Little is known about the relative extent of crime against people with severe mental illness (SMI).
To assess the prevalence and impact of crime among people with SMI compared with the general ...population.
A total of 361 psychiatric patients were interviewed using the national crime survey questionnaire, and findings compared with those from 3138 general population controls participating in the contemporaneous national crime survey.
Past-year crime was experienced by 40% of patients v. 14% of controls (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.8, 95% CI 2.0-3.8); and violent assaults by 19% of patients v. 3% of controls (adjusted OR = 5.3, 95% CI 3.1-8.8). Women with SMI had four-, ten- and four-fold increases in the odds of experiencing domestic, community and sexual violence, respectively. Victims with SMI were more likely to report psychosocial morbidity following violence than victims from the general population.
People with SMI are at greatly increased risk of crime and associated morbidity. Violence prevention policies should be particularly focused on people with SMI.
Genes
flbA-E
are involved in sporulation and vegetative growth in
Aspergillus nidulans.
Inactivation of either of these genes results in a fluffy phenotype with delayed or even abolished sporulation. ...Previously, a non-sporulating phenotype was obtained by inactivating
flbA
in
Aspergillus niger,
which was accompanied by lysis, thinner cell walls, and an increased secretome complexity. Here, we further studied the role of the
flb
genes of
A. niger
. Strains Δ
flbA,
Δ
flbB
and Δ
flbE
showed increased biomass formation, while inactivation of
flbA-D
reduced, or even abolished, formation of conidia. Strain Δ
flbA
was more sensitive to H
2
O
2
, DTT, and the cell wall integrity stress compounds SDS and Congo Red (CR). Also, Δ
flbC
was more sensitive to SDS, while Δ
flbB
, Δ
flbD
, and Δ
flbE
were more sensitive to CR. On the other hand, inactivation of
flbE
increased resistance to H
2
O
2
. Enzyme secretion was impacted when the Δ
flb
strains were grown on xylose. Strain Δ
flbE
showed reduced xylanase, cellulase and amylase secretion. On the other hand, amylase secretion at the periphery of the Δ
flbA
colony was reduced but not in its center, while secretion of this enzyme was increased in the center of the Δ
flbB
colony but not at its periphery. Inactivation of
flbC
and
flbD
also impacted zonal cellulase and amylase activity. Together, the Flb protein family of
A. niger
function in biomass formation, sporulation, stress response, and protein secretion.
Does silently talking to yourself in the third-person constitute a relatively effortless form of self control? We hypothesized that it does under the premise that third-person self-talk leads people ...to think about the self similar to how they think about others, which provides them with the psychological distance needed to facilitate self control. We tested this prediction by asking participants to reflect on feelings elicited by viewing aversive images (Study 1) and recalling negative autobiographical memories (Study 2) using either "I" or their name while measuring neural activity via ERPs (Study 1) and fMRI (Study 2). Study 1 demonstrated that third-person self-talk reduced an ERP marker of self-referential emotional reactivity (i.e., late positive potential) within the first second of viewing aversive images without enhancing an ERP marker of cognitive control (i.e., stimulus preceding negativity). Conceptually replicating these results, Study 2 demonstrated that third-person self-talk was linked with reduced levels of activation in an a priori defined fMRI marker of self-referential processing (i.e., medial prefrontal cortex) when participants reflected on negative memories without eliciting increased levels of activity in a priori defined fMRI markers of cognitive control. Together, these results suggest that third-person self-talk may constitute a relatively effortless form of self-control.
Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis involves two cells that follow separate but coordinately regulated developmental programs. Late in sporulation, the developing spore (the forespore) resides within a ...mother cell. The regulation of the forespore transcription factor sigma(G) that acts at this stage has remained enigmatic. sigma(G) activity requires eight mother-cell proteins encoded in the spoIIIA operon and the forespore protein SpoIIQ. Several of the SpoIIIA proteins share similarity with components of specialized secretion systems. One of them resembles a secretion ATPase and we demonstrate that the ATPase motifs are required for sigma(G) activity. We further show that the SpoIIIA proteins and SpoIIQ reside in a multimeric complex that spans the two membranes surrounding the forespore. Finally, we have discovered that these proteins are all required to maintain forespore integrity. In their absence, the forespore develops large invaginations and collapses. Importantly, maintenance of forespore integrity does not require sigma(G). These results support a model in which the SpoIIIA-SpoIIQ proteins form a novel secretion apparatus that allows the mother cell to nurture the forespore, thereby maintaining forespore physiology and sigma(G) activity during spore maturation.
The coat of
spores is a multiprotein protective structure that also arbitrates many of the environmental interactions of the spore. The coat assembles around the cortex peptidoglycan layer and is ...differentiated into an inner and an outer layer and a crust. SafA governs assembly of the inner coat, whereas CotE drives outer coat assembly. SafA localizes to the cortex-coat interface. Both SafA and its short form C30 are substrates for Tgl, a coat-associated transglutaminase that cross-links proteins through ε-(γ-glutamyl)lysyl isopeptide bonds. We show that SafA and C30 are distributed between the coat and cortex layers. The deletion of
increases the extractability of SafA, mainly from the cortex. Tgl itself is mostly located in the inner coat and cortex. The localization of Tgl-cyan fluorescent protein (Tgl-CFP) is strongly, but not exclusively, dependent on
However, the association of Tgl with the cortex requires
Together, our results suggest an assembly pathway in which Tgl is first recruited to the forming spore in a manner that is only partially dependent on SafA and then is drafted to the cortex by SafA. Tgl, in turn, promotes the conversion of coat- and cortex-associated SafA into forms that resist extraction, possibly by catalyzing the cross-linking of SafA to other coat proteins, to the cortex, and/or to cortex-associated proteins. Therefore, the final assembly state of SafA relies on an autoregulatory pathway that requires the subcellular localization of a protein cross-linking enzyme. Tgl most likely exerts a "spotwelding" activity, cross-linking preformed complexes in the cortex and inner coat layers of spores.
In this work, we show how two proteins work together to determine their subcellular location within the coat of bacterial endospores.
endospores are surrounded by a multilayer protein coat composed of over 80 proteins, which surrounds an underlying peptidoglycan layer (the spore cortex) protecting it from lytic enzymes. How specific coat proteins are targeted to specific layers of the coat is not well understood. We found that the protein SafA recruits a protein-cross-linking enzyme (a transglutaminase) to the cortex and inner layers of the coat, where both are cemented, by cross-linking, into macromolecular complexes.
At an early stage during Bacillus subtilis endospore development the bacterium divides asymmetrically to produce two daughter cells. The smaller cell (forespore) differentiates into the endospore, ...while the larger cell (mother cell) becomes a terminally differentiated cell that nurtures the developing forespore. During development the mother cell engulfs the forespore to produce a protoplast, surrounded by two bilayer membranes, which separate it from the cytoplasm of the mother cell. The activation of σG, which drives late gene expression in the forespore, follows forespore engulfment and requires expression of the spoIIIA locus in the mother cell. One of the spoIIIA-encoded proteins SpoIIIAH is targeted specifically to the membrane surrounding the forespore, through an interaction of its C-terminal extracellular domain with the C-terminal extracellular domain of the forespore membrane protein SpoIIQ. We identified a homologous relationship between the C-terminal domain of SpoIIIAH and the YscJ/FliF protein family, members of which form multimeric rings involved in type III secretion systems and flagella. If SpoIIIAH forms a similar ring structure, it may also form a channel between the mother cell and forespore membranes. To test this hypothesis we developed a compartmentalized biotinylation assay, which we used to show that the C-terminal extracellular domain of SpoIIIAH is accessible to enzymatic modification from the forespore cytoplasm. These and other results lead us to suggest that SpoIIIAH forms part of a channel between the forespore and mother cell that is required for the activation of σG.
Abstract Obesity is epidemic; chronic energy surplus is clearly important in obesity development but other factors are at play. Indigenous gut microbiota are implicated in the aetiopathogenesis of ...obesity and obesity-related disorders. Evidence from murine models initially suggested a role for the gut microbiota in weight regulation and the microbiota has been shown to contribute to the low grade inflammation that characterises obesity. The microbiota and its metabolites mediate some of the alterations of the microbiota–gut–brain axis, the endocannabinoid system, and bile acid metabolism, found in obesity-related disorders. Modulation of the gut microbiota is an attractive proposition for prevention or treatment of obesity, particularly as traditional measures have been sub-optimal
Introduction and hypothesis
This prospective multi-centre true two-sided equivalence trial was designed to test the clinical equivalence of open (ASCP) and laparoscopic (LSCP) sacrocolpopexy using ...objective and subjective outcomes
Methods
The study was carried out in three urogynaecology units in England, UK and the patient population consisted of women referred with symptomatic and bothersome post-hysterectomy vaginal vault prolapse at least 1 cm above or beyond the hymeneal remnants. The interventions were either abdominal or laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy following randomisation to one of the types of surgery.
Results
For the primary outcome (point C on the POP-Q) the results at 1 year were −6.63 cm for the open ASCP and −6.67 cm for the LSCP respectively. Subjective outcomes at 1 year showed that 90% of the ASCP group and 80% of the LSCP group were “much better”. There were improvements with regard to blood loss, haemoglobin and shorter length of stay in the LSCP group compared with the ASCP group.
Conclusion
This fully powered randomised controlled trial comparing open and laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy has shown clinical equivalence.
The efficacy of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) for enhancing fatigue performance is investigated for additively manufactured (AM) Ti-6Al-4V. The limitations of HIP are probed by varying the initial ...material state via the selection of AM system, powder chemical composition, and process parameters. We demonstrate that the fatigue performance of HIP'd AM Ti-6Al-4V depends on the as-built quality of the material. Differences in common material attributes, such as pre-HIP defect populations or post-HIP microstructure morphology, are shown to be insufficient to explain the observed discrepancies in performance. This implies that additional microstructure attributes or localized deviations from the expected structure control the failure of this material. Finally, HIP parameters outside ASTM recommendations were explored, where a reduced temperature and high-pressure treatment yielded significantly improved fatigue performance.
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