Barriers to disseminating brief CBT for voices from a lived experience and clinician perspective

Access to psychological therapies continues to be poor for people experiencing psychosis. To address this problem, researchers are developing brief interventions that address the specific symptoms associated with psychosis, i.e., hearing voices. As part of the development work for a brief Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) intervention for voices we collected qualitative data from people who hear voices (study 1) and clinicians (study 2) on the potential barriers and facilitators to implementation and engagement. Thematic analysis of the responses from both groups revealed a number of anticipated barriers to implementation and engagement. Both groups believed the presenting problem (voices and psychosis symptoms) may impede engagement. Furthermore clinicians identified a lack of resources to be a barrier to implementation. The only facilitator to engagement was reported by people who hear voices who believed a compassionate, experienced and trustworthy therapist would promote engagement. The results are discussed in relation to how these barriers could be addressed in the context of a brief intervention using CBT techniques

Arabidopsis R-SNARE Proteins VAMP721 and VAMP722 Are Required for Cell Plate Formation

Background: Cell plate formation during plant cytokinesis is facilitated by SNARE complex-mediated vesicle fusion at the cell-division plane. However, our knowledge regarding R-SNARE components of membrane fusion machinery for cell plate formation remains quite limited. Methodology/Principal Findings: We report the in vivo function of Arabidopsis VAMP721 and VAMP722, two closely sequence-related R-SNAREs, in cell plate formation. Double homozygous vamp721vamp722 mutant seedlings showed lethal dwarf phenotypes and were characterized by rudimentary roots, cotyledons and hypocotyls. Furthermore, cell wall stubs and incomplete cytokinesis were frequently observed in vamp721vamp722 seedlings. Confocal images revealed that green fluorescent protein-tagged VAMP721 and VAMP722 were preferentially localized to the expanding cell plates in dividing cells. Drug treatments and co-localization analyses demonstrated that punctuate organelles labeled with VAMP721 and VAMP722 represented early endosomes overlapped with VHA-a1-labeled TGN, which were distinct from Golgi stacks and prevacuolar compartments. In addition, protein traffic to the plasma membrane, but not to the vacuole, was severely disrupted in vamp721vamp722 seedlings by subcellular localization of marker proteins. Conclusion/Significance: These observations suggest that VAMP721 and VAMP722 are involved in secretory trafficking to the plasma membrane via TGN/early endosomal compartment, which contributes substantially to cell plate formatio

Differential expression of the brassinosteroid receptor-encoding BRI1 gene in Arabidopsis

Abstract Brassinosteroid (BR)-regulated growth and development in Arabidopsis depends on BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1), the BR receptor that is responsible for initiating the events of BR signalling. We analysed the temporal and spatial regulation of BRI1 expression using stable transgenic lines that carried BRI1 promoter:reporter fusions. In both seedlings and mature plants the tissues undergoing elongation or differentiation showed elevated BRI1 gene activity, and it could be demonstrated that in the hypocotyl this was accompanied by accumulation of the BRI1 transcript and its receptor protein product. In seedlings the BRI1 promoter was also found to be under diurnal regulation, determined primarily by light repression and a superimposed circadian control. To determine the functional importance of transcriptional regulation we complemented the severely BR insensitive bri1-101 mutant with a BRI1-luciferase fusion construct that was driven by promoters with contrasting specificities. Whereas the BRI1 promoter-driven transgene fully restored the wild phenotype, expression from the photosynthesisassociated CAB3 and the vasculature-specific SUC2 and ATHB8 promoters resulted in plants with varying morphogenic defects. Our results reveal complex differential regulation of BRI1 expression, and suggest that by influencing the distribution and abundance of the receptor this regulation can enhance or attenuate BR signalling

Genetic Evidence for an Indispensable Role of Somatic Embryogenesis Receptor Kinases in Brassinosteroid Signaling

The authors are grateful to the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center for providing the T-DNA insertion lines discussed in this work. We thank Dr. Yanhai Yin (Iowa State University) for providing anti-BES1 antibody, Dr. Jiayang Li (Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for bri1-301 seeds, and Dr. Xing-wang Deng (Yale University) for cop1-4 and cop1-6 seeds as controls.Author Summary Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a group of plant hormones critical for plant growth and development. BRs are perceived by a cell-surface receptor complex including two distinctive receptor kinases, BRI1 and BAK1. Whereas BRI1 is a true BR-binding receptor, BAK1 does not appear to have BR-binding activity. Therefore, BAK1 is likely a co-receptor in BR signal transduction. The genetic significance of BAK1 was not clearly demonstrated in previous studies largely due to functional redundancy of BAK1 and its closely related homologues. It was not clear whether BAK1 plays an essential role or only an enhancing role in BR signaling. In this study, we identified all possible BAK1 redundant genes in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome and generated single, double, triple, and quadruple mutants. Detailed analysis indicated that, without BAK1 and its functionally redundant proteins, BR signaling is completely disrupted, largely because BRI1 has lost its ability to activate downstream components. These studies provide the first piece of loss-of-functional genetic evidence that BAK1 is indispensable to the early events of the BR signaling pathway.Yeshttp://www.plosgenetics.org/static/editorial#pee