New converts and seasoned campaigners: the role of social identity at different stages in the addiction recovery journey

Social identities associated with recovery are protective of relapse from addiction. How such identities develop and differentially link to outcomes at different points of the recovery journey and across multiple recovery attempts is relatively unknown. The current study utilised a pre-existing cross-sectional dataset (n=237 Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members, 50% male, 49.4% female and 0.6% female-to-male, aged between 19 and 71 years) to explore these issues. Relationships between AA identity, quit efficacy (a proxy for recovery maintenance) and AA meeting attendance (over the last month) were tested. The moderating effects of length of AA attendance during the current recovery episode and first vs subsequent quit attempts on the identity-efficacy link was also tested. Levels of social identity were stable amongst those in the early in their current recovery through to those who have more experience, but the relationships between identity and efficacy differed. While those early on in their current AA attendance showed a positive relationship between identities and frequency of attending meetings, those with more long-standing attendance reported social identification unrelated to involvement. Our results suggest that social identities may be particularly protective for those who are on their first quit, suggesting recovery formation and transition may be a priority

The search for exudates from Eurasian watermilfoil and hydrilla

Secondary metabolites are produced by aquatic plants, and in some instances, exudation of these metabolites into the surrounding water has been detected. To determine whether infestations of Eurasian watermilfoil or hydrilla produce such exudates, plant tissues and water samples were collected from laboratory cultures and pond populations and were analyzed using solid phase extraction, HPLC, and various methods of mass spectrometry including electrospray ionization, GC/MS, electron impact and chemical ionization. Previously reported compounds such as tellimagrandin II (from Eurasian watermilfoil) and a caffeic acid ester (from hvdrilla), along with a newly discovered flavonoid, cyanidin 3 dimalonyl glucoside (from hydrilla), were readily detected in plant tissues used in this research but were not detected in any of the water samples. If compounds are being released, as suggested by researchers using axenic cultures, we hypothesize that they may be rapidly degraded by bacteria and therefore undetectable

<i>InSpectra</i> - A platform for identifying emerging chemical threats

Non-target analysis (NTA) employing high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) coupled with liquid chromatography is increasingly being used to identify chemicals of biological relevance. HRMS datasets are large and complex making the identification of potentially relevant chemicals extremely challenging. As they are recorded in vendor-specific formats, interpreting them is often reliant on vendor-specific software that may not accommodate advancements in data processing. Here we present InSpectra, a vendor independent automated platform for the systematic detection of newly identified emerging chemical threats. InSpectra is web-based, open-source/access and modular providing highly flexible and extensible NTA and suspect screening workflows. As a cloud-based platform, InSpectra exploits parallel computing and big data archiving capabilities with a focus for sharing and community curation of HRMS data. InSpectra offers a reproducible and transparent approach for the identification, tracking and prioritisation of emerging chemical threats

A Study on Impact of Clinical Pharmacist Interventions on Medication Adherence and Quality of Life in Rural Hypertensive Patients

Hypertension is the very common chronic disease in rural, urban and semi-urban areas of today's world, which needs continuous monitoring and treatment through out the life. Lack of education, lifestyle modification, and low level of understanding on disease management in rural people will influence directly on their quality of life (QOL). The objective of this study was to know the impact of clinical pharmacist interventions on medication adherence and QOL. It was a prospective, randomized and interventional study. Fifty-six patients were enrolled; only 52 patients completed the study. Interventional group patients received patient counselling, patient information leaflets (PILS), and frequent telephonic reminding. In the baseline, first and second follow-ups, medication adherence and QOL were assessed by using Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) and Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS) Questionnaires and SF-12v2 Quality of life Questionnaire in both the groups. The results showed that systolic blood pressure P value in the second follow-up was 0.086+ when compared to baseline follow-up P value 0.094. The diastolic blood pressure reading of the intervention group at the second follow-up was 77.73 ± 3.63 in mmHg when compared to the baseline, i.e. 86.62 ± 11.35 in mmHg. The MMAS and MARS scores P values were 0.007**, 1.000, <0.001**; 0.007, 0.014 and 0.000 at the baseline, first and second follow-ups, respectively. The QOL score P values of physical component scale and mental component scale showed highly significant. This study concluded/showed that the impact of clinical pharmacist provided patient counselling had a positive impact on medication adherence and QOL

Click beetle luciferase mutant and near infrared naphthyl-luciferins for improved bioluminescence imaging

The sensitivity of bioluminescence imaging in animals is primarily dependent on the amount of photons emitted by the luciferase enzyme at wavelengths greater than 620 nm where tissue penetration is high. This area of work has been dominated by firefly luciferase and its substrate, D-luciferin, due to the system's peak emission (~ 600 nm), high signal to noise ratio, and generally favorable biodistribution of D-luciferin in mice. Here we report on the development of a codon optimized mutant of click beetle red luciferase that produces substantially more light output than firefly luciferase when the two enzymes are compared in transplanted cells within the skin of black fur mice or in deep brain. The mutant enzyme utilizes two new naphthyl-luciferin substrates to produce near infrared emission (730 nm and 743 nm). The stable luminescence signal and near infrared emission enable unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy for performing deep tissue multispectral tomography in mice

Click beetle luciferase mutant and near infrared naphthyl-luciferins for improved bioluminescence imaging

Imaging- and therapeutic targets in neoplastic and musculoskeletal inflammatory diseas

Click beetle luciferase mutant and near infrared naphthyl-luciferins for improved bioluminescence imaging

Imaging- and therapeutic targets in neoplastic and musculoskeletal inflammatory diseas

Large-scale pathways-based association study in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a devastating neurodegenerative disease, most likely results from complex genetic and environmental interactions. Although a number of association studies have been performed in an effort to find genetic components of sporadic ALS, most of them resulted in inconsistent findings due to a small number of genes investigated in relatively small sample sizes, while the replication of results was rarely attempted. Defects in retrograde axonal transport, vesicle trafficking and xenobiotic metabolism have been implicated in neurodegeneration and motor neuron death both in human disease and animal models. To assess the role of common genetic variation in these pathways in susceptibility to sporadic ALS, we performed a pathway-based candidate gene case-control association study with replication. Furthermore, we determined reliability of whole genome amplified DNA in a large-scale association study. In the first stage of the study, 1277 putative functional and tagging SNPs in 134 genes spanning 8.7 Mb were genotyped in 822 British sporadic ALS patients and 872 controls using whole genome amplified DNA. To detect variants with modest effect size and discriminate among false positive findings 19 SNPs showing a trend of association in the initial screen were genotyped in a replication sample of 580 German sporadic ALS patients and 361 controls. We did not detect strong evidence of association with any of the genes investigated in the discovery sample (lowest uncorrected P-value 0.00037, lowest permutation corrected P-value 0.353). None of the suggestive associations was replicated in a second sample, further excluding variants with moderate effect size. We conclude that common variation in the investigated pathways is unlikely to have a major effect on susceptibility to sporadic ALS. The genotyping efficiency was only slightly decreased (∼1%) and genotyping quality was not affected using whole genome amplified DNA. It is reliable for large scale genotyping studies of diseases such as ALS, where DNA sample collections are limited because of low disease prevalence and short survival time. © 2007 The Author(s)

Electron Scattering From High-Momentum Neutrons in Deuterium

We report results from an experiment measuring the semi-inclusive reaction $d(e,e'p_s)$ where the proton $p_s$ is moving at a large angle relative to the momentum transfer. If we assume that the proton was a spectator to the reaction taking place on the neutron in deuterium, the initial state of that neutron can be inferred. This method, known as spectator tagging, can be used to study electron scattering from high-momentum (off-shell) neutrons in deuterium. The data were taken with a 5.765 GeV electron beam on a deuterium target in Jefferson Laboratory's Hall B, using the CLAS detector. A reduced cross section was extracted for different values of final-state missing mass $W^{*}$, backward proton momentum $\vec{p}_{s}$ and momentum transfer $Q^{2}$. The data are compared to a simple PWIA spectator model. A strong enhancement in the data observed at transverse kinematics is not reproduced by the PWIA model. This enhancement can likely be associated with the contribution of final state interactions (FSI) that were not incorporated into the model. A ``bound neutron structure function'' $F_{2n}^{eff}$ was extracted as a function of $W^{*}$ and the scaling variable $x^{*}$ at extreme backward kinematics, where effects of FSI appear to be smaller. For $p_{s}>400$ MeV/c, where the neutron is far off-shell, the model overestimates the value of $F_{2n}^{eff}$ in the region of $x^{*}$ between 0.25 and 0.6. A modification of the bound neutron structure function is one of possible effects that can cause the observed deviation.Comment: 33 pages RevTeX, 9 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. C. Fixed 1 Referenc