Multiple Sources of Contamination in Samples from Patients Reported to Have XMRV Infection

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related retrovirus (XMRV) was reported to be associated with prostate cancer by Urisman, et al. in 2006 and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) by Lombardi, et al. in 2009. To investigate this association, we independently evaluated plasma samples from 4 patients with CFS reported by Lombardi, et al. to have XMRV infection and from 5 healthy controls reported to be XMRV uninfected. We also analyzed viral sequences obtained from supernatants of cell cultures found to contain XMRV after coculture with 9 clinical samples from 8 patients. A qPCR assay capable of distinguishing XMRV from endogenous MLVs showed that the viral sequences detected in the CFS patient plasma behaved like endogenous MLVs and not XMRV. Single-genome sequences (N = 89) from CFS patient plasma were indistinguishable from endogenous MLVs found in the mouse genome that are distinct from XMRV. By contrast, XMRV sequences were detected by qPCR in 2 of the 5 plasma samples from healthy controls (sequencing of the qPCR product confirmed XMRV not MLV). Single-genome sequences (N = 234) from the 9 culture supernatants reportedly positive for XMRV were indistinguishable from XMRV sequences obtained from 22Rv1 and XMRV-contaminated 293T cell-lines. These results indicate that MLV DNA detected in the plasma samples from CFS patients evaluated in this study was from contaminating mouse genomic DNA and that XMRV detected in plasma samples from healthy controls and in cultures of patient samples was due to cross-contamination with XMRV (virus or nucleic acid)

Clinician and Parent Perspectives on Parent and Family Contextual Factors that Impact Community Mental Health Services for Children with Behavior Problems

The present study employed qualitative methods to examine multiple stakeholder perspectives regarding the role of parent and family contextual factors on community child mental health treatment for children with behavior problems. Findings suggest agreement between clinicians and parents on the number, types and importance of parent and family factors in children’s mental health services; however, stakeholders differed in reports of which factors were most salient. Specifically, clinicians endorsed most factors as being equally salient, while parents described a few salient factors, with parental stress and inadequate social support being the most frequently discussed. These qualitative data further elucidate the context of community services and have implications for evidence-based practice implementation and improving community care

Large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies five loci for lean body mass

Lean body mass, consisting mostly of skeletal muscle, is important for healthy aging. We performed a genome-wide association study for whole body (20 cohorts of European ancestry with n = 38,292) and appendicular (arms and legs) lean body mass (n = 28,330) measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry or bioelectrical impedance analysis, adjusted for sex, age, height, and fat mass. Twenty-one single-nucleotide polymorphisms were significantly associated with lean body mass either genome wide (p < 5 x 10(-8)) or suggestively genome wide (p < 2.3 x 10(-6)). Replication in 63,475 (47,227 of European ancestry) individuals from 33 cohorts for whole body lean body mass and in 45,090 (42,360 of European ancestry) subjects from 25 cohorts for appendicular lean body mass was successful for five single-nucleotide polymorphisms in/ near HSD17B11, VCAN, ADAMTSL3, IRS1, and FTO for total lean body mass and for three single-nucleotide polymorphisms in/ near VCAN, ADAMTSL3, and IRS1 for appendicular lean body mass. Our findings provide new insight into the genetics of lean body mass

Perceiving resilience: understanding people's intuitions about the qualities of air, water, and soil

Social-ecological-systems (SES) scholars have called for increased elaboration of the social dimensions of natural systems. Although a strong body of research explaining adaptive or maladaptive resource use exists, the integration of knowledge related to values, perceptions, and behaviors is less developed. Perceptions are particularly useful when one seeks a broad-scale view of the judgments that people implicitly or more automatically make in relation to nature and/or how people might rapidly and intuitively interpret the meaning of ecological status and change. Environmental perceptions are also distinct from the longer tradition of direct elicitation of environmental values as related to reported environmental behavior; and from understanding of perceived environmental health risks. Empirically, we thus explore what an architecture of environmental perceptions might be. Our goal is to advance an SES-relevant focus on the qualities that people intuitively assign to air, water, and soil in general and in particular. Initial qualities were first developed using mental model interview responses, which were then converted to psychometric rating scales administered across two surveys: an initial pilot survey and a large-scale follow up survey. In the pilot study, four factors - resilience, tangibility, complexity and sensory - emerged as primary (n = 697). In our large-scale follow up (U.S. nationally representative sample, n = 2500) we retested the two strongest factors (tangibility and resilience) within specific ecotypes or contexts (forests, rivers, oceans, deserts, urban, and rural). Resilience emerged a particularly powerful component of environmental risk perception, a factor comprising four attributes: recovers easily from human impacts, self-cleaning with time, mostly pure, and easy to control. Results suggest a greater mandate for explicit understandings of the intuitive foundations of perceived environmental risk as might explain environments we regard as vulnerable or resilient, healthy or not

Estimation of Skeletal Muscle Mass Relative to Adiposity Improves Prediction of Physical Performance and Incident Disability

Purpose We assessed the discrimination of lean mass estimates that have been adjusted for adiposity for physical functioning deficits and prediction of incident disability. Methods Included were 2,846 participants from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study with available whole-body dual energy absorptiometry measures of appendicular lean mass index (ALMI, kg/m 2) and fat mass index (FMI, kg/m 2). Age-, sex-, and race-specific Z-Scores and T-Scores were determined by comparison to published reference ranges. ALMI values were adjusted for FMI (ALMI FMI) using a novel published method. Sex-stratified analyses assessed associations between lean mass estimates and the physical performance score, ability to complete a 400-meter walk, grip strength, and incident disability. Dichotomized definitions of low lean for age and sarcopenia were examined and their performance compared to the ALM-to-BMI ratio. Results Compared to ALMI T-Scores and Z-Scores, the ALMI FMI scores demonstrated stronger associations with physical functioning, and were similarly associated with grip strength. Greater FMI Z-Scores and T-Scores were associated with poor physical functioning and incident disability. Definitions of low lean for age and sarcopenia using ALMI FMI (compared to ALMI) better discriminated those with poor physical functioning and a greater risk of incident disability. The ALM-to-BMI ratio was modestly associated with grip strength and physical performance, but was not associated with completion of the 400-meter walk or incident disability, independent of adiposity and height. Conclusion Estimation of skeletal muscle mass relative to adiposity improves correlations with physical performance and prediction of incident disability suggesting it is an informative outcome for clinical studies