An Evaluation of Referral Patterns and Therapy Outcomes at a University Counseling Center: Analysis of a Dialectical Behavior Skills Training Group

This study was designed to answer two research questions. First, factors associated with placement decisions to three treatment modalities in a university counseling center were examined; the skills training group for dialectical behavior therapy plus individual therapy (DBT), the interpersonal process group plus individual therapy (IP), and individual therapy only (IND). Individual therapy in all three conditions did not follow a specific theoretical orientation. Of 203 participants (55 males, 148 females), 83 were in DBT, 53 were in IP, and 67 were in IND. Client information included demographic variables (e.g., age, gender) and clinical variables (i.e., diagnosis, and scores from Global Assessment of Functioning, the Outcome Questionnaire-45; OQ-45, and the College Adjustment Scale; CAS). As predicted, the results indicated that clinical characteristics played a significant role in referral decision making, with clients in the DBT condition reporting higher clinical severity. Second, the effectiveness of the skills training group (DBT) was examined, testing the hypothesis that people in DBT start out with more clinical problems but make greater progress than those in IP and IND. Treatment outcome was measured by the OQ-45 and the CAS, each collected at multiple time points. Data from 101 people were available for the OQ-45, and 77 people for the CAS. The results did not provide support for the hypothesis. Although significant change was observed over the course of treatment, no clear patterns of superior outcomes for any of the three treatment conditions emerged

Two-tone colorings and surjective dihedral representations for links

It is well-known that a knot is Fox $n$-colorable for a prime $n$ if and only if the knot group admits a surjective homomorphism to the dihedral group of degree $n$. However, this is not the case for links with two or more components. In this paper, we introduce a two-tone coloring on a link diagram, and give a condition for links so that the link groups admit surjective representations to the dihedral groups. In particular, it is shown that the link group of any link with at least 3 components admits a surjective homomorphism to the dihedral group of arbitrary degree.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Activities of bone morphogenetic proteins in prolactin regulation by somatostatin analogs in rat pituitary GH3 cells

Involvement of the pituitary BMP system in the modulation of prolactin (PRL) secretion regulated by somatostatin analogs, including octreotide (OCT) and pasireotide (SOM230), and a dopamine agonist, bromocriptine (BRC), was examined in GH3 cells. GH3 cells are rat pituitary somato-lactotrope tumor cells that express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) and BMP system molecules including BMP-4 and -6. Treatment with BMP-4 and -6 increased PRL and cAMP secretion by GH3 cells. The BMP-4 effects were neutralized by adding a BMP-binding protein Noggin. These findings suggest the activity of endogenous BMPs in augmenting PRL secretion by GH3 cells. BRC and SOM230 reduced PRL secretion, but OCT failed to reduce the PRL level. In GH3 cells activated by forskolin, BRC suppressed forskolin-induced PRL secretion with reduction in cAMP levels. OCT did not affect forskolin-induced PRL level, while SOM230 reduced PRL secretion and PRL mRNA expression induced by forskolin. BMP-4 treatment enhanced the reducing effect of SOM230 on forskolin-induced PRL level while BMP-4 did not affect the effects of OCT or BRC. Noggin treatment had no significant effect on the BRC actions reducing PRL levels by GH3 cells. However, in the presence of Noggin, OCT elicited an inhibitory effect on forskolin-induced PRL secretion and PRL mRNA expression, whereas the SOM230 effect on PRL reduction was in turn impaired. It was further found that BMP-4 and -6 suppressed SSTR-2 but increased SSTR-5 mRNA expression of GH3 cells. These findings indicate that Noggin rescues SSTR-2 but downregulates SSTR-5 by neutralizing endogenous BMP actions, leading to an increase in OCT sensitivity and a decrease in SOM230 sensitivity of GH3 cells. In addition, BMP signaling was facilitated in GH3 cells treated with forskolin. Collectively, these findings suggest that BMPs elicit differential actions in the regulation of PRL release dependent on cellular cAMP-PKA activity. BMPs may play a key role in the modulation of SSTR sensitivity of somato-lactotrope cells in an autocrine/paracrine manner

Possible Use of Blue Light in Undaria Pinnatifida Aquaculture

Symposium mini revie

Cold-induced metabolic conversion of haptophyte di- to tri-unsaturated C37 alkenones used as palaeothermometer molecules

The cosmopolitan marine haptophyte alga Emiliania huxleyi accumulates very long-chain (C37-C40) alkyl ketones with two to four trans-type carbon-carbon double bonds (alkenones). These compounds are used as biomarkers of haptophytes and as palaeothermometers for estimating sea-surface temperatures in biogeochemistry. However, the biosynthetic pathway of alkenones in algal cells remains enigmatic, although it is well known that the C37 tri-unsaturated alkenone (K37:3) becomes dominant at low temperatures, either by desaturation of K37:2 or by a separate pathway involving the elongation of tri-unsaturated alkenone precursors. Here, we present experimental evidence regarding K37:3 synthesis. Using the well-known cosmopolitan alkenone producer E. huxleyi, we labelled K37:2 with 13C by incubating cells with 13C-bicarbonate in the light at 25 °C under conditions of little if any K37:3 production. After stabilisation of the 13C-K37:2 level by depleting 13C-bicarbonate from the medium, the temperature was suddenly reduced to 15 °C. The 13C-K37:2 level rapidly decreased, and the 13C-K37:3 level increased, whereas the total 13C-K37 level—namely [K37:2 + K37:3]—remained constant. These 13C-pulse-chase-like experimental results indicate that 13C-K37:2 is converted directly to 13C-K37:3 by a desaturation reaction that is promoted by a cold signal. This clear-cut experimental evidence is indicative of the existence of a cold-signal-triggered desaturation reaction in alkenone biosynthesis

Evidence for Finely-Regulated Asynchronous Growth of Toxoplasma gondii Cysts Based on Data-Driven Model Selection

Toxoplasma gondii establishes a chronic infection by forming cysts preferentially in the brain. This chronic infection is one of the most common parasitic infections in humans and can be reactivated to develop life-threatening toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromised patients. Host-pathogen interactions during the chronic infection include growth of the cysts and their removal by both natural rupture and elimination by the immune system. Analyzing these interactions is important for understanding the pathogenesis of this common infection. We developed a differential equation framework of cyst growth and employed Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) to determine the growth and removal functions that best describe the distribution of cyst sizes measured from the brains of chronically infected mice. The AIC strongly support models in which T. gondii cysts grow at a constant rate such that the per capita growth rate of the parasite is inversely proportional to the number of parasites within a cyst, suggesting finely-regulated asynchronous replication of the parasites. Our analyses were also able to reject the models where cyst removal rate increases linearly or quadratically in association with increase in cyst size. The modeling and analysis framework may provide a useful tool for understanding the pathogenesis of infections with other cyst producing parasites

Identification of three Early Pleistocene tephras in and around the west part of the Musashino Upland, Tokyo, Northeast Japan

In and around the west part of the Musashino Upland, southwest of the Kanto Tectonic Basin, Ob4b-4 (1.62 Ma), Ob4b-1 (1.63 Ma), and Ob3 (1.71-1.78 Ma) tephras in the Kazusa Group, early Quaternary strata, were identified by using characteristic properties such as chemical composition of volcanic glass shards and titanomagnetite, and refractive indices of glass shards, hornblende, cummingtonite, and orthopyroxene. Changes in altitudes of Ob4b-1 identified in four cores and at three outcrops together with those by previous studies indicate geological structure of the Kazusa Group, revealing a gentle northeastward sloping with a gradient of 15/1000 and a prominent discontinuity of the strata along the Tachikawa Fault Zone