bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Functional movement disorders
Authors: Barbey Anita , Aybek Selma
Published: June 2017

Purpose of review

The review highlights the clinical presentation of functional movement disorders (FMDs) and presents current evidence on bedside signs and paraclinical tests to differentiate them from other neurological disorders.

Recent findings

FMDs are diagnosed by the presence of positive clinical signs as emphasized in the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 classification criteria. Bedside signs are numerous, and a subset of them has been validated in controlled studies. This review summarizes evidence from the literature on specificity and sensibility of positive clinical signs for FMDs. The value of rule-in paraclinical tests to confirm the diagnosis is also presented. Recent developments in neuroscience with pathophysiological mechanisms and current treatment strategies are also discussed.

FMDs represent a field of neurology that is currently rapidly growing in terms of research. Clinicians should be aware that highly reliable signs exist for the diagnosis and that early multidisciplinary treatment should be offered.
Poor livestock keepers: ecosystem–poverty–health interactions
Authors: Grace Delia , Lindahl Johanna , Wanyoike Francis , Bett Bernard , Randolph Tom , Rich Karl M.
Published: June 2017

Humans have never been healthier, wealthier or more numerous. Yet, present success may be at the cost of future prosperity and in some places, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, poverty persists. Livestock keepers, especially pastoralists, are over-represented among the poor. Poverty has been mainly attributed to a lack of access, whether to goods, education or enabling institutions. More recent insights suggest ecosystems may influence poverty and the self-reinforcing mechanisms that constitute poverty traps in more subtle ways. The plausibility of zoonoses as poverty traps is strengthened by landmark studies on disease burden in recent years. While in theory, endemic zoonoses are best controlled in the animal host, in practice, communities are often left to manage disease themselves, with the focus on treatment rather than prevention. We illustrate this with results from a survey on health costs in a pastoral ecosystem. Epidemic zoonoses are more likely to elicit official responses, but these can have unintended consequences that deepen poverty traps. In this context, a systems understanding of disease control can lead to more effective and pro-poor disease management. We illustrate this with an example of how a system dynamics model can help optimize responses to Rift Valley fever outbreaks in Kenya by giving decision makers real-time access to the costs of the delay in vaccinating. In conclusion, a broader, more ecological understanding of poverty and of the appropriate responses to the diseases of poverty can contribute to improved livelihoods for livestock keepers in Africa.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘One Health for a changing world: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being’.
One Health contributions towards more effective and equitable approaches to health in low- and middle-income countries
Authors: Cleaveland S. , Sharp J. , Abela-Ridder B. , Allan K. J. , Buza J. , Crump J. A. , Davis A. , Del Rio Vilas V. J. , de Glanville W. A. , Kazwala R. R. , Kibona T. , Lankester F. J. , Lugelo A. , Mmbaga B. T. , Rubach M. P. , Swai E. S. , Waldman L. , Haydon D. T. , Hampson K. , Halliday J. E. B.
Published: June 2017

Emerging zoonoses with pandemic potential are a stated priority for the global health security agenda, but endemic zoonoses also have a major societal impact in low-resource settings. Although many endemic zoonoses can be treated, timely diagnosis and appropriate clinical management of human cases is often challenging. Preventive ‘One Health’ interventions, e.g. interventions in animal populations that generate human health benefits, may provide a useful approach to overcoming some of these challenges. Effective strategies, such as animal vaccination, already exist for the prevention, control and elimination of many endemic zoonoses, including rabies, and several livestock zoonoses (e.g. brucellosis, leptospirosis, Q fever) that are important causes of human febrile illness and livestock productivity losses in low- and middle-income countries. We make the case that, for these diseases, One Health interventions have the potential to be more effective and generate more equitable benefits for human health and livelihoods, particularly in rural areas, than approaches that rely exclusively on treatment of human cases. We hypothesize that applying One Health interventions to tackle these health challenges will help to build trust, community engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration, which will in turn strengthen the capacity of fragile health systems to respond to the threat of emerging zoonoses and other future health challenges. One Health interventions thus have the potential to align the ongoing needs of disadvantaged communities with the concerns of the broader global community, providing a pragmatic and equitable approach to meeting the global goals for sustainable development and supporting the global health security agenda.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘One Health for a changing world: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being’.
Structural drivers of vulnerability to zoonotic disease in Africa
Authors: Dzingirai Vupenyu , Bukachi Salome , Leach Melissa , Mangwanya Lindiwe , Scoones Ian , Wilkinson Annie
Published: June 2017

This paper argues that addressing the underlying structural drivers of disease vulnerability is essential for a ‘One Health’ approach to tackling zoonotic diseases in Africa. Through three case studies—trypanosomiasis in Zimbabwe, Ebola and Lassa fever in Sierra Leone and Rift Valley fever in Kenya—we show how political interests, commercial investments and conflict and securitization all generate patterns of vulnerability, reshaping the political ecology of disease landscapes, influencing traditional coping mechanisms and affecting health service provision and outbreak responses. A historical, political economy approach reveals patterns of ‘structural violence’ that reinforce inequalities and marginalization of certain groups, increasing disease risks. Addressing the politics of One Health requires analysing trade-offs and conflicts between interests and visions of the future. For all zoonotic diseases economic and political dimensions are ultimately critical and One Health approaches must engage with these factors, and not just end with an ‘anti-political’ focus on institutional and disciplinary collaboration.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘One Health for a changing world: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being’.
Musical Imagery Involves the Wernicke’s Area in Bilateral and Anti-Correlated Network Interactions in Musicians
Authors: Zhang Yizhen , Chen Gang , Wen Haiguang , Lu Kun-Han , Liu Zhongming
Published: June 2017

Musical imagery is a human experience of imagining music without actually hearing it. The neural basis of such a mental ability is unclear, especially for musicians capable of accurate and vivid musical imagery due to their musical training. Here, we visualized an 8-min symphony as a silent movie, and used it as real-time cues for musicians to continuously imagine the music for multiple synchronized sessions during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The activations and networks evoked by musical imagery were compared with those when the subjects directly listened to the same music. The musical imagery and perception shared similar responses at bilateral secondary auditory areas and Wernicke’s area for encoding the musical feature. But the Wernicke’s area was involved in highly distinct network interactions during musical imagery vs. perception. The former involved positive correlations with a subset of the auditory network and the attention network, but negative correlations with the default mode network; the latter was confined to the intrinsic auditory network in the resting state. Our results highlight the important role of the Wernicke’s area in forming vivid musical imagery through bilateral and anti-correlated network interactions, challenging the conventional view of segregated and lateralized processing of music vs. language.
Generic assembly patterns in complex ecological communities
Authors: Barbier Matthieu , Arnoldi Jean-Franois , Bunin Guy , Loreau Michel
Published: June 2017

The study of ecological communities often involves detailed simulations of complex networks. But our empirical knowledge of these networks is typically incomplete, and the space of simulation models and parameters is vast, leaving room for uncertainty in theoretical predictions. Here, we show that a large fraction of this space of possibilities exhibits generic behaviors that are robust to modelling choices. We consider a wide array of model features, including interaction types and community structures, known to generate different dynamics for a few species. We combine these features in large simulated communities, and show that equilibrium diversity, functioning and stability can be predicted analytically using a random model parameterized by a few statistical properties of the community. We give an ecological interpretation of this “disordered” limit where structure fails to emerge from complexity. We also demonstrate that some well-studied interaction patterns remain relevant in large ecosystems, but their impact can be encapsulated in a minimal number of additional parameters. Our approach provides a powerful framework for predicting the outcomes of ecosystem assembly and quantifying the added value of more detailed models and measurements.
Persistent one-way walking in a circular arena inDrosophila melanogasterCanton-S strain
Authors: Xiao Chengfeng , Qiu Shuang , Robertson R Meldrum
Published: June 2017

We describe persistent one-way walking ofDrosophila melanogasterin a circular arena. Wild-type Canton-S adult flies walked in one direction, counter-clockwise or clockwise, for minutes, whereas white-eyed mutantw1118changed directions frequently. Locomotion in the circular arena could be classified into four components: counter-clockwise walking, clockwise walking, nondirectional walking and pausing. Genetic analysis revealed that while wild-type genetic background was associated with reduced directional change and reduced numbers of one-way (including counterclockwise and clockwise) and nondirectional walks, thewhite(w+) locus promoted persistent oneway walking by increasing the maximal duration of one-way episodes. The promoting effect ofw+was further supported by the observations that (1)w+duplicated to the Y chromosome, (2) four genomic copies ofmini-whiteinserted on the autosomes, and (3) pan-neuronal overexpression of the White protein increased the maximal duration of one-way episodes, and that RNAi knockdown ofw+in the neurons decreased the maximal duration of one-way episodes. These results suggested a pleiotropic function ofw+in promoting persistent one-way walking in the circular arena.
GFF3sort: a novel tool to sort GFF3 files for tabix indexing
Authors: Zhu Tao , Liang Chengzhen , Meng Zhigang , Guo Sandui , Zhang Rui
Published: June 2017

Background:

The traditional method of visualizing gene annotation data in JBrowse is converting GFF3 files to JSON format, which is time-consuming. The latest version of JBrowse supports rendering sorted GFF3 files indexed by tabix, a novel strategy that is more convenient than the original conversion process. However, current tools available for GFF3 file sorting have some limitations and their sorting results would lead to erroneous rendering in JBrowse.

Results:

We developed GFF3sort, a script to sort GFF3 files for tabix indexing. Specifically designed for JBrowse rendering, GFF3sort can properly deal with the order of features that have the same chromosome and start position, either by remembering their original orders or by conducting parent-child topology sorting. Based on our test datasets from seven species, GFF3sort produced accurate sorting results with acceptable efficiency compared with currently available tools.

Conclusions:

GFF3sort is a novel tool to sort GFF3 files for tabix indexing. We anticipate that GFF3sort will be useful to help with genome annotation data processing and visualization.
Proteolytically Coordinated Activation of Toxin-Antitoxin Modules
Authors: Ogle Curtis T. , Mather William H.
Published: June 2017

Chronic bacterial infections present a serious threat to the health of humans by decreasing life expectancy and quality. Resilience of these populations is closely linked to a small fraction of persister cells that are capable of surviving a wide range of environmental stressors that include starvation, DNA damage, heat shock, and antibiotics. In contrast to inherited resistance, persistence arises from a rare and reversible phenotypic change that protects the cell for one or a few generations. The frequency and character of persistence is controlled in part by the dynamics of numerous toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules, operons with an evolutionarily conserved motif including a toxin that slows cell growth and an antitoxin that can neutralize the toxin. While many such modules have been identified and studied in a wide range of organisms, relatively little consideration of the interactions between multiple TA modules within a single host has been made. Particularly, a multitude of different protein-based antitoxin species are known to be actively degraded by a limited number of shared proteolytic pathways, strongly suggesting interaction via competition between antitoxins for degradation machinery. Here we present a theoretical understanding of the dynamics of multiple TA modules whose activity is coupled through either proteolytic activity, a toxic effect on cell growth rate, or both. We also present a generalizable theoretical mechanism by which a toxic state is tunable by regulation of proteolysis. Such regulation or indirect coordination between multiple TA modules may be at the heart of the flexibility and robustness observed for bacterial persistence.
The Emergent Connectome inCaenorhabditis elegansEmbryogenesis
Authors:   DevoWorm Group, Alicea Bradly
Published: June 2017

The relatively new field of connectomics provides us with a unique window into nervous system function. In the model organismCaenorhabditis elegans, this promise is even greater due to the relatively small number of cells (302) in its nervous system. While the adultC. elegansconnectome has been characterized, the emergence of these networks in development has yet to be established. In this paper, we approach this problem using secondary data describing the birth times of terminally-differentiated cells as they appear in the embryo and a connectomics model for nervous system cells in the adult hermaphrodite. By combining these two sources of data, we can better understand patterns that emerge in an incipient connectome. This includes identifying at what point in embryogenesis the cells of a connectome first comes into being, potentially observing some of the earliest neuron-neuron interactions, and making comparisons between the formally-defined connectome and developmental cell lineages. An analysis is also conducted to root terminally-differentiated cells in their developmental cell lineage precursors. This reveals subnetworks with different properties at 300 minutes of embryogenesis. Additional investigations reveal the spatial position of neuronal cells born during pre-hatch development, both within and outside the connectome model, in the context of all developmental cells in the embryo. Overall, these analyses reveal important information about the birth order of specific cells in the connectome, key building blocks of global connectivity, and how these structures correspond to key events in early development.
Detecting polygenic adaptation in admixture graphs
Authors: Racimo Fernando , Berg Jeremy J. , Pickrell Joseph K.
Published: June 2017

An open question in human evolution is the importance of polygenic adaptation: adaptive changes in the mean of a multifactorial trait due to shifts in allele frequencies across many loci. In recent years, several methods have been developed to detect polygenic adaptation using loci identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Though powerful, these methods suffer from limited interpretability: they can detect which sets of populations have evidence for polygenic adaptation, but are unable to reveal where in the history of multiple populations these processes occurred. To address this, we created a method to detect polygenic adaptation in an admixture graph, which is a representation of the historical divergences and admixture events relating different populations through time. We developed a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm to infer branch-specific parameters reflecting the strength of selection in each branch of a graph. Additionally, we developed a set of summary statistics that are fast to compute and can indicate which branches are most likely to have experienced polygenic adaptation. We show via simulations that this method - which we call PolyGraph - has good power to detect polygenic adaptation, and applied it to human population genomic data from around the world. We also provide evidence that variants associated with several traits, including height, educational attainment, and self-reported unibrow, have been influenced by polygenic adaptation in different populations during human evolution.
Bacterial lipopolysaccharide reduces the stability of avian and human influenza viruses
Authors: Bandoro Christopher , Runstadler Jonathan A.
Published: June 2017

Commensal bacteria can promote or reduce the severity of viral infection and disease progression in their hosts depending on the specific viral pathogen1. Influenza A virus (IAV) has a broad host-range, comprises many subtypes, and utilizes different routes of transmission including the fecal-oral route in wild birds2. It has been previously demonstrated that commensal bacteria can interact with the host’s immune system to protect against IAV pathogenesis3,4. However, it is unclear whether bacteria and their products may be interacting directly with IAV to impact virion stability. Herein we show that gastrointestinal (GI) tract bacterial isolates in anin vitrosystem significantly reduce the thermal stability of IAV. Moreover, bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), found on the exterior surfaces of bacteria, was sufficient to significantly decrease the stability of both human and avian viral strains at the physiological temperatures of their respective hosts, as well as in the aquatic environment. Subtype and host-origin of the viruses were shown to affect the extent to which IAV was susceptible to LPS. Furthermore, using a receptor-binding assay and transmission electron microscopy, we observed that LPS binds to and affects the morphology of influenza virions.
LSD1/KDM1A Maintains Genome-wide Homeostasis of Transcriptional Enhancers
Authors: Agarwal Saurabh , Garay Patricia Marie , Porter Robert Scott , Brookes Emily , Murata-Nakamura Yumie , Macfarlan Todd S. , Ren Bing , Iwase Shigeki
Published: June 2017

Transcriptional enhancers enable exquisite spatiotemporal control of gene expression in metazoans. Enrichment of mono-methylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me1) is a major chromatin signature that distinguishes enhancers from gene promoters. Lysine Specific Demethylase 1 (LSD1, aka KDM1A), an enzyme specific for demethylating H3K4me2/me1, has been shown to “decommission” stem cell enhancers during the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC). However, the roles of LSD1 in undifferentiated mESC remain obscure. Here, we show that LSD1 occupies a large fraction of enhancers (63%) that are primed with binding of transcription factors (TFs) and H3K4me1 in mESC. In contrast, LSD1 is largely absent at latent enhancers, which are not yet primed by TF binding. Unexpectedly, LSD1 levels at enhancers exhibited a clear positive correlation with its substrate, H3K4me2 and enhancer activity. These enhancers gain additional H3K4 methylation upon the loss of LSD1 in mESC. The aberrant increase in H3K4me at enhancers was accompanied with increases in enhancer H3K27 acetylation and expression of enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) and their target genes. In post-mitotic neurons, loss of LSD1 resulted in premature activation of enhancers and genes that are normally induced after neuronal activation. These results demonstrate that LSD1 is a versatile suppressor of primed enhancers, and is involved in homeostasis of enhancer activity.
Role of inhibitory control in modulating focal seizure spread
Authors: Liou Jyun-you , Ma Hongtao , Wenzel Michael , Zhao Mingrui , Baird-Daniel Eliza , Smith Elliot H , Daniel Andy , Emerson Ronald , Yuste Rafael , Schwartz Theodore H , Schevon Catherine A
Published: June 2017

Focal seizure propagation is classically thought to be spatially contiguous. However, distribution of seizures through a large-scale epileptic network has been theorized. Here, we used a multielectrode array, wide field calcium imaging, and two-photon calcium imaging to study focal seizure propagation pathways in an acute rodent neocortical 4-aminopyridine model. Although ictal neuronal bursts did not propagate beyond a 2-3 mm region, they were associated with hemisphere-wide field potential fluctuations and parvalbumin-positive interneuron activity outside the seizure focus. While bicuculline surface application enhanced contiguous seizure propagation, focal bicuculline microinjection at sites distant to the 4-aminopyridine focus resulted in epileptic network formation with maximal activity at the two foci. Our study suggests that both classical and epileptic network propagation can arise from localized inhibition defects, and that the network appearance can arise in the context of normal brain structure without requirement for pathological connectivity changes between sites.
Modeling stimulus-dependent variability improves decoding of population neural responses
Authors: Ghanbari Abed , Lee Christopher M. , Read Heather L. , Stevenson Ian H.
Published: June 2017

Neural responses to repeated presentations of an identical stimulus often show substantial trial-to-trial variability. How the mean firing rate varies in response to different stimuli or during different movements (tuning curves) has been extensively modeled in a wide variety of neural systems. However, the variability of neural responses can also have clear tuning independent of the tuning in the mean firing rate. This suggests that the variability could contain information regarding the stimulus/movement beyond what is encoded in the mean firing rate. Here we demonstrate how taking variability into account can improve neural decoding. In a typical neural coding model spike counts are assumed to be Poisson with the mean response depending on an external variable, such as a stimulus or movement. Bayesian decoding methods then use the probabilities under these Poisson tuning models (the likelihood) to estimate the probability of each stimulus given the spikes on a given trial (the posterior). However, under the Poisson model, spike count variability is always exactly equal to the mean (Fano factor = 1). Here we use two alternative models - the Conway-Maxwell-Poisson (CMP) model and Negative Binomial (NB) model - to more flexibly characterize how neural variability depends on external stimuli. These models both contain the Poisson distribution as a special case but have an additional parameter that allows the variance to be greater than the mean (Fano factor >1) or, for the CMP model, less than the mean (Fano factor <1). We find that neural responses in primary motor (M1), visual (V1), and auditory (A1) cortices have diverse tuning in both their mean firing rates and response variability. Across cortical areas, we find that Bayesian decoders using the CMP or NB models improve stimulus/movement estimation accuracy by 4-12% compared to the Poisson model. Moreover, the uncertainty of the non-Poisson decoders more accurately reflects the magnitude of estimation errors. In addition to tuning curves that reflect average neural responses, stimulus-dependent response variability may be an important aspect of the neural code. Modeling this structure could, potentially, lead to improvements in brain machine interfaces.
Enhanced crude oil biodegradative potential of natural phytoplankton‐associated hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria
Authors: Thompson Haydn , Angelova Angelina , Bowler Bernard , Jones Martin , Gutierrez Tony
Published: June 2017

Phytoplankton have been shown to harbour a diversity of hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HCB), yet it is not understood how these phytoplankton‐associated HCB would respond in the event of an oil spill at sea. Here, we assess the diversity and dynamics of the bacterial community associated with a natural population of marine phytoplankton under oil spill‐simulated conditions, and compare it to that of the free‐living (non phytoplankton‐associated) bacterial community. While the crude oil severely impacted the phytoplankton population and was likely conducive to marine oil snow formation, analysis of the MiSeq‐derived 16S rRNA data revealed dramatic and differential shifts in the oil‐amended communities that included blooms of recognized HCB (e.g., Thalassospira, Cycloclasticus), including putative novel phyla, as well as other groups with previously unqualified oil‐degrading potential (Olleya, Winogradskyella, and members of the inconspicuous BD7‐3 phylum). Notably, the oil biodegradation potential of the phytoplankton‐associated community exceeded that of the free‐living community, and it showed a preference to degrade substituted and non‐substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Our study provides evidence of compartmentalization of hydrocarbon‐degrading capacity in the marine water column, wherein HCB associated with phytoplankton are better tuned to degrading crude oil hydrocarbons than that by the community of planktonic free‐living bacteria.
Tracking a century of changes in microbial eukaryotic diversity in lakes driven by nutrient enrichment and climate warming
Authors: Capo Eric , Debroas Didier , Arnaud Fabien , Perga Marie‐Elodie , Chardon Cécile , Domaizon Isabelle
Published: June 2017

High‐throughput sequencing of sedimentary DNA (sed‐DNA) was utilized to reconstruct the temporal dynamics of microbial eukaryotic communities (MECs) at a centennial scale in two re‐oligotrophicated lakes that were exposed to different levels of phosphorus enrichment. The temporal changes within the MECs were expressed in terms of richness, composition and community structure to investigate their relationships with two key forcing factors (i.e., nutrient enrichment and climate warming). Various groups, including Apicomplexa, Cercozoa, Chrysophyceae, Ciliophora, Chlorophyceae and Dinophyceae, responded to phosphorus enrichment levels with either positive or negative impacts on their richness and relative abundance. For both lakes, statistical modelling demonstrated that phosphorus concentration ([P]) was a dominant contributor to MECs modifications before the 1980s; after the mid‐80s, the contribution of air temperature changes increased and potentially surpassed the contribution of [P]. Co‐occurrence network analysis revealed that some clusters of taxa (i.e., modules) composed mainly of Dinophyceae and unclassified Alveolata were strongly correlated to air temperature in both lakes. Overall, our data showed that sed‐DNA constitutes a precious archive of information on past biodiversity changes, allowing the study of the dynamics of numerous eukaryotic groups that were not traditionally considered in paleo‐reconstructions.
Evidence base for Multiple Family Therapy (MFT) in non‐psychiatric conditions and problems: a review (part 2)
Authors: Cook‐Darzens Solange , Gelin Zoé , Hendrick Stéphan
Published: June 2017

This article provides an updated overview of the empirical literature regarding Multiple Family Therapy's (MFT) applications to non‐psychiatric conditions and problems. Although the evidence is not as strong for these disorders as for psychiatric disorders, the benefits of MFT approaches are apparent in the following areas: family management of several severe chronic medical illnesses; prevention of educational failure and exclusion; and treatment of marital distress. MFT research in non‐psychiatric settings has been faced with unique challenges that have mitigated the quality and quantity of outcome and process research produced over the past decade. Future research efforts should focus on: (1) stronger commitment to the evaluation of ongoing MFT programmes; (2) identification and manualization of major MFT programmes; (3) more Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) on the effectiveness of MFT programmes in community settings; and (4) higher priority for research on MFT's change processes and patterns of interaction.

Practitioner points

The treatment of chronic physical diseases is optimized by involving family members, and MFT is a valuable way of doing so: workshops delivered in brief formats are most feasible

MFT should be considered for non‐psychiatric problems with the risk of isolation and stigmatization. The presence of other families sharing the same challenges is very useful

MFT practitioners should attempt to operationalize their MFT model and include an evaluation component in their therapeutic implementation as routine practice
The evidence base for Multiple Family Therapy in psychiatric disorders: a review (part 1)
Authors: Gelin Zoé , Cook‐Darzens Solange , Hendrick Stéphan
Published: June 2017

This article provides an updated and comprehensive overview of the empirical literature regarding Multiple Family Therapy (MFT)'s applications to major psychiatric disorders. It shows that MFT's strongest evidence base is for schizophrenia and chronic psychoses, making its psychoeducational model one of the best available practices for these disorders. There is also a growing body of evidence regarding the usefulness of MFT for mood disorders (particularly in children), eating disorders and alcohol‐substance abuse, but more controlled research is needed for these conditions. Other disorders such as anxiety disorders, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been studied in a more anecdotal fashion and require more rigorous investigations. Future research efforts should focus on: (1) the specific advantage of MFT over other active treatment modalities, (2) the comparative efficacy of various MFT models for a given population, and (3) MFT's change processes.

Practitioner points

McFarlane's psychoeducational MFT model is considered best practice for schizophrenia and other psychoses (and possibly mood disorders), facilitated by its manual‐based approach

The Maudsley model is a valuable treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa. Family therapists who are less ED‐focused in their interventions can also use more generic MFT models

MFT practitioners should attempt to operationalize their MFT model and include an evaluation component in their therapeutic implementation
Norfolk Island as Region: A Pacific Puzzle
Authors: Wettenhall Roger
Published: June 2017

Commonwealth‐enforced changes to the constitutional status of Norfolk Island through 2014–2016 have removed the island's autonomous identity as a self‐governing Australian territory. Its conversion to what is effectively a part of New South Wales, with the main instrument of governance titled ‘regional council’, is said to be based on a NSW local government model. However, it is difficult to view Norfolk Island as a region, and difficult also to trace the thinking that bestowed the form of the regional council on its governance. This article briefly summarizes the Norfolk changes. It then considers how the concept of the regional council has been used in NSW, and moves on to Queensland where the concept is better defined. It notes particularly how it has been applied in the case of the Torres Strait Islands, and asks whether that application might have relevance for Norfolk. It concludes with speculation about what might be a better approach in designing a system of governance suitable for Norfolk conditions.
Effect of different levels of grapeseed (Vitis vinifera) oil addition on physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of set‐type yoghurt
Authors: Mercan Emİn , Sert Durmuş , Karakavuk Emrah , Akın Nİhat
Published: June 2017

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different concentrations of grapeseed oil (GSO) addition (0.5%, 1% and 1.5% w/v) to yoghurt milk on survival of starter bacteria, and physicochemical, textural and sensory properties of set‐type yoghurts during the 21 days of storage. Moreover, radical scavenging activity (RSA) and total phenolic content (TPC) of yoghurts were investigated. Yoghurts containing GSO exhibited significantly higher TPC and RSA as compared to control yoghurts. The results obtained from this investigation show that GSO has a potential to be used as a food supplement to improve health‐promoting properties of yoghurt.
Quality of government and regional competition: A spatial analysis of subnational regions in the European Union
Authors: BUBBICO ANTONIO , ELKINK JOHAN A. , OKOLIKJ MARTIN
Published: June 2017

Building on previous work on competition networks and governmental performance among British local governments, this article investigates the diffusion of government quality across subnational regions of Europe through strategic interaction with neighbouring regions or competitor regions more generally. The article demonstrates the presence of spatial interdependence using standard spatial regression models and controlling for common explanations of quality of government. In particular for regions with high levels of autonomy from the national government, there is clear adjustment in government quality to be seen in response to disparities with competitor regions. The article further investigates the intensity of this geographical effect separately in the north and south of Europe in order to estimate the potential for virtuous or vicious cycles of good governance in the two regions, respectively. It is found that while regions in the north develop relatively independently of each other but respond to competitive pressure across Europe, in the south regions demonstrate a higher level of local interdependence, increasing the possibility of virtuous cycles – but also of vicious ones.
When and why does education matter? Motivation and resource effects in political efficacy
Authors: RASMUSSEN STIG HEBBELSTRUP RYE , NØRGAARD ASBJØRN SONNE
Published: June 2017

Education increases political engagement because it bolsters motivations and cognition on the one hand, and relative resources on the other. However, personality traits have recently been found to partially confound the education effect. Focusing on internal and external political efficacy allows us to disentangle the different effects of education. It is argued in this article (a) that personal dispositions confound the cognitive and motivational effect of education, which is the predominant effect of education on internal efficacy, but not resource effects which are important for external but not internal efficacy; and (b) that resource effects are context‐dependent whereas cognitive and motivational effects are not. Accordingly, the article shows that the competitive context in which individuals find themselves conditions the effect of education on external, but not on internal, efficacy.
Preliminary Study on Determining the Sequence of Intersecting Lines by Fluorescence Technique
Authors: Li Biao , Ouyang Guo liang , Zhao Peng nan
Published: June 2017

The determination of the sequence of intersecting lines is an important part of questioned document examinations. A fluorescence technique was used to determine the sequence of heterogeneous intersecting lines produced using inkpad ink, stamp‐pad ink, ballpoint pens, gel pens, fountain pens, colorants of carbon paper, photocopiers, laser printers, and inkjet printers. A SteREO Discovery.V20 equipped with the ZEN Blue Lite software was chosen to perform the tests.As the results obtained from the study were positive under most conditions, the fluorescence technique was found to be very successful in determining the sequence of intersecting lines from ballpoint pen, gel pen, fountain pen, photocopier, laser and inkjet printers, and inkpad inks. The method was also successful in determining the sequence of intersecting lines from ballpoint pen, photocopier, laser printer, and stamp‐pad inks under most conditions. The technique was not successful in determining the order of crossing lines blending together.
Influences of Soaking Temperature and Storage Conditions on Hardening of Soybeans (Glycine max) and Red Kidney Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)
Authors: Koriyama Takako , Sato Yoko , Iijima Kumiko , Kasai Midori
Published: June 2017

The influences of soaking treatment and storage conditions on the softening of cooked beans, namely, soybeans and red kidney beans, were investigated. It was revealed that the softening of fresh soybeans and fresh red kidney beans was suppressed during subsequent boiling after soaking treatment at 50 and 60 °C. Furthermore, in treated aged soybeans and red kidney beans that were subjected to storage at 30 °C/75% relative humidity for 6 mo and soaking treatment at 50 to 60 °C, the hardness during cooking was further amplified. This suggested that the mechanism of softening suppression differs depending on the influences of soaking and storage. Analysis of the pectin fraction in alcohol insoluble solid showed insolubilization of metal ions upon storage at high temperature and high humidity in both soybeans and red kidney beans, which suggests interaction between Ca ions and hemicellulose or cellulose as cell wall polysaccharides. The results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that aged soybeans exhibited a shift in the thermal transition temperature of glycinin‐based protein to a higher temperature compared with fresh soybeans. From the results of DSC and scanning electron microscopy for aged red kidney beans, damaged starch is not conspicuous in the raw state after storage but is abundant upon soaking treatment. As for the influence of soaking at 60 °C, it can be suggested that its influence on cell wall crosslinking was large in soybeans and red kidney beans in both a fresh state and an aged state.
Dispersion Stability of O/W Emulsions with Different Oil Contents Under Various Freezing and Thawing Conditions
Authors: Katsuki Kazutaka , Miyagawa Yayoi , Nakagawa Kyuya , Adachi Shuji
Published: June 2017

Freezing and thawing of oil‐in‐water (O/W) emulsion‐type foods bring about oil–water separation and deterioration; hence, the effects of freezing and thawing conditions on the destabilization of O/W emulsions were examined. The freezing rate and thawing temperature hardly affected the stability of the O/W emulsion. O/W emulsions having different oil fractions were stored at temperatures ranging from –30 to –20 °C and then thawed. The stability after thawing depended on the storage temperature, irrespective of the oil fraction of the emulsion. A good correlation was found between the time at which the stability began to decrease and the time taken for the oil to crystalize. These results indicated that the dominant cause for the destabilization of the O/W emulsion during freezing and thawing is the crystallization of the oil phase and that the effects of the freezing and thawing rates on the stability are insignificant.
Use of Standing Gold Nanorods for Detection of Malachite Green and Crystal Violet in Fish by SERS
Authors: Chen Xiaowei , Nguyen Trang H.D. , Gu Liqun , Lin Mengshi
Published: June 2017

With growing consumption of aquaculture products, there is increasing demand on rapid and sensitive techniques that can detect prohibited substances in the seafood products. This study aimed to develop a novel surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method coupled with simplified extraction protocol and novel gold nanorod (AuNR) substrates to detect banned aquaculture substances (malachite green [MG] and crystal violet [CV]) and their mixture (1:1) in aqueous solution and fish samples. Multivariate statistical tools such as principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) were used in data analysis. PCA results demonstrate that SERS can distinguish MG, CV and their mixture (1:1) in aqueous solution and in fish samples. The detection limit of SERS coupled with standing AuNR substrates is 1 ppb for both MG and CV in fish samples. A good linear relationship between the actual concentration and predicted concentration of analytes based on PLSR models with R2 values from 0.87 to 0.99 were obtained, indicating satisfactory quantification results of this method. These results demonstrate that the SERS method coupled with AuNR substrates can be used for rapid and accurate detection of MG and CV in fish samples.
Serum bile acid level and fatty acid composition in Chinese children with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease
Authors: Lu Li Ping , Wan Yan Ping , Xun Peng Cheng , Zhou Ke Jun , Chen Cheng , Cheng Si Yang , Zhang Min Zhong , Wu Chun Hua , Lin Wei Wei , Jiang Ying , Feng Hai Xia , Wang Jia Lu , He Ka , Cai Wei
Published: June 2017

OBJECTIVE

To determine serum bile acid (BA) and fatty acid (FA) profiles in Chinese children with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

METHODS

A total 76 children aged 4–17 years were categorized into three groups according to the presence and absence of as well as the severity of NAFLD, that is, non‐NAFLD (control), mild and moderate to severe NAFLD groups, respectively, based on their liver ultrasonography findings. Serum BA and FA profiles were quantified separately by mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. General linear models were performed to assess the differences among the groups.

RESULTS

After adjusted for potential confounders, children with NAFLD had higher levels of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), unconjugated primary BAs (CDCA + cholic acid) but lower levels of deoxycholic acid (DCA), taurodeoxycholic acid (TDCA), glycodeoxycholic acid (GDCA), total DCA (DCA + TDCA + GDCA), glycolithocholic acid (GLCA) and total lithocholic acid (GLCA + taurolithocholic acid) than children without NAFLD. As for FAs, children with mild and moderate to severe NAFLD had higher levels of n‐7 monounsaturated FA.

CONCLUSIONS

Circulating BA and FA profiles may change in children with NAFLD. Further studies are needed to determine their associations and to understand the underlying mechanism of action.
Analysis of complete genome sequence and major surface antigens of Neorickettsia helminthoeca, causative agent of salmon poisoning disease
Authors: Lin Mingqun , Bachman Katherine , Cheng Zhihui , Daugherty Sean C. , Nagaraj Sushma , Sengamalay Naomi , Ott Sandra , Godinez Al , Tallon Luke J. , Sadzewicz Lisa , Fraser Claire , Dunning Hotopp Julie C. , Rikihisa Yasuko
Published: June 2017

Neorickettsia helminthoeca, a type species of the genus Neorickettsia, is an endosymbiont of digenetic trematodes of veterinary importance. Upon ingestion of salmonid fish parasitized with infected trematodes, canids develop salmon poisoning disease (SPD), an acute febrile illness that is particularly severe and often fatal in dogs without adequate treatment. We determined and analysed the complete genome sequence of N. helminthoeca: a single small circular chromosome of 884 232 bp encoding 774 potential proteins. N. helminthoeca is unable to synthesize lipopolysaccharides and most amino acids, but is capable of synthesizing vitamins, cofactors, nucleotides and bacterioferritin. N. helminthoeca is, however, distinct from majority of the family Anaplasmataceae to which it belongs, as it encodes nearly all enzymes required for peptidoglycan biosynthesis, suggesting its structural hardiness and inflammatory potential. Using sera from dogs that were experimentally infected by feeding with parasitized fish or naturally infected in southern California, Western blot analysis revealed that among five predicted N. helminthoeca outer membrane proteins, P51 and strain‐variable surface antigen were uniformly recognized. Our finding will help understanding pathogenesis, prevalence of N. helminthoeca infection among trematodes, canids and potentially other animals in nature to develop effective SPD diagnostic and preventive measures. Recent progresses in large‐scale genome sequencing have been uncovering broad distribution of Neorickettsia spp., the comparative genomics will facilitate understanding of biology and the natural history of these elusive environmental bacteria.
Gout: an Asia‐Pacific update
Authors: Paul Binoy J. , James Reeta
Published: June 2017

Even though, Hippocrates recognized gout as an affection of older men and a product of high living long back in 5th century BC, this painful condition promises to accompany humanity to the 21st century. The incidence is progressively rising and females are also affected in the modern era. There are also regional and ethnic variations in the incidence, the genetics of which is being studied. The recommended best therapy for the acute attacks and long term prophylaxis has improved remarkably in the recent years. However, patients are often treated inadequately and risk factors for their disease are not well explored in daily practice. Although well designed long term studies of current and newer treatment are welcomed, educating doctors especially the primary care physicians who manage majority of gout cases, in optimizing the currently available management options would improve the present care.
Interspecies cross‐talk between co‐cultured Pseudomonas putida and Escherichia coli
Authors: Molina‐Santiago Carlos , Udaondo Zulema , Cordero Baldo F. , Ramos Juan L.
Published: June 2017

Pseudomonas putida and Escherichia coli are ubiquitous microorganisms that can be isolated from soil rhizosphere, the surface of vegetables, fresh waters and wastewaters – environments in which they likely co‐exist. Despite this, the potential interactions between these microbes have not been studied in detail. To analyse these interactions, we carried out RNA‐seq transcriptomic analysis of these microbes as monocultures and as co‐cultures. Our results show that co‐culture of these microbes significantly alters transcriptional profiles. The most dramatic transcriptional changes in both microorganisms were involved in central carbon metabolism, as well as adhesion to surfaces and the activation of drug efflux pumps. We also found that acetate production was one of the mechanisms used by E. coli K‐12 MG1655 in response to the presence of P. putida DOT‐T1E.