Reactive Self-Assembly of Polymers and Proteins to Reversibly Silence a Killer Protein.

Conjugation of biologically active proteins to polymeric materials is of great interest in the treatment of cancer and other diseases of protein deficiency. The conjugation of such biomacromolecules is challenging both due to their hydrophilicity and propensity to denature under non-native conditions. We describe a novel reactive self-assembly approach to "wrap" a protein with polymers, simultaneously protecting its delicate folded state and silencing its enzymatic activity.

Ontogeny of the male femur: Geometric morphometric analysis applied to a contemporary Spanish population.

Objective: To describe the morphological changes of the male femur during the adolescent growth spurt and to compare the pattern obtained with that reported previously for females.

Material And Methods: Two hundred and forty males from a Spanish population aged between 9 and 16 years were analysed, based on telemetries. Size and shape variation of the femur was quantified by 22 2D-landmarks and analysed using geometric morphometric methods.

Evaluation of Serial Arterial Lactate Levels as a Predictor of Hospital and Long-Term Mortality in Patients After Cardiac Surgery.

Objectives: Although hyperlactatemia is common after cardiac surgery, its value as a prognostic marker is unclear. The aim of the present study was to determine whether postoperative serial arterial lactate (AL) measurements after cardiac surgery could predict outcome.

Design: Prospective, observational study.

Memory systems in schizophrenia: Modularity is preserved but deficits are generalized.

Objective: Schizophrenia patients exhibit impaired working and episodic memory, but this may represent generalized impairment across memory modalities or performance deficits restricted to particular memory systems in subgroups of patients. Furthermore, it is unclear whether deficits are unique from those associated with other disorders.

Method: Healthy controls (n=1101) and patients with schizophrenia (n=58), bipolar disorder (n=49) and attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder (n=46) performed 18 tasks addressing primarily verbal and spatial episodic and working memory.

Modeling the Growth Kinetics of Anodic TiO2 Nanotubes.

The fundamental understanding of the barrier layer (δ(b)) growth in TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) is here established and compared with the classical metal oxidation theory from Mott and Cabrera. The role of δ(b) in the anodization of TiO2 NTs under different applied potentials and times was analyzed using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Contrary to the well-known case of anodic aluminum oxide, we found that δ(b) of TiO2 NTs progressively grows over time due to the nonsteady anodization regime.

Randomized controlled trial of computer-based treatment of social cognition in schizophrenia: the TRuSST trial protocol.

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe and chronic medical condition, characterized by positive and negative symptoms, as well as pervasive social cognitive deficits. Despite the functional significance of the social cognition deficits affecting many aspects of daily living, such as social relationships, occupational status, and independent living, there is still no effective treatment option for these deficits, which is applied as standard of care. To address this need, we developed a novel, internet-based training program that targets social cognition deficits in schizophrenia (SocialVille).

Long-Acting Injectable Risperidone for Relapse Prevention and Control of Breakthrough Symptoms After a Recent First Episode of Schizophrenia. A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Long-acting, injectable, second-generation antipsychotic medication has tremendous potential to bring clinical stability to persons with schizophrenia. However, long-acting medications are rarely used following a first episode of schizophrenia.

Objective: To compare the clinical efficacy of the long-acting injectable formulation of risperidone with the oral formulation in the early course of schizophrenia.

A social path to functioning in schizophrenia: From social self-efficacy through negative symptoms to social functional capacity.

Self-efficacy is important to functioning in schizophrenia. The exact pathway is less clear, possibly because most studies used composite rather than domain-specific self-efficacy scores. We examined if a specific measure of social self-efficacy is more important to a social (from negative symptoms to social functional capacity) compared to a non-social (from neurocognition to non-social functional capacity) path to functioning.

p53 gene discriminates two ecologically divergent sister species of pine voles.

Genes with relevant roles in the differentiation of closely-related species are likely to have diverged simultaneously with the species and more accurately reproduce the species tree. The Lusitanian (Microtus lusitanicus) and Mediterranean (M. duodecimcostatus) pine voles are two recently separated sister species with fossorial lifestyles whose different ecological, physiological and morphological phenotypes reflect the better adaptation of M.

Latent structure of cognition in schizophrenia: a confirmatory factor analysis of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB).

Background: The number of separable cognitive dimensions in schizophrenia has been debated. Guided by the extant factor analytic literature, the NIMH Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) initiative selected seven cognitive domains relevant to treatment studies in schizophrenia: speed of processing, attention/vigilance, working memory, verbal learning, visual learning, reasoning and problem solving, and social cognition. These domains are assessed in the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB).

Influence of cirrhosis in cardiac surgery outcomes.

Liver cirrhosis has evolved an important risk factor for cardiac surgery due to the higher morbidity and mortality that these patients may suffer compared with general cardiac surgery population. The presence of contributing factors for a poor outcome, such as coagulopathy, a poor nutritional status, an adaptive immune dysfunction, a degree of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy, and a degree of renal and pulmonary dysfunction, have to be taken into account for surgical evaluation when cardiac surgery is needed, together with the degree of liver disease and its primary complications. The associated pathophysiological characteristics that liver cirrhosis represents have a great influence in the development of complications during cardiac surgery and the postoperative course.

A current overview of the Papaya meleira virus, an unusual plant virus.

Papaya meleira virus (PMeV) is the causal agent of papaya sticky disease, which is characterized by a spontaneous exudation of fluid and aqueous latex from the papaya fruit and leaves. The latex oxidizes after atmospheric exposure, resulting in a sticky feature on the fruit from which the name of the disease originates. PMeV is an isometric virus particle with a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) genome of approximately 12 Kb.

5-year mortality in cardiac surgery patients with low cardiac output syndrome treated with levosimendan: prognostic evaluation of nt-probnp and c-reactive protein.

Aim: To determine the clinical risk factors predictive of the 5--year mortality in patients with low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) after cardiac surgery. In addition, to assess the influence of inflammation and myocardial dysfunction severity, as measured by C--reactive protein (CRP) and N--terminal pro--brain natriuretic peptide (NT--proBNP) concentrations, on outcome.

Methods: We studied 30 patients who underwent cardiac surgery and developed postoperative LCOS requiring inotropic support for longer than 48 hours after intensive care unit (ICU) admission.

The influence of body mass index on outcomes in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: does the obesity paradox really exist?

Purpose: Obesity influences risk stratification in cardiac surgery in everyday practice. However, some studies have reported better outcomes in patients with a high body mass index (BMI): this is known as the obesity paradox. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of diverse degrees of high BMI on clinical outcomes after cardiac surgery, and to assess the existence of an obesity paradox in our patients.

Contributions of Feature Binding During Encoding and Functional Connectivity of the Medial Temporal Lobe Structures to Episodic Memory Deficits Across the Prodromal and First-Episode Phases of Schizophrenia.

Patients with and at risk for psychosis may have difficulty using associative strategies to facilitate episodic memory encoding and recall. In parallel studies, patients with first-episode schizophrenia ( = 27) and high psychosis risk ( = 28) compared with control participants ( = 22 and = 20, respectively) underwent functional MRI during a remember-know memory task. Psychophysiological interaction analyses, using medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures as regions of interest, were conducted to measure functional connectivity patterns supporting successful episodic memory.

Individual muscle contributions to circular turning mechanics.

Turning is an activity of daily living that involves both the acceleration of the body center-of-mass (COM) towards the center of curvature and rotation of the pelvis towards the new heading. The purpose of this study was to understand which muscles contribute to turning using experimentation, musculoskeletal modeling and simulation. Ten healthy adults consented to walk around a 1-m radius circular path at their self-selected walking speed and then along a straight line at the same speed.

Theory of mind in the early course of schizophrenia: stability, symptom and neurocognitive correlates, and relationship with functioning.

Background: Numerous studies have reported links between theory of mind (ToM) deficits, neurocognition and negative symptoms with functional outcome in chronic schizophrenia patients. Although the ToM deficit has been observed in first-episode patients, fewer studies have addressed ToM as a possible trait marker, neurocognitive and symptom correlations longitudinally, and associations with later functioning.

Method: Recent-onset schizophrenia patients (n = 77) were assessed at baseline after reaching medication stabilization, and again at 6 months (n = 48).

Impact of the number of Robertsonian chromosomes on germ cell death in wild male house mice.

Previous studies in the house mouse have shown that the presence of Robertsonian (Rb) metacentric chromosomes in heterozygous condition affects the process of spermatogenesis. This detrimental effect mainly depends on the number of metacentrics involved and the complexity of the resulting meiotic figures. In this study, we aimed at elucidating the relationship between the chromosomal composition and spermatogenesis impairment in mice present in an area of chromosomal polymorphism (the so-called Barcelona system BRbS) in which Rb mice are surrounded by all acrocentric animals, no established metacentric races are present and the level of structural heterozygosity is relatively low.

Monitoring the physicochemical degradation of coconut water using ESI-FT-ICR MS.

Fresh and aged coconut water (CW) samples were introduced directly into the electrospray ionisation (ESI) source, and were combined with the Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) technique to characterise in situ chemical compounds produced during natural ageing (from 0 to 15 days) at room temperature (23 °C). The ESI-FT-ICR MS readings were acquired and the data were correlated to conventional methodologies: pH, total titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids, microbial analyses, and ultraviolet visibility (UV-vis) spectroscopy analysis. In general, the pH and TA values changed after 3 days of storage making the CW unsuitable for consumption.

Negative symptoms and functioning during the first year after a recent onset of schizophrenia and 8 years later.

Background: Understanding the longitudinal course of negative symptoms, especially in relationship to functioning, in the early phase of schizophrenia is crucial to developing intervention approaches. The course of negative symptoms and daily functioning was examined over a 1-year period following a recent onset of schizophrenia and at an 8-year follow-up point.

Methods: The study included 149 recent-onset schizophrenia patients who had a mean age of 23.

On the origin of Robertsonian fusions in nature: evidence of telomere shortening in wild house mice.

The role of telomere shortening to explain the occurrence of Robertsonian (Rb) fusions, as well as the importance of the average telomere length vs. the proportion of short telomeres, especially in nature populations, is largely unexplored. In this study, we have analysed telomere shortening in nine wild house mice from the Barcelona Rb system with diploid numbers ranging from 29 to 40 chromosomes.

Developing a Cognitive Training Strategy for First-Episode Schizophrenia: Integrating Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approaches.

It is clear that people with schizophrenia typically have cognitive problems in multiple domains as part of their illness. The cognitive deficits are among the main contributors to limitations in their everyday functioning, including their work recovery. Cognitive remediation has been applied successfully to help people with long-term, persistent schizophrenia to improve their cognitive functioning, but it is only beginning to be applied with individuals who have recently had a first episode of psychosis.

CD34+ circulating progenitor cells after different training programs.

Circulating progenitor cells (CPC) are bone marrow-derived cells that are mobilized into the circulation. While exercise is a powerful mediator of hematopoiesis, CPC levels increase, and reports of their activation after different types of exercise are contradictory. Moreover, few studies have compared the possible effects of different training programs on CPC concentrations.