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Living organisms have engineered remarkable protein-based materials through billions of years of evolution. These multifunctional materials have unparalleled mechanical, optical, and electronic properties and have served as inspiration for scientists to study and mimic these natural protein materials. New tools from synthetic biology are poised to revolutionize the ability to rapidly engineer and produce proteins for material applications. Specifically, advancements in new production hosts and cell-free systems are enabling researchers to overcome the significant challenges of cloning and expressing large nonnative proteins. The articles in this issue cover the mechanical and rheological properties of structural protein materials and nanocomposites; advancements in the synthesis and assembly of optical, electronic, and nanoscale protein materials; and recent development in the processing of protein materials using liquid–liquid phase separation and three-dimensional printing.
Purposeful qualitative modelling of embodiment function relations is a challenge in embodiment design. This contribution investigates the applicability and usefulness of the Contact and Channel Approach as a qualitative modelling approach in a survey study. From 23 development and research projects, advantages and challenges regarding applicability and usefulness are identified. A further result is that many different models are used additionally to the Contact and Channel Approach. Based on the findings, research potential for optimization and development of links to other models emerges.
Introduction: Competency based medical education (CBME) has triggered widespread utilization of workplace-based assessment (WBA) tools in postgraduate training programs. These WBAs predominately use rating scales with entrustment anchors, such as the Ottawa Surgical Competency Operating Room Evaluation (O-SCORE). However, little is known about the factors that influence a supervising physician's decision to assign a particular rating on scales using entrustment anchors. This study aimed to identify the factors that influence supervisors’ ratings of trainees using WBA tools with entrustment anchors at the time of assessment and to explore the experiences with and challenges of using entrustment anchors in the emergency department (ED). Methods: A convenience sample of full-time emergency medicine (EM) faculty were recruited from two sites within a single academic Canadian EM hospital system. Fifty semi-structured interviews were conducted with EM physicians within two hours of completing a WBA for an EM trainee. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and independently analyzed by two members of the research team. Themes were stratified by trainee level, rating and task. Results: Interviews involved 73% (27/37) of all EM staff and captured assessments completed on 83% (37/50) of EM trainees. The mean WBA rating of studied samples was 4.34 ± 0.77 (2 to 5), which was similar to the mean rating of all WBAs completed during the study period. Overall, six major factors were identified that influenced staff WBA ratings: amount of guidance required, perceived competence through discussion and questioning, trainee experience, clinical context, past experience working with the trainee, and perceived confidence. The majority of staff denied struggling to assign ratings. However, when they did struggle, it involved the interpretation of WBA anchors and their application to the clinical context in the ED. Conclusion: Several factors appear to be taken into account by clinical supervisors when they make decisions regarding the particular rating that they will assign a trainee on a WBA that uses entrustment anchors. Not all of these factors are specific to that particular clinical encounter. The results from this study further our understanding on the use of entrustment anchors within the ED and may facilitate faculty development regarding WBA completion as we move forward in CBME.
Agitation is a common symptom in schizophrenia and bipolar mania, causing marked distress and posing considerable risks for patients. Intramuscular formulations of psychotropic medication can provide a fast acting treatment of severe agitation in patients with acute episodes of schizophrenia or mania. As effective as these treatments are, particular antipsychotics can be associated with a heightened risk of dystonia and related Extrapyramidal Symptoms (EPS). Patients presenting to emergency care settings are also likely to have coexisting intoxications and medical conditions that may contribute to this risk.
Methods:
The aim of this observational prospective study was to document the safety and effectiveness of all IM psychotropic drugs during the 24 hours following an initial injection in acutely agitated patients suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder under naturalistic conditions.
Results:
Two-hundred-thirty-two (232) participating investigator sites (12 European countries) observed 1940 patients (mean age: 39 y, 42% female, 66% schizophrenia diagnosis). The primary endpoint was the occurrence of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), further endpoints were clinical severity measured by PANSS-EC and CGI-S. A total of 1311 (68%) patients received a monotherapy injection at baseline. Within 24 hours after the first injection, 190 (10%) of all 1940 patients experienced EPS. All intramuscular psychotropic drugs were shown to be effective in reducing measures of acute agitation.
Conclusion:
This study provides favourable results on EPS related adverse events and effectiveness of intramuscular psychotropic medication for the management of acute agitation in patients within a naturalistic setting during the first 24 hours of treatment.
This naturalistic, observational pan-European study assessed the safety and early effectiveness of intramuscular (IM) psychotropic treatments in patients with acute agitation suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar mania. One thousand nine hundred and forty of 1945 patients completed the 24-hour observation period after initial IM treatment. Patients from 12 European countries were included (mean age 39 years; 58% male, 66% schizophrenia). IM treatment was at the physician's discretion. The primary objective was to describe the acute tolerability of IM psychotropic therapies in clinical practice, with particular emphasis on EPS. At baseline, 68% of the patients received IM monotherapy, with IM olanzapine most commonly prescribed (36%). During the first 24hours, 190 (9.8%) patients experienced EPS. The occurrence of EPS was statistically significantly lower in patients treated with IM olanzapine compared to those treated with other IM psychotropic medications (mainly typical antipsychotics and benzodiazepines): acute dystonia: 1.1%, 95% CI 0.5–2.3 and 2.9%, CI 2.0–4.0; akathisia: 2.3%, CI 1.3–3.7 and 5.5%, CI 4.3–6.9; Parkinsonism: 2.9%, CI 1.8–4.4 and 7.8%, CI 6.4–9.4, respectively. Anticholinergic treatment was given to 12% IM olanzapine versus 31% non-olanzapine treated patients. Acute agitation after 24hours was reduced by 1.68 (95% CI 1.46–1.91) points on the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) in IM olanzapine patients and 1.51 (95% CI 1.30–1.73) points in non-olanzapine patients. Additional psychotropic medication was required for 90% of the patients during the first 24hours of treatment. Results provide naturalistic evidence for low EPS rates and improvement of agitation with IM psychotropic medications during acute states of patients suffering from acute mania or schizophrenia.
The aim of this study was to detect longitudinal differences in white matter brain structures in adults with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls.
Methods
Twenty adult patients with multi-episode schizophrenia under stable antipsychotic medication and twenty-two age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were included in the study. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) was applied at baseline (t1), after 6weeks (t2) and after 3months (t3) and data processing was done with tract-based spatial statistics (p<0.05, corrected). Two subjects in the schizophrenic sample dropped out at t2 and one healthy subject at t3. Clinical and neuropsychological variables were measured and correlated with the most significant DTI findings.
Results
Compared with healthy age- and sex-matched controls schizophrenic patients showed widespread decreases in mean fractional anisotropy values (p<0.05, corrected). The most obvious FA decrease in the long-term was found in the anterior part of the corpus callosum (p<0.005, corrected), the left temporal lobe (p<0.004, corr.) and the mid-cingulate gyrus bilateral (p<0.004, corr.). Correlations to demographic variables, clinical rating scales (PANSS, CGI and GAF), verbal learning and memory and working memory will be presented.
Conclusion
Magnetic resonance imaging was able to detect altered structural connectivity in patients with multi-episode schizophrenia in a longitudinal design.
Pregabalin is a novel GABA-analogue approved for the treatment of partial onset seizures, neuropathic pain, and general anxiety disorder. Pregabalin has been classified as a Schedule V drug with a low risk of inflicting abuse or addiction. However, some publications have indicated that pregabalin may have a potential for abuse among patients with past or current opiate addiction.
Aims:
We hypothesized that pregabalin might be abused my patients who were undergoing an opiate replacement therapy and never had an indication for taking pregabalin on medical grounds.
Methods:
Urine specimens from 124 patients with opiate dependency syndrome and from 111 patients with other addiction disorders (alcohol, benzodiazepines, cannabis, amphetamines) were screened for pregabalin by means of a mass spectrometer analysis.
Results:
We found 12.1% of all urine specimens from patients with opiate addiction to be positive for pregabalin. None of the patients concerned had a medical indication for using pregabalin. In the control group, 2.7% of the patients were tested positively for pregabalin, due to their taking it regularly for chronic pain or general anxiety.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that pregabalin is liable to be abused among patients with opiate dependency syndrome. Thus, vigilance and caution are called for when patients with a past or current opiate dependency are exposed to treatment with pregabalin.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has an important role to play in the governmental oversight of mobile health apps, ensuring consumer protections from unfair and deceptive trade practices and curtailing anti-competitive methods. The FTC’s consumer protection structure and authority is outlined before reviewing the recent FTC enforcement activities taken on behalf of consumers and against developers of mhealth apps. The article concludes with identification of some challenges for the FTC and modest recommendations for strengthening the consumer protections it provides.
Although male and female patients with major depression (MDD) differ in psychopathology and other illness characteristics, a potentially confounding effect of gender has not been systematically controlled or investigated in most of the previous neuroimaging studies.
Objectives
We investigated activation patterns during processing of ambiguous stimuli in MDD by functional MRI.
Aims
We aimed at examining potential activation differences between male and female patients.
Methods
A matching task was employed in which two stimuli with varying degrees of perceptual uncertainty had to be compared with respect to their sameness. Eighteen patients meeting DSM-IV criteria of MDD and eighteen healthy control subjects participated in this study.
Results
Whereas on the level of behavioral performance no significant group differences could be detected we found distinct disorder- and gender-related differences in the brain activation. Patients activated significantly stronger in superior parietal, prefrontal and cingulate regions. Gender specific analyses revealed that the hyperactivity in the patient group was mainly attributable to hyperactivity in the male patients who activated significantly stronger than the female patients in an extensive fronto-temporo-limbic network, which partly overlapped with the network we found when comparing patients and healthy controls.
Discussion
Our results indicate that male patients seem to be reliant on a significantly stronger metabolism in task-relevant regions to maintain an equal level of performance.
Conclusion
The present results provide evidence for gender-related differences in the functional organization of the brain in patients with MDD. Gender differences should be taken into consideration when investigating the neural correlates of MDD.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Gene × environment (G × E) interactions in eating pathology have been increasingly investigated, however studies have been limited by sample size due to the difficulty of obtaining genetic data.
Objective
To synthesize existing G × E research in the eating disorders (ED) field and provide a clear picture of the current state of knowledge with analyses of larger samples.
Method
Complete data from seven studies investigating community (n = 1750, 64.5% female) and clinical (n = 426, 100% female) populations, identified via systematic review, were included. Data were combined to perform five analyses: 5-HTTLPR × Traumatic Life Events (0–17 events) to predict ED status (n = 909), 5-HTTLPR × Sexual and Physical Abuse (n = 1097) to predict bulimic symptoms, 5-HTLPR × Depression to predict bulimic symptoms (n = 1256), and 5-HTTLPR × Impulsivity to predict disordered eating (n = 1149).
Results
The low function (s) allele of 5-HTTLPR interacted with number of traumatic life events (P < .01) and sexual and physical abuse (P < .05) to predict increased likelihood of an ED in females but not males (Fig. 1). No other G × E interactions were significant, possibly due to the medium to low compatibility between datasets (Fig. 1).
Conclusion
Early promising results suggest that increased knowledge of G × E interactions could be achieved if studies increased uniformity of measuring ED and environmental variables, allowing for continued collaboration to overcome the restrictions of obtaining genetic samples.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
One of the biggest challenges for in situ heating transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is the ability to measure the local temperature of the specimen accurately. Despite technological improvements in the construction of TEM/STEM heating holders, the problem of being able to measure the real sample temperature is still the subject of considerable discussion. In this study, we review the present literature on methodologies for temperature calibration. We analyze calibration methods that require the use of a thermometric material in addition to the specimen under study, as well as methods that can be performed directly on the specimen of interest without the need for a previous calibration. Finally, an overview of the most important characteristics of all the treated techniques, including temperature ranges and uncertainties, is provided in order to provide an accessory database to consult before an in situ TEM/STEM temperature calibration experiment.
Determine the impact of an automated hand hygiene monitoring system (AHHMS) plus complementary strategies on hand hygiene performance rates and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
Hand hygiene compliance rates were estimated using direct observations. An AHHMS, installed on 4 nursing units in a sequential manner, determined hand hygiene performance rates, expressed as the number of hand hygiene events performed upon entering and exiting patient rooms divided by the number of room entries and exits. Additional strategies implemented to improve hand hygiene included goal setting, hospital leadership support, feeding AHHMS data back to healthcare personnel, and use of Toyota Kata performance improvement methods. HAIs were defined using National Healthcare Safety Network criteria.
Results:
Hand hygiene compliance rates generated by direct observation were substantially higher than performance rates generated by the AHHMS. Installation of the AHHMS without supplementary activities did not yield sustained improvement in hand hygiene performance rates. Implementing several supplementary strategies resulted in a statistically significant 85% increase in hand hygiene performance rates (P < .0001). The incidence density of non–Clostridioies difficile HAIs decreased by 56% (P = .0841), while C. difficile infections increased by 60% (P = .0533) driven by 2 of the 4 study units.
Conclusion:
Implementation of an AHHMS, when combined with several supplementary strategies as part of a multimodal program, resulted in significantly improved hand hygiene performance rates. Reductions in non–C. difficile HAIs occurred but were not statistically significant.
In Western countries, an increasing number of companies has difficulties with recruiting and retaining employees, along with growing employer responsibilities in the workplace. Therefore, companies’ interest in disability management programs has increased. This article examines employee perspectives of disability management and how it is related to job satisfaction, physical and mental health, workplace morale and sickness absence. Employees from seven Swiss companies (N=482), from the private and public sector, participated in either an online and paper-and-pencil survey for this present study. The survey asked employees to report their views of how disability management is related to job satisfaction, mental health, physical health, workplace morale and absenteeism. The Swiss employees participating in the study knew about disability management and related programs, which are implemented in their company. They valued them as moderately helpful for a variety of factors related to workplace wellbeing, and regarded the programs generally as high quality and wanted them to continue, because they contribute to job satisfaction, mental health, physical health, workplace morale and reduced sickness absence. However, employees also saw more value in disability prevention (DP) and stay at work (SAW) programs than in return to work (RTW) programs. Male employees and those working for public organisations saw more benefit in disability management programs than female employees and those working in the private sector.
Keto analogues and amino acids (KAAA) supplementation can reduce blood ammonia concentrations in athletes undergoing high-intensity exercise under both ketogenic and thermoneutral conditions. This study evaluated the acute effects of KAAA supplementation on ammonia metabolism during extenuating endurance exercise in rats fed a ketogenic diet. In all, eighty male Fischer rats at 90 d of age were divided into eight groups, and some were trained using a swimming endurance protocol. A ketogenic diet supplemented with keto analogues was administered for 10 d. Administration of the ketogenic diet ended 3 d before the exhaustion test (extenuating endurance exercise). A ketogenic diet plus KAAA supplementation and extenuating endurance exercise (trained ketogenic diet supplemented with KAAA (TKKa)) increased blood ammonia concentrations by approximately 50 % compared with the control diet (trained control diet supplemented with KAAA (TCKa)) and similar training (effect size=1·33; statistical power=0·50). The KAAA supplementation reduced blood urea concentrations by 4 and 18 % in the control and ketogenic diet groups, respectively, compared with the groups fed the same diets without supplementation. The trained groups had 60 % lower blood urate concentrations after TCKa treatment than after TKKa treatment. Our results suggest that KAAA supplementation can reduce blood ammonia concentrations after extenuating endurance exercise in rats fed a balanced diet but not in rats fed a ketogenic diet.
This Research Communication describes an investigation of the nutritional depletion of total mixed rations (TMR) by pest birds. We hypothesized that species-specific bird depredation of TMR can alter the nutritional composition of the ration and that these changes can negatively impact the performance of dairy cows. Blackbirds selected the high energy fraction of the TMR (i.e., flaked corn) and reduced starch, crude fat and total digestible nutrients during controlled feeding experiments. For Holsteins producing 37·1 kg of milk/d, dairy production modeling illustrated that total required net energy intake (NEI) was 35·8 Mcal/d. For the reference TMR unexposed to blackbirds and the blackbird-consumed TMR, NEI supplied was 41·2 and 37·8 Mcal/d, and the resulting energy balance was 5·4 and 2·0 Mcal/d, respectively. Thus, Holsteins fed the reference and blackbird-consumed TMR were estimated to gain one body condition score in 96 and 254 d, and experience daily weight change due to reserves of 1·1 and 0·4 kg/d, respectively. We discuss these results in context of an integrated pest management program for mitigating the depredation caused by pest birds at commercial dairies.
Objectives: Longitudinal research indicates that cognitive load dual-task gait assessment is predictive of cognitive decline and thus might provide a sensitive measure to screen for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, research among older adults being clinically evaluated for cognitive concerns, a defining feature of MCI, is lacking. The present study investigated the effect of performing a cognitive task on normal walking speed in patients presenting to a memory clinic with cognitive complaints. Methods: Sixty-one patients with a mean age of 68 years underwent comprehensive neuropsychological testing, clinical interview, and gait speed (simple- and dual-task conditions) assessments. Thirty-four of the 61 patients met criteria for MCI. Results: Repeated measure analyses of covariance revealed that greater age and MCI both significantly associated with slower gait speed, ps<.05. Follow-up analysis indicated that the MCI group had significantly slower dual-task gait speed but did not differ in simple-gait speed. Multivariate linear regression across groups found that executive attention performance accounted for 27.4% of the variance in dual-task gait speed beyond relevant demographic and health risk factors. Conclusions: The present study increases the external validity of dual-task gait assessment of MCI. Differences in dual-task gait speed appears to be largely attributable to executive attention processes. These findings have clinical implications as they demonstrate expected patterns of gait-brain behavior relationships in response to a cognitive dual task within a clinically representative population. Cognitive load dual-task gait assessment may provide a cost efficient and sensitive measure to detect older adults at high risk of a dementia disorder. (JINS, 2017, 23, 493–501)
The stellar occultation technique is a powerful tool to study distant small solar system bodies. Currently, around 2 500 trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) and Centaurs are known. With the astrometry from Gaia and large surveys like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), accurate predictions of occultation events will be available to tens of thousands of TNOs and Centaurs and boost the knowledge of the outer solar system.
Previous studies hypothesized that neurodevelopmental risk factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Cortical folding has been shown to be a reliable indicator for normal and altered neurodevelopment, but in OCD it has barely been investigated up to now. The present study investigates whether alterations in gyrification are detectable in OCD and, if so, how these are associated with clinical characteristics.
Method
We compared the local Gyrification Index (lGI) between 75 OCD patients and 75 matched healthy subjects across the whole brain. In addition, for those regions exhibiting an altered lGI in patients we explored a potential relationship to symptom severity, age of onset, and influence of medication.
Results
OCD patients had a significantly decreased lGI in right parietal, precentral but also insula, temporal, pars triangularis and rostral middle frontal regions compared to healthy subjects. A positive association with age of onset was found but no association with symptom severity. There was no effect of co-morbidity or medication.
Conclusions
The reduced gyrification found in OCD confirms previous findings in other psychiatric disorders and suggests that alterations may already occur during early stages of brain development. Our findings support the idea that altered cortical folding might represent a trait characteristic of the disorder although longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the trajectory of this morphological measure in OCD.