Posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms and symptom clusters in a sample of treatment-seeking US veterans: Longitudinal associations with meaning in life and general self-efficacy.

Objectives: To quantify the associations between general self-efficacy, subjective meaning in life, and posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms and symptom clusters in US veterans, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Methods: Data from a Veteran Affairs (VA) funded intervention study (n = 191) were examined. Self-report measures of depressive symptoms, general self-efficacy, and meaning in life were collected, along with clinician-rated symptoms of PTSD.

Examining the associations between PTSD symptom clusters and alcohol-related problems in a sample of low-SES treatment-seeking Black/African American adults.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) often co-occur. This comorbidity negatively influences treatment outcomes, functioning, and quality of life. To better understand the relation between PTSD and AUD, research has begun to examine the influence of PTSD symptom clusters on alcohol-related problems.

Goals of care communication and higher-value care for patients with advanced-stage cancer: A systematic review of the evidence.

Context: Goals-of-care communication (GOCC) is recommended to increase the value of cancer care near the end of life (EOL).

Objectives: Conduct a systematic review of the evidence that GOCC is associated with higher-value care.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, EMB Reviews, CINAHL, and PsycInfo from inception to July 2019.

Nmp4, a Regulator of Induced Osteoanabolism, Also Influences Insulin Secretion and Sensitivity.

A bidirectional and complex relationship exists between bone and glycemia. Persons with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are at risk for bone loss and fracture, however, heightened osteoanabolism may ameliorate T2D-induced deficits in glycemia as bone-forming osteoblasts contribute to energy metabolism via increased glucose uptake and cellular glycolysis. Mice globally lacking nuclear matrix protein 4 (Nmp4), a transcription factor expressed in all tissues and conserved between humans and rodents, are healthy and exhibit enhanced bone formation in response to anabolic osteoporosis therapies.

New Approaches to Identifying and Reducing the Global Burden of Disease From Pollution.

Pollution from multiple sources causes significant disease and death worldwide. Some sources are legacy, such as heavy metals accumulated in soils, and some are current, such as particulate matter. Because the global burden of disease from pollution is so high, it is important to identify legacy and current sources and to develop and implement effective techniques to reduce human exposure.

Diagnosing and Treating Sleep Apnea in Patients With Acute Cerebrovascular Disease.

Background Obstructive sleep apnea ( OSA ) is common among patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack. We evaluated whether continuous positive airway pressure for OSA among patients with recent ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack improved clinical outcomes. Methods and Results This randomized controlled trial among patients with ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack compared 2 strategies (standard or enhanced) for the diagnosis and treatment of OSA versus usual care over 1 year.

A meta-analytic review of self-reported, clinician-rated, and performance-based motivation measures in schizophrenia: Are we measuring the same "stuff"?

An array of self-reported, clinician-rated, and performance-based measures has been used to assess motivation in schizophrenia; however, the convergent validity evidence for these motivation assessment methods is mixed. The current study is a series of meta-analyses that summarize the relationships between methods of motivation measurement in 45 studies of people with schizophrenia. The overall mean effect size between self-reported and clinician-rated motivation measures (r = 0.

Diagnosing and managing sleep apnea in patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease: a randomized trial of a home-based strategy.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea is common and associated with poor outcomes after stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). We sought to determine whether the intervention strategy improved sleep apnea detection, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) treatment, and hypertension control among patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease and hypertension.

Methods: In this randomized controlled strategy trial intervention, patients received unattended polysomnography at baseline, and patients with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index ≥5 events/h) received auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for up to 1 year.

Missense Mutations in LRP5 Associated with High Bone Mass Protect the Mouse Skeleton from Disuse- and Ovariectomy-Induced Osteopenia.

The low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-5 (LRP5), a co-receptor in the Wnt signaling pathway, modulates bone mass in humans and in mice. Lrp5 knock-out mice have severely impaired responsiveness to mechanical stimulation whereas Lrp5 gain-of-function knock-in and transgenic mice have enhanced responsiveness to mechanical stimulation. Those observations highlight the importance of Lrp5 protein in bone cell mechanotransduction.

Infarct location and sleep apnea: evaluating the potential association in acute ischemic stroke.

Background: The literature about the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and stroke location is conflicting with some studies finding an association and others demonstrating no relationship. Among acute ischemic stroke patients, we sought to examine the relationship between stroke location and the prevalence of OSA; OSA severity based on apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), arousal frequency, and measure of hypoxia; and number of central and obstructive respiratory events.

Methods: Data were obtained from patients who participated in a randomized controlled trial (NCT01446913) that evaluated the effectiveness of a strategy of diagnosing and treating OSA among patients with acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack.

High Bone Mass-Causing Mutant LRP5 Receptors Are Resistant to Endogenous Inhibitors In Vivo.

Certain missense mutations affecting LRP5 cause high bone mass (HBM) in humans. Based on in vitro evidence, HBM LRP5 receptors are thought to exert their effects by providing resistance to binding/inhibition of secreted LRP5 inhibitors such as sclerostin (SOST) and Dickkopf homolog-1 (DKK1). We previously reported the creation of two Lrp5 HBM knock-in mouse models, in which the human p.

Dissecting FASD through the global transcriptome.

The recent study by Stepien, Lussier, Pavlidis, Kobor, and Weinberg demonstrates how prenatal alcohol exposure alters genomic expression far into the adulthood, and also provides a new view about how transcriptions might respond differently upon new environmental challenge. This study also provides a more comprehensive view by filling a gap of the global transcriptome analyses of FASD.

Chronic free-choice drinking in crossed high alcohol preferring mice leads to sustained blood ethanol levels and metabolic tolerance without evidence of liver damage.

Background: Crossed high alcohol preferring (cHAP) mice were selectively bred from a cross of the HAP1 × HAP2 replicate lines, and we demonstrate blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) during free-choice drinking that are reminiscent of those observed in alcohol-dependent humans. Therefore, this line may provide an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the consequences of excessive voluntary ethanol (EtOH) consumption, including metabolic tolerance and liver pathology. Cytochrome p450 2E1 (CYP2E1) induction plays a prominent role in driving both metabolic tolerance and EtOH-induced liver injury.

Imaging juvenile idiopathic arthritis: assessing the modalities.

Background: Traditionally, conventional radiography has been used to identify the structural damage associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). As other modalities have developed, however, the practice of assessing and monitoring JIA with radiographs has been questioned.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the current best practices for imaging JIA and to assess various imaging modalities.

Productive versus unproductive nucleotide binding in yeast guanylate kinase mutants: comparison of R41M with K14M by proton two dimensional transferred NOESY.

The R41M and K14M mutant enzymes of yeast guanylate kinase (GKy) were studied to investigate the effects of these site-directed mutations on bound-substrate conformations. Published X-ray crystal structures of yeast guanylate kinase indicate that K14 is part of the "P" loop involved in ATP and ADP binding, while R41 is suggested as a hydrogen bonding partner for the phosphoryl moiety of GMP. Both of these residues might be involved in transition state stabilization.

Neuropeptide Y modulation of ethanol intake: effects of ethanol drinking history and genetic background.

Intracerebroventricular administration of NPY suppresses ethanol intake in selectively bred alcohol-preferring rat lines, but not in rats selectively bred for low ethanol drinking or in unselected Wistar rats, when access to ethanol is limited to 2h/day. However, when rats undergo chronic (24h/day) ethanol drinking (or exposure to ethanol by vapor inhalation) and have periods of imposed ethanol abstinence, the reductions in ethanol drinking following NPY administration are enhanced in alcohol-preferring rats and are also observed in unselected Wistar rats. Thus, sensitivity to the effects of NPY on ethanol drinking appears to be altered by selective breeding for ethanol preference and by a prior history of chronic but intermittent exposure to ethanol.

Glutamate-induced glutamate release: a proposed mechanism for calcium bursting in astrocytes.

Here we present a new model for the generation of complex calcium-bursting patterns in astrocytes, a type of brain cell recently implicated in a variety of neural functions including memory formation. The model involves two positive feedback processes, in which the key feedback species are calcium ion and glutamate. The latter is the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and has been shown to be involved in bidirectional communication between astrocytes and nearby neurons.

A coupled ordinary differential equation lattice model for the simulation of epileptic seizures.

A coupled ordinary differential equation lattice model for the CA3 region of the hippocampus (a common location of the epileptic focus) is developed. This model consists of a hexagonal lattice of nodes, each describing a subnetwork consisting of a group of prototypical excitatory pyramidal cells and a group of prototypical inhibitory interneurons connected via on/off excitatory and inhibitory synapses. The nodes communicate using simple rules to simulate the diffusion of extracellular potassium.

Stereocartography: a computational mapping technique that can locate regions of maximum stereoinduction around chiral catalysts.

A hypothesis concerning asymmetric induction by chiral catalysts is posited, tested, and found to be valid. The hypothesis states that chiral catalysts that are efficient at inducing asymmetry will have their region of maximum stereoinduction spatially congruent with the site of chemistry but inefficient catalysts will not. A simple mapping strategy (stereocartography) is used to assess where the region of maximum stereoinduction is located around a given catalyst.

Changes in the 31P NMR spectrum of rabbit muscle myosin subfragment 1. MgADP with temperature.

In pioneering studies on the 31P NMR spectra of MgADP bound to the "molecular motor" myosin subfragment 1 (S1) in the temperature range of 0 to 25 degrees C, Shriver and Sykes [Biochemistry 20 (1981) 2004-2012/6357-6362; Biochemistry 21 (1982) 3022-3028], proposed that MgADP binds to myosin S1 as a mixture of two interconvertible conformers with different chemical shifts for the beta-P resonance of the S1-bound MgADP and that the concentrations of these conformers are related by an equilibrium constant K(T). Their model implied that the weighted average of the chemical shifts of the beta-P(MgADP) for S1-bound MgADP asymptotically approaches a high temperature limit. Here, and in our earlier paper [K.

The Principle of Maximum Chiral Discrimination: Chiral Recognition in Permethyl-beta-cyclodextrin.

Five guest molecules, isomenthone, pulegone, 1-fluoro-1-phenylethane, 1-phenylethanol, and 2-methylbutanoic acid, binding to permethyl-beta-cyclodextrin, a chiral host molecule, have been simulated by molecular dynamics techniques. From the simulations we find the preferred binding site to be the interior of the macrocyclic cavity. A new technique was used for locating the host's most enantiodiscriminating domain, which was also found to be inside the macrocyclic cavity.

Farnesol oxidation in insects: evidence that the biosynthesis of insect juvenile hormone is mediated by a specific alcohol oxidase.

The oxidation of farnesol to farnesoic acid is a key step in insect juvenile hormone biosynthesis. We herein present preliminary characterization of the enzyme-catalyzed oxidation of farnesol to farnesal in larval corpora allata homogenates of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. This conversion, which is highly substrate specific, has a K(m) apparent of 1 microM and a pH optimum between 6 and 7.

Atomistic modeling of enantioselective binding.

This Account focuses on computational studies related to chiral recognition. It begins with a description of potential energy surfaces and the computational tools used to explore such surfaces, describes approximations and assumptions made by researchers computing enantioselective binding, and then explains why differential free energies of binding can be computed so accurately. The review focuses on chiral recognition in chromatography, emphasizing binding and enantiodiscriminating forces responsible for chiral recognition.