Growth textures of thick sputtered films and multilayers assessed via synchrotron transmission Laue

The growth textures of thick sputtered Mo metallizations and Mo/W multilayers, were characterized via a synchrotron white‐beam (WB) x‐ray transmission Laue technique. Transmission x‐ray diffraction studies of Mo specimens up to 61 μm thick were performed with WB synchrotron radiation; while the practical thickness limit for similar observations using a conventional laboratory Cu K(α) x‐ray source is ten times smaller. This unique approach used polychromatic x rays to simultaneously produce diffraction from a wide spread of orientations of many crystallographic planes for all the grains within a relatively large specimen volume (≊60×106 μm3). These patterns were obtained for polycrystalline 31‐ and 61‐μm‐thick Mo/W multilayer specimens, and a 35‐μm‐thick‐monolithic Mo foil specimen. In all three cases the alignment of specimen grains was similar to what would be expected for single‐crystal transmission patterns, except that the recorded intensity distributed was less localized. The WB transmission images were indexed using a reciprocal space construction for the Laue case. In the multilayers, the grains were oriented out‐of‐plane such that 〈110〉 crystallographic planes were aligned in the direction of sputter growth, while in the monolithic Mo specimen 〈111〉 crystallographic planes were so aligned, i.e., perpendicular to the deposition substrate. A spread in orientation of ∼5° was measured in the multilayer specimens, while the monolithic Mo specimen showed a spread of ∼30° when compared to a perfect single‐crystal orientation. Preferred orientation was also observed within the plane of growth to varying degrees for all three samples. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.  Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71326/2/JAPIAU-78-6-3812-1.pd

Place-based Politics and Nested Deprivation in the U.K.: Beyond Cities-towns, ‘Two Englands’ and the ‘Left Behind’

‘Place-based explanations’ of politics in the U.K. tell sweeping narratives about ‘Two Englands’, or of sizeable regions of the country that have been ‘Left Behind’, reinforcing popular accounts of a North–South or city-town divide. We introduce the concept of nested deprivation – deprivation that may occur in just one housing estate or even one row of flats within neighbourhoods that are otherwise affluent. We report on intensive fieldwork in 8 neighbourhoods varying in relative affluence and density of population (including urban, suburban/satellite, market town or rural village). Three key themes and consequences emerge for those living in nested deprivation in relatively affluent and geographically dispersed contexts: (a) either disconnection from or entrapment within the local economy; (b) social isolation and atomisation; and (c) powerlessness to affect politics. ‘Place-based’ explanations of rapid and radical changes to political participation in Britain need to take fine-grained geographical distinctions much more seriously. Our study provides evidence that the rising tides in affluent areas are drowning some residents rather than lifting all boats. Where deprivation is dispersed and then nested within mostly affluent constituencies it does not allow for the political mobilisation among communities of interest that is a necessary condition for pluralist representative democracies

Differential psychological response to the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric inpatients compared to a non-clinical population from Germany

The COVID-19 pandemic is an inherently stressful situation, which may lead to adverse psychosocial outcomes in various populations. Yet, individuals may not be affected equally by stressors posed by the pandemic and those with pre-existing mental disorders could be particularly vulnerable. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the psychological response to the pandemic in a case-control design. We used an age-, sex- and employment status-matched case-control sample (n = 216) of psychiatric inpatients, recruited from the LMU Psychiatry Biobank Munich study and non-clinical individuals from the general population. Participants completed validated self-report measures on stress, anxiety, depression, paranoia, rumination, loneliness, well-being, resilience, and a newly developed index of stressors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to assess the effects of group, COVID-19-specific stressors, and their interaction on the different psychosocial outcomes. While psychiatric inpatients reported larger mental health difficulties overall, the impact of COVID-19-specific stressors was lower in patients and not associated with worse psychological functioning compared to non-clinical individuals. In contrast, depressive symptoms, rumination, loneliness, and well-being were more strongly associated with COVID-19-specific stressors in non-clinical individuals and similar to the severity of inpatients for those who experienced the greatest COVID-19-specific stressor impact Contrary to expectations, the psychological response to the pandemic may not be worse in psychiatric inpatients compared to non-clinical individuals. Yet, individuals from the general population, who were hit hardest by the pandemic, should be monitored and may be in need of mental health prevention and treatment efforts

The COVID-19 Pandemic Mental Health Questionnaire (CoPaQ): psychometric evaluation and compliance with countermeasures in psychiatric inpatients and non-clinical individuals

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted people's lives across a broad spectrum of psychosocial domains. We report the development and psychometric evaluation of the self-report COVID-19 Pandemic Mental Health Questionnaire (CoPaQ), which assesses COVID-19 contamination anxiety, countermeasure necessity and compliance, mental health impact, stressor impact, social media usage, interpersonal conflicts, paranoid ideations, institutional & political trust, conspiracy beliefs, and social cohesion. Further, we illustrate the questionnaire's utility in an applied example investigating if higher SARS-Cov-2 infection rates in psychiatric patients could be explained by reduced compliance with preventive countermeasures. METHODS A group of 511 non-clinical individuals completed an initial pool of 111 CoPaQ items (Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/3evn9/ ) and additional scales measuring psychological distress, well-being, and paranoia to assess construct validity and lifetime mental health diagnosis for criterion validity. Factor structure was determined by exploratory factor analyses and validated by conducting confirmatory factor analysis in the accompanying longitudinal sample (n~= 318) and an independent psychiatric inpatient sample primarily admitted for major depressive-, substance abuse-, personality-, and anxiety disorders (n~= 113). Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's Alpha and McDonald's Omega. For the applied research example, Welch t-tests and correlational analyses were conducted. RESULTS Twelve out of 16 extracted subscales were retained in the final questionnaire version, which provided preliminary evidence for adequate psychometric properties in terms of factor structure, internal consistency, and construct and criterion validity. Our applied research example showed that patients exhibited greater support for COVID-19 countermeasures than non-clinical individuals. However, this requires replication in future studies. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate that the CoPaQ is a comprehensive and valid measure of the psychosocial impact of the pandemic and could allow to a degree to disentangle the complex psychosocial phenomena of the pandemic as exemplified by our applied analyses

The cyanobiont in an Azolla fern is neither Anabaena nor Nostoc

The cyanobacterial symbionts in the fern Azolla have generally been ascribed to either the Anabaena or Nostoc genera. By using comparisons of the sequences of the phycocyanin intergenic spacer and a fragment of the 16S rRNA, we found that the cyanobiont from an Azolla belongs to neither of these genera.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75153/1/S0378-1097_03_00784-5.pd

Vδ2+ T cell response to malaria correlates with protection from infection but is attenuated with repeated exposure.

Vδ2+ γδ T cells are semi-innate T cells that expand markedly following P. falciparum (Pf) infection in naïve adults, but are lost and become dysfunctional among children repeatedly exposed to malaria. The role of these cells in mediating clinical immunity (i.e. protection against symptoms) to malaria remains unclear. We measured Vδ2+ T cell absolute counts at acute and convalescent malaria timepoints (n = 43), and Vδ2+ counts, cellular phenotype, and cytokine production following in vitro stimulation at asymptomatic visits (n = 377), among children aged 6 months to 10 years living in Uganda. Increasing age was associated with diminished in vivo expansion following malaria, and lower Vδ2 absolute counts overall, among children living in a high transmission setting. Microscopic parasitemia and expression of the immunoregulatory markers Tim-3 and CD57 were associated with diminished Vδ2+ T cell pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Higher Vδ2 pro-inflammatory cytokine production was associated with protection from subsequent Pf infection, but also with an increased odds of symptoms once infected. Vδ2+ T cells may play a role in preventing malaria infection in children living in endemic settings; progressive loss and dysfunction of these cells may represent a disease tolerance mechanism that contributes to the development of clinical immunity to malaria

Conformational and thermodynamic hallmarks of DNA operator site specificity in the copper sensitive operon repressor from Streptomyces lividans

Metal ion homeostasis in bacteria relies on metalloregulatory proteins to upregulate metal resistance genes and enable the organism to preclude metal toxicity. The copper sensitive operon repressor (CsoR) family is widely distributed in bacteria and controls the expression of copper efflux systems. CsoR operator sites consist of G-tract containing pseudopalindromes of which the mechanism of operator binding is poorly understood. Here, we use a structurally characterized CsoR from Streptomyces lividans (CsoRSl) together with three specific operator targets to reveal the salient features pertaining to the mechanism of DNA binding. We reveal that CsoRSl binds to its operator site through a 2-fold axis of symmetry centred on a conserved 5′-TAC/GTA-3′ inverted repeat. Operator recognition is stringently dependent not only on electropositive residues but also on a conserved polar glutamine residue. Thermodynamic and circular dichroic signatures of the CsoRSl-DNA interaction suggest selectivity towards the A-DNA-like topology of the G-tracts at the operator site. Such properties are enhanced on protein binding thus enabling the symmetrical binding of two CsoRSl tetramers. Finally, differential binding modes may exist in operator sites having more than one 5′-TAC/GTA-3′ inverted repeat with implications in vivo for a mechanism of modular control. © 2013 The Author(s)

Loneliness, Social Isolation and Their Difference: A Cross-Diagnostic Study in Persistent Depressive Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder

Background: Interpersonal difficulties are a key feature of persistent depressive disorder (PDD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). Caught in a vicious circle of dysfunctional interpersonal transaction, PDD and BPD patients are at great risk of experiencing prolonged loneliness. Loneliness, in turn, has been associated with the development of mental disorders and chronic illness trajectories. Besides, several factors may contribute to the experience of loneliness across the lifespan, such as social network characteristics, a history of childhood maltreatment (CM), and cognitive-affective biases such as rejection sensitivity (RS). This cross-diagnostic study approached the topic of perceived loneliness by comparing PDD and BPD patients with healthy controls (HC) in its interplay with symptom burden, social network characteristics, RS as well as CM. Method: Thirty-four PDD patients (DSM-5; 15 female, Mage = 38.2, SD = 12.3), 36 BPD patients (DSM-5; 19 female, Mage = 28.8, SD = 9.2), and 70 age- and gender-matched HC were assessed cross-sectionally using the following self-report measures: UCLA Loneliness Scale, Social Network Index (SNI; size, diversity, and embeddedness), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Borderline Symptom List (BSL-23), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ). Results: Both patient groups reported significantly higher levels of perceived loneliness, symptom severity, and smaller social network characteristics compared to HC. Loneliness was significantly correlated with severity of self-reported clinical symptoms in PDD and at trend level in BPD. Besides, loneliness tended to be related to social network characteristics for all groups except PDD patients. Both PDD and BPD patients showed higher RS as well as CTQ scores than HC. A history of emotional abuse and emotional neglect was associated with loneliness, and this association was mediated by RS as demonstrated by an exploratory mediation analysis. Discussion: Loneliness is highly prevalent in PDD and BPD patients and contributes to the overall symptom burden. Interestingly, loneliness showed an association with prior experiences of CM as well as current RS. We therefore propose a comprehensive model on how intra- und interpersonal aspects may interplay in the dynamics of loneliness in light of CM. Finally, this model may have further implications for psychotherapeutic interventions

What are we measuring? A critique of range of motion methods currently in use for Dupuytren's disease and recommendations for practice

Background: Range of motion is the most frequently reported measure used in practice to evaluate outcomes. A goniometer is the most reliable tool to assess range of motion yet, the lack of consistency in reporting prevents comparison between studies. The aim of this study is to identify how range of motion is currently assessed and reported in Dupuytren’s disease literature. Following analysis recommendations for practice will be made to enable consistency in future studies for comparability. This paper highlights the variation in range of motion reporting in Dupuytren’s disease. Methods: A Participants, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes and Study design format was used for the search strategy and search terms. Surgery, needle fasciotomy or collagenase injection for primary or recurrent Dupuytren’s disease in adults were included if outcomes were monitored using range of motion to record change. A literature search was performed in May 2013 using subject heading and free-text terms to also capture electronic publications ahead of print. In total 638 publications were identified and following screening 90 articles met the inclusion criteria. Data was extracted and entered onto a spreadsheet for analysis. A thematic analysis was carried out to establish any duplication, resulting in the final range of motion measures identified. Results: Range of motion measurement lacked clarity, with goniometry reportedly used in only 43 of the 90 studies, 16 stated the use of a range of motion protocol. A total of 24 different descriptors were identified describing range of motion in the 90 studies. While some studies reported active range of motion, others reported passive or were unclear. Eight of the 24 categories were identified through thematic analysis as possibly describing the same measure, ‘lack of joint extension’ and accounted for the most frequently used. Conclusions: Published studies lacked clarity in reporting range of motion, preventing data comparison and meta-analysis. Percentage change lacks context and without access to raw data, does not allow direct comparison of baseline characteristics. A clear description of what is being measured within each study was required. It is recommended that range of motion measuring and reporting for Dupuytren’s disease requires consistency to address issues that fall into 3 main categories:- Definition of terms Protocol statement Outcome reportin