Brief Report: Schema Consistent Misinformation Effects in Eyewitnesses with Autism Spectrum Disorder

A number of studies have demonstrated schema-related misinformation effects in typical individuals, but no research to date has examined this with witnesses with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), despite their impaired ability to generate core elements that define everyday events. After witnessing slides depicting a bank robbery, 16 adults with ASD and 16 matched comparison individuals were exposed to post-event misinformation that was either schema typical or atypical. Consistent with previous work, the comparison group went onto report more schema typical misinformation than atypical misinformation. However, so too did the ASD group, suggesting that individuals with ASD do have understanding of the causal links between events, persons and actions, an important finding from both theoretical and applied perspectives

The effect of an autologous cellular gel-matrix integrated implant system on wound healing

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This manuscript reports the production and preclinical studies to examine the tolerance and efficacy of an autologous cellular gel-matrix integrated implant system (IIS) aimed to treat full-thickness skin lesions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The best concentration of fibrinogen and thrombin was experimentally determined by employing 28 formula ratios of thrombin and fibrinogen and checking clot formation and apparent stability. IIS was formed by integrating skin cells by means of the <it>in situ </it>gelification of fibrin into a porous crosslinked scaffold composed of chitosan, gelatin and hyaluronic acid. The <it>in vitro </it>cell proliferation within the IIS was examined by the MTT assay and PCNA expression. An experimental rabbit model consisting of six circular lesions was utilized to test each of the components of the IIS. Then, the IIS was utilized in an animal model to cover a 35% body surface full thickness lesion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The preclinical assays in rabbits demonstrated that the IIS was well tolerated and also that IIS-treated rabbit with lesions of 35% of their body surface, exhibited a better survival rate (p = 0,06).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>IIS should be further studied as a new wound dressing which shows promising properties, being the most remarkable its good biological tolerance and cell growth promotion properties.</p

Study protocol: cross-national comparative case study of recovery-focused mental health care planning and coordination (COCAPP).

BACKGROUND: The collaborative care planning study (COCAPP) is a cross-national comparative study of care planning and coordination in community mental healthcare settings. The context and delivery of mental health care is diverging between the countries of England and Wales whilst retaining points of common interest, hence providing a rich geographical comparison for research. Across England the key vehicle for the provision of recovery-focused, personalised, collaborative mental health care is the care programme approach (CPA). The CPA is a form of case management introduced in England in 1991, then revised in 2008. In Wales the CPA was introduced in 2003 but has now been superseded by The Mental Health (Care Co-ordination and Care and Treatment Planning) (CTP) Regulations (Mental Health Measure), a new statutory framework. In both countries, the CPA/CTP requires providers to: comprehensively assess health/social care needs and risks; develop a written care plan (which may incorporate risk assessments, crisis and contingency plans, advanced directives, relapse prevention plans, etc.) in collaboration with the service user and carer(s); allocate a care coordinator; and regularly review care. The overarching aim of this study is to identify and describe the factors that ensure CPA/CTP care planning and coordination is personalised, recovery-focused and conducted collaboratively. METHODS/DESIGN: COCAPP will employ a concurrent transformative mixed methods approach with embedded case studies. Phase 1 (Macro-level) will consider the national context through a meta-narrative mapping (MNM) review of national policies and the relevant research literature. Phase 2 (Meso-level and Micro-level) will include in-depth micro-level case studies of everyday 'frontline' practice and experience with detailed qualitative data from interviews and reviews of individual care plans. This will be nested within larger meso-level survey datasets, senior-level interviews and policy reviews in order to provide potential explanations and understanding. DISCUSSION: COCAPP will help identify the key components that support and hinder the provision of personalised, recovery-focused care planning and provide an informed rationale for a future planned intervention and evaluation

Eyewitness Testimony in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is estimated to affect around 1% of the population, and is characterised by impairments in social interaction, communication, and behavioural flexibility. A number of risk factors indicate that individuals with ASD may become victims or witnesses of crimes. In addition to their social and communication deficits, people with ASD also have very specific memory problems, which impacts on their abilities to recall eyewitnessed events. We begin this review with an overview of the memory difficulties that are experienced by individuals with ASD, before discussing the studies that have specifically examined eyewitness testimony in this group and the implications for investigative practice. Finally, we outline related areas that would be particularly fruitful for future research to explore

The benefit of directly comparing autism and schizophrenia for revealing mechanisms of social cognitive impairment

Autism and schizophrenia share a history of diagnostic conflation that was not definitively resolved until the publication of the DSM-III in 1980. Though now recognized as heterogeneous disorders with distinct developmental trajectories and dissociative features, much of the early nosological confusion stemmed from apparent overlap in certain areas of social dysfunction. In more recent years, separate but substantial literatures have accumulated for autism and schizophrenia demonstrating that abnormalities in social cognition directly contribute to the characteristic social deficits of both disorders. The current paper argues that direct comparison of social cognitive impairment can highlight shared and divergent mechanisms underlying pathways to social dysfunction, a process that can provide significant clinical benefit by informing the development of tailored treatment efforts. Thus, while the history of diagnostic conflation between autism and schizophrenia may have originated in similarities in social dysfunction, the goal of direct comparisons is not to conflate them once again but rather to reveal distinctions that illuminate disorder-specific mechanisms and pathways that contribute to social cognitive impairment

Structural basis of ABCF-mediated resistance to pleuromutilin, lincosamide, and streptogramin A antibiotics in Gram-positive pathogens

he antibiotic target. One class of such proteins are the antibiotic resistance (ARE) ATP-binding cassette (ABC) proteins of the F-subtype (ARE-ABCFs), which are widely distributed throughout Gram-positive bacteria and bind the ribosome to alleviate translational inhibition from antibiotics that target the large ribosomal subunit. Here, we present single-particle cryo-EM structures of ARE-ABCF-ribosome complexes from three Gram-positive pathogens: Enterococcus faecalis LsaA, Staphylococcus haemolyticus VgaALC and Listeria monocytogenes VgaL. Supported by extensive mutagenesis analysis, these structures enable a general model for antibiotic resistance mediated by these ARE-ABCFs to be proposed. In this model, ABCF binding to the antibiotic-stalled ribosome mediates antibiotic release via mechanistically diverse long-range conformational relays that converge on a few conserved ribosomal RNA nucleotides located at the peptidyltransferase center. These insights are important for the future development of antibiotics that overcome such target protection resistance mechanisms

GP96 Interacts with HHV-6 during Viral Entry and Directs It for Cellular Degradation

CD46 and CD134 mediate attachment of Human Herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and HHV-6B to host cell, respectively. But many cell types interfere with viral infection through rapid degradation of viral DNA. Hence, not all cells expressing these receptors are permissive to HHV-6 DNA replication and production of infective virions suggesting the involvement of additional factors that influence HHV-6 propagation. Here, we used a proteomics approach to identify other host cell proteins necessary for HHV-6 binding and entry. We found host cell chaperone protein GP96 to interact with HHV-6A and HHV-6B and to interfere with virus propagation within the host cell. In human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), GP96 is transported to the cell surface upon infection with HHV-6 and interacts with HHV-6A and -6B through its C-terminal end. Suppression of GP96 expression decreased initial viral binding but increased viral DNA replication. Transient expression of human GP96 allowed HHV-6 entry into CHO-K1 cells even in the absence of CD46. Thus, our results suggest an important role for GP96 during HHV-6 infection, which possibly supports the cellular degradation of the virus