Feedback-informed treatment versus usual psychological treatment for depression and anxiety: a multisite, open-label, cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Previous research suggests that the use of outcome feedback technology can enable psychological therapists to identify and resolve obstacles to clinical improvement. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of an outcome feedback quality assurance system applied in stepped care psychological services.

Methods: This multisite, open-label, cluster randomised controlled trial was done at eight National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in England, involving therapists who were qualified to deliver evidence-based low-intensity or high-intensity psychological interventions.

Colorimetric polymer films for predicting lipid interactions and percutaneous adsorption of pharmaceutical formulations.

Purpose: To develop and demonstrate a rapid and simple colorimetric film assay for evaluating lipid interactions of pharmaceutical compounds and gel formulations.

Methods: The colorimetric assay comprises glass-supported films of phospholipids and polydiacetylene, which undergo visible and quantifiable blue-red transformations induced by interactions with amphiphilic molecules applied in very small volumes on the film surface. The color transitions are recorded by scanning of the films, and quantified through a simple image analysis algorithm.

Fate of germinated Bacillus anthracis spores in primary murine macrophages.

We investigated the fate of germinated Bacillus anthracis spores after their germination in Swiss murine peritoneal macrophages and in the cell line RAW264.7. We found that the lethal toxin and the oedema toxin are germ-associated factors that are essential for the survival of the vegetative form in host cells.

CD44 binds to the Shigella IpaB protein and participates in bacterial invasion of epithelial cells.

Shigella entry into epithelial cells is characterized by a transient reorganization of the host cell cytoskeleton at the site of bacterial interaction with the cell membrane, which leads to bacterial engulfment in a macropinocytic process. Using affinity chromatography on HeLa cell extracts, we show here that the hyaluronan receptor CD44 associates with IpaB, a Shigella protein that is secreted upon cell contact. Overlay and solid-phase assays indicated that IpaB binds directly to the extracellular domain of CD44; binding is saturable and inhibitable, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 175 nM.

The secreted IpaB and IpaC invasins and their cytoplasmic chaperone IpgC are required for intercellular dissemination of Shigella flexneri.

Invasion of epithelial cells by Shigella flexneri involves entry and dissemination. The main effectors of entry, IpaB and IpaC, are also required for contact haemolytic activity and escape from the phagosome in infected macrophages. These proteins are stored in the cytoplasm in association with the chaperone IpgC, before their secretion by a type III secretion apparatus is activated by host cells.