The Effects of Cognitive Remediation on Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia-Spectrum Illness: A Meta-analytic Investigation of Efficacy.

Background And Hypothesis: The number of clinical efficacy trials of Cognitive Remediation (CR), a behavioral intervention consisting of cognitive task practice and/or strategy training to improve cognitive skills in schizophrenia, has increased substantially over the past 25 years. While recent reviews have highlighted the effects of CR on cognition and function, CR effects on negative symptoms remain understudied. Given the overlap between negative symptoms and cognition, CR effects might be expected.

"Complete and Accurate, and Warmhearted Too": Telemedicine Experiences and Care Needs of Mandarin-Speaking Patients with Limited English Proficiency.

Background: Despite greater care needs, patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) are less likely to use telemedicine. Given the expansion of telemedicine since the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying ways to narrow the telemedicine care gaps experienced by people with LEP is essential.

Objective: Examine the telemedicine experiences of Mandarin-speaking adults with LEP, with a focus on perceived differences between in-person care, video, and telephone telemedicine.

Disability Identity Development Scale: A validation study among college students with disabilities.

Unlabelled: Forber-Pratt and colleagues' Disability Identity Development Scale (DIDS) is the only disability identity measure that meets all the criteria for rigorous scale development. Little is known however about item fit for the DIDS.

Purpose/objective: (a) To investigate the construct validity of the DIDS scores at the item and factor level using item response theory (IRT) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); (b) to investigate convergent validity of the DIDS scores with related constructs; and (c) to determine the reliability of each DIDS factor.

Multi-level regulation of even-skipped stripes by the ubiquitous factor Zelda.

The zinc-finger protein Zelda (Zld) is a key activator of zygotic transcription in early Drosophila embryos. Here, we study Zld-dependent regulation of the seven-striped pattern of the pair-rule gene even-skipped (eve). Individual stripes are regulated by discrete enhancers that respond to broadly distributed activators; stripe boundaries are formed by localized repressors encoded by the gap genes.

cGAS regulates the DNA damage response to maintain proliferative signaling in gastric cancer cells.

The activation of some oncogenes promote cancer cell proliferation and growth, facilitate cancer progression and metastasis by induce DNA replication stress, even genome instability. Activation of the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) mediates classical DNA sensing, is involved in genome instability, and is linked to various tumor development or therapy. However, the function of cGAS in gastric cancer remains elusive.

An Unsuspecting Case of Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP).

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an inherited and rare disease that typically manifests in the second decade of life. FAP presents as an asymptomatic disease state in its early stages, which affects the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, making it difficult to diagnose. The disease is characterized by numerous adenomatous polyps in the colon or rectum.

Curvilinear soft electronics by micromolding of metal nanowires in capillaries.

Soft electronics using metal nanowires have attracted notable attention attributed to their high electrical conductivity and mechanical flexibility. However, high-resolution complex patterning of metal nanowires on curvilinear substrates remains a challenge. Here, a micromolding-based method is reported for scalable printing of metal nanowires, which enables complex and highly conductive patterns on soft curvilinear and uneven substrates with high resolution and uniformity.

Decorin-induced, preeclampsia-associated microRNA-512-3p restrains extravillous trophoblast functions by targeting USF2/PPP3R1 axis.

Decorin (DCN) is a leucine-rich proteoglycan produced by chorionic villus mesenchymal cells anddecidual cells during human pregnancy. Studies from our laboratory demonstrated that decidua-derived DCN restrains multiple trophoblast functions including proliferation, migration, invasion andendovascular differentiation, mediated by DCN-binding to multiple tyrosine kinase receptors; expressed by the trophoblast. Furthermore, DCN was shown to be selectively over-produced by thedecidua in preeclampsia (PE) subjects and elevated in the second trimester maternal plasma in PE, before the appearance of clinical signs, presenting as a predictive biomarker for PE.

Temporal Changes of Clomiphene on Testosterone Levels and Semen Parameters in Subfertile Men.

Purpose: Clomiphene citrate (CC) is prescribed off-label in men to improve testosterone and sperm parameters, but the duration of treatment needed to reach maximal benefit remains unclear. Our objective was to examine temporal effects of CC on total testosterone (TT) and semen analysis (SA) using longitudinal follow-up data in treated men.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed an IRB-approved database of men treated with CC (25 mg q.

Semaphorin-3 Promotes Specific Immunotherapy Effects on Experimental Food Allergy.

Sustaining higher frequency of mast cells in the allergic lesion site has been recognized. Factors causing high numbers of mast cells in the local tissues are not fully understood yet. RAS signaling plays a role in sustaining certain cell activities.

Propionic acid regulates immune tolerant properties in B Cells.

Interleukin 10 (IL-10)-producing B cells (B10 cells) are a canonical cell fraction for regulating other activities of immune cells. Posttranscriptional modification of IL-10 in B10 cells is not yet fully understood. Short-chain fatty acids play an important role to regulate the functions of immune cells.

Initial gonadotropin levels and sperm parameters differentiate the response to clomiphene citrate in subfertile men.

Background: Efficacy of clomiphene citrate (CC) in the treatment of male subfertility remains unclear, with inconsistent results in the literature and limited guidance from professional organizations. We sought to stratify the response to clomiphene in men based on their initial gonadotropins and semen parameters.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 234 patients from an academic center who took CC for subfertility.

Is cash the panacea of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from corporate performance.

This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 crisis on corporate investment and financing policies. Using a difference-in-difference approach, I find while firms suffer from a real negative shock from the pandemic on average, firms with an abundant cash reserve prior to the crisis outperform firms without. Consistent with the precautionary motive behind corporate cash holdings, this paper demonstrates the effect of cash holdings is meaningful to mitigate adverse effect of the aggregate market.

Roles of Two Small Leucine-Rich Proteoglycans Decorin and Biglycan in Pregnancy and Pregnancy-Associated Diseases.

Two small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRP), decorin and biglycan, play important roles in structural-functional integrity of the placenta and fetal membranes, and their alterations can result in several pregnancy-associated diseases. In this review, we briefly discuss normal placental structure and functions, define and classify SLRPs, and then focus on two SLRPs, decorin (DCN) and biglycan (BGN). We discuss the consequences of deletions/mutations of DCN and BGN.

Specialized proresolution mediators in the bladder: annexin-A1 normalizes inflammation and bladder dysfunction during bladder outlet obstruction.

Bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) is ultimately experienced by ≈90% of men, most commonly secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia. Inflammation is a critical driver of BOO pathology in the bladder and can be divided into two critical steps: initiation and resolution. Although great strides have been made toward understanding the initiation of inflammation in the bladder [through the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome], no studies have examined resolution.

Suboptimal Intermediates Underlie Evolution of the Bicoid Homeodomain.

Changes in regulatory networks generate materials for evolution to create phenotypic diversity. For transcription networks, multiple studies have shown that alterations in binding sites of cis-regulatory elements correlate well with the gain or loss of specific features of the body plan. Less is known about alterations in the amino acid sequences of the transcription factors (TFs) that bind these elements.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patient Preferences and Decision Making for Symptomatic Urolithiasis.

Pandemic restrictions have changed how patients approach symptomatic kidney stones. We used a mixed-methods digital ethnographic approach to evaluate social media discussions about patient concerns and preferences for urolithiasis care during the COVID-19 pandemic. We retrospectively analyzed kidney stone-related discussions on a large social media platform using qualitative analysis and natural language processing-based sentiment analysis.

Single-cell transcriptomics reconstructs fate conversion from fibroblast to cardiomyocyte.

Direct lineage conversion offers a new strategy for tissue regeneration and disease modelling. Despite recent success in directly reprogramming fibroblasts into various cell types, the precise changes that occur as fibroblasts progressively convert to the target cell fates remain unclear. The inherent heterogeneity and asynchronous nature of the reprogramming process renders it difficult to study this process using bulk genomic techniques.

Systematic comparison of 2A peptides for cloning multi-genes in a polycistronic vector.

Cloning of multiple genes in a single vector has greatly facilitated both basic and translational studies that require co-expression of multiple factors or multi-units of complex protein. Many strategies have been adopted, among which 2A "self-cleaving" peptides have garnered increased interest for their polycistronic nature, small size and high "cleavage" efficiency. However, broad application of 2 A peptides is limited by the lack of systematic comparison of different 2As alone or in combination.

Insights on the use of biosimilars in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

Biologic therapy, such as those that target tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling, has proven to be an efficacious method of treatment for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with regards to symptom management and mucosal healing. However, the rising prevalence of IBD worldwide and the ever-increasing burden of biologic pharmaceuticals in the health care industry is alarming for insurance companies, clinicians, and patients. The impending patent expiry and the relatively high costs of biologics, particularly anti-TNF agents, have paved the way for biosimilar development for IBD.

Re-patterning of H3K27me3, H3K4me3 and DNA methylation during fibroblast conversion into induced cardiomyocytes.

Direct conversion of fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocytes (iCMs) offers an alternative strategy for cardiac disease modeling and regeneration. During iCM reprogramming, the starting fibroblasts must overcome existing epigenetic barriers to acquire the CM-like chromatin pattern. However, epigenetic dynamics along this reprogramming process have not been studied.

Regulation of S100A4 expression via the JAK2-STAT3 pathway in rhomboid-phenotype pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells exposure to hypoxia.

To investigate the effect of JAKs-STATs signal pathway on expression of S100A4 in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs), the action of S100A4 and hypoxia induced factor 1 (HIF-1) on the proliferation of hypoxic PASMCs. The results showed that S100A4 immunostaining was localized in the cytoplasm and nuclei of PASMCs exposure to hypoxia and it was predominantly expressed in rhomboid cells (R-SMCs). The mRNA and protein levels of S100A4 expression increased in PASMCs after hypoxic stimulus for 4, 8, 16 h.

Non-native side chain IR probe in peptides: ab initio computation and 1D and 2D IR spectral simulation.

Infrared frequency region of 2000-2600 cm(-1) (i.e., ca.

A review of rapid methods for the analysis of mycotoxins.

An overview is presented of the analysis of mycotoxins by rapid methods such as: enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); flow through membrane based immunoassay; immunochromatographic assay; fluorometric assay with immunoaffinity clean-up column or with a solid phase extraction clean-up column; and fluorescence polarization method. These methods are currently commercially available and are reliable, rapid methods. This review focuses on the basic principle of each rapid method as well as advantages and limitations of each method.