The Mediating Role of Rumination in the Relation Between Quality of Attachment Relations and Depressive Symptoms in Non-Clinical Adolescents

This study examined associations between indices of the quality of attachment relationships of adolescents with parents and peers, rumination, and symptoms of depression. More specifically, a mediation model was investigated in which rumination was hypothesized to mediate the relation between quality of attachment relations and symptoms of depression. A total of 455 high school students completed a battery of questionnaires, including quality of attachment relations, rumination, and depression. Results showed that most indices of quality of attachment relations were significantly associated with rumination and symptoms of depression. When examining the relative contribution of these variables in explaining variance in depression symptoms, trust in parents, communication with peers, and alienation from peers accounted for a significant portion of the variance in depression scores. Finally, the relation between communication with peers and depressive symptoms was fully mediated by rumination, whereas partial mediation was found for the relations between parental trust and depressive symptoms, and between alienation from peers and depressive symptoms. Implications of the findings may be that the treatment of depression in adolescence should consist of both cognitive interventions aimed at targeting ruminative thinking as well as a focus on interpersonal relationships of the adolescent with parents and peers

Using a New Odour-Baited Device to Explore Options for Luring and Killing Outdoor-Biting Malaria Vectors: A Report on Design and Field Evaluation of the Mosquito Landing Box.

Mosquitoes that bite people outdoors can sustain malaria transmission even where effective indoor interventions such as bednets or indoor residual spraying are already widely used. Outdoor tools may therefore complement current indoor measures and improve control. We developed and evaluated a prototype mosquito control device, the 'Mosquito Landing Box' (MLB), which is baited with human odours and treated with mosquitocidal agents. The findings are used to explore technical options and challenges relevant to luring and killing outdoor-biting malaria vectors in endemic settings. Field experiments were conducted in Tanzania to assess if wild host-seeking mosquitoes 1) visited the MLBs, 2) stayed long or left shortly after arrival at the device, 3) visited the devices at times when humans were also outdoors, and 4) could be killed by contaminants applied on the devices. Odours suctioned from volunteer-occupied tents were also evaluated as a potential low-cost bait, by comparing baited and unbaited MLBs. There were significantly more Anopheles arabiensis, An. funestus, Culex and Mansonia mosquitoes visiting baited MLB than unbaited controls (P<=0.028). Increasing sampling frequency from every 120 min to 60 and 30 min led to an increase in vector catches of up to 3.6 fold (P<=0.002), indicating that many mosquitoes visited the device but left shortly afterwards. Outdoor host-seeking activity of malaria vectors peaked between 7:30 and 10:30pm, and between 4:30 and 6:00am, matching durations when locals were also outdoors. Maximum mortality of mosquitoes visiting MLBs sprayed or painted with formulations of candidate mosquitocidal agent (pirimiphos-methyl) was 51%. Odours from volunteer occupied tents attracted significantly more mosquitoes to MLBs than controls (P<0.001). While odour-baited devices such as the MLBs clearly have potential against outdoor-biting mosquitoes in communities where LLINs are used, candidate contaminants must be those that are effective at ultra-low doses even after short contact periods, since important vector species such as An. arabiensis make only brief visits to such devices. Natural human odours suctioned from occupied dwellings could constitute affordable sources of attractants to supplement odour baits for the devices. The killing agents used should be environmentally safe, long lasting, and have different modes of action (other than pyrethroids as used on LLINs), to curb the risk of physiological insecticide resistance

PTB Domain-Directed Substrate Targeting in a Tyrosine Kinase from the Unicellular Choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis

Choanoflagellates are considered to be the closest living unicellular relatives of metazoans. The genome of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis contains a surprisingly high number and diversity of tyrosine kinases, tyrosine phosphatases, and phosphotyrosine-binding domains. Many of the tyrosine kinases possess combinations of domains that have not been observed in any multicellular organism. The role of these protein interaction domains in M. brevicollis kinase signaling is not clear. Here, we have carried out a biochemical characterization of Monosiga HMTK1, a protein containing a putative PTB domain linked to a tyrosine kinase catalytic domain. We cloned, expressed, and purified HMTK1, and we demonstrated that it possesses tyrosine kinase activity. We used immobilized peptide arrays to define a preferred ligand for the third PTB domain of HMTK1. Peptide sequences containing this ligand sequence are phosphorylated efficiently by recombinant HMTK1, suggesting that the PTB domain of HMTK1 has a role in substrate recognition analogous to the SH2 and SH3 domains of mammalian Src family kinases. We suggest that the substrate recruitment function of the noncatalytic domains of tyrosine kinases arose before their roles in autoinhibition

Altered surfactant homeostasis and recurrent respiratory failure secondary to TTF-1 nuclear targeting defect

Background: Mutations of genes affecting surfactant homeostasis, such as SFTPB, SFTPC and ABCA3, lead to diffuse lung disease in neonates and children. Haploinsufficiency of NKX2.1, the gene encoding the thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) - critical for lung, thyroid and central nervous system morphogenesis and function - causes a rare form of progressive respiratory failure designated brain-lung-thyroid syndrome. Molecular mechanisms involved in this syndrome are heterogeneous and poorly explored. We report a novel TTF-1 molecular defect causing recurrent respiratory failure episodes in an infant.Methods: The subject was an infant with severe neonatal respiratory distress syndrome followed by recurrent respiratory failure episodes, hypopituitarism and neurological abnormalities. Lung histology and ultrastructure were assessed by surgical biopsy. Surfactant-related genes were studied by direct genomic DNA sequencing and array chromatine genomic hybridization (aCGH). Surfactant protein expression in lung tissue was analyzed by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. For kinetics studies, surfactant protein B and disaturated phosphatidylcholine (DSPC) were isolated from serial tracheal aspirates after intravenous administration of stable isotope-labeled 2H2O and 13C-leucine; fractional synthetic rate was derived from gas chromatography/mass spectrometry 2H and 13C enrichment curves. Six intubated infants with no primary lung disease were used as controls.Results: Lung biopsy showed desquamative interstitial pneumonitis and lamellar body abnormalities suggestive of genetic surfactant deficiency. Genetic studies identified a heterozygous ABCA3 mutation, L941P, previously unreported. No SFTPB, SFTPC or NKX2.1 mutations or deletions were found. However, immunofluorescence studies showed TTF-1 prevalently expressed in type II cell cytoplasm instead of nucleus, indicating defective nuclear targeting. This pattern has not been reported in human and was not found in two healthy controls and in five ABCA3 mutation carriers. Kinetic studies demonstrated a marked reduction of SP-B synthesis (43.2 vs. 76.5 \ub1 24.8%/day); conversely, DSPC synthesis was higher (12.4 vs. 6.3 \ub1 0.5%/day) compared to controls, although there was a marked reduction of DSPC content in tracheal aspirates (29.8 vs. 56.1 \ub1 12.4% of total phospholipid content).Conclusion: Defective TTF-1 signaling may result in profound surfactant homeostasis disruption and neonatal/pediatric diffuse lung disease. Heterozygous ABCA3 missense mutations may act as disease modifiers in other genetic surfactant defects

The association of Social Anxiety Disorder, Alcohol Use Disorder and reproduction: Results from four nationally representative samples of adults in the USA.

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) are highly prevalent and frequently co-occur. The results of population studies suggest that SAD tends to precede AUD, and the results of laboratory studies suggest that alcohol use facilitates social behaviors in socially anxious individuals. Therefore, we posited that, in a modern context, a tendency to consume alcohol may be positively selected for among socially anxious individuals by its effect on the likelihood of finding a partner and reproducing. We tested the hypothesis that a higher proportion of individuals with a lifetime diagnosis of SAD and AUD reproduce (i.e., have at least one child) relative to individuals with SAD absent AUD in an individual participant meta-analysis based on over 65,000 adults derived from four nationally representative cross-sectional samples. We then cross-validated these findings against the results of a 10-year follow up of one of these surveys. Lifetime history of SAD was not associated with reproduction whereas lifetime history of AUD was positively associated with reproduction. There was no statistically detectable difference in the proportion of individuals with a lifetime history of SAD with or without AUD who reproduced. There was considerable heterogeneity in all of the analyses involving SAD, suggesting that there are likely to be other pertinent variables relating to SAD and reproduction that should be delineated

Facing others’ misfortune: Personal distress mediates the association between maladaptive emotion regulation and social avoidance

Previous research has linked the use of certain emotion regulation strategies to the vicarious experience of personal distress (PD) and empathic concern (EC). However, it has not been tested yet whether (1) vicarious PD is positively associated with maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, (2) vicarious EC is positively associated with adaptive emotion regulation strategies and whether (3) PD and EC mediate the link between emotion regulation and reports of approach/avoidance in response to a person in distress. To that aim, we assessed people’s reports of PD (i.e., anxious, troubled, and upset) and EC (i.e., concerned, sympathetic, and soft-hearted) in response to a video depicting a person in a threatening situation (n = 78). Afterwards, we assessed participants’ reports of avoidance and approach in regards to the character and their disposition to use maladaptive and adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Results showed that PD as well as EC were positively related to maladaptive strategies and negatively related to adaptive strategies, and that the association between maladaptive regulation strategies (i.e., rumination) and the willingness to avoid the person in distress was mediated by greater reports of PD. This study thus expands previous evidence on the relationship between maladaptive regulation strategies and affective empathy and provides novel insights about the main role that personal distress played in the association between maladaptive strategies and social avoidance

Genome-wide association of major depression: description of samples for the GAIN Major Depressive Disorder Study: NTR and NESDA biobank projects.

To identify the genomic regions that confer risk and protection for major depressive disorder (MDD) in humans, large-scale studies are needed. Such studies should collect multiple phenotypes, DNA, and ideally, biological material that allows gene expression analysis, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies. In this paper, we briefly review linkage studies of MDD and then describe the large-scale nationwide biological sample collection in Dutch twin families from the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) and in participants in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). Within these studies, 1862 participants with a diagnosis of MDD and 1857 controls at low liability for MDD have been selected for genome-wide genotyping by the US Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Genetic Association Information Network. Stage 1 genome-wide association results are scheduled to be accessible before the end of 2007. Genome-wide association results are open-access and can be viewed at the dbGAP web portal (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Approved users can download the genotype and phenotype data, which have been made available as of 9 October 2007

“Mind the Trap”: Mindfulness Practice Reduces Cognitive Rigidity

Two experiments examined the relation between mindfulness practice and cognitive rigidity by using a variation of the Einstellung water jar task. Participants were required to use three hypothetical jars to obtain a specific amount of water. Initial problems were solvable by the same complex formula, but in later problems (“critical” or “trap” problems) solving was possible by an additional much simpler formula. A rigidity score was compiled through perseverance of the complex formula. In Experiment 1, experienced mindfulness meditators received significantly lower rigidity scores than non-meditators who had registered for their first meditation retreat. Similar results were obtained in randomized controlled Experiment 2 comparing non-meditators who underwent an eight meeting mindfulness program with a waiting list group. The authors conclude that mindfulness meditation reduces cognitive rigidity via the tendency to be “blinded” by experience. Results are discussed in light of the benefits of mindfulness practice regarding a reduced tendency to overlook novel and adaptive ways of responding due to past experience, both in and out of the clinical setting