Predictors of symptom reduction following intensive weekend treatment for panic disorder: An exploratory study of veterans.

Background: Recent evidence implicates intensive panic control treatment (IPCT) - a full panic control treatment protocol compressed into a single weekend - as a viable alternative for Veterans with panic disorder who are unable or unwilling to commit to standard weekly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). However, no studies to date have examined pretreatment predictors of response to IPCT. Knowledge of such predictors may be important for understanding which Veterans are best suited for IPCT relative to standard CBT.

Household Food and Water Emergency Preparedness Practices Across the United States.

Objective: To evaluate food and water storage practices in the United States, including the extent that government emergency preparedness guidelines were followed.

Methods: Qualtrics panelists (n = 572) completed a 142-item online survey in August 2014. Cognitive interviews (n = 5) and pilot data (n = 14) informed survey development.

Stability of plasmid and viral banks supporting the cGMP manufacture of Q-Griffithsin from a TMV-based viral vector.

The "whole genome" TMV-based expression system, Geneware®, was used in the cGMP production of the plant-made pharmaceutical Q-Griffithsin and demonstrates stable expression for up to a two-year period. Virion and plasmid banks which contained viral cDNA and a Q-Griffithsin sequence were able to produce >200 g of Q-Griffithsin. Data assessing the quality and stability of the product banks were measured through functional assessments of visual symptomology and product expression.

Importance of knowledge in the behavioural treatment of panic disorder.

Background: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for panic disorder encourages patients to learn about and make changes to thoughts and behaviour patterns that maintain symptoms of the disorder. Instruments to assess whether or not patients understand therapy content do not currently exist.

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine if increases within specific knowledge domains of panic disorder were related to improvement in panic symptoms following an intensive 2-day panic treatment.

A Kinesin-14 Motor Activates Neocentromeres to Promote Meiotic Drive in Maize.

Maize abnormal chromosome 10 (Ab10) encodes a classic example of true meiotic drive that converts heterochromatic regions called knobs into motile neocentromeres that are preferentially transmitted to egg cells. Here, we identify a cluster of eight genes on Ab10, called the Kinesin driver (Kindr) complex, that are required for both neocentromere motility and preferential transmission. Two meiotic drive mutants that lack neocentromere activity proved to be kindr epimutants with increased DNA methylation across the entire gene cluster.