Post traumatic stress symptoms in the first years of conjugal bereavement

Bereavement is generally regarded as one of the most stressful events one can encounter. Yet, bereavement research and the study of post-traumatic stress seem to be mainly developing along separate lines. Strictly speaking, post-traumatic stress disorder can only occur after encountering events outside the range of normal human experience. Thus, by definition bereavement does not seem to meet the criteria of PTSD. The question remains, however, whether this separate development and formal exclusion of bereavement can be justified by empirical research. To address this question, data are presented of 128 conjugally bereaved in a two-year longitudinal study. It appears that only 50% of the participants does not meet PTSD case-level at any time and 9% meets the criteria at all four data collection points. Interpretation of these findings are discussed in terms of appropriateness of the DSM-III-R criteria regarding PTSD

Cloning and characterization of the durable tomato mosaic virus resistance gene Tm-22 from Lycopersicon esculentum

In tomato, infections by tomato mosaic virus are controlled by durable Tm-22 resistance. In order to gain insight into the processes underlying disease resistance and its durability, we cloned and analysed the Tm-22 resistance gene and the susceptible allele, tm-2. The Tm-22 gene was isolated by transposon tagging using a screen in which plants with a destroyed Tm-22 gene survive. The Tm-22 locus consists of a single gene that encodes an 861 amino acid polypeptide, which belongs to the CC-NBS-LRR class of resistance proteins. The putative tm-2 allele was cloned from susceptible tomato lines via PCR with primers based on the Tm-22 sequence. Interestingly, the tm-2 gene has an open reading frame that is comparable to the Tm-22 allele. Between the tm-2 and the Tm-22 polypeptide 38 amino acid differences are present of which 26 are located in the second half of the LRR-domain. Susceptible tomato plants, which were transformed with the Tm-22 gene, displayed resistance against ToMV infection. In addition, virus specificity, displayed by the Tm-22 resistance was conserved in these transgenic lines. To explain the durability of this resistance, it is proposed that the Tm-22-encoded resistance is aimed at the Achilles’ heel of the virus.

The durable resistance gene Tm-22 from tomato confers resistance against ToMV in tobacco and preserves its viral specificity

Recently we isolated the Tm-22 gene of tomato, which confers resistance to tobamoviruses. The gene encodes a polypeptide that belongs to the group of the CC-NBS-LRR resistance proteins. In this paper, we show that the tomato Tm-22 gene can be functionally transferred into tobacco. After introduction of the gene either under the control of the tomato Tm-22 promoter and polyadenylation signal or the CaMV 35S promoter and the NOS-polyadenylation signal, tobacco SR1 transgenic plants become resistant against infection with ToMV. Virus-specificity of the transgenic resistance remains as in the donor species tomato: of the six ToMV-isolates used, only the Tm-22 breaking strain was able to infect transgenic tobacco-lines. In tomato the matching avirulence gene of the Tm-22 resistance is the Movement Protein (MP) of the virus. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing the MP were crossed to plants harbouring an expressing Tm-22 gene. This resulted in non-viable progeny seeds, implying that as in tomato also in tobacco the Tm-22 matching avirulence protein of ToMV is the MP and its sole presence is enough to trigger the defense response.

Clinical psychology of religion. A training model

Contains fulltext : 62976.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)In this paper we will show you a part of a course "Clinical Psychology of Religion" that has been developed in the Netherlands for introducing mental health professionals in the field of clinical psychology of religion. Clinical psychology of religion applies insights from general psychology of religion to the field of the clinical psychologist. Clinical psychology of religion can be defined as that part of the psychology of religion dealing with the relation between religion, worldview and mental health. Like the clinical psychologist, the clinical psychologist of religion deals with psychodiagnostics and psychotherapy, but concentrates on the role religion or worldview plays in mental health problems. The relation between religion and mental health has been a subject for study since the start of the psychology of religion at the end of the last century. A number of authors have elaborated on the ways in which religion can be beneficial or detrimental to psychological health. In recent research we have found that there is a great need among psychotherapists to become better equipped in this field

RET and EDNRB mutation screening in patients with Hirschsprung disease: Functional studies and its implications for genetic counseling

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is a major cause of chronic constipation in children. HSCR can be caused by germline mutations in RET and EDNRB. Defining causality of the mutations identified is difficult and almost exclusively based on in silico predictions. Therefore, the reported frequency of pathogenic mutations might be overestimated. We combined mutation analysis with functional assays to determine the frequencies of proven pathogenic RET and EDNRB mutations in HSCR. We sequenced RET and EDNRB in 57 HSCR patients. The identified RET-coding variants were introduced into RET constructs and these were transfected into HEK293 cells to determine RET phosphorylation and activation via ERK. An exon trap experiment was performed to check a possible splice-site mutation. We identified eight rare RET-coding variants, one possible splice-site variant, but no rare EDNRB variants. Western blotting showed that three coding variants p.(Pr270Leu), p.(Ala756Val) an

Systemic tryptophan and kynurenine catabolite levels relate to severity of rhinovirus-induced asthma exacerbation: a prospective study with a parallel-group design

Patients with allergic asthma have exacerbations which are frequently caused by rhinovirus infection. The antiviral tryptophan-catabolising enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is induced by interferon-γ and suppressed by Th2 mediators interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13. We hypothesised that local IDO activity after viral airway infection is lower in patients with allergic asthma than in healthy controls. To determine whether IDO activity differs between patients with allergic asthma and healthy individuals before and after rhinovirus infection. Healthy individuals and patients with allergic asthma were experimentally infected with low-dose (10 TCID50) rhinovirus 16. Blood, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and exhaled breath condensate (for mass spectrometry by UPLC-MS/MS) were obtained before and after rhinovirus challenge. IDO activity was not induced by rhinovirus infection in either group, despite increases in cold scores. However, baseline pulmonary IDO activity was lower in patients with allergic asthma than in healthy individuals. In contrast, systemic tryptophan and its catabolites were markedly higher in patients with allergic asthma. Moreover, systemic quinolinic acid and tryptophan were associated with eosinophil cationic protein (r=0.43 and r=0.78, respectively) and eosinophils (r=0.38 and r=0.58, respectively) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and peak asthma symptom scores after rhinovirus challenge (r=0.53 and r=0.64, respectively). Rhinovirus infection by itself induces no IDO activity, but the reduced pulmonary IDO activity in patients with allergic asthma at baseline may underlie a reduced control of viral infections. Notably, the enhanced systemic catabolism of tryptophan in patients with allergic asthma was strongly related to the outcome of rhinovirus challenge in asthma and may serve as a prognostic facto