The evaluation of psychotherapy methods is made difficult by their practical and theoretical diversities as well as the increasing number of available therapies. Evaluation based on scientific ...criteria in randomized control trials is providing the highest level of proof and recognition by Health Agencies. A recently described integrative psychotherapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), developed by F. Shapiro since 1989, has been confronted with the validation procedure used in pharmacological treatment. It was of interest to review the scientific validation steps carried out for this EMDR psychotherapy and for its mechanisms of action.
The practical and methodological protocol of the EMDR psychotherapy for trauma integration is reviewed as well as clinical results and mechanisms.
This EMDR therapy, focused on the resolutions of traumas, was started by treating patients with post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). The integrative EMDR protocol obtained the highest level of efficiency, for PTSD treatment, twenty years after its first publication. The efficiency of the protocol is now under study and scientific evaluation for troubles in which the trauma experiences are triggers or factors of maintenance of the troubles: anxiety, depression, phobia, sexual troubles, schizophrenia, etc.
This new integrative psychotherapy follows the pathways and the timing observed for the evaluation and the validation of other therapies.
Summary
The cyclic AMP protein kinase A pathway governs numerous biological features of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. The catalytic protein kinase A subunits, Tpk1 (orf19.4892) and Tpk2 ...(orf19.2277), have divergent roles, and most studies indicate a more pronounced role for Tpk2. Here we dissect two Tpk1‐responsive properties: adherence and cell wall integrity. Homozygous tpk1/tpk1 mutants are hyperadherent, and a Tpk1 defect enables biofilm formation in the absence of Bcr1, a transcriptional regulator of biofilm adhesins. A quantitative gene expression‐based assay reveals that tpk1/tpk1 and bcr1/bcr1 genotypes show mixed epistasis, as expected if Tpk1 and Bcr1 act mainly in distinct pathways. Overexpression of individual Tpk1‐repressed genes indicates that cell surface proteins Als1, Als2, Als4, Csh1 and Csp37 contribute to Tpk1‐regulated adherence. Tpk1 is also required for cell wall integrity, but has no role in the gene expression response to cell wall inhibition by caspofungin. Interestingly, increased expression of the adhesin gene ALS2 confers a cell wall defect, as manifested in hypersensitivity to the cell wall inhibitor caspofungin and a shallow cell wall structure. Our findings indicate that Tpk1 governs C. albicans cell wall properties through repression of select cell surface protein genes.
Aims: To investigate psychiatric disorders, somatic health, and professional effects in French train drivers having experienced a “person under train” accident, and somatic health and professional ...effects. Methods: A total of 202 train drivers were evaluated several times: immediately after the event, three months later, and one, two, and three years later. These drivers were compared with 186 train drivers not exposed to that psychotraumatic shock. The evaluations relied primarily on the GHQ-28 and MINI questionnaires. Results: In the exposed group, at the first evaluation, the prevalence of post-traumatic stress was 4%; scores ⩾5 on the GHQ-28 were significantly higher than in the non-exposed group (32% versus 6%), for both the overall result and three sub-scores (somatic symptoms, anxiety and sleep, and psychosocial functioning). All these differences disappeared within a year. Vulnerability factors concerned prior traumas, acute and lasting life events, and the particular occupational situation where the driver is not accompanied but drives the train away alone in the aftermath of the accident. Over 95% of subjects had no short, medium, or long term impairment of their occupational fitness. Conclusions: Most of the psycho-behavioural disorders were observed in the immediate aftermath of the accident and disappeared within a year. The driver’s occupational future does not seem to be affected by the “person under train” accident. Consideration of a traumatic accident as a job related risk and close psychological support of drivers after an accident probably increase the subject’s ability to recover from the event.
The present study describes the use of microarray technology for rapid identification and differentiation of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides from other mycoplasmas that may be pathogenic to ...ruminants, including those of the Mycoplasma mycoides cluster, genetically and antigenically strictly correlated with Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides. A microarray containing genetic sequences of 55 different bacterial species from Acholeplasma, Mycoplasma, Spiroplasma and Ureaplasma genera was constructed. Sequences to genes of interest were collected in FASTA format from NCBI. The collected sequences were processed with OligoPicker software. Oligonucleotides were then checked for their selectivity with BLAST searches in GenBank. The microarray was tested with ATCC/NCTC strains of Mycoplasma spp. of veterinary importance in ruminants including Mycoplasma belonging to the mycoides cluster as well as Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides and Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri field strains. The results showed that but one ATCC/NCTC reference strains hybridized with their species-specific sequences showed a profile/signature different and distinct from each other. The heat-map of the hybridization results for the nine genes interrogated for Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides demonstrated that the reference strain Mycoplasma mycoides subsp mycoides PG1 was positive for all of the gene sequences spotted on the microarray. CBPP field, vaccine and reference strains were all typed to be M. mycoides subsp. mycoides, and seven of the nine strains gave positive hybridization results for all of the nine genes. Two Italian strains were negative for some of the genes. Comparison with non-Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides reference strains showed some positive signals or considerable homology to Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides genes. As expected, some correlations were observed between the strictly genetically and antigenically correlated Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides and Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri strains. Specifically, we observed that some Italian Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides strains were positive for two out of the three Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri genes, differently from what has been observed for other European or African Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides strains. This study highlighted the use of microarray technology as a simple and effective method for a single-step identification and differentiation of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides from other mycoplasmas that may be pathogenic to ruminants, including those of the Mycoplasma mycoides cluster, genetically and antigenically strictly correlated with Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides. The opportunity to discriminate several mycoplasmas in a single analysis enhances diagnostic rapidity and may represent a useful tool to screen occasionally mycoplasmas affecting animal farming in territories where diagnostic laboratory support is limited. The heat-map of the hybridization results of the comparative genomic hybridizations DNA-designed chip clearly indicates that the microarray performs well for the identification of the tested Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides reference and field strains, discriminating them from other mycoplasmas.
The maintenance and regulation of the barrier function of the epithelial lining of the intestine are important homeostatic events, serving to allow selective absorption from the gut lumen while ...simultaneously limiting the access of bacteria into the mucosa. Interferon-gamma is a pleiotrophic cytokine produced predominantly by natural kill cells and CD4+ T cells that under normal circumstances, and particularly during infection or inflammation, will be a component of the intestinal milieu. Use of colon-derived epithelial cell lines and, to a less extent, murine in vivo analyses, have revealed that interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) can increase epithelial permeability as gauged by markers of paracellular permeability and bacterial transcytosis, with at least a portion of the bacteria using the transcellular permeation pathway. In this review, we describe the main characteristics of epithelial permeability and then focus on the ability of IFN-gamma to increase epithelial permeability, and the mechanism(s) thereof.
Recent clinical and empirical works are based on Cleckley's clinical observations in which psychopathy is viewed as a personality disorder, characterised by a lack of emotions, callousness, ...unreliability and superficiality. Hare operationalised Cleckley's concept of psychopathy by developing the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised composed of 20 items that load on two factors in majority: factor 1 (personality aspects of psychopathy) and factor 2 (behavioural manifestations), close to the antisocial personality disorder (DSM-IV criteria). Comorbidity is strong with antisocial personality disorder but also with histrionic, narcissistic and borderline disorders.
As results of categorical studies relative to comorbidity suggest a strong comorbidity between psychopathy and other personality disorders, and particularly cluster B disorders (axis II, DSM-IV), this study assesses the relationships between psychopathy (dimensional approach) and personality disorders (categorical approach) and particularly with the borderline personality disorder. The aim of this study is also to underline the complementarity of categorical (SCID-II) and dimensional approaches (PCL-R), and the utility of the standardised clinical examination.
We hypothesised positive associations between psychopathy and other personality disorders, mainly with the cluster B axis II (narcissistic, antisocial, histrionic, and borderline). Among those disorders, a particular link exists with the borderline personality disorder, considering that their association may attenuate the pathological level of the psychopathy. The sample included 80 male inmates from French prisons (age: M=31.48; SD=11.06). Each participant was evaluated with the PCL-R to assess the level of psychopathy and the SCID-II to assess the possible presence of personality disorders. The MINI and the WAIS-III were used to exclude respectively those who presented an axis I comorbidity (mood disorders and psychotic disorders established at the moment of the testing), or a backwardness (IQ<70). Correlations and multiple linear regressions analysis (with the Stepwise procedure) were used to analyse the data.
As expected, the results suggested positive correlations between narcissistic, antisocial personalities and scores of psychopathy (from 0.36 to 0.63); paranoid personality was less expected (from 0.32 to 0.47). Borderline personality was associated with both the total score of psychopathy (0.24) and the score of factor 2 (0.30). Linear regression analysis revealed that the antisocial and paranoid personalities predicted the total score (R(2)=38%) and the factor 2 (R(2)=45%) of the PCL-R. Antisocial and narcissistic personalities predicted factor 1 (R(2)=22%). However, in the different models, contrary as predicted, the borderline personality was not a significant predictor.
First, these results underline the importance of impulsivity above all for the cluster B personality disorders and secondly, the importance of considering impulsivity with antisocial (factor 2), narcissistic and paranoid characteristics. Moreover, because of the transversality of impulsivity, the literature outlined the cross-over between cluster B disorders and psychopathy. These different studies could have important clinical consequences (risk of violence, therapeutic indications and forecast). These results also emphasize the necessity of standardised examinations. Implications for treatment are outlined: the treatment may be adapted according to the comorbidities having an effect on psychopathy that is antisocial with paranoid personalities, and antisocial with narcissistic personalities.
Summary
The genome of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi strain B31 MI includes one linear chromosome, 10 circular and 12 linear plasmids. Members of four paralogous gene families, ...revealed by genome sequencing, have been suggested as replication/partition functions for both the linear and circular plasmids. Some of these genes have been experimentally shown to be essential for the replication of the B. burgdorferi replicons that encode them. In this study, we located the region essential for replication of lp17, the second smallest linear plasmid in B. burgdorferi. We used a novel in vivo method, targeted deletion walking, to systematically delete DNA from either the left or right end of lp17. We report that the region essential for replication of lp17 is 1.8 kb (bp 7946–9766) and contains only one intact open reading frame (BBD14). Expression of BBD14 is required for the replication, suggesting that it is the replication initiator for lp17. The BBD14 protein is a member of paralogous family (PF) 62 and we present the first experimental evidence for the role of a PF 62 member. Adjacent non‐coding sequences are also required, suggesting that the origin lies at least partially outside the coding region. Surprisingly, deletion of BBD21, the ParA orthologue (PF 32), had little effect upon plasmid stability or incompatibility. Finally, data are presented suggesting that lp17 replication occurs preferentially on a linear rather than a circular DNA molecule.
Structural and functional neuroimaging techniques have recently been used to investigate the mechanisms of sexual attraction to children, a hallmark of pedophilic disorder, and have reported many ...contradictory or non-replicated findings. Here, our purpose was to identify through functional magnetic resonance imaging the brain responses of 25 male outpatients with pedophilic disorder to visual stimuli depicting children (VSc) and to compare them with 24 male healthy controls matched on sexual orientation (to female or male adults), age, and handedness. No region was differentially activated across the two groups in response to VSc. However, as shown by a random-effects statistical analysis (cluster-level
p
FWE
-corrected < 0.05), in patients with pedophilia, but not in controls, the presentation of VSc induced a bilateral activation in the lateral occipital and temporal cortices, in particular in the right inferior temporal gyrus, as well as an activation in the declive of the cerebellar vermis. In addition, in patients the level of bilateral activation in the above-mentioned regions was positively correlated with ratings of perceived sexual arousal elicited by VSc. These results implicate these regions as possible candidate areas mediating sexual arousal in patients with pedophilic disorder.
Summary
The cyclic
AMP
protein kinase
A
pathway governs numerous biological features of the fungal pathogen
C
andida albicans
. The catalytic protein kinase
A
subunits,
Tpk
1 (orf19.4892) and
Tpk
2 ...(orf19.2277), have divergent roles, and most studies indicate a more pronounced role for
Tpk
2. Here we dissect two
Tpk
1‐responsive properties: adherence and cell wall integrity. Homozygous
tpk1/tpk1
mutants are hyperadherent, and a
Tpk
1 defect enables biofilm formation in the absence of
Bcr
1, a transcriptional regulator of biofilm adhesins. A quantitative gene expression‐based assay reveals that
tpk1/tpk1
and
bcr1/bcr1
genotypes show mixed epistasis, as expected if
Tpk
1 and
Bcr
1 act mainly in distinct pathways. Overexpression of individual
Tpk
1‐repressed genes indicates that cell surface proteins
Als
1,
Als
2,
Als
4,
Csh
1 and
Csp
37 contribute to
Tpk
1‐regulated adherence.
Tpk
1 is also required for cell wall integrity, but has no role in the gene expression response to cell wall inhibition by caspofungin. Interestingly, increased expression of the adhesin gene
ALS2
confers a cell wall defect, as manifested in hypersensitivity to the cell wall inhibitor caspofungin and a shallow cell wall structure. Our findings indicate that
Tpk
1 governs
C
. albicans
cell wall properties through repression of select cell surface protein genes.
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