Exploring Clinician Attitudes Towards Treating Eating Disorders: Bridging Counselor Training Gaps

Eating disorder (ED) clinicians may face various challenges in practice, including burnout and feelings of incompetence. Several deficits may contribute to these challenges, such as graduate education and treatment gaps. In this study, 109 interdisciplinary clinicians were surveyed regarding their personal attitudes, experiences, and challenges in treating EDs. Among the various results, quantitative and qualitative findings highlighted the lack of graduate education as the primary challenge to effectively treating EDs, as well as the need for more ED research and culturally responsive care. Recommendations to enhance ED education and counselor training are provided, including managing countertransference and advocating for specialized coursework. Lastly, critical directions for future research are discussed

Comparative Analysis of Tandem Repeats from Hundreds of Species Reveals Unique Insights into Centromere Evolution

Centromeres are essential for chromosome segregation, yet their DNA sequences evolve rapidly. In most animals and plants that have been studied, centromeres contain megabase-scale arrays of tandem repeats. Despite their importance, very little is known about the degree to which centromere tandem repeats share common properties between different species across different phyla. We used bioinformatic methods to identify high-copy tandem repeats from 282 species using publicly available genomic sequence and our own data. The assumption that the most abundant tandem repeat is the centromere DNA was true for most species whose centromeres have been previously characterized, suggesting this is a general property of genomes. Our methods are compatible with all current sequencing technologies. Long Pacific Biosciences sequence reads allowed us to find tandem repeat monomers up to 1,419 bp. High-copy centromere tandem repeats were found in almost all animal and plant genomes, but repeat monomers were highly variable in sequence composition and in length. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of sequence homology showed little evidence of sequence conservation beyond ~50 million years of divergence. We find that despite an overall lack of sequence conservation, centromere tandem repeats from diverse species showed similar modes of evolution, including the appearance of higher order repeat structures in which several polymorphic monomers make up a larger repeating unit. While centromere position in most eukaryotes is epigenetically determined, our results indicate that tandem repeats are highly prevalent at centromeres of both animals and plants. This suggests a functional role for such repeats, perhaps in promoting concerted evolution of centromere DNA across chromosomes

Analysis of IL2/IL21 Gene Variants in Cholestatic Liver Diseases Reveals an Association with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis

Background/Aims: The chromosome 4q27 region harboring IL2 and IL21 is an established risk locus for ulcerative colitis (UC) and various other autoimmune diseases. Considering the strong coincidence of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) with UC and the increased frequency of other autoimmune disorders in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), we investigated whether genetic variation in the IL2/IL21 region may also modulate the susceptibility to these two rare cholestatic liver diseases. Methods: Four strongly UC-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the KIAA1109/TENR/IL2/IL21 linkage disequilibrium block were genotyped in 124 PBC and 41 PSC patients. Control allele frequencies from 1,487 healthy, unrelated Caucasians were available from a previous UC association study. Results: The minor alleles of all four markers were associated with a decreased susceptibility to PSC (rs13151961: p = 0.013, odds ratio (OR) 0.34; rs13119723: p = 0.023, OR 0.40; rs6822844: p = 0.031, OR 0.41; rs6840978: p = 0.043, OR 0.46). Moreover, a haplotype consisting of the four minor alleles also had a protective effect on PSC susceptibility (p = 0.0084, OR 0.28). A haplotype of the four major alleles was independently associated with PSC when excluding the patients with concomitant inflammatory bowel disease (p = 0.033, OR 4.18). Conclusion: The IL2/IL21 region may be one of the highly suggestive but so far rarely identified shared susceptibility loci for PSC and UC. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

Improved assembly and variant detection of a haploid human genome using single-molecule, high-fidelity long reads

The sequence and assembly of human genomes using long-read sequencing technologies has revolutionized our understanding of structural variation and genome organization. We compared the accuracy, continuity, and gene annotation of genome assemblies generated from either high-fidelity (HiFi) or continuous long-read (CLR) datasets from the same complete hydatidiform mole human genome. We find that the HiFi sequence data assemble an additional 10% of duplicated regions and more accurately represent the structure of tandem repeats, as validated with orthogonal analyses. As a result, an additional 5 Mbp of pericentromeric sequences are recovered in the HiFi assembly, resulting in a 2.5-fold increase in the NG50 within 1 Mbp of the centromere (HiFi 480.6 kbp, CLR 191.5 kbp). Additionally, the HiFi genome assembly was generated in significantly less time with fewer computational resources than the CLR assembly. Although the HiFi assembly has significantly improved continuity and accuracy in many complex regions of the genome, it still falls short of the assembly of centromeric DNA and the largest regions of segmental duplication using existing assemblers. Despite these shortcomings, our results suggest that HiFi may be the most effective standalone technology for de novo assembly of human genomes

Mathematical model of the dynamics of psychotherapy

The success of psychotherapy depends on the nature of the therapeutic relationship between a therapist and a client. We use dynamical systems theory to model the dynamics of the emotional interaction between a therapist and client. We determine how the therapeutic endpoint and the dynamics of getting there depend on the parameters of the model. Previously Gottman et al. used a very similar approach (physical-sciences paradigm) for modeling and making predictions about husband–wife relationships. Given that this novel approach shed light on the dyadic interaction between couples, we have applied it to the study of the relationship between therapist and client. The results of our computations provide a new perspective on the therapeutic relationship and a number of useful insights. Our goal is to create a model that is capable of making solid predictions about the dynamics of psychotherapy with the ultimate intention of using it to better train therapists

Diagnostic yield and accuracy of CT angiography, MR angiography, and digital subtraction angiography for detection of macrovascular causes of intracerebral haemorrhage: Prospective, multicentre cohort study

Study question What are the diagnostic yield and accuracy of early computed tomography (CT) angiography followed by magnetic resonance imaging/angiography (MRI/MRA) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in patients with non-traumatic intracerebral haemorrhage? Methods This prospective diagnostic study enrolled 298 adults (18-70 years) treated in 22 hospitals in the Netherlands over six years. CT angiography was performed within seven days of haemorrhage. If the result was negative, MRI/MRA was performed four to eight weeks later. DSA was performed when the CT angiography or MRI/MRA results were inconclusive or negative. The main outcome was a macrovascular cause, including arteriovenous malformation, aneurysm, dural arteriovenous fistula, and cavernoma. Three blinded neuroradiologists independently evaluated the images for macrovascular causes of haemorrhage. The reference standard was the best available evidence from all findings during one year's follow-up. Study answer and limitations A macrovascular cause was identified in 69 patients (23%). 291 patients (98%) underwent CT angiography; 214 with a negative result underwent additional MRI/MRA and 97 with a negative result for both CT angiography and MRI/MRA underwent DSA. Early CT angiography detected 51 macrovascular causes (yield 17%, 95% confidence interval 13% to 22%). CT angiography with MRI/MRA identified two additional macrovascular causes (18%, 14% to 23%) and these modalities combined with DSA another 15 (23%, 18% to 28%). This last extensive strategy failed to detect a cavernoma, which was identified on MRI during follow-up (reference strategy). The positive predictive value of CT angiography was 72% (60% to 82%), of additional MRI/MRA was 35% (14% to 62%), and of additional DSA was 100% (75% to 100%). None of the patients experienced complications with CT angiography or MRI/MRA; 0.6% of patients who underwent DSA experienced p

Phased diploid genome assembly with single-molecule real-time sequencing

While genome assembly projects have been successful in many haploid and inbred species, the assembly of noninbred or rearranged heterozygous genomes remains a major challenge. To address this challenge, we introduce the open-source FALCON and FALCON-Unzip algorithms (https://github.com/PacificBiosciences/FALCON/) to assemble long-read sequencing data into highly accurate, contiguous, and correctly phased diploid genomes. We generate new reference sequences for heterozygous samples including an F1 hybrid of Arabidopsis thaliana, the widely cultivated Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet Sauvignon, and the coral fungus Clavicorona pyxidata, samples that have challenged short-read assembly approaches. The FALCON-based assemblies are substantially more contiguous and complete than alternate short- or long-read approaches. The phased diploid assembly enabled the study of haplotype structure and heterozygosities between homologous chromosomes, including the identification of widespread heterozygous structural variation within coding sequences