Neurodesk: an accessible, flexible and portable data analysis environment for reproducible neuroimaging.

Neuroimaging research requires purpose-built analysis software, which is challenging to install and may produce different results across computing environments. The community-oriented, open-source Neurodesk platform ( https://www.neurodesk.

ViroidDB: a database of viroids and viroid-like circular RNAs.

We introduce ViroidDB, a value-added database that attempts to collect all known viroid and viroid-like circular RNA sequences into a single resource. Spanning about 10 000 unique sequences, ViroidDB includes viroids, retroviroid-like elements, small circular satellite RNAs, ribozyviruses, and retrozymes. Each sequence's secondary structure, ribozyme content, and cluster membership are predicted via a custom pipeline optimized for handling circular RNAs.

Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia and Early-onset Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: An Update.

The clinical severity, impact on development, and poor prognosis of childhood-onset schizophrenia may represent a more homogeneous group. Positive symptoms in children are necessary for the diagnosis, and hallucinations are more often multimodal. In healthy children and children with a variety of other psychiatric illnesses, hallucinations are not uncommon and diagnosis should not be based on these alone.

Ethnic identity and engagement with genome sequencing research.

Purpose: We examined the role of ethnic identity (which measures the degree to which individuals identify with their ethnic group) in beliefs about, and intentions to learn, genomic results.

Methods: A longitudinal cohort was recruited to implement genome sequencing among healthy participants self-identifying as African, African American, or Afro-Caribbean, 40-65 years old (n = 408). Before receiving genomic results, participants completed a survey assessing social and behavioral constructs related to health, genomics, and ethnic identity.

Intentions to share exome sequencing results with family members: exploring spousal beliefs and attitudes.

Given familial implications of genetic information, it is important to understand intentions to share carrier results with family members. To our knowledge, no studies among individuals undergoing exome sequencing have used dyadic data analysis to examine the effect of spousal perceptions and beliefs. Survey responses from 136 individuals (68 couples) undergoing exome sequencing in a research study were analyzed using dyadic analysis (the actor-partner interdependence model).

A randomized controlled study of a consent intervention for participating in an NIH genome sequencing study.

To make an informed choice to participate in a genome sequencing study that may yield primary and secondary findings, one understands relevant information in the context of personal values. Consent forms to enroll in a sequencing study can be long and complex. The efficacy of the professional encounter to consider the information contained in the consent form and make an informed choice is unknown.

Adaptation of couples living with a high risk of breast/ovarian cancer and the association with risk-reducing surgery.

Women who carry BRCA1/2 mutations have a significantly elevated risk for breast and ovarian cancer. The positive test result and subsequent decisions about risk reducing behaviors can evoke distress, anxiety and worry. Psychological adaptation, or the process of coming to terms with the implications of a health threat, is an understudied construct in BRCA1/2 carriers.

Feasibility of Coping Effectiveness Training for Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Genetic Counseling Intervention.

Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may find it difficult to feel a sense of control and to cope with the overall physical and emotional demands of caring for their child. While caregivers are able to successfully cope with a high level of stress, there are limits to their resources and abilities to cope over time. Genetic counselors working with affected families may be able to help parents more effectively manage stress related to the disorder.

Defining personal utility in genomics: A Delphi study.

Background: Individual genome sequencing results are valued by patients in ways distinct from clinical utility. Such outcomes have been described as components of "personal utility," a concept that broadly encompasses patient-endorsed benefits, that is operationally defined as non-clinical outcomes. No empirical delineation of these outcomes has been reported.

Population-based Incidence and Etiology of Community-acquired Neonatal Viral Infections in Bangladesh: A Community-based and Hospital-based Surveillance Study.

Background: The etiology of >90% of cases of suspected neonatal infection remains unknown. We conducted community-based surveillance in conjunction with hospital-based surveillance in a rural region in Bangladesh from June 2006 to September 2007 to assess the incidence and etiology of community-acquired viral infections among neonates.

Methods: Community health workers (CHWs) assessed neonates at home on days 0, 2, 5 and 8 after birth and referred cases of suspected illness to the hospital (CHW surveillance).

Childhood onset schizophrenia and early onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

The clinical severity, impact on development, and poor prognosis of childhood onset schizophrenia may represent a more homogeneous group. Positive symptoms in children are necessary for the diagnosis and hallucinations are more often multimodal. In healthy children and children with a variety of other psychiatric illnesses, hallucinations are not uncommon and diagnosis should not be based on these alone.

Diversity of core promoter elements comprising human bidirectional promoters.

Background: Bidirectional promoters lie between adjacent genes, which are transcribed from opposite strands of DNA. The functional mechanisms underlying the activation of bidirectional promoters are currently uncharacterised. To define the core promoter elements of bidirectional promoters in human, we mapped motifs for TATA, INR, BRE, DPE, INR, as well as CpG-islands.

A high-level specification for adaptive ecological momentary assessment: real-time assessment of drug craving, use and abstinence.

In psychological research, efforts to capture day-to-day human experience traditionally relied on pen-and-paper diaries and questionnaires. Some current studies, however, incorporate handheld computers, which provide researchers with many options and advantages in addition to providing more reliable data. One advantage of using handheld computers is the programmability of the electronic diary, which, compared to old-fashioned paper diaries, affords the researchers with a wealth of possibilities.

Antisense radiotherapy: targeting full-size mdrl mRNA with 125I-labelled oligonucleotides.

Purpose: Antisense radiotherapy is an approach based on the targeting of mRNA of specific genes by complementary oligonucleotide probes labelled with an Auger-electron-emitting radioisotope. Decay of the Auger emitter should specifically destroy the targeted mRNA while producing minimal damage to the rest of mRNA pool and the nuclear DNA. The feasibility of this approach was investigated by using full-length human multidrug-resistance gene (mdr1) mRNA as a target.

Virtual endoscopy: a promising new technology.

Growing evidence shows that early detection of cancer can substantially reduce mortality, necessitating screening programs that encourage patient compliance. Radiology is already established as a screening tool, as in mammography for breast cancer and ultrasonography for congenital anomalies. Advanced processing of helical computed tomographic data sets permits three-dimensional and virtual endoscopic models.

Regulation of messenger ribonucleic acid for corticotropin releasing hormone receptor in the pituitary during stress.

The mechanism regulating pituitary CRH receptors during stress was studied by analysis of the changes in CRH receptor messenger RNA (mRNA) and CRH binding after acute and repeated stress and CRH and vasopressin (VP) administration in intact and adrenalectomized rats. Acute stress caused time- and stress type-dependent changes in pituitary CRH receptor expression. In situ hybridization studies showed biphasic changes in CRH receptor mRNA after immobilization stress for 1 h and decreases by 2 h (P < 0.

Solvation effects on the sequence variability of DNA double helical conformations.

The role of solvation on the sequence dependent conformational variabilities in DNA has been studied by calculating hydration free energies from solvent accessible surface areas for several base steps, as a function of various helical parameters, roll, twist and propeller twist. The results of roll calculations suggest opposite trends for AA and GG steps, with the former tending to have a compressed minor groove and the latter a compressed major groove. These trends are consistent with the experimental findings on sequence preferences and the nature of anisotropic bending of DNA observed in nucleosomes (Drew, H.