Background
Both the nature and number of a wide range of prodromal symptoms have been related to the severity and type of psychopathology in the psychotic phase. However, at present there is an ...incomplete picture focused mainly on the positive pre‐psychotic dimension.
Aim
To characterize the prodromal phase retrospectively, examining the number and nature of prodromal symptoms as well as their relationship with psychopathology at the onset of first‐episode psychosis.
Methods
Retrospective study of 79 patients experiencing a first‐episode psychosis of less than 1 year from the onset of full‐blown psychosis. All patients were evaluated with a comprehensive battery of instruments including socio‐demographic and clinical questionnaire, IRAOS interview, PANSS, stressful life events scale (PERI) and WAIS/WISC (vocabulary subtest). Bivariate associations and multiple regression analysis were performed.
Results
Regression models revealed that several prodromal dimensions of IRAOS (delusions, affect, language, behaviour and non‐hallucinatory disturbances of perception) predicted the onset of psychosis, with positive (22.4% of the variance) and disorganized (25.6% of the variance) dimensions being the most widely explained.
Conclusion
In addition to attenuated positive symptoms, other symptoms such as affective, behavioural and language disturbances should also be considered in the definitions criteria of at‐high‐risk people.
Stressful life events (SLEs) are important indicators prior to the onset of first-episode psychosis (FEP). Although there are well-validated interviews and self-reports for assessing SLE on proximate ...events, unfortunately there are no instruments to assess SLE covering an entire lifetime. This study includes detailed specific items of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood focused on the presence of SLE, emotional impact (stressfulness), and the age at which the event occurred. Our research describes 2 studies designed to develop and validate a new scale to assess SLE: the Questionnaire of Stressful Life Events (QSLE). In Study 1, an over-inclusive item pool was generated based on review of group of experts at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu and content validity was examined by an Expert Survey. The whole scale represents the content domain. In Study 2, item-level analyses revealed good distributional properties, intra-rater reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. In the sensitivity and specificity analysis, 18 items had high relevance in the discriminability between patients with FEP and healthy controls. We note that there was an AUC of 0.676, indicating a good predictor. Using 7 as a cutoff to predict an individual as a patient would yield a sensitivity of 64.8% and a specificity of 65%. Overall, the QSLE displayed satisfactory psychometric characteristics in a Spanish population. These results suggest that QSLE gives us the opportunity to investigate childhood, adolescent, and adult life events by measuring the stress and age at the moment on a continuous scale.
•The questionnaire of stressful life events (QSLE) is optimal for psychosis studies.•Reliability and validity of QSLE are very satisfactory.•The QSLE shows good capacity to discriminate patients and controls.•Assess presence and levels of stress helps to understand the impact on psychosis.
Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on zinc l‐carnosine as a novel food (NF) pursuant ...to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 and as a source of zinc for use in food supplements. The NF is produced by chemical synthesis and is proposed to be used in food supplements as a source of zinc. The target population proposed by the applicant is individuals above the age of 12, excluding pregnant and lactating women. The NF which is the subject of the application is a chelate‐complex, formed between Zn2+ and l‐carnosine and is present as a mixture of a monomer and a dimer. The material is a powder with particulate nature and is insoluble in water at neutral pH. No relevant data using an existing zinc source as comparator have been made available by the applicant and the actual bioavailability of the zinc provided by the NF at the proposed use levels remains uncharacterised. Owing to the lack of a correct characterisation of the fraction of small particles, including nanoparticles of the NF, the Panel is not in the position to evaluate specification limits for the size of the constituent particles in the NF. Owing to the lack of information on the size distribution and the physico‐chemical properties of the particles constituting the NF, the Panel is not in the position to confirm whether the ADME studies and the toxicological studies provided by the applicant are appropriate to assess the safety of the NF. The Panel concludes that the NF is absorbed and provides zinc, but as it is in an insufficiently characterised particulate form, its safety has not been established and the bioavailability has not been determined.
Sub-Neptunes with \(2-3R_\oplus\) are intermediate in size between rocky planets and Neptune-sized planets. The orbital properties and bulk compositions of transiting sub-Neptunes provide clues to ...the formation and evolution of close-in small planets. In this paper, we present the discovery and follow-up of four sub-Neptunes orbiting M dwarfs (TOI-782, TOI-1448, TOI-2120, and TOI-2406), three of which were newly validated by ground-based follow-up observations and statistical analyses. TOI-782 b, TOI-1448 b, TOI-2120 b, and TOI-2406 b have radii of \(R_\mathrm{p} = 2.740^{+0.082}_{-0.079}\,R_\oplus\), \(2.769^{+0.073}_{-0.068}\,R_\oplus\), \(2.120\pm0.067\,R_\oplus\), and \(2.830^{+0.068}_{-0.066}\,R_\oplus\) and orbital periods of \(P = 8.02\), \(8.11\), \(5.80\), and \(3.08\)\,days, respectively. Doppler monitoring with Subaru/InfraRed Doppler instrument led to 2\(\sigma\) upper limits on the masses of \(<19.1\ M_\oplus\), \(<19.5\ M_\oplus\), \(<6.8\ M_\oplus\), and \(<15.6\ M_\oplus\) for TOI-782 b, TOI-1448 b, TOI-2120 b, and TOI-2406 b, respectively. The mass-radius relationship of these four sub-Neptunes testifies to the existence of volatile material in their interiors. These four sub-Neptunes, which are located above the so-called ``radius valley'', are likely to retain a significant atmosphere and/or an icy mantle on the core, such as a water world. We find that at least three of the four sub-Neptunes (TOI-782 b, TOI-2120 b, and TOI-2406 b) orbiting M dwarfs older than 1 Gyr, are likely to have eccentricities of \(e \sim 0.2-0.3\). The fact that tidal circularization of their orbits is not achieved over 1 Gyr suggests inefficient tidal dissipation in their interiors.
Se evaluó fisiopatías en Brachiaria arrecta expuestas a contenidos tóxicos de cadmio y plomo en el invernadero de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Palmira, se doparon plántulas sanas de 20 ...días de edad bajo cultivo hidropónico. El objetivo fue describir síntomas crecientes por intoxicación con el diseño de una escala valorativa de daños crecientes, adicionalmente se evaluaron cambios histológicos de raíz tallo y hojas mediante microscopia de luz de alta resolución (MLAR). Las plantas fueron sometidas a estrés abiótico con los tratamientos de sales de CdCl2 en concentración de 10 ppm, y de Pb (NO3 )2 500 ppm, respectivamente. Los resultados principales mostraron un mayor detrimento cuando las plantas fueron expuestas al metal plomo que al cadmio en las raíces, tallos y hojas. Se apreciaron deformaciones extremas en paredes celulares de las células del cortex y en la endodermis de la raíz; en las hojas los daños fueron notorios para ambos metales sobre todo en el parénquima clorofílico y en la deformación de paredes de la epidermis tanto en haz como envés; en los tallos aparecieron deformaciones de las células del parénquima de relleno cuando ocurre bioacumulación intensa de plomo. Estos resultados sugieren que la bioconcentración en los tejidos vegetales ocasiona trastornos histológicos, que pueden involucrar una red trófica y por consiguiente consecuencias en la Salud Pública.
Aim
The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between age at menarche and age at first episode of psychosis, as well as clinical severity and outcome, in a population of women with ...first‐episode psychosis.
Methods
Clinical and socio‐demographical data, age at menarche and at first‐episode psychosis, parental history of psychosis and cannabis‐use habits were obtained from 42 subjects with a first episode of psychosis. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Clinical Global Impression, Global Assessment Function, Disability Assessment Schedule, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, European Quality of Life, and Lewis and Murray Obstetric Complication Scales were administered. Statistical analysis was performed by means of zero‐order correlations and Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests using SPSS version 17.0.
Results
We found no significant correlation between age at menarche and age at first‐episode psychosis, or with the clinical scores performed. We observed that subjects with earlier age at menarche had more parental history of psychosis.
Conclusions
Our negative results do not support the theory of a possible protective role of oestrogen, which seems to be more complex than previously thought. We would suggest that further research is needed to investigate developmental influences of sex steroids on the onset of psychosis and potentially therapeutic benefits based upon oestrogen.
The transcription factor Twist1 is involved in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and contributes to cancer metastasis through mostly unknown mechanisms. In colorectal cancer, Twist1 expression is ...mainly restricted to the tumor stroma. We found that human fibroblast cell lines stably transfected with Twist1 acquired characteristics of activated cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), such as hyperproliferation, an increased ability to migrate and an alignment of the actin cytoskeleton. Further, Twist1-activated fibroblasts promoted increased matrix stiffness. Using quantitative proteomics, we identified palladin and collagen α1(VI) as two major mediators of the Twist1 effects in fibroblast cell lines. Co-immunoprecipitation studies indicated that palladin and Twist1 interact within the nucleus, suggesting that palladin could act as a transcription regulator. Palladin was found to be more relevant for the cellular biomechanical properties, orientation and polarity, and collagen α1(VI) for the migration and invasion capacity, of Twist1-activated fibroblasts. Both palladin and collagen α1(VI) were observed to be overexpressed in colorectal CAFs and to be associated with poor colorectal cancer patient survival and relapse prediction. Our results demonstrate that Twist1-expressing fibroblasts mimic the properties of CAFs present at the tumor invasive front, which likely explains the prometastatic activities of Twist1. Twist1 appears to require both palladin and collagen α1(VI) as downstream effectors for its prometastatic effects, which could be future therapeutic targets in cancer metastasis.
HD235088 (TOI-1430) is a young star known to host a sub-Neptune-sized planet candidate. We validated the planetary nature of HD235088 b with multiband photometry, refined its planetary parameters, ...and obtained a new age estimate of the host star, placing it at 600-800 Myr. Previous spectroscopic observations of a single transit detected an excess absorption of He I coincident in time with the planet candidate transit. Here, we confirm the presence of He I in the atmosphere of HD235088 b with one transit observed with CARMENES. We also detected hints of variability in the strength of the helium signal, with an absorption of \(-\)0.91\(\pm\)0.11%, which is slightly deeper (2\(\sigma\)) than the previous measurement. Furthermore, we simulated the He I signal with a spherically symmetric 1D hydrodynamic model, finding that the upper atmosphere of HD235088 b escapes hydrodynamically with a significant mass loss rate of (1.5-5) \(\times\)10\(^{10}\)g s\(^{-1}\), in a relatively cold outflow, with \(T\)=3125\(\pm\)375 K, in the photon-limited escape regime. HD235088 b (\(R_{p}\) = 2.045\(\pm\)0.075 R\(_{\oplus}\)) is the smallest planet found to date with a solid atmospheric detection - not just of He I but any other atom or molecule. This positions it a benchmark planet for further analyses of evolving young sub-Neptune atmospheres.
We validate the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) object of interest TOI-2266.01 (TIC 348911) as a small transiting planet (most likely a super-Earth) orbiting a faint M5 dwarf ...(\(V=16.54\)) on a 2.33~d orbit. The validation is based on an approach where multicolour transit light curves are used to robustly estimate the upper limit of the transiting object's radius. Our analysis uses SPOC-pipeline TESS light curves from Sectors 24, 25, 51, and 52, simultaneous multicolour transit photometry observed with MuSCAT2, MuSCAT3, and HiPERCAM, and additional transit photometry observed with the LCOGT telescopes. TOI-2266 b is found to be a planet with a radius of \(1.54\pm\0.09\,R_\oplus\), which locates it at the edge of the transition zone between rocky planets, water-rich planets, and sub-Neptunes (the so-called M~dwarf radius valley). The planet is amenable to ground-based radial velocity mass measurement with red-sensitive spectrographs installed in large telescopes, such as MAROON-X and Keck Planet Finder (KPF), which makes it a valuable addition to a relatively small population of planets that can be used to probe the physics of the transition zone. Further, the planet's orbital period of 2.33 days places it inside a `keystone planet' wedge in the period-radius plane where competing planet formation scenarios make conflicting predictions on how the radius valley depends on the orbital period. This makes the planet also a welcome addition to the small population of planets that can be used to test small-planet formation scenarios around M~dwarfs.
PDF