Caveat emptor: Mental health specialty certifications and the public's preferences for clinical care.

Appropriate training and continuing education for mental health professionals are designed to ensure that clinicians provide effective and ethical care. Mental health consumers may depend upon these credentials to judge the level of a professional's competence, but whether these activities and credentials provide a valid indicator of knowledge and skills is subject to debate. The present study was designed to examine preferences for mental health clinicians among potential consumers and factors that may inform these preferences, specifically comparing preferences for doctoral-level mental health clinicians and masters-level clinicians with and without specialty certification for treating anxiety symptoms.

Corrigendum Compounds Errors and Again Fails to Support the Specificity of Acupoint Tapping.

In a prior article (Spielmans, Rosen, Spence-Sing J Nerv Ment Dis 208:628-631, 2020), we demonstrated that Church, Stapleton, Yang, and Gallo's (J Nerv Ment Dis 206:783-793, 2018) meta-analytic finding that acupoint tapping had specific therapeutic benefit was highly flawed, both statistically and methodologically. Our analysis based on corrected effect sizes found no significant benefit for acupoint tapping at study endpoint. Church, Stapleton, Kip, and Gallo (J Nerv Ment Dis 208:632-635, 2020) issued a corrigendum in which they reported a new post hoc analysis using follow-up (rather than study endpoint) measures.

Tapping Away at a Misleading Meta-analysis: No Evidence for Specificity of Acupoint Tapping.

Church et al.'s meta-analysis of three studies claimed to support the specificity of acupoint tapping as a therapeutic technique in the treatment of mental health problems. However, our critical analysis found substantial methodological problems and inaccurate statistical analyses, which render their results invalid.

Understanding the Questions Parents Are Asking.

Barnes T, Rosen GM. Understanding the questions parents are asking. .

Does Improvement of Low Serum Ferritin Improve Symptoms of Restless Legs Syndrome in a Cohort of Pediatric Patients?

Study Objectives: To determine whether an oral iron supplement improves restless leg/restless sleep symptoms in a pediatric population.

Methods: In a cohort study, 47 patients (age 5-18 years) exhibiting restless legs/restless sleep symptoms and low serum ferritin levels (< 50 ng/mL) were given a daily oral iron supplement (ferrous sulfate + vitamin C) and re-evaluated 8 weeks later. A diagnosis of definite Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) was determined based on criteria established by the International RLS Study Group.

Use of a Probiotic to Enhance Iron Absorption in a Randomized Trial of Pediatric Patients Presenting with Iron Deficiency.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of low dose ferrous sulfate for the treatment of iron deficiency and if the probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum 299v (LP299v) enhances treatment.

Study Design: This randomized, double-blinded, controlled trial of the treatment of iron deficiency in children compared the use of low-dose ferrous sulfate (1-3 mg/kg/day), with or without probiotic (LP299v).

Results: Serum ferritin level increased in all children from a baseline of 23.

Demonstration of a Tritiated Nitroxide Nuclear Battery.

Unattended, compact, terrestrial and space sensors require sources that have high energy and power densities to continuously operate for 3 to 99 years depending on application. Currently, chemical sources cannot fully satisfy these applications, especially in solid state form. Betavoltaic (βV) nuclear batteries using β-emitting radioisotopes possess energy densities 1000 times greater than conventional chemical sources.

Development of tritiated nitroxide for nuclear battery.

Beta radioisotope energy sources, such as tritium (H), have shown significant potential in satisfying the needs of a sensor-driven world. The limitations of current beta sources include: (i) low beta-flux power, (ii) intrinsic isotope leakage and (iii) beta self-absorption. The figure of merit is the beta-flux power (dP/dS in μW/cm), where an optimal portion of incident beta particles penetrates the semiconductor depletion region.

Imaging thiol redox status in murine tumors in vivo with rapid-scan electron paramagnetic resonance.

Thiol redox status is an important physiologic parameter that affects the success or failure of cancer treatment. Rapid scan electron paramagnetic resonance (RS EPR) is a novel technique that has shown higher signal-to-noise ratio than conventional continuous-wave EPR in in vitro studies. Here we used RS EPR to acquire rapid three-dimensional images of the thiol redox status of tumors in living mice.

Designing Molecular Probes To Prolong Intracellular Retention: Application to Nitroxide Spin Probes.

Targeted delivery of molecular probes into cells enables cellular imaging through optical and magnetic modalities. Probe molecules that are well retained by cells can accumulate to higher intracellular concentrations, and thus increase the signal-to-noise ratio of, and widen the temporal window for, imaging. Here we synthesize a paramagnetic spin probe bearing six ionic functional groups and show that it has long intracellular half-life (>12 h) and exceptional biostability in living cells.

In vitro chondrocyte toxicity following long-term, high-dose exposure to Gd-DTPA and a novel cartilage-targeted MR contrast agent.

Objective: To determine the concentrations exhibiting toxicity of a cartilage-targeted magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent compared with gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DT-PA) in chondrocyte cultures.

Materials And Methods: A long-term Swarm rat chondrosarcoma chondrocyte-like cell line was exposed for 48 h to 1.0-20 mM concentrations of diaminobutyl-linked nitroxide (DAB4-DLN) citrate, 1.

Has DSM-5 saved PTSD from itself?

In 2007, Robert Spitzer considered validity challenges to the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a construct that originated when he was Chair of DSM-III. Spitzer suggested changes for DSM-5, then in its planning stages, for the purpose of 'Saving PTSD from itself'. With years gone by, it can be asked if DSM-5 followed Spitzer's recommendations to advance our understanding of post-traumatic disorder.

In vivo EPR oximetry using an isotopically-substituted nitroxide: Potential for quantitative measurement of tissue oxygen.

Variations in brain oxygen (O2) concentration can have profound effects on brain physiology. Thus, the ability to quantitate local O2 concentrations noninvasively in vivo could significantly enhance understanding of several brain pathologies. However, quantitative O2 mapping in the brain has proven difficult.

Reassessing the "traditional background hypothesis" for elevated MMPI and MMPI-2 Lie-scale scores.

The Lie (L) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is widely regarded as a measure of conscious attempts to deny common human foibles and to present oneself in an unrealistically positive light. At the same time, the current MMPI-2 manual states that "traditional" and religious backgrounds can account for elevated L scale scores as high as 65T-79T, thereby tempering impression management interpretations for faith-based individuals. To assess the validity of the traditional background hypothesis, we reviewed 11 published studies that employed the original MMPI with religious samples and found that only 1 obtained an elevated mean L score.

Disulfide-Linked Dinitroxides for Monitoring Cellular Thiol Redox Status through Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Intracellular thiol-disulfide redox balance is crucial to cell health, and may be a key determinant of a cancer's response to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The ability to assess intracellular thiol-disulfide balance may thus be useful not only in predicting responsiveness of cancers to therapy, but in assessing predisposition to disease. Assays of thiols in biology have relied on colorimetry or fluorimetry, both of which require UV-visible photons, which do not penetrate the body.

Potential role of autophagy in the bactericidal activity of human PMNs for Bacillus anthracis.

Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, is acquired by mammalian hosts from the environment, as quiescent endospores. These endospores must germinate inside host cells, forming vegetative bacilli, before they can express the virulence factors that enable them to evade host defenses and disseminate throughout the body. While the role of macrophages and dendritic cells in this initial interaction has been established, the role of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) has not been adequately defined.

Imaging disulfide dinitroxides at 250 MHz to monitor thiol redox status.

Measurement of thiol-disulfide redox status is crucial for characterization of tumor physiology. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of disulfide-linked dinitroxides are readily distinguished from those of the corresponding monoradicals that are formed by cleavage of the disulfide linkage by free thiols. EPR spectra can thus be used to monitor the rate of cleavage and the thiol redox status.

Carbon monoxide released by CORM-401 uncouples mitochondrial respiration and inhibits glycolysis in endothelial cells: A role for mitoBKCa channels.

Carbon monoxide (CO), a product of heme degradation by heme oxygenases, plays an important role in vascular homeostasis. Recent evidence indicates that mitochondria are among a number of molecular targets that mediate the cellular actions of CO. In the present study we characterized the effects of CO released from CORM-401 on mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis in intact human endothelial cells using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oximetry and the Seahorse XF technology.

Improved sensitivity for imaging spin trapped hydroxyl radical at 250 MHz.

Radicals, including hydroxyl, superoxide, and nitric oxide, play key signaling roles in vivo. Reaction of these free radicals with a spin trap affords more stable paramagnetic nitroxides, but concentrations in vivo still are so low that detection by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) is challenging. Three innovative enabling technologies have been combined to substantially improve sensitivity for imaging spin-trapped radicals at 250 MHz.

Baeyer-Villiger Rearrangement of a Substituted Pyrrole by Oxone.

Pyrroloxyls have been reported to exhibit very narrow EPR spectral lines, essential for imaging. En route to pyrroloxyls, we observed an unexpected Baeyer-Villiger rearrangement, leading to loss of aromaticity and formation of a 4,5-dihydro-1-ketopyrrole.

Dimethyl 5-acetyl-1-hy-droxy-4-methyl-1H-pyrrole-2,3-di-carboxyl-ate, an oxidation-resistant N-hy-droxy-pyrrole.

The title compound, C11H13NO6, exhibits an intra-molecular O-H⋯O=C hydrogen bond between the N-hydroxyl H atom and carbonyl O atom of the neighboring acetyl group. This finding contradicts a previously published model in which the hydrogen bond was postulated to occur with the neighboring carbomethoxy group. This relatively strong hydrogen bond [O-H⋯O: D = 2.

Imaging of nitroxides at 250MHz using rapid-scan electron paramagnetic resonance.

Projections for 2D spectral-spatial images were obtained by continuous wave and rapid-scan electron paramagnetic resonance using a bimodal cross-loop resonator at 251MHz. The phantom consisted of three 4mm tubes containing different (15)N,(2)H-substituted nitroxides. Rapid-scan and continuous wave images were obtained with 5min total acquisition times.

In vivo evidence of methamphetamine induced attenuation of brain tissue oxygenation as measured by EPR oximetry.

Abuse of methamphetamine (METH) is a major and significant societal problem in the US, as a number of studies have suggested that METH is associated with increased cerebrovascular events, hemorrhage or vasospasm. Although cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in METH-induced toxicity are not completely understood, changes in brain O₂ may play an important role and contribute to METH-induced neurotoxicity including dopaminergic receptor degradation. Given that O₂ is the terminal electron acceptor for many enzymes that are important in brain function, the impact of METH on brain tissue pO₂ in vivo remains largely uncharacterized.