Study protocol: a mixed methods study to assess mental health recovery, shared decision-making and quality of life (Plan4Recovery)

BACKGROUND: Recovery in mental health care is complex, highly individual and can be facilitated by a range of professional and non-professional support. In this study we will examine how recovery from mental health problems is promoted in non-medical settings. We hypothesise a relationship between involvement in decisions about care, social support and recovery and quality of life outcomes. METHODS: We will use standardised validated instruments of involvement in decision-making, social contacts, recovery and quality of life with a random sample of people accessing non-statutory mental health social care services in Wales. We will add to this important information with detailed one to one case study interviews with people, their family members and their support workers. We will use a series of these interviews to examine how people build recovery over time to help us understand more about their involvement in decisions and the social links they build. DISCUSSION: We want to see how being involved in decisions about care and the social links people have are related to recovery and quality of life for people with experience of using mental health support services. We want to understand the different perspectives of the people involved in making recovery possible. We will use this information to guide further studies of particular types of social interventions and their use in helping recovery from mental health problems

Calcium ion currents mediating oocyte maturation events

During maturation, the last phase of oogenesis, the oocyte undergoes several changes which prepare it to be ovulated and fertilized. Immature oocytes are arrested in the first meiotic process prophase, that is morphologically identified by a germinal vesicle. The removal of the first meiotic block marks the initiation of maturation. Although a large number of molecules are involved in complex sequences of events, there is evidence that a calcium increase plays a pivotal role in meiosis re-initiation. It is well established that, during this process, calcium is released from the intracellular stores, whereas less is known on the role of external calcium entering the cell through the plasma membrane ion channels. This review is focused on the functional role of calcium currents during oocyte maturation in all the species, from invertebrates to mammals. The emerging role of specific L-type calcium channels will be discussed

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Enzyme sequestration as a tuning point in controlling response dynamics of signalling networks

Signalling networks result from combinatorial interactions among many enzymes and scaffolding proteins. These complex systems generate response dynamics that are often essential for correct decision-making in cells. Uncovering biochemical design principles that underpin such response dynamics is a prerequisite to understand evolved signalling networks and to design synthetic ones. Here, we use in silico evolution to explore the possible biochemical design space for signalling networks displaying ultrasensitive and adaptive response dynamics. By running evolutionary simulations mimicking different biochemical scenarios, we find that enzyme sequestration emerges as a key mechanism for enabling such dynamics. Inspired by these findings, and to test the role of sequestration, we design a generic, minimalist model of a signalling cycle, featuring two enzymes and a single scaffolding protein. We show that this simple system is capable of displaying both ultrasensitive and adaptive response dynamics. Furthermore, we find that tuning the concentration or kinetics of the sequestering protein can shift system dynamics between these two response types. These empirical results suggest that enzyme sequestration through scaffolding proteins is exploited by evolution to generate diverse response dynamics in signalling networks and could provide an engineering point in synthetic biology applications

Lack of Phylogeographic Structure in the Freshwater Cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa Suggests Global Dispersal

Background : Free-living microorganisms have long been assumed to have ubiquitous distributions with little biogeographic signature because they typically exhibit high dispersal potential and large population sizes. However, molecular data provide contrasting results and it is far from clear to what extent dispersal limitation determines geographic structuring of microbial populations. We aimed to determine biogeographical patterns of the bloom-forming freshwater cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. Being widely distributed on a global scale but patchily on a regional scale, this prokaryote is an ideal model organism to study microbial dispersal and biogeography. Methodology/Principal Findings : The phylogeography of M. aeruginosa was studied based on a dataset of 311 rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences sampled from six continents. Richness of ITS sequences was high (239 ITS types were detected). Genetic divergence among ITS types averaged 4% (maximum pairwise divergence was 13%). Preliminary analyses revealed nearly completely unresolved phylogenetic relationships and a lack of genetic structure among all sequences due to extensive homoplasy at multiple hypervariable sites. After correcting for this, still no clear phylogeographic structure was detected, and no pattern of isolation by distance was found on a global scale. Concomitantly, genetic differentiation among continents was marginal, whereas variation within continents was high and was mostly shared with all other continents. Similarly, no genetic structure across climate zones was detected. Conclusions/Significance : The high overall diversity and wide global distribution of common ITS types in combination with the lack of phylogeographic structure suggest that intercontinental dispersal of M. aeruginosa ITS types is not rare, and that this species might have a truly cosmopolitan distribution

Simulating the midlatitude atmospheric circulation: what might we gain from high-resolution modeling of air-sea interactions?

Purpose of Review. To provide a snapshot of the current research on the oceanic forcing of the atmospheric circulation in midlatitudes and a concise update on previous review papers. Recent findings. Atmospheric models used for seasonal and longer timescales predictions are starting to resolve motions so far only studied in conjunction with weather forecasts. These phenomena have horizontal scales of ~ 10–100 km which coincide with energetic scales in the ocean circulation. Evidence has been presented that, as a result of this matching of scale, oceanic forcing of the atmosphere was enhanced in models with 10–100 km grid size, especially at upper tropospheric levels. The robustness of these results and their underlying mechanisms are however unclear. Summary. Despite indications that higher resolution atmospheric models respond more strongly to sea surface temperature anomalies, their responses are still generally weaker than those estimated empirically from observations. Coarse atmospheric models (grid size greater than 100 km) will miss important signals arising from future changes in ocean circulation unless new parameterizations are developed

Nicotinic receptors

Regulation of normal or abnormal behaviour is critically controlled by the central serotonergic systems. Recent evidence has suggested that serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission dysfunction contributes to a variety of pathological conditions, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disorders. There is also a great amount of evidence indicating that 5-HT signalling may affect the reinforcing properties of drugs of abuse by the interaction and modulation of dopamine (DA) function. This chapter is focused on one of the more addictive drugs, nicotine. It is widely recognised that the effects of nicotine are strongly associated with the stimulatory action it exhibits on mesolimbic DAergic function. We outline the role of 5-HT and its plethora of receptors, focusing on 5-HT2 subtypes with relation to their involvement in the neurobiology of nicotine addiction. We also explore the novel pharmacological approaches using 5-HT agents for the treatment of nicotine dependence. Compelling evidence shows that 5-HT2C receptor agonists may be possible therapeutic targets for smoking cessation, although further investigation is required.peer-reviewe