Distress as a mediator for pain and activities of daily living in older adults with fibromyalgia

IntroductionPain, distress, and activities of daily living impact the lives of those with chronic pain. This study investigated distress (depressive symptoms, anxiety) on the relationship between pain (intensity and pain interference) and activities of daily living in individuals with fibromyalgia while controlling for age.MethodsThe current cross-sectional investigation focused on data from 123 men and women with fibromyalgia. Pain intensity, pain interference and anxiety were measured on 0-10 Likert type scales from the National Fibromyalgia Assessment Questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory II. Activities of daily living (basic, instrumental) were measured with the Physical Activity Inventory Scale.ResultsIt was hypothesized that the relationships between pain intensity and pain interference and activities of daily living in individuals with fibromyalgia would be mediated by the construct of distress while controlling for age. Mediation significantly occurred in both models as predicted. However, those who were older reported lower levels of pain intensity and distress than their younger counterparts, which may be related to time since diagnosis or other factors.DiscussionResults of this study suggest that individuals with chronic pain conditions would benefit from treatment options which address distress, specifically depressive symptoms and anxiety

Formative Analysis of Aging in Place::Implications for the Design of Caregiver Robots

Many have conceptualized caregiver robots as consumer products and studied elders’ perceived needs afor and preferences about such products. For reviews, please see (Broadbent, Stafford, &amp; MacDonald, 2009; Jones &amp; Schmidlin, 2011). That approach, though, could create robots that cannot satisfy elders’ actual caregiving needs. Alternatively, one can conceptualize caregiver robots as workers in complex socio-technical systems. To do so, one would need a detailed account of the caregiving that takes place in elders’ homes. Unfortunately, as noted in a National Research Council (2011) report, such a detailed account of caregiving does not exist. Accordingly, we sought to develop such an account. There are many ways to analyze work (for a discussion of general approaches, see Vicente, 1999). They can be categorized into 3 general types: normative, descriptive, and formative approaches (Vicente, 1999). We adopted a formative approach because formative approaches are tailored to the analysis of complex socio-technical systems (Vicente, 1999). They capture work requirements without specifying how that work must be done or who must do it. For example, the constraint “must not lose track of time” captures a work requirement but allows the associated work to be accomplished in a number of different ways (e.g., by checking a clock, setting an alarm) and by a number of different entities (e.g., family member, caregiver robot). To conduct our analysis, researchers observed caregiving in elders’ homes, and interviewed caregivers about their work activities. Researchers then organized their findings into an Abstraction Hierarchy (AH; Vicente, 1999), that is, a detailed account of the aging in place socio-technical system. Our primary aim was to create an AH that describes means-ends relations between the complex socio-technical caregiving system’s overall objectives, work tasks, and physical resources. Such a description provides a detailed account of the caregiving work domain, and serves as the foundation for subsequent formative analyses of caregiving. To create the AH, research team members completed 4 steps: 1) analyzing existing caregiving documentation, 2) observing caregiving and interviewing caregivers, 3) drafting and/or refining the AH, and 4) validating the AH. Steps 2 and 3 were iterative. This process is consistent with Naikar, Hopcraft, and Moylan’s (2005) recommendations regarding formative analyses. The AH made clear that caregiving for those who age in place is a complex and nuanced activity. More specifically, our analysis confirmed existing research regarding categories of caregiving tasks and revealed aspects of caregiving that have not been detailed so far. The existing literature indicates that caregivers assist older adults with self-maintenance activities of daily life (ADLs), such as eating, toileting, and dressing (Lawton, 1990), instrumental activities of daily life (IADLs), such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping (Lawton, 1990), and enhanced activities of daily life (EADLs), such as participating in social activities and pursuing hobbies (Rogers, et al., 1998). Our analysis confirmed those findings, and our AH provides a more detailed account of those tasks than was previously available. Our analysis also revealed aspects of caregiving for those who are aging in place that have not been detailed thus far in the research literature. For example, our AH contains a purpose-related function called Counseling, which concerns ensuring that the elder does not experience psychological distress. To perform this function, the caregiver must understand the elder’s situation (e.g., a family conflict), use information about that situation (e.g., experience with relevant family members and/or past conflicts; the elders’ past choices), and offer the elder advice about how to proceed (e.g., which family member’s advice to follow). The main implication of our AH for the design of caregiver robots is that such robots cannot be designed to perform purpose-related functions in a one-size-fits-all way; rather, caregiver robots must exhibit context-conditioned variability (Vicente, 1999). Our AH has many other important implications for the design of caregiver robots, which unfortunately cannot be detailed here due to space constraints. </jats:p

Correction: AGAPE (Automated Genome Analysis PipelinE) for Pan-Genome Analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The characterization and public release of genome sequences from thousands of organisms is expanding the scope for genetic variation studies. However, understanding the phenotypic consequences of genetic variation remains a challenge in eukaryotes due to the complexity of the genotype-phenotype map. One approach to this is the intensive study of model systems for which diverse sources of information can be accumulated and integrated. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an extensively studied model organism, with well-known protein functions and thoroughly curated phenotype data. To develop and expand the available resources linking genomic variation with function in yeast, we aim to model the pan-genome of S. cerevisiae. To initiate the yeast pan-genome, we newly sequenced or re-sequenced the genomes of 25 strains that are commonly used in the yeast research community using advanced sequencing technology at high quality. We also developed a pipeline for automated pan-genome analysis, which integrates the steps of assembly, annotation, and variation calling. To assign strain-specific functional annotations, we identified genes that were not present in the reference genome. We classified these according to their presence or absence across strains and characterized each group of genes with known functional and phenotypic features. The functional roles of novel genes not found in the reference genome and associated with strains or groups of strains appear to be consistent with anticipated adaptations in specific lineages. As more S. cerevisiae strain genomes are released, our analysis can be used to collate genome data and relate it to lineage-specific patterns of genome evolution. Our new tool set will enhance our understanding of genomic and functional evolution in S. cerevisiae, and will be available to the yeast genetics and molecular biology community

The Consensus Coding Sequence (Ccds) Project: Identifying a Common Protein-Coding Gene Set for the Human and Mouse Genomes

Effective use of the human and mouse genomes requires reliable identification of genes and their products. Although multiple public resources provide annotation, different methods are used that can result in similar but not identical representation of genes, transcripts, and proteins. The collaborative consensus coding sequence (CCDS) project tracks identical protein annotations on the reference mouse and human genomes with a stable identifier (CCDS ID), and ensures that they are consistently represented on the NCBI, Ensembl, and UCSC Genome Browsers. Importantly, the project coordinates on manually reviewing inconsistent protein annotations between sites, as well as annotations for which new evidence suggests a revision is needed, to progressively converge on a complete protein-coding set for the human and mouse reference genomes, while maintaining a high standard of reliability and biological accuracy. To date, the project has identified 20,159 human and 17,707 mouse consensus coding regions from 17,052 human and 16,893 mouse genes. Three evaluation methods indicate that the entries in the CCDS set are highly likely to represent real proteins, more so than annotations from contributing groups not included in CCDS. The CCDS database thus centralizes the function of identifying well-supported, identically-annotated, protein-coding regions.National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) (Grant number 1U54HG004555-01)Wellcome Trust (London, England) (Grant number WT062023)Wellcome Trust (London, England) (Grant number WT077198

Alliance of Genome Resources Portal: unified model organism research platform

The Alliance of Genome Resources (Alliance) is a consortium of the major model organism databases and the Gene Ontology that is guided by the vision of facilitating exploration of related genes in human and well-studied model organisms by providing a highly integrated and comprehensive platform that enables researchers to leverage the extensive body of genetic and genomic studies in these organisms. Initiated in 2016, the Alliance is building a central portal (www.alliancegenome.org) for access to data for the primary model organisms along with gene ontology data and human data. All data types represented in the Alliance portal (e.g. genomic data and phenotype descriptions) have common data models and workflows for curation. All data are open and freely available via a variety of mechanisms. Long-term plans for the Alliance project include a focus on coverage of additional model organisms including those without dedicated curation communities, and the inclusion of new data types with a particular focus on providing data and tools for the non-model-organism researcher that support enhanced discovery about human health and disease. Here we review current progress and present immediate plans for this new bioinformatics resource

Alliance of Genome Resources Portal: unified model organism research platform

The Alliance of Genome Resources (Alliance) is a consortium of the major model organism databases and the Gene Ontology that is guided by the vision of facilitating exploration of related genes in human and well-studied model organisms by providing a highly integrated and comprehensive platform that enables researchers to leverage the extensive body of genetic and genomic studies in these organisms. Initiated in 2016, the Alliance is building a central portal (www.alliancegenome.org) for access to data for the primary model organisms along with gene ontology data and human data. All data types represented in the Alliance portal (e.g. genomic data and phenotype descriptions) have common data models and workflows for curation. All data are open and freely available via a variety of mechanisms. Long-term plans for the Alliance project include a focus on coverage of additional model organisms including those without dedicated curation communities, and the inclusion of new data types with a particular focus on providing data and tools for the non-model-organism researcher that support enhanced discovery about human health and disease. Here we review current progress and present immediate plans for this new bioinformatics resource

The long-term hospitalization experience following military service in the 1991 Gulf War among veterans remaining on active duty, 1994–2004

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite more than a decade of extensive, international efforts to characterize and understand the increased symptom and illness-reporting among veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, concern over possible long-term health effects related to this deployment continue. The purpose of this study was to describe the long-term hospitalization experience of the subset of U.S. Gulf War veterans still on active duty between 1994 and 2004.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Gulf War veterans on active duty rosters as of October 1, 1994, were identified (n = 211 642) and compared with veterans who had separated from military service and then assessed for attrition at three-year intervals during a 10-year follow-up period, examining demographic and military service characteristics, Gulf War exposure variables, and hospitalization data. Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to evaluate independent predictors of all-cause hospitalization among those still on active duty and to estimate cumulative probability of hospitalization, 1994–2004, by service branch.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Members of our 1994 active duty cohort were more likely to be officers, somewhat older, and married compared with those who had separated from the military after serving in the 1991 Gulf War. Selected war-related exposures or experiences did not appear to influence separation with the exception of in-theater presence during the brief ground combat phase. Overall the top three diagnostic categories for hospitalizations were musculo-skeletal, injury and poisoning, and digestive disorders. Diseases of the circulatory system and symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions increased proportionately over time. In-theater hospitalization was the only significant independent predictor of long-term hospitalization risk among selected war-related exposures or experiences examined. The cumulative probability of hospitalization was highest for Army and lowest for Marines.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results were generally consistent with a previous hospitalization study of US Gulf War veterans for the period August 1991 to July 1999. Although lack of a comparison group for our study limits interpretation of overall findings, intra-cohort analyses showed no significant associations between long-term hospitalization and war-related exposures or experiences, with the exception of in-theater hospitalization, within our active duty subset of 1991 Gulf War veterans.</p

Adaptations to Submarine Hydrothermal Environments Exemplified by the Genome of Nautilia profundicola

Submarine hydrothermal vents are model systems for the Archaean Earth environment, and some sites maintain conditions that may have favored the formation and evolution of cellular life. Vents are typified by rapid fluctuations in temperature and redox potential that impose a strong selective pressure on resident microbial communities. Nautilia profundicola strain Am-H is a moderately thermophilic, deeply-branching Epsilonproteobacterium found free-living at hydrothermal vents and is a member of the microbial mass on the dorsal surface of vent polychaete, Alvinella pompejana. Analysis of the 1.7-Mbp genome of N. profundicola uncovered adaptations to the vent environment—some unique and some shared with other Epsilonproteobacterial genomes. The major findings included: (1) a diverse suite of hydrogenases coupled to a relatively simple electron transport chain, (2) numerous stress response systems, (3) a novel predicted nitrate assimilation pathway with hydroxylamine as a key intermediate, and (4) a gene (rgy) encoding the hallmark protein for hyperthermophilic growth, reverse gyrase. Additional experiments indicated that expression of rgy in strain Am-H was induced over 100-fold with a 20°C increase above the optimal growth temperature of this bacterium and that closely related rgy genes are present and expressed in bacterial communities residing in geographically distinct thermophilic environments. N. profundicola, therefore, is a model Epsilonproteobacterium that contains all the genes necessary for life in the extreme conditions widely believed to reflect those in the Archaean biosphere—anaerobic, sulfur, H2- and CO2-rich, with fluctuating redox potentials and temperatures. In addition, reverse gyrase appears to be an important and common adaptation for mesophiles and moderate thermophiles that inhabit ecological niches characterized by rapid and frequent temperature fluctuations and, as such, can no longer be considered a unique feature of hyperthermophiles

Lack of Effective Anti-Apoptotic Activities Restricts Growth of Parachlamydiaceae in Insect Cells

The fundamental role of programmed cell death in host defense is highlighted by the multitude of anti-apoptotic strategies evolved by various microbes, including the well-known obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia (Chlamydophila) pneumoniae. As inhibition of apoptosis is assumed to be essential for a successful infection of humans by these chlamydiae, we analyzed the anti-apoptotic capacity of close relatives that occur as symbionts of amoebae and might represent emerging pathogens. While Simkania negevensis was able to efficiently replicate within insect cells, which served as model for metazoan-derived host cells, the Parachlamydiaceae (Parachlamydia acanthamoebae and Protochlamydia amoebophila) displayed limited intracellular growth, yet these bacteria induced typical features of apoptotic cell death, including formation of apoptotic bodies, nuclear condensation, internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, and effector caspase activity. Induction of apoptosis was dependent on bacterial activity, but not bacterial de novo protein synthesis, and was detectable already at very early stages of infection. Experimental inhibition of host cell death greatly enhanced parachlamydial replication, suggesting that lack of potent anti-apoptotic activities in Parachlamydiaceae may represent an important factor compromising their ability to successfully infect non-protozoan hosts. These findings highlight the importance of the evolution of anti-apoptotic traits for the success of chlamydiae as pathogens of humans and animals