Helping people with psychosis with a low-cost intervention DIALOG+: protocol for the economic evaluation in a randomised control trial in India and Pakistan.

Background: Approximately 69%-89% of people with severe mental illnesses, particularly psychosis, experience a treatment gap in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to factors such as low public spending on health and weak healthcare systems. The PIECEs project aims to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a solution-focused resource-oriented approach (DIALOG+) for improving the quality of life and mental well-being of people with psychosis in India and Pakistan.

Methods: The research design of this analysis is an economic evaluation piggybacked on the PIECEs randomised control trial to test the feasibility of DIALOG+ in India and Pakistan.

Effectiveness of Virtual - Compensatory Cognitive Training (V-CCT) for improving cognition in persons with schizophrenia - a multi- centre randomized controlled trial.

Background: Cognitive deficits are the core component in persons with schizophrenia which impacts their socio-occupational functioning. Also, cognitive deficits cause significant impairment with the person's quality of life [3]. Hence, targeting such a pivotal aspect in persons with schizophrenia through suitable interventions is very important.

The Tamil Version of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18V2: Reliability and Factor Structure Among Persons with Schizophrenia.

Background: Persons with schizophrenia (PwS) are vulnerable to developing disordered eating behaviors. However, standardized tools to assess disordered eating patterns are unavailable in the regional language, Tamil. Different versions of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) have been used to measure disordered eating patterns among PwS worldwide.

The Tamil version of Eating Attitudes Test-26: Reliability and factor structure among persons with schizophrenia.

Background: Disordered eating behaviors (DEBs) among persons with schizophrenia (PwS) have been reported widely in the literature, with very few studies in India. Robust tools to assess DEB are needed in the vernacular language to capture symptoms of disordered eating accurately. No such tools are available in the Tamil language.

Assessing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a solution-focused resource-orientated approach (DIALOG+) to improving the quality of life for people with psychosis in India and Pakistan-a cluster RCT.

Background: Severe mental illness (SMI) presents a major challenge worldwide, affecting approximately 5-8% of the world's population. It causes significant distress to affected people, families and wider communities, generating high costs through loss of productivity and ongoing healthcare use. Over 75% of patients with psychosis receive inadequate care and experience a negative financial impact and reduced quality of life (QoL).

Implementing psychosocial interventions within low and middle-income countries to improve community-based care for people with psychosis-A situation analysis.

Background: Globally, a treatment gap exists for individuals with severe mental illness, with 75% of people with psychosis failing to receive appropriate care. This is most pronounced in low and middle-income countries, where there are neither the financial nor human resources to provide high-quality community-based care. Low-cost, evidence-based interventions are urgently needed to address this treatment gap.

Acceptability of Peer Support for People With Schizophrenia in Chennai, India: A Cross Sectional Study Amongst People With Lived Experience, Caregivers, and Mental Health Professionals.

Introduction: Establishing structured peer support in mental health, particularly for people with schizophrenia, as a psychosocial intervention is early in low and middle-income countries like India. Before implementing and understanding the effectiveness of peer support service and which mode of peer support delivery will be suitable for our culture, our study aimed to understand if peer support would be accepted by the different participants like persons with schizophrenia, caregivers and mental health professionals in a tertiary care center in Chennai, India.

Methods: The study was conducted at the outpatient department (OPD) of a tertiary psychiatric care facility in Chennai, India.

Intra-vessel heterogeneity establishes enhanced sites of macromolecular leakage downstream of laminin α5.

Endothelial cells display heterogeneous properties based on location and function. How this heterogeneity influences endothelial barrier stability both between and within vessel subtypes is unexplored. In this study, we find that endothelial cells exhibit heterogeneous barrier properties on inter-organ and intra-vessel levels.

Positive Feedback Defines the Timing, Magnitude, and Robustness of Angiogenesis.

Angiogenesis is driven by the coordinated collective branching of specialized leading "tip" and trailing "stalk" endothelial cells (ECs). While Notch-regulated negative feedback suppresses excessive tip selection, roles for positive feedback in EC identity decisions remain unexplored. Here, by integrating computational modeling with in vivo experimentation, we reveal that positive feedback critically modulates the magnitude, timing, and robustness of angiogenic responses.

Computational analysis reveals the coupling between bistability and the sign of a feedback loop in a TGF-β1 activation model.

Background: Bistable behaviors are prevalent in cell signaling and can be modeled by ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with kinetic parameters. A bistable switch has recently been found to regulate the activation of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in the context of liver fibrosis, and an ordinary differential equation (ODE) model was published showing that the net activation of TGF-β1 depends on the balance between two antagonistic sub-pathways.

Results: Through modeling the effects of perturbations that affect both sub-pathways, we revealed that bistability is coupled with the signs of feedback loops in the model.

Time to Decide? Dynamical Analysis Predicts Partial Tip/Stalk Patterning States Arise during Angiogenesis.

Angiogenesis is a highly dynamic morphogenesis process; however, surprisingly little is known about the timing of the different molecular processes involved. Although the role of the VEGF-notch-DLL4 signaling pathway has been established as essential for tip/stalk cell competition during sprouting, the speed and dynamic properties of the underlying process at the individual cell level has not been fully elucidated. In this study, using mathematical modeling we investigate how specific, biologically meaningful, local conditions around and within an individual cell can influence their unique tip/stalk phenotype switching kinetics.

Protrusive waves guide 3D cell migration along nanofibers.

In vivo, cells migrate on complex three-dimensional (3D) fibrous matrices, which has made investigation of the key molecular and physical mechanisms that drive cell migration difficult. Using reductionist approaches based on 3D electrospun fibers, we report for various cell types that single-cell migration along fibronectin-coated nanofibers is associated with lateral actin-based waves. These cyclical waves have a fin-like shape and propagate up to several hundred micrometers from the cell body, extending the leading edge and promoting highly persistent directional movement.

Vulval Microglandular Adenosis-like Neoplasm With Chondromyxoid Stroma: Report of a Unique Case.

Microglandular adenosis of the breast is an uncommon lesion which can mimic tubular carcinoma. It is composed of small round tubules lined by a single layer of flat or cuboidal epithelial cells, often with eosinophilic colloid-like material within the lumen. The absence of a myoepithelial cell layer and preservation of basement membrane around the tubules are characteristic features.

The CD47-binding peptide of thrombospondin-1 induces defenestration of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells.

Background & Aims: A fenestrated phenotype is characteristic of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), but liver sinusoids become defenestrated during fibrosis and other liver diseases. Thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) is a matrix glycoprotein with pro-fibrotic effects, and the CD47-binding fragment of TSP1 also has anti-angiogenic effects in endothelial cells. We hypothesized that the CD47-binding fragment of TSP1 could induce defenestration in LSECs through the Rho-Rho kinase (ROCK)-myosin pathway.

Hepatic stellate cell-targeted delivery of hepatocyte growth factor transgene via bile duct infusion enhances its expression at fibrotic foci to regress dimethylnitrosamine-induced liver fibrosis.

Liver fibrosis generates fibrotic foci with abundant activated hepatic stellate cells and excessive collagen deposition juxtaposed with healthy regions. Targeted delivery of antifibrotic therapeutics to hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) might improve treatment outcomes and reduce adverse effects on healthy tissue. We delivered the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene specifically to activated hepatic stellate cells in fibrotic liver using vitamin A-coupled liposomes by retrograde intrabiliary infusion to bypass capillarized hepatic sinusoids.

Plasmin triggers a switch-like decrease in thrombospondin-dependent activation of TGF-β1.

Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) is a potent regulator of extracellular matrix production, wound healing, differentiation, and immune response, and is implicated in the progression of fibrotic diseases and cancer. Extracellular activation of TGF-β1 from its latent form provides spatiotemporal control over TGF-β1 signaling, but the current understanding of TGF-β1 activation does not emphasize cross talk between activators. Plasmin (PLS) and thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) have been studied individually as activators of TGF-β1, and in this work we used a systems-level approach with mathematical modeling and in vitro experiments to study the interplay between PLS and TSP1 in TGF-β1 activation.

Steady states and dynamics of urokinase-mediated plasmin activation in silico and in vitro.

Plasmin (PLS) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (UPA) are ubiquitous proteases that regulate the extracellular environment. Although they are secreted in inactive forms, they can activate each other through proteolytic cleavage. This mutual interplay creates the potential for complex dynamics, which we investigated using mathematical modeling and in vitro experiments.

Service providers' perceptions of the strengths and prospective improvements in UK eating disorder services: findings from a Royal College survey.

Aims And Methods: This study aims to explore perceptions of eating disorder service strengths and to develop a clearer picture of improvements clinicians would like to see occur in the services they lead. A survey designed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Section of Eating Disorders was completed by 83 lead clinicians in both public and private sector services in the UK and Eire. Content analysis was performed, and common themes were identified.

The steady states and dynamics of urokinase-mediated plasmin activation.

Plasmin and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) are ubiquitous proteases regulating the extracellular environment. They can activate each other via proteolytic cleavage, suggesting the potential for complex dynamic behaviors that could be elucidated by computational modeling. Ordinary differential equations are constructed to model the activation dynamics of plasminogen into plasmin, and single-chain uPA (scUPA) into two-chain uPA (tcUPA).