Our objective was to assess the safety, feasibility, and effects of the standardized 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course in adults with migraines.
Stress is a well-known trigger ...for headaches. Research supports the general benefits of mind/body interventions for migraines, but there are few rigorous studies supporting the use of specific standardized interventions. MBSR is a standardized 8-week mind/body intervention that teaches mindfulness meditation/yoga. Preliminary research has shown MBSR to be effective for chronic pain syndromes, but it has not been evaluated for migraines.
We conducted a randomized controlled trial with 19 episodic migraineurs randomized to either MBSR (n = 10) or usual care (n = 9). Our primary outcome was change in migraine frequency from baseline to initial follow-up. Secondary outcomes included change in headache severity, duration, self-efficacy, perceived stress, migraine-related disability/impact, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, and quality of life from baseline to initial follow-up.
MBSR was safe (no adverse events), with 0% dropout and excellent adherence (daily meditation average: 34 ± 11 minutes, range 16-50 minutes/day). Median class attendance from 9 classes (including retreat day) was 8 (range 3, 9); average class attendance was 6.7 ± 2.5. MBSR participants had 1.4 fewer migraines/month (MBSR: 3.5 to 1.0 vs control: 1.2 to 0 migraines/month, 95% confidence interval CI -4.6, 1.8, P = .38), an effect that did not reach statistical significance in this pilot sample. Headaches were less severe, although not significantly so (-1.3 points/headache on 0-10 scale, -2.3, 0.09, P = .053) and shorter (-2.9 hours/headache, -4.6, -0.02, P = .043) vs control. Migraine Disability Assessment and Headache Impact Test-6 dropped in MBSR vs control (-12.6, -22.0, -1.0, P = .017 and -4.8, -11.0, -1.0, P = .043, respectively). Self-efficacy and mindfulness improved in MBSR vs control (13.2 1.0, 30.0, P = .035 and 13.1 3.0, 26.0, P = .035 respectively).
MBSR is safe and feasible for adults with migraines. Although the small sample size of this pilot trial did not provide power to detect statistically significant changes in migraine frequency or severity, secondary outcomes demonstrated this intervention had a beneficial effect on headache duration, disability, self-efficacy, and mindfulness. Future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to further evaluate this intervention for adults with migraines. This study was prospectively registered (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01545466).
Introduction
Evidence points to viral infections as possible triggers of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), but little is known about the prevalence of common viruses in the thyroid gland. Using a ...novel approach based on virus enrichment in multiple cell lines followed by detection of the viral genome and visualization of viral proteins, we investigated the presence of multiple human viruses in thyroid tissue from AITD patients and controls.
Methods
Thyroid tissue was collected by core needle biopsy or during thyroid surgery from 35 patients with AITD (20 Graves’ disease and 15 Hashimoto’s thyroiditis). Eighteen thyroid tissue specimens from patients undergoing neck surgery for reasons other than thyroid autoimmunity served as controls. Specimens were tested for the presence of ten different viruses. Enteroviruses and human herpesvirus 6 were enriched in cell culture before detection by PCR and immunofluorescence, while the remaining viruses were detected by PCR of biopsied tissue.
Results
Forty of 53 cases (75%) carried an infectious virus. Notably, 43% of all cases had a single virus, whereas 32% were coinfected by two or more virus types. An enterovirus was found in 27/53 cases (51%), human herpesvirus 6 in 16/53 cases (30%) and parvovirus B19 in 12/53 cases (22%). Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus were found in a few cases only. Of five gastroenteric virus groups examined, only one was detected in a single specimen. Virus distribution was not statistically different between AITD cases and controls.
Conclusion
Common human viruses are highly prevalent in the thyroid gland. This is the first study in which multiple viral agents have been explored in thyroid. It remains to be established whether the detected viruses represent causal agents, possible cofactors or simple bystanders.
Difference fluorescence line-narrowing spectroscopy at 4.5 K was employed to investigate electron−phonon and electron−vibrational coupling strengths of the lower exciton level of water-soluble ...chlorophyll-binding protein (WSCP) from cauliflower reconstituted with chlorophyll a or chlorophyll b, respectively. The electron−phonon coupling is found to be moderate with integral Huang−Rhys factors S in the order of 0.81−0.85. A weak dependence of S on excitation wavelength within the inhomogeneously broadened fluorescence origin band is attributed to a sizable contribution of nonresonant excitation that varies with excitation wavelength. The strongly asymmetric and highly structured one-phonon profile is characterized by a peak phonon frequency (ωm) of ∼24 cm−1 and further discernible peaks at 48 and 88 cm−1, respectively. A structural assignment of this unusual one-phonon profile is proposed. As will be shown in the accompanying paper (part II) (DOI 10.1021/jp111457t), the parameters of electron−phonon coupling readily account for shape and position of the fluorescence origin bands at 666.1 and 683.8 nm for chlorophyll b- and chlorophyll a-WSCP, respectively. A rich structure of S 1→S 0 vibrational frequencies was resolved in the wavenumber range between 180 and 1665 cm−1 for both chlorophyll a- and chlorophyll b-WSCP. The corresponding individual Huang−Rhys factors fall in the range between 0.0011 and 0.0500. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of S-factors for vibrational modes of chlorophyll b. Most remarkable is the presence of two additional modes at 228 and 327 cm−1 compared with the vibrational spectrum of chlorophyll in solution. The additional modes can most likely be attributed to H-bond formation in the vicinity of the chlorophyll molecule bound by WSCP.
Membrane proteins reside in a structured environment in which some of their residues are accessible to water, some are in contact with alkyl chains of lipid molecules, and some are buried in the ...protein. Water accessibility of residues may change during folding or function-related structural dynamics. Several techniques based on the combination of pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) with site-directed spin labeling can be used to quantify such water accessibility. Accessibility parameters for different residues in major plant light-harvesting complex IIb are determined by electron spin echo envelope modulation spectroscopy in the presence of deuterated water, deuterium contrast in transversal relaxation rates, analysis of longitudinal relaxation rates, and line shape analysis of electron-spin-echo-detected EPR spectra as well as by the conventional techniques of measuring the maximum hyperfine splitting and progressive saturation in continuous-wave EPR. Systematic comparison of these parameters allows for a more detailed characterization of the environment of the spin-labeled residues. These techniques are applicable independently of protein size and require ∼10–20 nmol of singly spin-labeled protein per sample. For a residue close to the N-terminus, in a domain unresolved in the existing x-ray structures of light-harvesting complex IIb, all methods indicate high water accessibility.
Persistent spectral hole burning at 4.5 K has been used to investigate the excitonic energy level structure and the excited state dynamics of the recombinant class-IIa water-soluble ...chlorophyll-binding protein (WSCP) from cauliflower. The hole-burned spectra are composed of four main features: (i) a narrow zero-phonon hole (ZPH) at the burn wavelength, (ii) a number of vibrational ZPHs, (iii) a broad low-energy hole at ∼665 and ∼683 nm for chlorophyll b- and chlorophyll a-WSCP, respectively, and (iv) a second satellite hole at ∼658 and ∼673 nm for chlorophyll b- and chlorophyll a-WSCP, respectively. The doublet of broad satellite holes is assigned to an excitonically coupled chlorophyll dimer. The lower-energy holes at ∼665 and ∼683 nm for chlorophyll b- and chlorophyll a-WSCP, respectively, represent the lower exciton states. Taking into account the parameters of electron−phonon coupling, the lower exciton state can be assigned as the fluorescence origin. The lower exciton state is populated by two processes: (i) exciton relaxation from the higher exciton state and (ii) vibrational relaxation within the lower exciton state. Assuming identical site energies for the two excitonically coupled chlorophyll molecules, the dipole−dipole interaction energy J is directly determined to be 85 and 100 cm−1 for chlorophyll b- and chlorophyll a-WSCP, respectively, based on the positions of the satellite holes. The Gaussian low-energy absorption band identified by constant fluence hole burning at 4.5 K has a width of ∼150 cm−1 and peaks at 664.9 and 682.7 nm for chlorophyll b- and chlorophyll a-WSCP, respectively. The action spectrum is broader and blue-shifted compared to the fluorescent lower exciton state. This finding can be explained by a slow protein relaxation between energetically inequivalent conformational substates within the lowest exciton state in agreement with the results of Schmitt et al. (J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 13951).
Chromist algae (stramenopiles, cryptophytes, and haptophytes) are major contributors to marine primary productivity. These eukaryotes acquired their plastid via secondary endosymbiosis, whereby an ...early-diverging red alga was engulfed by a protist and the plastid was retained and its associated nuclear-encoded genes were transferred to the host genome. Current data suggest, however, that chromists are paraphyletic; therefore, it remains unclear whether their plastids trace back to a single secondary endosymbiosis or, alternatively, this organelle has resulted from multiple independent events in the different chromist lineages. Both scenarios, however, predict that plastid-targeted, nucleus-encoded chromist proteins should be most closely related to their red algal homologs. Here we analyzed the biosynthetic pathway of carotenoids that are essential components of all photosynthetic eukaryotes and find a mosaic evolutionary origin of these enzymes in chromists. Surprisingly, about one-third (5/16) of the proteins are most closely related to green algal homologs with three branching within or sister to the early-diverging Prasinophyceae. This phylogenetic association is corroborated by shared diagnostic indels and the syntenic arrangement of a specific gene pair involved in the photoprotective xanthophyll cycle. The combined data suggest that the prasinophyte genes may have been acquired before the ancient split of stramenopiles, haptophytes, cryptophytes, and putatively also dinoflagellates. The latter point is supported by the observed monophyly of alveolates and stramenopiles in most molecular trees. One possible explanation for our results is that the green genes are remnants of a cryptic endosymbiosis that occurred early in chromalveolate evolution; that is, prior to the postulated split of stramenopiles, alveolates, haptophytes, and cryptophytes. The subsequent red algal capture would have led to the loss or replacement of most green genes via intracellular gene transfer from the new endosymbiont. We argue that the prasinophyte genes were retained because they enhance photosynthetic performance in chromalveolates, thus extending the niches available to these organisms. The alternate explanation of green gene origin via serial endosymbiotic or horizontal gene transfers is also plausible, but the latter would require the independent origins of the same five genes in some or all the different chromalveolate lineages.
Time-local and time-nonlocal theories are used in combination with optical spectroscopy to characterize the water-soluble chlorophyll binding protein complex (WSCP) from cauliflower. The recombinant ...cauliflower WSCP complexes reconstituted with either chlorophyll b (Chl b) or Chl a/Chl b mixtures are characterized by absorption spectroscopy at 77 and 298 K and circular dichroism at 298 K. On the basis of the analysis of these spectra and spectra reported for recombinant WSCP reconstituted with Chl a only (Hughes, J. L.; Razeghifard, R.; Logue, M.; Oakley, A.; Wydrzynski, T.; Krausz, E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. U.S.A. 2006, 128, 3649), the “open-sandwich” model proposed for the structure of the pigment dimer is refined. Our calculations show that, for a reasonable description of the data, a reduction of the angle between pigment planes from 60° of the original model to about 30° is required when exciton relaxation-induced lifetime broadening is included in the analysis of optical spectra. The temperature dependence of the absorption spectrum is found to provide a unique test for the two non-Markovian theories of optical spectra. Based on our data and the 1.7 K spectra of Hughes et al. (2006), the time-local partial ordering prescription theory is shown to describe the experimental results over the whole temperature range between 1.7 K and room temperature, whereas the alternative time-nonlocal chronological ordering prescription theory fails at high temperatures. Modified-Redfield theory predicts sub-100 fs exciton relaxation times for the homodimers and a 450 fs time constant in the heterodimers. Whereas the simpler Redfield theory gives a similar time constant for the homodimers, the one for the heterodimers deviates strongly in the two theories. The difference is explained by multivibrational quanta transitions in the protein which are neglected in Redfield theory.
The European monitoring of excess mortality for public health action (EuroMOMO) network monitors weekly excess all-cause mortality in 27 European countries or subnational areas. During the first wave ...of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Europe in spring 2020, several countries experienced extraordinarily high levels of excess mortality. Europe is currently seeing another upsurge in COVID-19 cases, and EuroMOMO is again witnessing a substantial excess all-cause mortality attributable to COVID-19.
With 3 figures and 5 tables ABSTRACT: Grain legumes are regarded as highly valuable protein source for human and animal nutrition. Legume protein quality is mainly limited by the amino acids (AAs) ...tryptophan and sulphur AA. Organic farming in particular requires high seed protein quality for livestock feeding, as chemically produced AAs must not be feeded. Breeding attempts to increase contents of limiting AA are required. In the present survey, the AA content of 107 cultivars of important European grain legume species (Lupinus angustifolius, Lupinus luteus, Pisum sativum and Vicia faba) was analysed. AA contents were related to the requirements of growing pigs and human nutrition. Feed quality could be enhanced by choice of high quality varieties according to ideal protein concepts. For example for sulphur, AA feed quality for pigs could be increased by up to 22% (e.g. for L. angustifolius: ideal protein = 100, sample mean = 59.7, sample maximum = 72.7). Regarding livestock nutrition, ranges of limiting AA never reached the qualities reported for soybean seeds. However, an inclusion of high quality legume lines would reduce the need for other high quality components in feed compositions.
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