Exploring the role of emotional and behavioral problems in a personality-targeted prevention program for substance use in adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability

Contains fulltext : 228171.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Background: Adolescents and young adults with a mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning (MID-BIF) are at risk for problematic substance use and are more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems than peers without MID-BIF. A personality-targeted prevention program called Take it Personal! effectively reduces substance use in adolescents and young adults with MID-BIF. Aims: The program’s effectiveness was examined on its secondary goal: reducing emotional and behavioral problems. The potentially moderating role of these problems on the program's effectiveness with substance use was also explored. Methods and procedures: Substance use and emotional and behavioral problems were compared between participants in Take it Personal! (n = 34) and those in the control condition (n = 32) in a quasi-experimental pre-posttest study with a three-month follow-up. Effectiveness and moderation were assessed with multilevel models. Outcomes and results: Take it Personal! seems to reduce rule breaking. There were no significant effects on anxiety, withdrawal, and aggression. None of the problem domains moderated the program’s effectiveness on substance use frequency. Conclusions and implications: Take it Personal! may effectively reduce rule breaking. Moreover, adolescent and young adults with different levels of emotional and behavioral problems benefit equally in terms of reduced substance use.10 p

Pools "on the rocks" : freshwater rock pools as model system in ecological and evolutionary research

Rock pools inarguably exhibit a number of characteristics which make them attractive as a model system in ecological and evolutionary research. They are usually small, pristine, clearly delineated and structurally simple systems that occur on a global scale. They facilitate the quantification of important population and community structuring processes which are often hard or impossible to quantify in larger more complex systems. Basic properties and spatial configuration of rock pools also closely resemble theoretical metapopulation and metacommunity models. Due to the simple morphometry of rock pool basins and the lack of any groundwater interactions, rock pool hydrologies are simple allowing to reliably reconstruct the disturbance regime against which patterns of variation in life histories, population genetics, species diversity and community structure can be interpreted.Sin lugar a dudas las pozas en rocas presentan numerosas características que las hacen atractivas para su uso como sistema modelo en la investigación evolutivo-ecológica. Normalmente son sistemas vírgenes de pequeño tamaño, estructuralmente sencillos y claramente delineados, que se encuentran a escala global. Permiten la cuantificación de importantes procesos estructuradores de poblaciones y comunidades que, a menudo, son muy difíciles o imposibles de cuantificar en sistemas mayores más complejos. Las propiedades básicas y la configuración espacial de las pozas en rocas también muestran una estrecha semejanza con los modelos teóricos de metapoblación y metacomunidad. Debido a la morfometría simple de las cubetas de estas pozas y a la carencia de interacciones con las aguas subterráneas, las hidrologías de estas pozas son de poca complejidad, lo que permite reconstruir con fiabilidad el régimen de perturbación determinante de los patrones de variación de los ciclos de vida de los organismos, de la genética de poblaciones, diversidad de especies y estructura de comunidades

Using cell type specific transcriptomics to understand how Arabidopsis roots respond to Sinorhizobium meliloti.

Roots are key organs for the uptake of nutrients in plants. Leguminous plants form nodules, providing a niche for symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, enabling plants to colonize nitrogen depleted soils. Lateral root formation shares genetic regulation, as well as developmental features, with nodulation. This led us to investigate whether shared genetic control can be revealed in lateral root development responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to rhizobia. The phenotypic response of Arabidopsis to Sinorhizobium meliloti was analyzed. Arabidopsis lateral root length was found to be shorter, indicating a potential link between bacterial perception and lateral root development, even in a non symbiotic host plant. To gain more insight, a transcriptome time series was carried out. The response of Arabidopsis to Sinorhizobium inoculation compared to the response of nitrogen treatment were analyzed. In order to identify highly localized, yet important minimal regulatory cues and maximize the spatial specificity of the data, this analysis was carried out in isolated cortical and pericycle cells. Combined, in response to the two treatments approximately a 20% of the Arabidopsis genome is differentially expressed during the first 48 hours. Bioinformatic tools (clustering and network inference) were used to obtain a chronology of different responses, highlighting which metabolic processes change over time and identify potential gene regulatory mechanisms. The data and approach presented here present a unique analysis of the response to Sinorhizobium and nitrogen treatment and open the way to further tissue specific analysis of transcriptional regulation in plants. The similarities and differences between the response to Sinorhizobium (a potentially neutral bacteria) and Ralstonia (a pathogen of Arabidopsis roots) were evaluated using an analysis of gene expression at two early time points after inoculation. There was significant overlap in transcriptional response to both treatments, as well as striking differences: we find pathogen defense genes in the response to Sinorhizobium, rather than Ralstonia. We also find a core of 11 auxin responsive genes that have similar differential expression between treatments. Our results show that Rhizobium has a distinct transcriptional and phenotypic effect on Arabidopsis roots that is distinct from a pathogenic interaction. Several network hub genes are proposed as potential targets for further studying this effect

The feasibility of daily monitoring in adolescents and young adults with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether the limitations of young persons with a mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning preclude feasibility of the daily diary method.METHOD: For 60 consecutive days, 50 participants (M age  = 21.4, 56% male) who receive care in an ambulatory, residential, or juvenile detention setting, self-rated both standardised and personalised diary questions through an app. Diary entries were used for feedback in treatment. Interviews were used to explore acceptability. RESULTS: Average compliance was 70.4%, while 26% of participants dropped out. Compliance was good in ambulatory (88.9%) and residential care (75.6%), but not in the juvenile detention setting (19.4%). The content of self-selected diary items varied widely. Participants deemed the method acceptable.CONCLUSIONS: Daily monitoring is feasible for individuals with a mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning receiving ambulatory or residential care, and can provide scientists and practitioners with important insights into day-to-day behavioural patterns.</p

Fluorescence microscopy tensor imaging representations for large-scale dataset analysis

Understanding complex biological systems requires the system-wide characterization of cellular and molecular features. Recent advances in optical imaging technologies and chemical tissue clearing have facilitated the acquisition of whole-organ imaging datasets, but automated tools for their quantitative analysis and visualization are still lacking. We have here developed a visualization technique capable of providing whole-organ tensor imaging representations of local regional descriptors based on fluorescence data acquisition. This method enables rapid, multiscale, analysis and virtualization of large-volume, high-resolution complex biological data while generating 3D tractographic representations. Using the murine heart as a model, our method allowed us to analyze and interrogate the cardiac microvasculature and the tissue resident macrophage distribution and better infer and delineate the underlying structural network in unprecedented detail

Decrease of miR-146b-5p in Monocytes during Obesity Is Associated with Loss of the Anti-Inflammatory but Not Insulin Signaling Action of Adiponectin

Background: Low adiponectin, a well-recognized antidiabetic adipokine, has been associated with obesity-related inflammation, oxidative stress and insulin resistance. Globular adiponectin is an important regulator of the interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase (IRAK)/NFkB pathway in monocytes of obese subjects. It protects against inflammation and oxidative stress by inducing IRAK3. microRNA (miR)-146b-5p inhibits NFkB-mediated inflammation by targeted repression of IRAK1 and TNF receptor-associated factor-6 (TRAF6). Therefore, we measured the expression of miR-146b-5p in monocytes of obese subjects. Because it was low we determined the involvement of this miR in the anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and insulin signaling action of globular adiponectin. Methods: miR-146b-5p expression in monocytes of obese subjects was determined by qRT-PCR. The effect of miR-146b-5p silencing on molecular markers of inflammation, oxidative stress and insulin signaling and the association with globular adiponectin was assessed in human THP-1 monocytes. Results: miR-146b-5p was downregulated in monocytes of obese persons. Low globular adiponectin decreased miR-146b-5p and IRAK3 in THP-1 monocytes, associated with increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS). Intracellular ROS and insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS1) protein were unchanged. Silencing of miR-146b-5p with an antisense inhibitor resulted in increased expression of IRAK1 and TRAF6 leading to more NFkB p65 DNA binding activity and TNFa. As

PPAR Agonist-Induced Reduction of Mcp1 in Atherosclerotic Plaques of Obese, Insulin-Resistant Mice Depends on Adiponectin-Induced Irak3 Expression

Synthetic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonists are used to treat dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. In this study, we examined molecular mechanisms that explain differential effects of a PPARα agonist (fenofibrate) and a PPARγ agonist (rosiglitazone) on macrophages during obesity-induced atherogenesis. Twelve-week-old mice with combined leptin and LDL-receptor deficiency (DKO) were treated with fenofibrate, rosiglitazone or placebo for 12 weeks. Only rosiglitazone improved adipocyte function, restored insulin sensitivity, and inhibited atherosclerosis by decreasing lipid-loaded macrophages. In addition, it increased interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase-3 (Irak3) and decreased monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (Mcp1) expressions, indicative of a switch from M1 to M2 macrophages. The differences between fenofibrate and rosiglitazone were independent of Pparγ expression. In bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM), we identified the rosiglitazone-associated increase in adiponectin as cause of the increase in Irak3. Interestingly, the deletion of Irak3 in BMDM (IRAK3(-/-) BMDM) resulted in activation of the canonical NFκB signaling pathway and increased Mcp1 protein secretion. Rosiglitazone could not decrease the elevated Mcp1 secretion in IRAK3(-/-) BMDM directly and fenofibrate even increased the secretion, possibly due to increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production. Furthermore, aortic extracts of high-fat insulin-resistant LDL-receptor deficient mice, with lower adiponectin and Irak3 and higher Mcp1, showed accelerated atherosclerosis. In aggregate, our results emphasize an interaction between PPAR agonist-mediated increase in adiponectin and macrophage-associated Irak3 in the protection against atherosclerosis by PPAR agonists