Physiological traits of the symbiotic bacterium Teredinibacter turnerae isolated from the mangrove shipworm Neoteredo reynei

Nutrition in the Teredinidae family of wood-boring mollusks is sustained by cellulolytic/nitrogen fixing symbiotic bacteria of the Teredinibacter clade. The mangrove Teredinidae Neoteredo reynei is popularly used in the treatment of infectious diseases in the north of Brazil. In the present work, the symbionts of N. reynei, which are strictly confined to the host's gills, were conclusively identified as Teredinibacter turnerae. Symbiont variants obtained in vitro were able to grow using casein as the sole carbon/nitrogen source and under reduced concentrations of NaCl. Furthermore, cellulose consumption in T. turnerae was clearly reduced under low salt concentrations. As a point of interest, we hereby report first hand that T. turnerae in fact exerts antibiotic activity. Furthermore, this activity was also affected by NaCl concentration. Finally, T. turnerae was able to inhibit the growth of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, this including strains of Sphingomonas sp., Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus sciuri. Our findings introduce new points of view on the ecology of T. turnerae, and suggest new biotechnological applications for this marine bacterium

Development and validation of a self-report measure of mentalizing: The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire

Reflective functioning or mentalizing is the capacity to interpret both the self and others in terms of internal mental states such as feelings, wishes, goals, desires, and attitudes. This paper is part of a series of papers outlining the development and psychometric features of a new self-report measure, the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ), designed to provide an easy to administer self-report measure of mentalizing. We describe the development and initial validation of the RFQ in three studies. Study 1 focuses on the development of the RFQ, its factor structure and construct validity in a sample of patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Eating Disorder (ED) (n = 108) and normal controls (n = 295). Study 2 aims to replicate these findings in a fresh sample of 129 patients with personality disorder and 281 normal controls. Study 3 addresses the relationship between the RFQ, parental reflective functioning and infant attachment status as assessed with the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) in a sample of 136 community mothers and their infants. In both Study 1 and 2, confirmatory factor analyses yielded two factors assessing Certainty (RFQ_C) and Uncertainty (RFQ_U) about the mental states of self and others. These two factors were relatively distinct, invariant across clinical and non-clinical samples, had satisfactory internal consistency and test–retest stability, and were largely unrelated to demographic features. The scales discriminated between patients and controls, and were significantly and in theoretically predicted ways correlated with measures of empathy, mindfulness and perspective-taking, and with both self-reported and clinician-reported measures of borderline personality features and other indices of maladaptive personality functioning. Furthermore, the RFQ scales were associated with levels of parental reflective functioning, which in turn predicted infant attachment status in the SSP. Overall, this study lends preliminary support for the RFQ as a screening measure of reflective functioning. Further research is needed, however, to investigate in more detail the psychometric qualities of the RFQ.status: publishe

Demographic characteristics of participants in the patient and control samples.

<p>Demographic characteristics of participants in the patient and control samples.</p

Multi-group CFA with factor loadings in the clinical (left) and the non-clinical (right) sample, respectively.

<p>Residuals and correlations between residuals are omitted for clarity of presentation. Rectangles indicate measured variables and circles represent latent constructs. Standardized maximum likelihood parameters are used. Bold estimates are statistically significant at <i>p</i><0.05 (two-tailed).</p

Zero-order correlations between the RFQ, PRFQ, and infant attachment security as assessed in the SSP.

<p>Zero-order correlations between the RFQ, PRFQ, and infant attachment security as assessed in the SSP.</p

Association between the RFQ subscales and clinical features.

<p>Association between the RFQ subscales and clinical features.</p

Relationship between the RFQ subscales and clinical features in the clinical sample.

<p>Relationship between the RFQ subscales and clinical features in the clinical sample.</p

Relationships between the RFQ subscales and related constructs.

<p>Relationships between the RFQ subscales and related constructs.</p

Prevalence of personality disorders in the clinical sample.

<p>Prevalence of personality disorders in the clinical sample.</p

Means and standard deviations for the RFQ subscales.

<p>Means and standard deviations for the RFQ subscales.</p