The authors demonstrate that gold-binding peptides displayed on the outer membrane of Escherichia coli enhance bioelectrochemical charge transfer by binding gold nanoparticles. Microbial fuel cells were run with different gold-binding peptides displayed and with different nanoparticle sizes, and the results were correlated with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of nanoparticle binding. When a gold-binding peptide is displayed and 5 nm gold nanoparticles are present, up to 4× power generation over E. coli not displaying a gold-binding peptide is observed. While an enhanced current is observed using the previously published M6G9, the largest enhancement is observed when a new longer peptide named M9G18 is used.

Objectives: The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a complex measure of executive function that is frequently employed to investigate the schizophrenia spectrum. The successful completion of the task requires the interaction of multiple intact executive processes, including attention, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and concept formation. Considerable cognitive heterogeneity exists among the schizophrenia spectrum population, with substantive evidence to support the existence of distinct cognitive phenotypes. The within-group performance heterogeneity of individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) on the WCST has yet to be investigated. A data-driven cluster analysis was performed to characterise WCST performance heterogeneity. Methods: Hierarchical cluster analysis with k-means optimisation was employed to identify homogenous subgroups in a sample of 210 schizophrenia spectrum participants. Emergent clusters were then compared to each other and a group of 194 healthy controls (HC) on WCST performance and demographic/clinical variables. Results: Three clusters emerged and were validated via altered design iterations. Clusters were deemed to reflect a relatively intact patient subgroup, a moderately impaired patient subgroup, and a severely impaired patient subgroup. Conclusions: Considerable within-group heterogeneity exists on the WCST. Identification of subgroups of patients who exhibit homogenous performance on measures of executive functioning may assist in optimising cognitive interventions. Previous associations found using the WCST among schizophrenia spectrum participants should be reappraised. (JINS, 2019, 25, 750–760)

Objectives: Antisaccade error rate has been proposed to be one of the most promising endophenotypes for schizophrenia. Increased error rate in patients has been associated with working memory, attention and other executive function impairments. The relationship between antisaccade error rate and other neuropsychological processes in patients compared to healthy controls has not been explored in depth. This study aimed to replicate the finding of heightened antisaccade error rate in patients and determine which cognitive processes were most strongly associated with antisaccade error rate in both patients and controls. In addition, the study investigated whether different antisaccade task paradigms engage different cognitive processes. Methods: One hundred and ninety-one participants (54 patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and 137 controls) completed the antisaccade task, which included both gap and step task parameters. Neuropsychological measures were obtained using the MCCB and the Stroop task. Results: The current study replicated a pronounced antisaccade error rate deficit in patients. In patients, working memory variance was most significantly associated with antisaccade errors made during the step condition, while attentional processes were most associated with errors made during the gap condition. In controls, overall global cognitive performance was most associated with antisaccade rates for both gap and step conditions. Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that in schizophrenia patients, but not controls, elevated antisaccade error rate is associated with attention and working memory, but not with global cognitive impairment or psychopathological processes. Our novel findings demonstrate that the gap and step conditions of the antisaccade task engage different cognitive processes. (JINS, 2019, 25, 174–183)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been declared ‘a life sentence’ based on evidence that the disorder leads to a host of physical health problems. Some of the strongest empirical research – in terms of methodology and findings – has shown that PTSD predicts higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases, specifically cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Despite mounting evidence, PTSD is not currently acknowledged as a risk factor by cardiovascular or endocrinological medicine. This view is unlikely to change absent compelling evidence that PTSD causally contributes to cardiometabolic disease. This review suggests that with developments in methods for epidemiological research and the rapidly expanding knowledge of the behavioral and biological effects of PTSD the field is poised to provide more definitive answers to questions of causality. First, we discuss methods to improve causal inference using the observational data most often used in studies of PTSD and health, with particular reference to issues of temporality and confounding. Second, we consider recent work linking PTSD with specific behaviors and biological processes, and evaluate whether these may plausibly serve as mechanisms by which PTSD leads to cardiometabolic disease. Third, we evaluate how looking more comprehensively into the PTSD phenotype provides insight into whether specific aspects of PTSD phenomenology are particularly relevant to cardiometabolic disease. Finally, we discuss new areas of research that are feasible and could enhance understanding of the PTSD–cardiometabolic relationship, such as testing whether treatment of PTSD can halt or even reverse the cardiometabolic risk factors causally related to CVD and T2D.

We describe the cases of two children who both presented in infancy with recurrent severe pulmonary hypertensive crises. Exhaustive clinical work-up failed to identify an underlying aetiology. The patients had no clinical response to steroids, immunoglobulins, or pulmonary vasodilators. Post-mortem examination revealed extensive invasive pulmonary capillary haemangiomatosis. There was no evidence of pulmonary venous occlusive disease. Given the lethal nature of this condition, early consideration of referral to a lung transplant centre should be considered in selected patients.

We provide an introduction to enumerating and constructing invariants of group representations via character methods. The problem is contextualized via two case studies, arising from our recent work: entanglement invariants for characterizing the structure of state spaces for composite quantum systems; and Markov invariants, a robust alternative to parameter-estimation intensive methods of statistical inference in molecular phylogenetics.

Objective: To characterize the performance of glucose meter test strips using simulated dynamic temperature and humidity disaster conditions.

Methods: Glucose oxidase- and glucose dehydrogenase-based test strips were dynamically stressed for up to 680 hours using an environmental chamber to simulate conditions during Hurricane Katrina. Paired measurements vs control were obtained using 3 aqueous reagent levels for GMS1 and 2 for GMS2.

Results: Stress affected the performance of GMS1 at level 1 (P <. 01); and GMS2 at both levels (P <. 001), lowering GMS1 results but elevating GMS2 results. Glucose median-paired differences were elevated at both levels on GMS2 after 72 hours. Median-paired differences (stress minus control) were as much as −10 mg/dL (range, −65 to 33) at level 3 with GMS1, with errors as large as 21.9%. Glucose median-paired differences were as high as 5 mg/dL (range, −1 to 10) for level 1 on GMS2, with absolute errors up to 24.4%.

Conclusions: The duration of dynamic stress affected the performance of both GMS1 and GMS2 glucose test strips. Therefore, proper monitoring, handling, and storage of point-of-care (POC) reagents are needed to ensure their integrity and quality of actionable results, thereby minimizing treatment errors in emergency and disaster settings.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2012;6:232–240)

Bluetongue (BT) is a disease of ruminants caused by bluetongue virus (BTV), which is spread between its hosts by Culicoides midges. Vaccination is the most effective way to protect susceptible animals against BTV and was used reactively to control the recent northern European outbreak. To assess the consequences of using vaccination pre-emptively we used a stochastic, spatially explicit model to compare reactive and pre-emptive vaccination strategies against an incursion of BTV serotype 1 (BTV-1) into Great Britain. Both pre-emptive and reactive vaccination significantly reduced the number of affected farms and limited host morbidity and mortality. In addition, vaccinating prior to the introduction of disease reduced the probability of an outbreak occurring. Of the strategies simulated, widespread reactive vaccination resulted in the lowest levels of morbidity. The predicted effects of vaccination were found to be sensitive to vaccine efficacy but not to the choice of transmission kernel.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Beginning January 1, 2015, conventional cage housing for egg-laying hens is scheduled to be prohibited in California. We consider the economic implications of the new hen housing regulations on the California shell egg industry. Our data show that egg production is more costly using noncage systems than conventional cages. The main result of the new regulations will be a drastic reduction in the number of eggs produced in California, a large increase in egg shipments from out of state, little if any change in hen housing for eggs consumed in California, and little change in egg prices in California.