Using implementation intentions to prevent relapse after remission from psychological treatment for depression: The SMArT intervention

Objective: To provide evidence of the effectiveness of a brief relapse prevention intervention using implementation intentions (Self-Management after Therapy, SMArT), following remission from depression and to identify effective relapse prevention strategies. Method: The SMArT intervention was provided to 107 patients who were recovered after psychological therapy for depression. Relapse events were calculated as reliable and clinically significant increases in PHQ-scores. Sixteen patients receiving the intervention and eight practitioners providing it were interviewed. Framework Analysis identified seven themes which highlighted effective relapse prevention strategies and effective implementation of the SMArT intervention. Results: Relapse rates at the final SMArT session (four months after the end of acute stage therapy) were 11%. Seven themes were identified that supported effective self-management: (1) Relationship with the practitioner—feeling supported; (2) Support networks; (3) Setting goals, implementing plans and routine; (4) Changing views of recovery; (5) The SMArT sessions—mode, content, timing, duration; (6) Suitability for the person; and (7) Suitability for the service. Conclusion: The study provides some support for the effectiveness of the SMArT intervention, although a randomized controlled trial is required; and identifies important relapse prevention strategies

Soil humic acid aggregation by dynamic light scattering and laser Doppler electrophoresis

Humic acids (HAs), similar to other fractions of humic substances (HSs), have a large number of reactive functional groups enabling them to aggregate in solutions. Regardless of the origin of humic acid (aqueous or soil), this aggregation process is dependent on environmental conditions and strongly influences the mobility of soluble ionic and molecular pollutants. The aim of this work was to monitor the aggregation process of two humic acids isolated from different mineral soils (IHSS Elliot soil HA standard and Rendzic Leptosol HA) in the 2-11 pH range. Changes in aggregate size in HA sols were followed up using dynamic light scattering (DLS), while zeta potential (ZP) measurements in the same pH range were performed applying laser Doppler electrophoresis (LDE) technique. The effect of HA sol concentration and soil source on aggregation was examined as well. Besides, HA samples were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. By inspecting HA-particle-size dependence on pH, it can be concluded that both HAs in corresponding sols behave as molecular aggregates or supramolecular structures, formed from small individual moieties (sizes LT 10 nm) at higher pH values. The ZP vs. pH curve for both HAs revealed the ZP minimum in the 5-7 pH range, caused most likely by dissociation of acidic functional groups prevailing at lower pH values and deaggregation predominating over dissociation at higher pH values

Availability of the primer activation signal (PAS) affects the efficiency of HIV-1 reverse transcription initiation.

Initiation of reverse transcription of a retroviral RNA genome is strictly regulated. The tRNA primer binds to the primer binding site (PBS), and subsequent priming is triggered by the primer activation signal (PAS) that also pairs with the tRNA. We observed that in vitro reverse transcription initiation of the HIV-1 leader RNA varies in efficiency among 3'-end truncated transcripts, despite the presence of both PBS and PAS motifs. As the HIV-1 leader RNA can adopt two different foldings, we investigated if the conformational state of the transcripts did influence the efficiency of reverse transcription initiation. However, mutant transcripts that exclusively fold one or the other structure were similarly active, thereby excluding the possibility of regulation of reverse transcription initiation by the structure riboswitch. We next set out to determine the availability of the PAS element. This sequence motif enhances the efficiency of reverse transcription initiation, but its activity is regulated because the PAS motif is initially base paired within the wild-type template. We measured that the initiation efficiency on different templates correlates directly with accessibility of the PAS motif. Furthermore, changes in PAS are critical to facilitate a primer-switch to a new tRNA species, demonstrating the importance of this enhancer elemen

Design Issues and Considerations for Low-Cost 3-D TSV IC Technology

In this paper key design issues and considerations of a low-cost 3-D Cu-TSV technology are investigated. The impact of TSV on BEOL interconnect reliability is limited, no failures have been observed. The impact of TSV stress on MOS devices causes shifts, further analysis is required to understand their importance. Thermal hot spots in 3-D chip stacks cause temperature increases three times higher than in 2-D chips, necessitating a careful thermal floorplanning to avoid thermal failures. We have monitored for ESD during 3-D processing and have found no events take place, however careful further monitoring is required. The noise coupling between two tiers in a 3-D chip-stack is 20 dB lower than in a 2-D SoC, opening opportunities for increased mixed signal system performance. The impact on digital circuit performance of TSVs is accurately modeled with the presented RC model and digital gates can directly drive signals through TSVs at high speed and low power. Experimental results of a 3-D Network-on-Chip implementation demonstrate that the NoC concept can be extended from 2-D SoC to 3-D SoCs at low area (0.018 ) and power (3%) overhead

DNA damage leads to progressive replicative decline but extends the life span of long-lived mutant animals

Human-nucleotide-excision repair (NER) deficiency leads to different developmental and segmental progeroid symptoms of which the pathogenesis is only partially understood. To understand the biological impact of accumulating spontaneous DNA damage, we studied the phenotypic consequences of DNA-repair deficiency in Caenorhabditis elegans. We find that DNA damage accumulation does not decrease the adult life span of post-mitotic tissue. Surprisingly, loss of functional ERCC-1/XPF even further extends the life span of long-lived daf-2 mutants, likely through an adaptive activation of stress signaling. Contrariwise, NER deficiency leads to a striking transgenerational decline in replicative capacity and viability of proliferating cells. DNA damage accumulation induces severe, stochastic impairment of development and growth, which is most pronounced in NER mutants that are also impaired in their response to ionizing radiation and inter-strand crosslinks. These results suggest that multiple DNA-repair pathways can protect against replicative decline and indicate that there might be a direct link between the severity of symptoms and the level of DNA-repair deficiency in patients.Cell Death and Differentiation advance online publication, 6 September 2013; doi:10.1038/cdd.2013.126