The Role of Personality in Early Alliance Formation in the Context of Clinical Supervision of Psychotherapists in Training

The literature suggests that working alliance is an important predictor of clinical supervision outcomes. However, little is known about the individual factors that influence the development and maintenance of the working alliance. This study aims to explore the role of supervisor and trainee personality traits in the development of early working alliances, as well as supervisor and trainee concordance rates in the context of clinical supervision. This study used the NEO-PI-3 measure to assess personality traits and the Working Alliance Inventory-Supervisor and Trainee Versions (WAI) measures to assess working alliance ratings. Results suggest that supervisors rate the strength of their alliances as significantly stronger than trainees (p \u3c .05). While no trainee personality traits were found to predict their perception of the early alliance, the openness domain was found to be significantly associated to supervisor’s self-reported ratings of alliance. Implications of these findings are discussed

Prédicteurs de la présence comorbide des symptômes du trouble d’anxiété généralisée et de la Dépression chez les mères primipares en post-partum

La présence comorbide des symptômes du trouble d’anxiété généralisée (TAG) et de la Dépression post-partum, en plus d’être très fréquente, est associée à moins de périodes de rémission de symptômes, comparativement à la présence d’un seul des troubles (Prenoveau et al., 2013). Les auteurs en concluent que bien que la présence de ces deux problématiques demeure relativement stable dans le temps lorsqu’aucun traitement n’est entamé, leur présence concomitante est associée à un niveau encore plus élevé de chronicité des symptômes. Elle rendrait aussi les nouvelles mères plus à risque d’être confrontées à des difficultés postnatales. Les facteurs explicatifs de la présence simultanée et de la persistance de ces troubles en post-partum n’ont toutefois pas été étudiés. Dupuy et Ladouceur (2008) identifient trois facteurs pouvant expliquer la concomitance TAG-Dépression, bien qu’auprès d’une population générale, soit l’intolérance à l’incertitude (II), l’attitude négative face aux problèmes (ANP) et l’évitement cognitif (ÉC). Viau-Guay (2011) a aussi observé que ces trois facteurs prédisent l’intensité des inquiétudes durant la période postnatale. Cette thèse vise à vérifier, auprès de nouvelles mères en post-partum, les liens entre, d’une part, ces facteurs cognitifs (II, ANP et ÉC), le soutien social perçu (conjoint, famille et amis), des facteurs sociodémographiques et obstétriques et, d’autre part, la présence concomitante de symptômes TAG-dépressifs. Des mères ont été recrutées et évaluées à huit semaines et à six mois en post-partum. À l’aide de questionnaires diagnostiques, elles ont été divisées en quatre groupes, soit (1) celles qui présentent des symptômes TAG-dépressifs comorbides élevés, (2) les mères ayant des symptômes TAG élevés seulement, (3) celles ayant des symptômes dépressifs élevés seulement et (4) les mères ayant une absence de symptômes TAG et dépressifs. D’une part, il était attendu que celles présentant des symptômes TAG et dépressifs élevés rapportent des niveaux plus élevés d’II, d’ANP et d’ÉC, de même que moins de soutien social perçu, que les autres groupes de mères. D’autre part, des résultats similaires étaient attendus chez les mères présentant un maintien des deux types de symptômes. Les résultats soutiennent le rôle de variables associées aux facteurs cognitifs, au soutien social perçu et aux consultations psychologiques passées, tels que l’II, la surestimation, le doute, l’évitement des incertitudes, l’ANP, l’ÉC, l’insatisfaction conjugale, le soutien perçu par la famille et les amis, l’isolement social et les consultations psychologiques passées, dans la présence de symptômes comorbides TAG-dépressifs élevés. De plus, les résultats montrent que les mères ayant un maintien des symptômes TAG-dépressifs éprouvent de la difficulté à tolérer les situations incertaines de façon générale, évitent les incertitudes, adoptent une attitude négative face aux problèmes, font de l’évitement cognitif et se sentent plus isolées que les mères ne maintenant pas leurs symptômes comorbides dans le temps. Il est possible que les mères ayant des symptômes TAG-dépressifs élevés présentent davantage d’II, d’ANP et d’ÉC en comparaison avec les autres groupes de mères étant donné leurs biais cognitifs plus rigides qui les amènent à évaluer subjectivement plus de danger, notamment en contexte de nouveauté associé à leur première expérience de maternité. Elles pourraient alors mobiliser des mécanismes cognitifs et comportementaux associés à l’II, l’ANP et l’ÉC pour tenter de diminuer leur inconfort. Cette étude présente plusieurs forces, telles qu’un grand échantillon de participantes, ce qui permet un plus grand potentiel de généralisation des résultats à l’ensemble des mères ainsi qu’avoir deux temps de mesure afin de tenir compte de l’évolution de leurs symptômes. Par ailleurs, bien que les symptômes TAG-dépressifs soient évalués à partir de questionnaires présentant de bonnes propriétés psychométriques, il est possible que certaines mères aient sous ou sur évaluées leurs symptômes TAG et dépressifs. Cette étude permet d’identifier des pistes à considérer pour comprendre la comorbidité TAG-Dépression postnatale et le maintien des symptômes. Ces informations aideront possiblement au développement de modèles explicatifs de ces problématiques en plus d’envisager des pistes de prévention et d’intervention

Arabidopsis tRNA-derived fragments as potential modulators of translation

International audienceTransfer RNA-derived fragments (tRFs) exist in all branches of life. They are involved in RNA degradation, regulation of gene expression, ribosome biogenesis. In archaebacteria, kinetoplastid, yeast and human cells, they were also shown to regulate translation. In Arabidopsis, the tRFs population fluctuates under developmental or environmental conditions but their functions are yet poorly understood. Here, we show that populations of long (30-35 nt) or short (19-25 nt) tRFs produced from Arabidopsis tRNAs can inhibit in vitro translation of a reporter gene. Analyzing a series of oligoribonucleotides mimicking natural tRFs, we demonstrate that only a limited set of tRFs possess the ability to affect protein synthesis. Out of a dozen of tRFs, only two deriving from tRNA Ala (AGC) and tRNA Asn (GUU) strongly attenuate translation in vitro. Contrary to human tRF(Ala), the 4 Gs present at the 5' extremity of Arabidopsis tRF(Ala) are not implicated in this inhibition while the G18 and G19 residues are essential. Protein synthesis inhibition by tRFs does not require complementarity with the translated mRNA but, having the capability to be associated with polyribosomes, tRFs likely act as general modulation factors of the translation process in plants

Plant RNases T2, but not Dicer-like proteins, are major players of tRNA-derived fragments biogenesis

RNA fragments deriving from tRNAs (tRFs) exist in all branches of life and the repertoire of their biological functions regularly increases. Paradoxically, their biogenesis remains unclear. The human RNase A, Angiogenin, and the yeast RNase T2, Rny1p, generate long tRFs after cleavage in the anticodon region. The production of short tRFs after cleavage in the D or T regions is still enigmatic. Here, we show that the Arabidopsis Dicer-like proteins, DCL1-4, do not play a major role in the production of tRFs. Rather, we demonstrate that the Arabidopsis RNases T2, called RNS, are key players of both long and short tRFs biogenesis. Arabidopsis RNS show specific expression profiles. In particular, RNS1 and RNS3 are mainly found in the outer tissues of senescing seeds where they are the main endoribonucleases responsible of tRNA cleavage activity for tRFs production. In plants grown under phosphate starvation conditions, the induction of RNS1 is correlated with the accumulation of specific tRFs. Beyond plants, we also provide evidence that short tRFs can be produced by the yeast Rny1p and that, in vitro, human RNase T2 is also able to generate long and short tRFs. Our data suggest an evolutionary conserved feature of these enzymes in eukaryotes

A mutual reference shape based on information theory

International audienceIn this paper, we propose to consider the estimation of a refer-ence shape from a set of different segmentation results using both active contours and information theory. The reference shape is defined as the minimum of a criterion that benefits from both the mutual information and the joint entropy of the input segmentations and called a mutual shape. This energy criterion is here justified using similarities between informa-tion theory quantities and area measures, and presented in a continuous variational framework. This framework brings out some interesting evaluation measures such as the speci-ficity and sensitivity. In order to solve this shape optimization problem, shape derivatives are computed for each term of the criterion and interpreted as an evolution equation of an active contour. Some synthetical examples allow us to cast the light on the difference between our mutual shape and an average shape. Our framework has been considered for the estimation of a mutual shape for the evaluation of cardiac segmentation methods in MRI

Multi-modal image fusion for small animal studies in in-line PET /3T MRI

Congrès sous l’égide de la Société Française de Génie Biologique et Médical (SFGBM).National audienceIn the framework of small animal multi-modal imaging, the current progression of the IMAPPI project is illustrated by the design of an in-line PET/MRI prototype, coupled to a dedicated multi-resolution registration method allowing the robust fusion of data coming from both modalities. The first results show a good alignment of the data from tumor imaging at the level of the abdomen

Comparison of different segmentation approaches without using gold standard. Application to the estimation of the left ventricle ejection fraction from cardiac cine MRI sequences.

International audienceA statistical method is proposed to compare several estimates of a relevant clinical parameter when no gold standard is available. The method is illustrated by considering the left ventricle ejection fraction derived from cardiac magnetic resonance images and computed using seven approaches with different degrees of automation. The proposed method did not use any a priori regarding with the reliability of each method and its degree of automation. The results showed that the most accurate estimates of the ejection fraction were obtained using manual segmentations, followed by the semiautomatic methods, while the methods with the least user input yielded the least accurate ejection fraction estimates. These results were consistent with the expected performance of the estimation methods, suggesting that the proposed statistical approach might be helpful to assess the performance of estimation methods on clinical data for which no gold standard is available

Nonsupervised Ranking of Different Segmentation Approaches: Application to the Estimation of the Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction From Cardiac Cine MRI Sequences

International audienceA statistical methodology is proposed to rank several estimation methods of a relevant clinical parameter when no gold standard is available. Based on a regression without truth method, the proposed approach was applied to rank eightmethods without using any a priori information regarding the reliability of each method and its degree of automation. It was only based on a prior concerning the statistical distribution of the parameter of interest in the database. The ranking of the methods relies on figures of merit derived from the regression and computed using a bootstrap process. The methodology was applied to the estimation of the left ventricular ejection fraction derived from cardiac magnetic resonance images segmented using eight approaches with different degrees of automation: three segmentations were entirely manually performed and the others were variously automated. The ranking of methods was consistent with the expected performance of the estimation methods: the most accurate estimates of the ejection fraction were obtained using manual segmentations. The robustness of the ranking was demonstrated when at least three methods were compared. These results suggest that the proposed statistical approach might be helpful to assess the performance of estimation methods on clinical data for which no gold standard is available

Improved estimation of the left ventricular ejection fraction using a combination of independent automated segmentation results in cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

—This work aimed at combining different segmenta-tion approaches to produce a robust and accurate segmentation result. Three to five segmentation results of the left ventricle were combined using the STAPLE algorithm and the reliability of the resulting segmentation was evaluated in comparison with the result of each individual segmentation method. This comparison was performed using a supervised approach based on a reference method. Then, we used an unsupervised statistical evaluation, the extended Regression Without Truth (eRWT) that ranks different methods according to their accuracy in estimating a specific biomarker in a population. The segmentation accuracy was evaluated by focusing on the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) estimate resulting from the LV contour delineation using a public cardiac cine MRI database. Eight different segmentation methods, including three expert delineations, were studied, and sixteen combinations of the five automated methods were investigated. The supervised and unsupervised evaluations demonstrated that in most cases, STAPLE results provided better estimates of the LVEF than individual automated segmentation methods. In addition, LVEF obtained with STAPLE were within inter-expert variability. Overall, combining different automated segmentation methods improved the reliability of the segmenta-tion result compared to that obtained using an individual metho

The nuclear and organellar tRNA-derived RNA fragment population in Arabidopsis thaliana is highly dynamic

In the expanding repertoire of small noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), tRNA-derived RNA fragments (tRFs) have been identified in all domains of life. Their existence in plants has been already proven but no detailed analysis has been performed. Here, short tRFs of 19-26 nucleotides were retrieved from Arabidopsis thaliana small RNA libraries obtained from various tissues, plants submitted to abiotic stress or fractions immunoprecipitated with ARGONAUTE 1 (AGO1). Large differences in the tRF populations of each extract were observed. Depending on the tRNA, either tRF-5D (due to a cleavage in the D region) or tRF-3T (via a cleavage in the T region) were found and hot spots of tRNA cleavages have been identified. Interestingly, up to 25% of the tRFs originate from plastid tRNAs and we provide evidence that mitochondrial tRNAs can also be a source of tRFs. Very specific tRF-5D deriving not only from nucleus-encoded but also from plastid-encoded tRNAs are strongly enriched in AGO1 immunoprecipitates. We demonstrate that the organellar tRFs are not found within chloroplasts or mitochondria but rather accumulate outside the organelles. These observations suggest that some organellar tRFs could play regulatory functions within the plant cell and may be part of a signaling pathway.Cognat, Valerie Morelle, Geoffrey Megel, Cyrille Lalande, Stephanie Molinier, Jean Vincent, Timothee Small, Ian Duchene, Anne-Marie Marechal-Drouard, Laurence eng England 2016/12/03 06:00 Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Apr 7;45(6):3460-3472. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkw1122.PMC538970