The Development and Initial Validation of the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI)

© 2016 Hogrefe Publishing. The growing use of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) in performance contexts (e.g., business, sport) has highlighted the absence of a contextually valid and reliable measure of irrational beliefs. This paper reports the development and initial validation of the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI). The iPBI was developed to provide a validated measure of the four core irrational beliefs of REBT theory. Item development was completed in three stages comprising two expert panels and one novice panel, reducing and refining 176 items to 133. Then, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to refine the measure and reduce the number of items. A total of 665 business professionals completed the 133-item scale, alongside an established measure of irrational beliefs and a measure of negative emotion. A 28-item measure was developed (the iPBI) that showed an acceptable fit to the four-factor REBT structure. The iPBI correlated well with the established irrational beliefs measure, and with anxiety, depression, and anger, demonstrating concurrent and predictive validity. Further validation efforts are required to assess the validity and reliability of the iPBI in alternative samples in other performance-related contexts

Immune-microbiota interaction in Finnish and Russian Karelia young people with high and low allergy prevalence

Background After the Second World War, the population living in the Karelian region was strictly divided by the "iron curtain" between Finland and Russia. This resulted in different lifestyle, standard of living, and exposure to the environment. Allergic manifestations and sensitization to common allergens have been much more common on the Finnish compared to the Russian side. Objective The remarkable allergy disparity in the Finnish and Russian Karelia calls for immunological explanations. Methods Young people, aged 15-20 years, in the Finnish (n = 69) and Russian (n = 75) Karelia were studied. The impact of genetic variation on the phenotype was studied by a genome-wide association analysis. Differences in gene expression (transcriptome) were explored from the blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and related to skin and nasal epithelium microbiota and sensitization. Results The genotype differences between the Finnish and Russian populations did not explain the allergy gap. The network of gene expression and skin and nasal microbiota was richer and more diverse in the Russian subjects. When the function of 261 differentially expressed genes was explored, innate immunity pathways were suppressed among Russians compared to Finns. Differences in the gene expression paralleled the microbiota disparity. High Acinetobacter abundance in Russians correlated with suppression of innate immune response. High-total IgE was associated with enhanced anti-viral response in the Finnish but not in the Russian subjects. Conclusions and clinical relevance Young populations living in the Finnish and Russian Karelia show marked differences in genome-wide gene expression and host contrasting skin and nasal epithelium microbiota. The rich gene-microbe network in Russians seems to result in a better-balanced innate immunity and associates with low allergy prevalence.Peer reviewe

Surface PEGylation suppresses pulmonary effects of CuO in allergen-induced lung inflammation

BACKGROUND: Copper oxide (CuO) nanomaterials are used in a wide range of industrial and commercial applications. These materials can be hazardous, especially if they are inhaled. As a result, the pulmonary effects of CuO nanomaterials have been studied in healthy subjects but limited knowledge exists today about their effects on lungs with allergic airway inflammation (AAI). The objective of this study was to investigate how pristine CuO modulates allergic lung inflammation and whether surface modifications can influence its reactivity. CuO and its carboxylated (CuO COOH), methylaminated (CuO NH3) and PEGylated (CuO PEG) derivatives were administered here on four consecutive days via oropharyngeal aspiration in a mouse model of AAI. Standard genome-wide gene expression profiling as well as conventional histopathological and immunological methods were used to investigate the modulatory effects of the nanomaterials on both healthy and compromised immune system. RESULTS: Our data demonstrates that although CuO materials did not considerably influence hallmarks of allergic airway inflammation, the materials exacerbated the existing lung inflammation by eliciting dramatic pulmonary neutrophilia. Transcriptomic analysis showed that CuO, CuO COOH and CuO NH3 commonly enriched neutrophil-related biological processes, especially in healthy mice. In sharp contrast, CuO PEG had a significantly lower potential in triggering changes in lungs of healthy and allergic mice revealing that surface PEGylation suppresses the effects triggered by the pristine material. CONCLUSIONS: CuO as well as its functionalized forms worsen allergic airway inflammation by causing neutrophilia in the lungs, however, our results also show that surface PEGylation can be a promising approach for inhibiting the effects of pristine CuO. Our study provides information for health and safety assessment of modified CuO materials, and it can be useful in the development of nanomedical applications

The Development and Validation of the Thai-Translated Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (T-iPBI)

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. One of the most commonly employed cognitive-behavioural approaches to psychotherapy is rational-emotive behaviour therapy, but researchers have been troubled by some of the limitations of irrational beliefs psychometrics. As a result, Turner et al. (Eur J Psychol Assess 34:174–180, 2018a. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000314) developed the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI), a novel measure of irrational beliefs for use within performance domains. However, the linguistic and cross-cultural adaptation of the iPBI into other languages is necessary for its multinational and multicultural use. The purpose of this paper is to develop the Thai-translated version of the iPBI (T-iPBI) and examine the validity and reliability of the T-iPBI. Data retrieved from 166 participants were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software packages. Thirty-three participants completed two follow-up T-iPBI measurements (1- and 3-week repeat assessment). After the linguistic and cross-cultural adaptation processes, the T-iPBI demonstrated excellent levels of reliability, with internal consistency and test–retest reliability, as well as construct, concurrent, and predictive validity. The current findings indicate that the 20-item T-iPBI can be used as a self-assessment instrument to evaluate individual’s irrational performance beliefs in a Thai population. We also highlight the implications of this study and suggest a variety of future research directions that stem from the results

Analysis of higher order genotype-environment interactions.

<p>A) Schematic representation of the effect of mutations on phenotype in two environments. Mutations are represented as vectors with the start in the origin of the coordinate system. Mutations are either beneficial in both environments, Env₀ and Env₁ (quadrant I), beneficial in one environment but deleterious in the other (quadrant II or IV) or deleterious in both environments (quadrant III). Classification of interactions between two mutations in two environments: B) Opposite sides of the polygon represent the same mutation in different genetic backgrounds (a to A (red) in background b or B, and b to B in background a or A (blue)). Absence of epistasis or genotype x environment (GxE) interactions. The vectors of opposing sides are positioned in either quadrant I or III, and the polygon is a simple parallelogram, in the absence of magnitude epistasis. C) Genotype x environment interactions. Opposing sides of the parallelogram are located in the same quadrant. At least one pair of opposing sides lies in quadrant II or IV. D) Sign epistasis. Here, mutation b to B changes sign depending on the genetic background (a or A) in both environments. E) Higher-order GxGxE interactions. At least one pair of vectors from opposing sides of the polygon are located in different quadrants of which at least one vector is located in quadrant II or IV. Note however, that the presence of both GxE and GxG interactions not necessarily implies the presence of GxGxE interactions. In the case that one mutation displays sign epistasis, and the other mutation GxE, their combination does not imply GxGxE (<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003580#pgen.1003580.s001" target="_blank">Figure S1</a>).</p

Mutational effects on expression in both environments.

<p>Expression along mutational trajectories towards all three LacI_inv variants. A) (Expression)⁻¹ in Env₁ along all trajectories. B) Expression in Env₀ along all trajectories. For all three inverse variants, expression in Env₀ increases for nearly all mutational steps, in contrast to the more erratic pattern in Env₁ .</p

Adaptive trajectories towards the three inverse LacI variants.

<p>The three inverse LacI variants all contain three mutations. Each mutation is represented by a vector (see <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003580#pgen-1003580-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>). The axes indicate expression without IPTG in Env₀ and expression with IPTG in Env₁. Expression levels in both environments are normalized to the LacI_wt level. Note that expression along the vertical axis is represented as (Expression)⁻¹, as during inversion the expression level in Env₁ decreases. The inverse, triple mutant, is located in the upper right corner of the plot. A) LacI_inv1: S97P (blue), R207L (green), T258A (red). B) LacI_inv2: S97P (blue), L307H (green), L349P (red). C) LacI_inv3: S97P (blue), G315D (green), P339H (red). The significance of the phenotypic effect of mutations is tested with a <i>t</i>-test with Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (<i>P</i><0.05), error-bars are standard deviations, n = 3.</p

Genetic interactions and their environmental dependence.

<p>The genetic interactions are indicated for three inverse LacI variants. Each row details the interactions between two mutations, each indicated by an X, either in a LacI_wt background (denoted by a ○), or a single mutant background (denoted by a •). We consider three types of interactions: M, magnitude epistasis; S, sign epistasis; R, reciprocal sign epistasis. The mutation that changes sign is indicated between brackets. The data shows that most genetic interactions display different types of epistasis in each of the two environments. The significance of the phenotypic effect of mutations in LacI is tested with a <i>t</i>-test in conjunction with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (<i>P</i><0.05).</p

Functional description and schematic representation of genetic variants in the <i>lac</i> system.

<p>A) Schematic representation of the genetic system in <i>E. coli</i>. The <i>lac</i> repressor, LacI, controls expression of LacZ. The system responds to IPTG. IPTG acts as an inducer in the wild type LacI (blue block-arrow), and as a co-repressor in the phenotypically inverse mutants (red arrow). B) Environmental dependence of the expression level of lacZ. Expression levels are measured in two environments. For the wild type LacI (LacI_wt), LacZ expression level is high in the presence of IPTG (Env₁) and low in its absence (Env₀) (blue line). For the inverse LacI variant (LacI_inv), LacZ expression level is high in the absence of IPTG (Env₀) and low in its presence (Env₁) (red line). We consider mutational trajectories from the wild type to the inverse variant (arrows).</p

Influence of Cell Membrane Wrapping on the Cell−Porous Silicon Nanoparticle Interactions

Biohybrid nanosystems represent the cutting-edge research in biofunctionalization of micro- and nano-systems. Their physicochemical properties bring along advantages in the circulation time, camouflaging from the phagocytes, and novel antigens. This is partially a result of the qualitative differences in the protein corona, and the preferential targeting and uptake in homologous cells. However, the effect of the cell membrane on the cellular endocytosis mechanisms and time has not been fully evaluated yet. Here, the effect is assessed by quantitative flow cytometry analysis on the endocytosis of hydrophilic, negatively charged porous silicon nanoparticles and on their membrane-coated counterparts, in the presence of chemical inhibitors of different uptake pathways. Principal component analysis is used to analyze all the data and extrapolate patterns to highlight the cell-specific differences in the endocytosis mechanisms. Furthermore, the differences in the composition of static protein corona between naked and coated particles are investigated together with how these differences affect the interaction with human macrophages. Overall, the presence of the cell membrane only influences the speed and the entity of nanoparticles association with the cells, while there is no direct effect on the endocytosis pathways, composition of protein corona, or any reduction in macrophage-mediated uptake