Neuronal Signaling: A reflection on the Biochemical Society's newest journal and an exciting outlook on its next steps

The inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Neuronal Signaling, Aideen M. Sullivan, reflects on the journal's journey so far and welcomes the new Editor-in-Chief, Clare Stanford, as she shares some of the exciting initiatives and plans for its future

Literature-based discovery of diabetes- and ROS-related targets

Abstract Background Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known mediators of cellular damage in multiple diseases including diabetic complications. Despite its importance, no comprehensive database is currently available for the genes associated with ROS. Methods We present ROS- and diabetes-related targets (genes/proteins) collected from the biomedical literature through a text mining technology. A web-based literature mining tool, SciMiner, was applied to 1,154 biomedical papers indexed with diabetes and ROS by PubMed to identify relevant targets. Over-represented targets in the ROS-diabetes literature were obtained through comparisons against randomly selected literature. The expression levels of nine genes, selected from the top ranked ROS-diabetes set, were measured in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of diabetic and non-diabetic DBA/2J mice in order to evaluate the biological relevance of literature-derived targets in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy. Results SciMiner identified 1,026 ROS- and diabetes-related targets from the 1,154 biomedical papers (http://jdrf.neurology.med.umich.edu/ROSDiabetes/). Fifty-three targets were significantly over-represented in the ROS-diabetes literature compared to randomly selected literature. These over-represented targets included well-known members of the oxidative stress response including catalase, the NADPH oxidase family, and the superoxide dismutase family of proteins. Eight of the nine selected genes exhibited significant differential expression between diabetic and non-diabetic mice. For six genes, the direction of expression change in diabetes paralleled enhanced oxidative stress in the DRG. Conclusions Literature mining compiled ROS-diabetes related targets from the biomedical literature and led us to evaluate the biological relevance of selected targets in the pathogenesis of diabetic neuropathy.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/1/1755-8794-3-49.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/2/1755-8794-3-49-S7.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/3/1755-8794-3-49-S10.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/4/1755-8794-3-49-S8.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/5/1755-8794-3-49-S3.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/6/1755-8794-3-49-S1.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/7/1755-8794-3-49-S4.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/8/1755-8794-3-49-S2.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/9/1755-8794-3-49-S12.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/10/1755-8794-3-49-S11.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/11/1755-8794-3-49-S9.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/12/1755-8794-3-49-S5.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/13/1755-8794-3-49-S6.XLShttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78315/14/1755-8794-3-49.pdfPeer Reviewe

Professional Development and the Informal Curriculum in End-of-Life Care

Although professionalism has emerged as a key competency for today’s physicians, there exists little insight into how best to teach medical students the relevant skills or instill in them the commitment required to practice according to the highest professional standards. Ten UCSF medical students were interviewed at three time points (second, third, and fourth years of school). Interviews focused on students’ learning and development regarding end-of-life care (EOLC). Students described varying steps in their professional development from their second to fourth years of school, including feeling confused about the definition of professionalism and integrating their personal and professional identities. In addition to professional development, four other themes contributed to the development of medical student understanding of how to provide EOLC as a professional: (1) curricular discordance, (2) role models, (3) the tightrope between trained versus human reactions, and (4) ethical dilemmas. These five themes represent dilemmas that students often learned how to respond to over the course of school. Professional development in EOLC required the acquisition of skills necessary to balance the tension between and navigate conflicting messages present in medical student training

A randomized clinical trial of the immunogenicity of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine compared to 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine in frail, hospitalized elderly

Background: Elderly people do not mount strong immune responses to vaccines. We compared 23-valent capsular polysaccharide (23vPPV) alone versus 7-valent conjugate (PCV7) vaccine followed by 23vPPV 6 months later in hospitalized elderly. Methods: Participants were randomized to receive 23vPPV or PCV7-23vPPV. Antibodies against serotypes 3, 4, 6A, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, 19A, 19F, 23F were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) and opsonophagocytic (OPA) assays at baseline, 6 months and 12 months. Results: Of 312 recruited, between 40% and 72% of subjects had undetectable OPA titres at baseline. After one dose, PCV7 recipients had significantly higher responses to serotypes 9V (both assays) and 23F (OPA only), and 23vPPV recipients had significantly higher responses to serotype 3 (ELISA), 19F and 19A (OPA only). In subjects with undetectable OPA titres at baseline, a proportionately greater rise in OPA titre (P<0.01) was seen for all serotypes after both vaccines. The GMT ratio of OPA was significantly higher at 12 months in the PCV7-23vPPV group for serotypes 6A, 9V, 18C and 23F. OPA titre levels for these serotypes increased moderately after 6 months, whereas immunity waned in the 23vPPV only arm. Conclusion: We did not show overwhelming benefit of one vaccine over the other. Low baseline immunity does not preclude a robust immune response, reiterating the importance of vaccinating the frail elderly. A schedule of PCV7-23vPPV prevents waning of antibody, suggesting that both vaccines could be useful in the elderly. Follow up studies are needed to determine persistence of immunity. Trial Registration: The Australian Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12607000387426 © 2014 MacIntyre et al

Catastrophizing mediates the relationship between the personal belief in a just world and pain outcomes among chronic pain support group attendees

Health-related research suggests the belief in a just world can act as a personal resource that protects against the adverse effects of pain and illness. However, currently, little is known about how this belief, particularly in relation to one’s own life, might influence pain. Consistent with the suggestions of previous research, the present study undertook a secondary data analysis to investigate pain catastrophizing as a mediator of the relationship between the personal just world belief and chronic pain outcomes in a sample of chronic pain support group attendees. Partially supporting the hypotheses, catastrophizing was negatively correlated with the personal just world belief and mediated the relationship between this belief and pain and disability, but not distress. Suggestions for future research and intervention development are made

Multiple Parton Interactions in Z+jets production at the LHC. A comparison of factorized and non--factorized double parton distribution functions

We examine the contribution of Multiple Parton Interactions to Z+n-jets production at the LHC, n=2,3,4, where the Z boson is assumed to decay leptonically. We compare the results obtained with the correlated GS09 double parton distribution function with those obtained with two instances of fully factorized single parton distribution functions: MSTW2008LO and CTEQ6LO. It appears quite feasible to measure the MPI contribution to Z+2/3/4 jets already in the first phase of the LHC with a total luminosity of one inverse femtobarn at 7 TeV. If as expected the trigger threshold for single photons is around 80 GeV, Z+2-jets production may well turn out to be more easily observable than the gamma+3-jets channel. The MPI cross section is dominated by relatively soft events with two jets balancing in transverse momentum.Comment: 15 pages, 3 plot