Eyes on Asia (2012)

Introduction to the section 'Eyes on Asia' (curator E.Pollacchi) and presentation of each of the selected films. The catalogue is a bilingual English/Norwegian publication which is widely used as a reference material within nordic european countries

Graded response model analyses of the Suicidal ABC Scale and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.

<p>N = 1,720; WTD = wish to die; WTLr = wish to live reverse-scored; Ideation = suicidal ideation; Prediction = prediction of suicide attempts; Debate = internal suicidal debate; Behaviors = history of suicidal behaviors (SABCS uses SBM scoring; SBQ-R uses Osman et al. scoring [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0127442#pone.0127442.ref034" target="_blank">34</a>]); Comm. = communication of suicidality; a = item discrimination level; b_L = lowest item difficulty threshold; b_U = upper item difficulty threshold; IF = information function; Pct. = percentage of total scale information.</p><p>Graded response model analyses of the Suicidal ABC Scale and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.</p

Factor loadings and communalities of Suicidal ABC Scale items.

<p>S1 = Study 1 (n = 359), S2 = Study 2 (n = 1007), S3 = Study 3 (n = 713), S4 = Study 4 (n = 72). Ideation = suicidal ideation, WTD = wish to die, Prediction = prediction of future suicide attempts, WTLr = wish to live reverse-scored, Debate = internal suicidal debate, Behaviors = history of suicidal behaviors, Variance = percentage of total trait variance explained by the retained factor.</p><p>Factor loadings and communalities of Suicidal ABC Scale items.</p

The suicidal barometer model with descriptions of suicidality levels based on item response theory analyses.

<p>WTL = wish to live, WTD = wish to die.</p

Psychometric properties of the Suicidal ABC Scale and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.

<p>Study 1, n = 359; Study 2, n = 1007; Study 3, n = 713; Study 4, clinical sample, n = 72; SABCS-4 = 4-item SABCS; T2 = Time 2, n = 54. α = Cronbach’s α; S-B = Spearman-Brown prophecy coefficient; SE_m = standard error of measurement.</p><p>^†Studies used different response ranges for some SABCS items.</p><p>Psychometric properties of the Suicidal ABC Scale and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.</p

Item information curves: A = Suicidal ABC Scale, B = Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.

<p>Item information curves: A = Suicidal ABC Scale, B = Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.</p

Pearson correlations of psychosocial factors with the Suicidal ABC Scale and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.

<p>S1 = Study 1 (n = 359), S2 = Study 2 (n = 1007), S3 = Study 3 (n = 713). CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale; DASS = Depression Anxiety Stress Scales; BHS5 = 5-item Beck Hopelessness Scale; UCLA5 = 5-item UCLA Loneliness Scale; MSPSS = Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support; IPIP = International Personality Item Pool. Correlations between SABCS and SBQ-R with other variables were statistically significant, ps < .05, excluding online shopping.</p><p>*p < .05</p><p>**p < .01</p><p>***p < .001</p><p>Pearson correlations of psychosocial factors with the Suicidal ABC Scale and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised.</p

Activation of HIPK2 Promotes ER Stress-Mediated Neurodegeneration in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Persistent accumulation of misfolded proteins causes endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, a prominent feature in many neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Here we report the identification of homeodomain interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2) as the essential link that promotes ER stress-induced cell death via the IRE1α-ASK1-JNK pathway. ER stress, induced by tunicamycin or SOD1(G93A), activates HIPK2 by phosphorylating highly conserved serine and threonine residues (S359/T360) within the activation loop of the HIPK2 kinase domain. In SOD1(G93A) mice, loss of HIPK2 delays disease onset, reduces cell death in spinal motor neurons, mitigates glial pathology, and improves survival. Remarkably, HIPK2 activation positively correlates with TDP-43 proteinopathy in NEFH-tTA/tetO-hTDP-43ΔNLS mice, sporadic ALS and C9ORF72 ALS, and blocking HIPK2 kinase activity protects motor neurons from TDP-43 cytotoxicity. These results reveal a previously unrecognized role of HIPK2 activation in ER stress-mediated neurodegeneration, and its potential role as a biomarker and therapeutic target for ALS

Progression of Geographic Atrophy in Age-related Macular Degeneration AREDS2 Report Number 16

PurposeTo analyze the prevalence, incidence, and clinical characteristics of eyes with geographic atrophy (GA) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), including clinical and genetic factors affecting enlargement.DesignProspective cohort study within a controlled clinical trial.ParticipantsAge-Related Eye Disease Study 2 (AREDS2) participants, aged 50-85 years.MethodsBaseline and annual stereoscopic color fundus photographs were evaluated for GA presence and area. Analyses included GA prevalence and incidence rates, Kaplan-Meier rates, mixed-model regression, and multivariable analysis of the square root of GA, area adjusted for covariates, including clinical/imaging characteristics and genotype.Main outcome measures(1) Presence or development of GA; (2) change in the square root of GA area over time.ResultsAt baseline, 517 eyes (6.2%) of 411 participants (9.8%) had pre-existing GA (without neovascular AMD), with the following characteristics: 33% central, 67% noncentral; and the following configurations: 36% small, 26% solid/unifocal, 24% multifocal, 9% horseshoe/ring, and 6% indeterminate. Of the remaining 6530 eyes at risk, 1099 eyes (17.3%) of 883 participants developed incident GA without prior neovascular disease during mean follow-up of 4.4 years. The Kaplan-Meier rate of incident GA was 19% of eyes at 5 years. In eyes with incident GA, 4-year risk of subsequent neovascular AMD was 29%. In eyes with incident noncentral GA, 4-year risk of central involvement was 57%. GA enlargement rate (following square root transformation) was similar in eyes with pre-existing GA (0.29 mm/year; 95% confidence interval 0.27-0.30) and incident GA (0.28 mm/year; 0.27-0.30). In the combined group, GA enlargement was significantly faster with noncentrality, multifocality, intermediate baseline size, and bilateral GA (P &lt; 0.0001 for interaction in each case) but not with AREDS2 treatment assignment (P&nbsp;= 0.33) or smoking status (P&nbsp;= 0.05). Enlargement was significantly faster with ARMS2 risk (P &lt; 0.0001), C3 non-risk (P&nbsp;= 0.0002), and APOE non-risk (P&nbsp;= 0.001) genotypes.ConclusionsAnalyses of AREDS2 data on natural history of GA provide representative data on GA evolution and enlargement. GA enlargement, which was influenced by lesion features, was relentless, resulting in rapid central vision loss. The genetic variants associated with faster enlargement were partially distinct from those associated with risk of incident GA. These findings are relevant to further investigations of GA pathogenesis and clinical trial planning

The genome sequence of the psychrophilic archaeon, Methanococcoides burtonii: the role of genome evolution in cold adaptation.

Psychrophilic archaea are abundant and perform critical roles throughout the Earth's expansive cold biosphere. Here we report the first complete genome sequence for a psychrophilic methanogenic archaeon, Methanococcoides burtonii. The genome sequence was manually annotated including the use of a five-tiered evidence rating (ER) system that ranked annotations from ER1 (gene product experimentally characterized from the parent organism) to ER5 (hypothetical gene product) to provide a rapid means of assessing the certainty of gene function predictions. The genome is characterized by a higher level of aberrant sequence composition (51%) than any other archaeon. In comparison to hyper/thermophilic archaea, which are subject to selection of synonymous codon usage, M. burtonii has evolved cold adaptation through a genomic capacity to accommodate highly skewed amino-acid content, while retaining codon usage in common with its mesophilic Methanosarcina cousins. Polysaccharide biosynthesis genes comprise at least 3.3% of protein coding genes in the genome, and Cell wall, membrane, envelope biogenesis COG genes are overrepresented. Likewise, signal transduction (COG category T) genes are overrepresented and M. burtonii has a high 'IQ' (a measure of adaptive potential) compared to many methanogens. Numerous genes in these two overrepresented COG categories appear to have been acquired from epsilon- and delta-Proteobacteria, as do specific genes involved in central metabolism such as a novel B form of aconitase. Transposases also distinguish M. burtonii from other archaea, and their genomic characteristics indicate they have an important role in evolving the M. burtonii genome. Our study reveals a capacity for this model psychrophile to evolve through genome plasticity (including nucleotide skew, horizontal gene transfer and transposase activity) that enables adaptation to the cold, and to the biological and physical changes that have occurred over the last several thousand years as it adapted from a marine to an Antarctic lake environment