Sex differences in symptom severity, cognition and psychosocial functioning among individuals with at-risk mental state for psychosis.

Aim: Sex differences are well documented in schizophrenia, but have been much less studied in at-risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis. We aimed to examine sex differences in symptomatology, cognition, social and role functioning in individuals with ARMS, with specific focus on clarifying relationships between sex, negative symptoms and functioning.

Methods: One hundred and seventy-seven Chinese participants aged 15-40 years with ARMS were recruited from a specialized early intervention service in Hong Kong.

Psychiatric comorbidity in individuals at-risk for psychosis: Relationships with symptoms, cognition and psychosocial functioning.

Aim: Psychiatric comorbidity frequently occurs with at-risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis. Its relationships with psychopathology, cognition and functioning, however, remain to be further clarified. We aimed to examine prevalence and correlates of psychiatric comorbidity, and its associations with psychosocial functioning and subjective quality-of-life (QoL) in a representative sample of Chinese ARMS individuals.

3'-5' exonuclease of Klenow fragment: role of amino acid residues within the single-stranded DNA binding region in exonucleolysis and duplex DNA melting.

The mechanism of the 3'-5' exonuclease activity of the Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I has been investigated with a combination of biochemical and spectroscopic techniques. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to make alanine substitutions of side chains that interact with the DNA substrate on the 5' side of the scissile phosphodiester bond. Kinetic parameters for 3'-5' exonuclease cleavage of single- and double-stranded DNA substrates were determined for each mutant protein in order to probe the role of the selected side chains in the exonuclease reaction.