Confined compression of collagen hydrogels

Reconstituted collagen hydrogels are often used for in vitro studies of cell-matrix interaction and as scaffolds for tissue engineering. Understanding the mechanical and transport behaviours of collagen hydrogels is therefore extremely important, albeit difficult due to their very high water content (typically > 99.5%). In the present study the mechanical behaviour of collagen hydrogels in confined compression was investigated using biphasic theory (J. Biomech. Eng. 102 (1980) 73), to ascertain whether the technique is sufficiently sensitive to determine differences in the characteristics of hydrogels of between 0.2% and 0.4% collagen. Peak stress, equilibrium stress, aggregate modulus and hydraulic permeability of the hydrogels exhibited sensitivity to collagen content, demonstrating that the technique is clearly able to discriminate between hydrogels with small differences in collagen content and may also be sensitive to factors that affect matrix remodelling. The results also offer additional insight into the deformation-dependent permeability of collagen hydrogels. This study suggests that confined compression, together with biphasic theory, is a suitable technique for assessing the mechanical properties of collagen hydrogels

Discrimination of bladder cancer cells from normal urothelial cells with high specificity and sensitivity:combined application of atomic force microscopy and modulated Raman spectroscopy

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and modulated Raman spectroscopy (MRS) were used to discriminate between living normal human urothelial cells (SV-HUC-1) and bladder tumour cells (MGH-U1) with high specificity and sensitivity. MGH-U1 cells were 1.5-fold smaller, 1.7-fold thicker and 1.4-fold rougher than normal SV-HUC-1 cells. The adhesion energy was 2.6-fold higher in the MGH-U1 cells compared to normal SV-HUC-1 cells, which possibly indicates that bladder tumour cells are more deformable than normal cells. The elastic modulus of MGH-U1 cells was 12-fold lower than SV-HUC-1 cells, suggesting a higher elasticity of the bladder cancer cell membranes. The biochemical fingerprints of cancer cells displayed a higher DNA and lipid content, probably due to an increase in the nuclear to cytoplasm ratio. Normal cells were characterized by higher protein contents. AFM studies revealed a decrease in the lateral dimensions and an increase in thickness of cancer cells compared to normal cells; these studies authenticate the observations from MRS. Nanostructural, nanomechanical and biochemical profiles of bladder cells provide qualitative and quantitative markers to differentiate between normal and cancerous cells at the single cellular level. AFM and MRS allow discrimination between adhesion energy, elasticity and Raman spectra of SV-HUC-1 and MGH-U1 cells with high specificity (83, 98 and 95%) and sensitivity (97, 93 and 98%). Such single-cell-level studies could have a pivotal impact on the development of AFM–Raman combined methodologies for cancer profiling and screening with translational significance

WELLFOCUS PPT: modifying positive psychotherapy for psychosis

Positive psychotherapy (PPT) is an established psychological intervention initially validated with people experiencing symptoms of depression. PPT is a positive psychology intervention, an academic discipline which has developed somewhat separately from psychotherapy and focuses on amplifying wellbeing rather than ameliorating deficit. The processes targeted in PPT (e.g. strengths, forgiveness, gratitude, savouring) are not emphasised in traditional psychotherapy approaches to psychosis. The goal in modifying PPT is to develop a new clinical approach to helping people experiencing psychosis. An evidence-based theoretical framework was therefore used to modify 14-session standard PPT into a manualised intervention, called WELLFOCUS PPT, which aims to improve wellbeing for people with psychosis. Informed by a systematic review and qualitative research, modification was undertaken in four stages: qualitative study, expert consultation, manualisation and stake-holder review. The resulting WELLFOCUS PPT is a theory-based 11-session manualised group therapy

Therapist self-disclosure in positive psychotherapy for psychosis

© 2020, British Psychological Society. All rights reserved. Setting boundaries is common in therapist self-disclosure. This qualitative study examined attitudes and experiences of therapists towards self-disclosure during a positive psychotherapy for psychosis research trial. Participants reported therapeutic benefits but discussed challenges with retaining personal privacy while ensuring their authenticity

Protective Factors for Early Psychotic Phenomena Among Children of Mothers With Psychosis

Background: Early identification of sub-clinical psychotic experiences in at-risk individuals is vital to prevent the development of psychosis, even before prodromal symptoms emerge. A widely-replicated risk factor is having a family member with psychosis. The Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study has shown that better cognitive functioning, a stimulating family environment, and a cohesive community, are protective against psychotic experiences among children; while engaging in physical activity, social support, and a cohesive community are protective for adolescents. In the current study we investigate whether these factors also protect against the development of sub-clinical psychotic phenomena among children and adolescents in this cohort who are at high-risk of psychosis by having a mother with psychosis.Methods: Data were utilized from the E-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative cohort of 2,232 twin children born in England and Wales in 1994–1995 followed to age 18. Psychotic phenomena were assessed in private interviews with children at ages 12 and 18, and mothers were interviewed about their own experiences of psychosis when children were aged 10 and 12. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses explored associations between individual, family, and community-level putative protective factors and absence of age-12 psychotic symptoms and age-18 psychotic experiences in children whose mothers had a diagnosis of a psychosis-spectrum disorder and/or reported psychotic symptoms.Results: Higher IQ (OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.94–1.00, P = 0.036) and living in a more socially cohesive neighborhood (OR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.79–0.98, P = 0.023) were independently protective against age-12 psychotic symptoms among children of mothers with psychosis. Higher levels of perceived social support were independently protective against age-18 psychotic experiences among children of mothers with psychosis (OR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.87–0.98, P = 0.006). However, there were no significant interactions between these protective factors and maternal psychosis in relation to an absence of childhood or adolescent psychotic phenomena in the full sample, indicating that protective effects were not specific to this group of high-risk children.Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary evidence that preventive interventions for early psychotic phenomena could focus on improving cognition, social support, and cohesiveness of the local community. Given scarce resources these might usefully be targeted at high-risk children

Evaluation of a positive psychotherapy group intervention for people with psychosis: pilot randomised controlled trial

Aims. Third-wave psychological interventions have gained relevance in mental health service provision but their application to people with psychosis is in its infancy and interventions targeting wellbeing in psychosis are scarce. This study tested the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of positive psychotherapy adapted for people with psychosis (WELLFOCUS PPT) to improve wellbeing. Methods. WELLFOCUS PPT was tested as an 11-week group intervention in a convenience sample of people with psychosis in a single centre randomised controlled trial (ISRCTN04199273) involving 94 people with psychosis. Patients were individually randomised in blocks to receive either WELLFOCUS PPT in addition to treatment as usual (TAU), or TAU only. Assessments took place before randomisation and after the therapy. The primary outcome was wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, WEMWBS). Secondary outcomes included symptoms (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale), depression (Short Depression-Happiness Scale), self-esteem, empowerment, hope, sense of coherence, savouring beliefs and functioning, as well as two alternative measures of wellbeing (the Positive Psychotherapy Inventory and Quality of Life). Intention-to-treat analysis was performed. This involved calculating crude changes and paired-sample t-tests for all variables, as well as ANCOVA and Complier Average Causal Effect (CACE) Analysis to estimate the main effect of group on all outcomes. Results. The intervention and trial procedures proved feasible and well accepted. Crude changes between baseline and follow-up showed a significant improvement in the intervention group for wellbeing according to all three concepts assessed (i.e., WEMWBS, Positive Psychotherapy Inventory and Quality of Life), as well as for symptoms, depression, hope, self-esteem and sense of coherence. No significant changes were observed in the control group. ANCOVA showed no main effect on wellbeing according to the primary outcome scale (WEMWBS) but significant effects on symptoms (p = 0.006, ES = 0.42), depression (p = 0.03, ES = 0.38) and wellbeing according to the Positive Psychotherapy Inventory (p = 0.02, ES = 0.30). Secondary analysis adapting for therapy group further improved the results for symptom reduction (p = 0.004, ES = 0.43) and depression (p = 0.03, ES = 0.41) but did not lead to any more outcomes falling below the p = 0.05 significance level. CACE analysis showed a non-significant positive association between the intervention and WEMWBS scores at follow-up (b = 0.21, z = 0.9, p = 0.4). Conclusions. This study provides initial evidence on the feasibility of WELLFOCUS PPT in people with psychosis, positively affecting symptoms and depression. However, more work is needed to optimise its effectiveness. Future research might evaluate positive psychotherapy as a treatment for comorbid depression in psychosis, and consider alternative measurements of wellbeing

Understanding ‘forgiveness’ in the context of psychosis: A qualitative study of service user experience

© 2020, British Psychological Society. All rights reserved. Twenty-three people with psychosis were interviewed about their subjective experience of ‘forgiveness’. Resulting themes of enabling conditions, thinking styles, psychological and interpersonal benefits, and need for caution may inform clinical practice on trauma, adverse life events, and relationships in psychosis

Homozygous microdeletion of exon 5 in ZNF277 in a girl with specific language impairment

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