Patient-defined recovery from depression in primary care in Singapore

Research on consumer-defined recovery from mental illness has been criticised for a lack of quantitative analyses and conceptual clarity. This study aims to address this by statistically testing the possible associations between a major model of the stages of recovery and five postulated processes that have been theorised to drive recovery. Eighty-eight participants, who attended psychological consultation for depression at the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics, were recruited. Questionnaires on recovery stages and the five recovery processes were directly administered, while the measure for depressive symptoms were extracted from case file data. Results showed that the five recovery processes were associated with the recovery stages in a manner that supported this recovery model for patients with depression in primary care. However, most of these associations became nonsignificant when the severity of depression was controlled for. Thus, further research is needed to precisely identify the impact of the severity of depression on the patients’ experience of their recovery journeys

Planococcus versutus sp. nov., isolated from soil

A taxonomic study was performed on a novel Gram-stain-positive, coccus-shaped, orange-pigmented motile bacterium, designated as strain L10.15T. The organism was isolated from a soil sample collected in Lagoon Island (close to Adelaide Island, western Antarctic Peninsula) using a quorum-quenching enrichment medium. Growth occurred at 4–30 °C, pH 6–11 and at moderately high salinity (0–15 %, w/v, NaCl), with optimal growth at 26 °C, at pH 7–8 and with 6 % (w/v) NaCl. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain L10.15T belonged to the genus Planococcus and was closely related to Planococcus halocryophilus Or1T (99.3 % similarity), Planococcus donghaensis JH1T (99.0 %), Planococcus antarcticus DSM 14505T (98.3 %), Planococcus plakortidis AS/ASP6 (II)T (97.6 %), Planococcus maritimus TF-9T (97.5 %), Planococcus salinarum ISL-6T (97.5 %) and Planococcus kocurii NCIMB 629T (97.5 %). However, the average nucleotide identity-MUMmer analysis showed low genomic relatedness values of 71.1–81.7 % to the type strains of these closely related species of the genus Planococcus . The principal fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1ω7c and anteiso-C17 :  0, and the major menaquinones of strain L10.15T were MK-5 (48 %), MK-6 (6 %) and MK-7 (44 %). Polar lipid analysis revealed the presence of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and aminophospholipid. The DNA G+C content was 39.4 mol%. The phenotypic and genotypic data indicate that strain L10.15T represents a novel species of the genus Planococcus , for which the name Planococcus versutus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is L10.15T (=DSM 101994T=KACC 18918T)

Your perception may predict your anxiety level: a preliminary study in primary care in Singapore

Background: Patients’ perception of their medical illness has been shown to associate with not only their responses to the illness but under certain conditions even outcomes of their illness. While anxiety is prevalent among primary care patients, illness perception studies relating to anxiety in this population are scarce. This study aimed to fill this gap and explore clues for perceptual elements of primary care patients’ effective management of their own anxiety. Methods: Ninety-five adult participants (65% female and 35% male) were recruited in two primary care clinics in this cross-sectional study. The questionnaires administered were Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Illness Perception Questionnaire Mental Health (IPQ-MH) were used to assess anxiety and illness perception respectively. Data analysis was conducted using Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients and linear regression. Results: Four specific dimensions of the participants’ illness perception (i.e., consequences, personal control, coherence and biology) were found to be significantly correlated with their severity of anxiety. In other words, the participants experienced higher anxiety when they perceived a serious impact of anxiety in their lives, experienced a diminished sense of self-efficacy, had trouble understanding their condition and attributed their anxiety to biological causes (which could presumably be ameliorated only with medication). Conclusion: Attribution to biological factors and personal control were highly significant predictors of severity of anxiety. Clinicians should consider psychological interventions that target patients’ medication adherence as well as their physiological responses to anxiety (e.g., breathing skills). Further, anxiety patients’ experience of personal control should be enhanced which could be facilitated through deliberate assessment and reinforcement of the strengths and resources in the patients’ psychosocial spheres

Protection by Chrysanthemum zawadskii extract from liver damage of mice caused by carbon tetrachloride is maybe mediated by modulation of QR activity

Our previous study demonstrated that methanolic extract of Chrysanthemum zawadskii Herbich var. latilobum Kitamura (Compositae) has the potential to induce detoxifying enzymes such as NAD(P)H:(quinone acceptor) oxidoreductase 1 (EC 1.6.99.2) (NQO1, QR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST). In this study we further fractionated methanolic extract of Chrysanthemum zawadskii and investigated the detoxifying enzyme-inducing potential of each fraction. The fraction (CZ-6) shown the highest QR-inducing activity was found to contain (+)-(3S,4S,5R,8S)-(E)-8-acetoxy-4-hydroxy-3-isovaleroyloxy-2-(hexa-2,4-diynyliden)-1,6-dioxaspiro [4,5] decane and increased QR enzyme activity in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, CZ-6 fraction caused a dose-dependent enhancement of luciferase activity in HepG2-C8 cells generated by stably transfecting antioxidant response element-luciferase gene construct, suggesting that it induces antioxidant/detoxifying enzymes through antioxidant response element (ARE)-mediated transcriptional activation of the relevant genes. Although CZ-6 fraction failed to induce hepatic QR in mice over the control, it restored QR activity suppressed by CCl4 treatment to the control level. Hepatic injury induced by CCl4 was also slightly protected by pretreatment with CZ-6. In conclusion, although CZ-6 fractionated from methanolic extract of Chrysanthemum zawadskii did not cause a significant QR induction in mice organs such as liver, kidney, and stomach, it showed protective effect from liver damage caused by CCl4

De novo assembly of complete genome sequence of Planococcus kocurii ATCC 43650T, a potential plant growth-promoting bacterium

Planococcus kocurii ATCC 43650T is a halotolerant and psychrotolerant bacterium isolated from the skin of a North sea cod. Here, we present the first complete genome and annotation of P. kocurii ATCC 43650T, identifying its potential as a plant growth promoting bacterium and its capability in the biosynthesis of butanol

Predictors of motivation for type 2 diabetes mellitus self management of patients in primary care in Singapore

Background: Diabetes is among the top 10 causes of death in Singapore, which has the second-highest proportion of diabetics among all developed nations. Diabetic patients’ self-management is often driven by their perceptions about their own chronic condition. This study explored specific aspects of patients’ (1) cognitive appraisal, (2) emotional distress and (3) a motivational measure in relation to their diabetic condition and attitude toward self-management. Methods: Seventy adult participants (41 female and 29 male) with type-2 diabetes were recruited in this cross-sectional study from patients who sought psychological consultation at polyclinics. The questionnaires administered were (1) Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, (2) Diabetes Distress Scale, (3) Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7, (4) Insomnia Severity Index, (5) Patient Health Questionnaire-9, (6) Readiness-to-Change Ruler and (7) Sheehan Disability Scale. Results: Multiple regression analysis showed that severity of insomnia symptoms (β = -.26 , p < .05), emotional distress of diabetes (β = -.48 , p < .05), interpersonal distress of diabetes (β = -.35 , p < .05), total distress of diabetes (β = .58 , p < .05), and perception of personal control over diabetes (β = .-.30, p < .05) were significantly associated with reported motivation for engaging in diabetes self-management (R2 = .26, F(5, 62) = 4.26, p < 0.01). Conclusion: Insomnia, emotional distress and perception of personal control over diabetes significantly predicted patients’ reported motivation for diabetes self-management. It may be more productive for clinicians to focus their interventions on these particular aspects of diabetic patients’ experience in promoting self-management behaviour. Future studies may involve (1) the measurement of actual self-management behaviour beyond participants’ report of their motivation to engage in such desirable behavior and (2) qualitative approaches for understanding subjective dimensions of “insomnia,” “distress” and “personal control” in relation to diabetes self-management

Assisted evolution enables HIV-1 to overcome a high trim5α-imposed genetic barrier to rhesus macaque tropism

Diversification of antiretroviral factors during host evolution has erected formidable barriers to cross-species retrovirus transmission. This phenomenon likely protects humans from infection by many modern retroviruses, but it has also impaired the development of primate models of HIV-1 infection. Indeed, rhesus macaques are resistant to HIV-1, in part due to restriction imposed by the TRIM5α protein (rhTRIM5α). Initially, we attempted to derive rhTRIM5α-resistant HIV-1 strains using two strategies. First, HIV-1 was passaged in engineered human cells expressing rhTRIM5α. Second, a library of randomly mutagenized capsid protein (CA) sequences was screened for mutations that reduced rhTRIM5α sensitivity. Both approaches identified several individual mutations in CA that reduced rhTRIM5α sensitivity. However, neither approach yielded mutants that were fully resistant, perhaps because the locations of the mutations suggested that TRIM5α recognizes multiple determinants on the capsid surface. Moreover, even though additive effects of various CA mutations on HIV-1 resistance to rhTRIM5α were observed, combinations that gave full resistance were highly detrimental to fitness. Therefore, we employed an 'assisted evolution' approach in which individual CA mutations that reduced rhTRIM5α sensitivity without fitness penalties were randomly assorted in a library of viral clones containing synthetic CA sequences. Subsequent passage of the viral library in rhTRIM5α-expressing cells resulted in the selection of individual viral species that were fully fit and resistant to rhTRIM5α. These viruses encoded combinations of five mutations in CA that conferred complete or near complete resistance to the disruptive effects of rhTRIM5α on incoming viral cores, by abolishing recognition of the viral capsid. Importantly, HIV-1 variants encoding these CA substitutions and SIVmac239 Vif replicated efficiently in primary rhesus macaque lymphocytes. These findings demonstrate that rhTRIM5α is difficult to but not impossible to evade, and doing so should facilitate the development of primate models of HIV-1 infection

Gestational diabetes mellitus and retinal microvasculature.

BACKGROUND: Small-vessel dysfunction may be an important consequence of chronic hyperglycemia. We examined the association between gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a state of transient hyperglycemia during pregnancy, and retinal microvascular changes in pregnant women at 26-28 weeks of pregnancy. METHODS: A total of 1136 pregnant women with singleton pregnancies were recruited during their first trimester at two major Singapore maternity hospitals in an on-going birth cohort study. Participants underwent an oral glucose tolerance test and retinal imaging at 26-28 weeks gestation (n = 542). We used the 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) criteria to define GDM: ≥7.0 mmol/L for fasting glucose and/or ≥7.8 mmol/L for 2-h post-glucose. Retinal microvasculature was measured using computer software (Singapore I Vessel Analyzer, SIVA version 3.0, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore) from the retinal photographs. RESULTS: In a multiple linear regression model adjusting for age, ethnicity and maternal education, mothers with GDM had narrower arteriolar caliber (-1.6 μm; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: -3.1 μm, -0.2 μm), reduced arteriolar fractal dimension (-0.01 Df; 95% CI: -0.02 Df, -0.001 Df;), and larger arteriolar branching angle (1.8°; 95% CI: 0.3°, 3.3°) than mothers without GDM. After further adjusting for traditional risks of GDM, arteriolar branching angle remained significantly larger in mothers with GDM than those without GDM (2.0°; 95% CI: 0.5°, 3.6°). CONCLUSIONS: GDM was associated with a series of retinal arteriolar abnormalities, including narrower caliber, reduced fractal dimension and larger branching angle, suggesting that transient hyperglycemia during pregnancy may cause small-vessel dysfunction

Genetic Associations of Type 2 Diabetes with Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Processing and Degrading Pathways in Asian Populations

10.1371/journal.pone.0062378PLoS ONE86