Synthesis of empty bacterial microcompartments, directed organelle protein incorporation, and evidence of filament-associated organelle movement

Compartmentalization is an important process, since it allows the segregation of metabolic activities and, in the era of synthetic biology, represents an important tool by which defined microenvironments can be created for specific metabolic functions. Indeed, some bacteria make specialized proteinaceous metabolic compartments called bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) or metabolosomes. Here we demonstrate that the shell of the metabolosome (representing an empty BMC) can be produced within E. coil cells by the coordinated expression of genes encoding structural proteins. A plethora of diverse structures can be generated by changing the expression profile of these genes, including the formation of large axial filaments that interfere with septation. Fusing GFP to PduC, PduD, or PduV, none of which are shell proteins, allows regiospecific targeting of the reporter group to the empty BMC. Live cell imaging provides unexpected evidence of filament-associated BMC movement within the cell in the presence of Pdu

Pathways of self-reported problem behaviors from adolescence into adulthood

OBJECTIVE: The authors determined the impact of different pathways of psychopathological development on adult outcome in subjects followed from ages 11-18 to ages 21-28. METHOD: Problem behaviors of subjects from a general population sample were assessed through the Youth Self-Report and the Young Adult Self-Report given at four time points (1987, 1989, 1991, and 1997). In addition, DSM-IV diagnoses, information pertaining to signs of maladjustment, and measures of social functioning were obtained at the last assessment. On the basis of the self-report ratings, four contrasting developmental pathways of psychopathology were determined: persistent, decreasing, increasing, and consistently normal. RESULTS: Subjects whose overall level of psychopathology was persistent over time had a higher lifetime prevalence of DSM-IV diagnoses and a poorer general outcome in adulthood than did subjects whose level of psychopathology increased. Subjects whose level of psychopathology returned to normal after high levels of problems in adolescence were only slightly different in terms of outcome from subjects with consistently normal ratings. CONCLUSIONS: 1) People who showed high levels of problems in early adolescence but whose level of psychopathology diminished by adulthood seemed to be as healthy as people who never attained a serious level of psychopathology. 2) An ongoing devious pathway into adulthood had negative effects on many domains of functioning. These two findings are both powerful arguments for early intervention in adolescence

Nanostructure-modulated planar high spectral resolution spectro-polarimeter

We present a planar spectro-polarimeter based on Fabry-P{\'e}rot cavities with embedded polarization-sensitive high-index nanostructures. A $7~\mu$m-thick spectro-polarimetric system for 3 spectral bands and 2 linear polarization states is experimentally demonstrated. Furthermore, an optimal design is theoretically proposed, estimating that a system with a bandwidth of 127~nm and a spectral resolution of 1~nm is able to reconstruct the first three Stokes parameters \textcolor{black}{with a signal-to-noise ratio of -13.14~dB with respect to the the shot noise limited SNR}. The pixelated spectro-polarimetric system can be directly integrated on a sensor, thus enabling applicability in a variety of miniaturized optical devices, including but not limited to satellites for Earth observation

Stable prediction of mood and anxiety disorders based on behavioral and emotional problems in childhood: a 14-year follow-up during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to predict the onset of mood and anxiety disorders from parent-reported emotional and behavioral problems in childhood across a 14-year period from childhood into young adulthood. METHOD: In 1983, parent reports of behavioral and emotional problems were obtained with the Child Behavior Checklist for children and adolescents 4-16 years of age from the Dutch general population. At follow-up 14 years later, lifetime mood and anxiety diagnoses were obtained by a standardized DSM-IV interview for 1,580 subjects. Cox proportional hazards models were used to predict the incidence of mood and anxiety disorders from childhood problems and demographic covariates. RESULTS: Mood disorders were significantly predicted by high scores on the anxious/depressed scale and on the internalizing composite (withdrawn, somatic complaints, and anxious/depressed). Anxiety disorders were significantly predicted by the social problems scale and the externalizing composite (delinquent behavior and aggressive behavior). Anxiety disorders predominantly started in childhood and early adolescence, whereas the incidence of mood disorders increased sharply in adolescence and young adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest different developmental pathways for mood and anxiety disorders. The predictions based on problem behavior remained stable during the 14-year period across adolescence and young adulthood. The results therefore underline the importance of early intervention and prevention of behavioral and emotional problems in childhood

Level of motion sickness based on heart rate variability when reading inside a fully automated vehicle

This study investigates the level of experienced motion sickness when performing reading while being driven in fully automated driving under three different conditions. One condition was without any intervention while the other two conditions were with the visual (VPIS) and haptic (HPIS) peripheral information system. Both systems provided the upcoming navigational information in the lateral direction three seconds before the turning/cornering was done. It was hypothesized that with the peripheral information systems, the experienced motion sickness would be reduced compared to the condition where a peripheral information system was not present. Eighteen participants with severe motion sickness susceptibility were carefully chosen to undergo the conditions using an instrumented vehicle with the Wizard-of-Oz approach. The participants were required to read from a tablet during the whole 15-minutes of automated driving. Results from the heart rate variability (beats per minute, root means square of successive differences, and high-frequency component) indicated no statistically significant changes (p &lt; 0.05) in motion sickness found with the presence of HPIS and VPIS when performing reading when being driven in automated mode. However, results from this study were mixed and inconclusive, but overall findings indicated mild motion sickness was found in both VPIS and HPIS conditions.</p

Development of a Clinical Simulation Protocol for the Transfer of a Premature Fetal Manikin to the Perinatal-Life-Support System

Introduction:At present, Perinatal-Life-Support (PLS) research is progressing to offer extreme premature infants an extracorporeal environment for extended growth that mimics the natural womb closely. During the early phase development of this novel life-support technology, validation and training could be facilitated by the use of a medical simulation. By doing so, the need for animal testing can be greatly reduced. Within this abstract, the development to realize a wellorchestrated clinical simulation protocol is described, tailored to the specific needs of novel procedure(s) regarding the transfer of a premature fetus from the maternal uterus to the PLS system.Materials &amp; Methods:Throughout protocol development an iterative approach is used, initiated with a literature analysis and a review of existing obstetrics guidelines for premature births. Next, co-creation sessions and interviews with medical and engineering experts led to a holistic understanding of fetal physiology, patient and specialist needs, current procedures, task divisions, hospital resources and drug specifications. Expert feedback on drafts, checklists and an explanatory step-by-step video, led to multiple re-designs as unforeseen procedural difficulties arose. Verified with available data from literature, multiple perspectives and options were analyzed and weighed to ensure the advancement of a safe, hygienic, effective, and user-friendly simulation protocol.Results:We describe the development process of a simulation protocol and showcase an overview of the current protocol design through an infographic, outlining the different phases and tasks during a transfer procedure and the planning of involved medical experts within the operating theatre. We demonstrate that an iterative approach to protocol development for an unprecedented procedure allows for a comprehensive understanding of the challenges that a transfer to the PLS-system could bring.Conclusions:Using medical simulation during the early phase development process of the PLS-system allows us to train and validate novel practices, in particular the transfer procedure. With the demonstrated approach we aim to establish a thorough simulation protocol by providing a step-by-step plan, informed by literature and expert consultation. We expect to offer a realistic simulation training whilst also informing requirements for the future development of PLS-related devices and their validation

Mesons as qbar-q Bound States from Euclidean 2-Point Correlators in the Bethe-Salpeter Approach

We investigate the 2-point correlation function for the vector current. The gluons provide dressings for both the quark self energy as well as the vector vertex function, which are described consistently by the rainbow Dyson-Schwinger equation and the inhomogeneous ladder Bethe-Salpeter equation. The form of the gluon propagator at low momenta is modeled by a 2-parameter ansatz fitting the weak pion decay constant. The quarks are confined in the sense that the quark propagator does not have a pole at timelike momenta. We determine the ground state mass in the vector channel from the Euclidean time Fourier transform of the correlator, which has an exponential falloff at large times. The ground state mass lies around 590 MeV and is almost independent of the model form for the gluon propagator. This method allows us to stay in Euclidean space and to avoid analytic continuation of the quark or gluon propagators into the timelike region.Comment: 21 pages (REVTEX), 8 Postscript figure

Electromagnetic form factors of light vector mesons

The electromagnetic form factors G_E(q^2), G_M(q^2), and G_Q(q^2), charge radii, magnetic and quadrupole moments, and decay widths of the light vector mesons rho^+, K^{*+} and K^{*0} are calculated in a Lorentz-covariant, Dyson-Schwinger equation based model using algebraic quark propagators that incorporate confinement, asymptotic freedom, and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, and vector meson Bethe-Salpeter amplitudes closely related to the pseudoscalar amplitudes obtained from phenomenological studies of pi and K mesons. Calculated static properties of vector mesons include the charge radii and magnetic moments: r_{rho+} = 0.61 fm, r_{K*+} = 0.54 fm, and r^2_{K*0} = -0.048 fm^2; mu_{rho+} = 2.69, mu_{K*+} = 2.37, and mu_{K*0} = -0.40. The calculated static limits of the rho-meson form factors are similar to those obtained from light-front quantum mechanical calculations, but begin to differ above q^2 = 1 GeV^2 due to the dynamical evolution of the quark propagators in our approach.Comment: 8 pages of RevTeX, 5 eps figure