We describe a cluster of 6 pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant recipients with Lactobacillus bacteremia attributed to probiotic use. Lactobacillus isolates cultured from probiotics and patients’ blood were proven to be related using whole-genome sequencing. Clinical studies are needed to evaluate the safety of probiotic use in immunocompromised patients.

Different experimental methodologies have been used to investigate pain perception in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) overall showing elevated pain thresholds (PT). We assessed PT, sensorial and affective components of pain processing in BPD patients and healthy controls using repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation (rPMS) as a novel tool for provoking controlled aversive cutaneous sensation. In 10 BPD patients and 8 healthy women we assessed PT, cutaneous sensation, emotional valence and arousal level during rPMS at different intensities on two consecutive days. Additionally, inner tension level was assessed before and after each session.

We found significantly higher PT in BPD patients (91% of maximal output of stimulator, vs. 56% in controls); these measures were consistent among both days of assessment, showing a high intra-individual repeat-reliability. In BPD, PT correlated positively with motivational factors of non-suicidal self-injury (to avoid feeling of emptiness r = 0.823, p = 0.023; to punish oneself r = 0.774, p = 0.041). All stimulation intensities used were discriminated similarly in both groups. However, emotional valence and arousal level did not vary with stimulus intensity in BPD patients. Furthermore, BPD patients were found to have higher baseline levels of inner tension than controls and, as opposed to controls, they experienced subjective relief after stimulation. Besides demonstrating a distinctive pattern of affective components of pain in BPD, the present study demonstrates that rPMS is a suitable and well-tolerated method for the assessment of pain sensation.

Trichomonas vaginalis induces cellular damage to the host cells (cytotoxicity) through the proteolytic activity of multiple proteinases of the cysteine type (CPs). Some CPs are modulated by environmental factors such as iron, zinc, polyamines, etc. Thus, the goal of this study was to assess the effect of glucose on T. vaginalis cytotoxicity, proteolytic activity and the particular role of TvCP2 (TVAG_057000) during cellular damage. Cytotoxicity assays showed that glucose-restriction (GR) promotes the highest HeLa cell monolayers destruction (~95%) by trichomonads compared to those grown under high glucose (~44%) condition. Zymography and Western blot using different primary antibodies showed that GR increased the proteolytic activity, amount and secretion of certain CPs, including TvCP2. We further characterized the effect of glucose on TvCP2. TvCP2 increases in GR, localized in vesicles close to the plasma membrane and on the surface of T. vaginalis. Furthermore, pretreatment of GR-trichomonads with an anti-TvCP2r polyclonal antibody specifically reduced the levels of cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction to HeLa cells in a concentration-dependent manner. In conclusion, our data show that GR, as a nutritional stress condition, promotes trichomonal cytotoxicity to the host cells, increases trichomonad proteolytic activity and amount of CPs, such as TvCP2 involved in cellular damage.

For livestock production systems to play a positive role in global food security, the balance between their benefits and disbenefits to society must be appropriately managed. Based on the evidence provided by field-scale randomised controlled trials around the world, this debate has traditionally centred on the concept of economic-environmental trade-offs, of which existence is theoretically assured when resource allocation is perfect on the farm. Recent research conducted on commercial farms indicates, however, that the economic-environmental nexus is not nearly as straightforward in the real world, with environmental performances of enterprises often positively correlated with their economic profitability. Using high-resolution primary data from the North Wyke Farm Platform, an intensively instrumented farm-scale ruminant research facility located in southwest United Kingdom, this paper proposes a novel, information-driven approach to carry out comprehensive assessments of economic-environmental trade-offs inherent within pasture-based cattle and sheep production systems. The results of a data-mining exercise suggest that a potentially systematic interaction exists between ‘soil health’, ecological surroundings and livestock grazing, whereby a higher level of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock is associated with a better animal performance and less nutrient losses into watercourses, and a higher stocking density with greater botanical diversity and elevated SOC. We contend that a combination of farming system-wide trials and environmental instrumentation provides an ideal setting for enrolling scientifically sound and biologically informative metrics for agricultural sustainability, through which agricultural producers could obtain guidance to manage soils, water, pasture and livestock in an economically and environmentally acceptable manner. Priority areas for future farm-scale research to ensure long-term sustainability are also discussed.

Bovine leukaemia virus (BLV) is the causative agent of enzootic bovine leucosis, which has been reported worldwide. BLV has been found recently in human tissue and it could have a significant impact on human health. A possible hypothesis regarding viral entry to humans is through the consumption of infected foodstuffs. This study was aimed at detecting the presence of BLV DNA in raw beef and fresh milk for human consumption. Nested PCR directed at the BLV gag gene (272 bp) was used as a diagnostic test. PCR products were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Forty-nine per cent of the samples proved positive for the presence of proviral DNA. This is the first study highlighting the presence of the BLV gag gene in meat products for human consumption and confirms the presence of the viral DNA in raw milk, as in previous reports. The presence of viral DNA in food products could suggest that viral particles may also be found. Further studies are needed to confirm the presence of infected viral particles, even though the present findings could represent a first approach to BLV transmission to humans through foodstuff consumption.

Targets have been developed to measure supersonic radiation transport in aerogel foams using absorption spectroscopy. The target consists of an aerogel foam uniformly doped with either titanium or scandium inserted into an undoped aerogel foam package. This creates a localized doped foam region to provide spatial resolution for the measurement. Development and characterization of the foams is a key challenge in addition to machining and assembling the two foams so they mate without gaps. The foam package is inserted into a beryllium sleeve and mounted on a gold hohlraum. The target is mounted to a holder created using additive manufacturing and mounted on a stalk. The manufacturing of the components, along with assembly and metrology of the target are described here.

Experiments on the National Ignition Facility show that multi-dimensional effects currently dominate the implosion performance. Low mode implosion symmetry and hydrodynamic instabilities seeded by capsule mounting features appear to be two key limiting factors for implosion performance. One reason these factors have a large impact on the performance of inertial confinement fusion implosions is the high convergence required to achieve high fusion gains. To tackle these problems, a predictable implosion platform is needed meaning experiments must trade-off high gain for performance. LANL has adopted three main approaches to develop a one-dimensional (1D) implosion platform where 1D means measured yield over the 1D clean calculation. A high adiabat, low convergence platform is being developed using beryllium capsules enabling larger case-to-capsule ratios to improve symmetry. The second approach is liquid fuel layers using wetted foam targets. With liquid fuel layers, the implosion convergence can be controlled via the initial vapor pressure set by the target fielding temperature. The last method is double shell targets. For double shells, the smaller inner shell houses the DT fuel and the convergence of this cavity is relatively small compared to hot spot ignition. However, double shell targets have a different set of trade-off versus advantages. Details for each of these approaches are described.

The Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (ARC) project identified critical requirements to deliver high priority Antarctic research in the 21st century. The ARC project addressed the challenges of enabling technologies, facilitating access, providing logistics and infrastructure, and capitalizing on international co-operation. Technological requirements include: i) innovative automated in situ observing systems, sensors and interoperable platforms (including power demands), ii) realistic and holistic numerical models, iii) enhanced remote sensing and sensors, iv) expanded sample collection and retrieval technologies, and v) greater cyber-infrastructure to process ‘big data’ collection, transmission and analyses while promoting data accessibility. These technologies must be widely available, performance and reliability must be improved and technologies used elsewhere must be applied to the Antarctic. Considerable Antarctic research is field-based, making access to vital geographical targets essential. Future research will require continent- and ocean-wide environmentally responsible access to coastal and interior Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Year-round access is indispensable. The cost of future Antarctic science is great but there are opportunities for all to participate commensurate with national resources, expertise and interests. The scope of future Antarctic research will necessitate enhanced and inventive interdisciplinary and international collaborations. The full promise of Antarctic science will only be realized if nations act together.

In a psychosocial treatment study, knowing which participants are likely to put forth adequate effort to maximize their treatment, such as attending group sessions and completing homework assignments, and knowing which participants need additional motivation before engagement in treatment is a crucial component to treatment success. This study examined the ability of the Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Effort Index (EI), a newly developed measure of suboptimal effort that is embedded within the RBANS, to predict group attendance in a sample of 128 middle-aged and older adults with schizophrenia. This study was the first to evaluate the EI with a schizophrenia sample. While the EI literature recommends a cutoff score of >3 to be considered indicative of poor effort, a cutoff of >4 was identified as the optimal cutoff for this sample. Receiver Operating Characteristics curve analyses were conducted to determine if the EI could predict participants who had high versus low attendance. Results indicated that the EI was successfully able to discriminate between group attendance, and this measure of effort appears to be most valuable as a tool to identify participants who will have high attendance. Of interest, overall cognitive functioning and symptoms of psychopathology were not predictive of group attendance. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1–8)

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2005 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, July 31--August 4, 2005

Background. We sought to identify personal factors that placed people at risk during an epidemic of medically unexplained illness in a Bhutanese refugee camp in southeastern Nepal.

Methods. We conducted a case–control study, involving 68 cases and 66 controls. Caseness was defined as experiencing at least one attack of medically unexplained fainting or dizziness during the time of the epidemic. We performed hierarchical logistic regression analysis to identify significant predictors of case status.

Results. In terms of Western psychiatric constructs, the illness involved somatoform symptoms of both acute anxiety and dissociation. Sixty per cent reported visual and 28% reported auditory hallucinatory experiences. Cases and controls were similar on all demographic variables, school performance, number of attacks witnessed and psychopathology before the onset of the epidemic. Recent loss, early loss, childhood trauma and pulse-rate were predictors of case status.

Conclusion. We identified trauma, early loss and, especially, recent loss as predictors of attacks during medically unexplained epidemic illness in a Bhutanese refugee community.

The lithium derivatives from anhydrous niobium (Y) phosphate were made through NbOPO4.H20 and LiCl by solid state reaction at 200 ºC and subsequentannealed at 500ºC. The solid with the highest lithium content, exhibits the maximum conductivity of all materials prepared. The electrical conductivity of this solid ranges from 10-10 Ω-1 cm-1 at 373K to 3.62.10-3Ω-1cm-1 at 683K.