic classification, we have limited understanding of the in vitro and in vivo virulence characteristics and global phylogenetic contexts of these bacteria.

Antibiotic-Resistant in Wastewater of Abattoirs.

Antibiotic-resistant are regularly detected in livestock. As pathogens, they cause difficult-to-treat infections and, as commensals, they may serve as a source of resistance genes for other bacteria. Slaughterhouses produce significant amounts of wastewater containing antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (AMRB), which are released into the environment.

The influence of extra-therapeutic social support on the association between therapeutic bond and treatment outcome.

Both good therapeutic bond as well as extra-therapeutic social support seem to enhance treatment outcomes. Some features of the therapeutic bond are similar to experiences in extra-therapeutic relationships (e.g.

Why do patients go off track? Examining potential influencing factors for being at risk of psychotherapy treatment failure.

Background: Routine outcome monitoring can support clinicians to detect patients who deteriorate [not-on-track (NOT)] early in psychotherapy. Implemented Clinical Support Tools can direct clinicians' attention towards potential obstacles to a positive treatment outcome and provide suggestions for suitable interventions. However, few studies have compared NOT patients to patients showing expected progress [on-track (OT)] regarding such obstacles.

Personalized treatment selection in routine care: Integrating machine learning and statistical algorithms to recommend cognitive behavioral or psychodynamic therapy.

This study aims at developing a treatment selection algorithm using a combination of machine learning and statistical inference to recommend patients' optimal treatment based on their pre-treatment characteristics. A disorder-heterogeneous, naturalistic sample of = 1,379 outpatients treated with either cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic therapy was analyzed. Based on a combination of random forest and linear regression, differential treatment response was modeled in the training data (= 966) to indicate each individual's optimal treatment.

What happens when the therapist leaves? The impact of therapy transfer on the therapeutic alliance and symptoms.

Background: The therapeutic alliance is an important factor in psychotherapy, affecting both therapy processes and outcome. Therapy transfers may impair the quality of the therapeutic alliance and increase symptom severity. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of patient transfers in cognitive behavioural therapy on alliance and symptoms in the sessions after the transfer.

Individual treatment selection for patients with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (Tf-CBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) are two highly effective treatment options for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, on an individual level, PTSD patients vary substantially in treatment response. The aim of the paper is to test the application of a treatment selection method based on a personalized advantage index (PAI).

[Quality Assurance in Outpatient Psychotherapy].

The present article gives an overview of quality assurance measures in outpatient psychotherapy. Therefore, we review elements considered important to assure quality in general and for psychotherapy in particular. We focus on possibilities to assure the quality of psychotherapy outcomes.

Randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effects of personalized prediction and adaptation tools on treatment outcome in outpatient psychotherapy: study protocol.

Background: Psychotherapy is successful for the majority of patients, but not for every patient. Hence, further knowledge is needed on how treatments should be adapted for those who do not profit or deteriorate. In the last years prediction tools as well as feedback interventions were part of a trend to more personalized approaches in psychotherapy.

Use of the QIAGEN GeneReader NGS system for detection of KRAS mutations, validated by the QIAGEN Therascreen PCR kit and alternative NGS platform.

Background: The detection of somatic mutations in primary tumors is critical for the understanding of cancer evolution and targeting therapy. Multiple technologies have been developed to enable the detection of such mutations. Next generation sequencing (NGS) is a new platform that is gradually becoming the technology of choice for genotyping cancer samples, owing to its ability to simultaneously interrogate many genomic loci at massively high efficiency and increasingly lower cost.

Cell Death Control by Matrix Metalloproteinases.

In contrast to mammalian matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that play important roles in the remodeling of the extracellular matrix in animals, the proteases responsible for dynamic modifications of the plant cell wall are largely unknown. A possible involvement of MMPs was addressed by cloning and functional characterization of Sl2-MMP and Sl3-MMP from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The two tomato MMPs were found to resemble mammalian homologs with respect to gelatinolytic activity, substrate preference for hydrophobic amino acids on both sides of the scissile bond, and catalytic properties.

Therapist Effects on and Predictors of Non-Consensual Dropout in Psychotherapy.

Background: Whereas therapist effects on outcome have been a research topic for several years, the influence of therapists on premature treatment termination (dropout) has hardly been investigated. Since dropout is common during psychological treatment, and its occurrence has important implications for both the individual patient and the healthcare system, it is important to identify the factors associated with it.

Method: Participants included 707 patients in outpatient psychotherapy treated by 66 therapists.

Feedback and therapist effects in the context of treatment outcome and treatment length.

Objective: This study estimates feedback and therapist effects and tests the predictive value of therapists' and patient attitudes toward psychometric feedback for treatment outcome and length.

Methods: Data of 349 outpatients and 44 therapists in private practices were used. Separate multilevel analyses were conducted to estimate predictors and feedback and therapist effects.

Defining early positive response to psychotherapy: An empirical comparison between clinically significant change criteria and growth mixture modeling.

Several different approaches have been applied to identify early positive change in response to psychotherapy so as to predict later treatment outcome and length as well as use this information for outcome monitoring and treatment planning. In this study, simple methods based on clinically significant change criteria and computationally demanding growth mixture modeling (GMM) are compared with regard to their overlap and uniqueness as well as their characteristics in terms of initial impairment, therapy outcome, and treatment length. The GMM approach identified a highly specific subgroup of early improving patients.

Prototype for automatable, dielectrophoretically-accessed intracellular membrane-potential measurements by metal electrodes.

Functional access to membrane proteins, for example, ion channels, of individual cells is an important prerequisite in drug discovery studies. The highly sophisticated patch-clamp method is widely used for electrogenic membrane proteins, but is demanding for the operator, and its automation remains challenging. The dielectrophoretically-accessed, intracellular membrane-potential measurement (DAIMM) method is a new technique showing high potential for automation of electrophysiological data recording in the whole-cell configuration.

Dielectric analysis and multi-cell electrofusion of the yeast Pichia pastoris for electrophysiological studies.

The yeast Pichia pastoris has become the most favored eukaryotic host for heterologous protein expression. P. pastoris strains capable of overexpressing various membrane proteins are now available.

Isolation of guard cells from fresh epidermis using a piezo-power micro-dissection system with vibration-attenuated needles.

The Eppendorf Piezo-Power Microdissection (PPMD) system uses a tungsten needle (MicroChisel) oscillating in a forward-backward (vertical) mode to cut cells from surrounding tissue. This technology competes with laser-based dissection systems, which offer high accuracy and precision, but are more expensive and require fixed tissue. In contrast, PPMD systems can dissect freshly prepared tissue, but their accuracy and precision is lower due to unwanted lateral vibrations of the MicroChisel.

Channelrhodopsin-2 is a leaky proton pump.

Since its discovery, the light-gated cation channel Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) has proven to be a long-sought tool for the noninvasive, light-activated control of neural cells in culture and in living animals. Although ChR2 is widely used in neurobiological applications, little is known about its molecular mechanism. In this work, the unitary conductance of ChR2 was determined for different cations, for example 40 fS at 200 mM NaCl and -60 mV, using noise analysis.

Electrofused giant protoplasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a novel system for electrophysiological studies on membrane proteins.

Giant protoplasts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae of 10-35 microm in diameter were generated by multi-cell electrofusion. Thereby two different preparation strategies were evaluated with a focus on size distribution and "patchability" of electrofused protoplasts. In general, parental protoplasts were suitable for electrofusion 1-12 h after isolation.

Characterization of Na,K-ATPase and H,K-ATPase enzymes with glycosylation-deficient beta-subunit variants by voltage-clamp fluorometry in Xenopus oocytes.

The role of N-linked glycosylation of beta-subunits in the functional properties of the oligomeric P-type ATPases Na,K- and H,K-ATPase has been examined by expressing glycosylation-deficient Asn-to-Gln beta-variants in Xenopus oocytes. For both ATPases, the absence of the huge N-linked oligosaccharide moiety on the beta-subunit does not affect alpha/beta coassembly, plasma membrane delivery or functional activity of the holoenzyme. Whereas this is in line with several previous glycosylation studies on Na,K-ATPase, this is the first report showing that the cell surface delivery and enzymatic activity of the gastric H,K-ATPase is unaffected by the lack of N-linked glycosylation.

Physical and biological properties of barium cross-linked alginate membranes.

We describe the manufacture of highly stable and elastic alginate membranes with good cell adhesivity and adjustable permeability. Clinical grade, ultra-high viscosity alginate is gelled by diffusion of Ba2+ followed by use of the "crystal gun" [Zimmermann H. et al.

Conformational dynamics of Na+/K+- and H+/K+-ATPase probed by voltage clamp fluorometry.

We used the method of site-directed fluorescence labeling in combination with voltage-clamp fluorometry for time-resolved recording of localized conformational transitions of the Na(+)/K(+)- and H(+)/K(+)-ATPase. Therefore, single cysteine mutations were introduced into the extracellular TM5-TM6 loop of the sheep Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase alpha(1)-subunit devoid of other extracellular cysteines. Upon expression in Xenopus oocytes and covalent attachment of tetramethylrhodamine-maleimide (TMRM) as a reporter fluorophore, Cys-mutant N790C showed large fluorescence changes of up to 5% in response to extracellular K(+) that were completely abolished by ouabain.