Does change in positive affect mediate and/or moderate the impact of symptom distress on psychological adjustment after cancer diagnosis? A prospective analysis

Physical symptom distress is one of the commonest correlates of psychological adjustment in cancer patients. Positive affect (PA) can be a dynamic resource for patients to cope with the cancer-related physical demands. The present study examined whether differential patterns of change in PA were associated with anxiety and depressed mood, and whether PA modified the association between change in symptom distress and psychological distress in 215 Chinese people newly diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC). Participants completed measures of physical symptoms, PA, and anxiety and depression at diagnosis and again at 3-month follow-up. Multivariate analyses of covariance revealed that at follow-up, people reporting higher anxiety and depressed mood demonstrated loss in PA, whereas those reporting lower depressed mood demonstrated a gain in PA. Structural equation modelling revealed that change in PA significantly mediated and moderated the associations between increased symptom distress and anxiety and depressed mood. We conclude that in line with Hobfoll's conservation of resources theory, continuous physical symptom distress depletes PA of newly diagnosed cancer patients, resulting in higher levels of anxiety and depressed mood. Effectiveness of symptom management intervention could be enhanced by preserving or enhancing PA in patients. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.postprin

The marginally stable Bethe lattice spin glass revisited

Bethe lattice spins glasses are supposed to be marginally stable, i.e. their equilibrium probability distribution changes discontinuously when we add an external perturbation. So far the problem of a spin glass on a Bethe lattice has been studied only using an approximation where marginally stability is not present, which is wrong in the spin glass phase. Because of some technical difficulties, attempts at deriving a marginally stable solution have been confined to some perturbative regimes, high connectivity lattices or temperature close to the critical temperature. Using the cavity method, we propose a general non-perturbative approach to the Bethe lattice spin glass problem using approximations that should be hopeful consistent with marginal stability.Comment: 23 pages Revised version, hopefully clearer that the first one: six pages longe

Extended Functionality in Verifiable Searchable Encryption

Abstract. When outsourcing the storage of sensitive data to an (un-trusted) remote server, a data owner may choose to encrypt the data beforehand to preserve confidentiality. However, it is then difficult to efficiently retrieve specific portions of the data as the server is unable to identify the relevant information. Searchable encryption has been well studied as a solution to this problem, allowing data owners and other au-thorised users to generate search queries which the server may execute over the encrypted data to identify relevant data portions. However, many current schemes lack two important properties: verifia-bility of search results, and expressive queries. We introduce Extended Verifiable Searchable Encryption (eVSE) that permits a user to verify that search results are correct and complete. We also permit verifiabl

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Skewed Exposure to Environmental Antigens Complements Hygiene Hypothesis in Explaining the Rise of Allergy

The Hygiene Hypothesis has been recognized as an important cornerstone to explain the sudden increase in the prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases in modernized culture. The recent epidemic of allergic diseases is in contrast with the gradual implementation of Homo sapiens sapiens to the present-day forms of civilization. This civilization forms a gradual process with cumulative effects on the human immune system, which co-developed with parasitic and commensal Helminths. The clinical manifestation of this epidemic, however, became only visible in the second half of the twentieth century. In order to explain these clinical effects in terms of the underlying IgE-mediated reactions to innocuous environmental antigens, the low biodiversity of antigens in the domestic environment plays a pivotal role. The skewing of antigen exposure as a cumulative effect of reducing biodiversity in the immediate human environment as well as in changing food habits, provides a sufficient and parsimonious explanation for the rise in allergic diseases in a highly developed and helminth-free modernized culture. Socio-economic tendencies that incline towards a further reduction of environmental biodiversity may provide serious concern for future health. This article explains that the “Hygiene Hypothesis”, the “Old Friends Hypothesis”, and the “Skewed Antigen Exposure Hypothesis” are required to more fully explain the rise of allergy in modern societies

Phosphorylation of a splice variant of collapsin response mediator protein 2 in the nucleus of tumour cells links cyclin dependent kinase-5 to oncogenesis

Background Cyclin-dependent protein kinase-5 (CDK5) is an unusual member of the CDK family as it is not cell cycle regulated. However many of its substrates have roles in cell growth and oncogenesis, raising the possibility that CDK5 modulation could have therapeutic benefit. In order to establish whether changes in CDK5 activity are associated with oncogenesis one could quantify phosphorylation of CDK5 targets in disease tissue in comparison to appropriate controls. However the identity of physiological and pathophysiological CDK5 substrates remains the subject of debate, making the choice of CDK5 activity biomarkers difficult. Methods Here we use in vitro and in cell phosphorylation assays to identify novel features of CDK5 target sequence determinants that confer enhanced CDK5 selectivity, providing means to select substrate biomarkers of CDK5 activity with more confidence. We then characterize tools for the best CDK5 substrate we identified to monitor its phosphorylation in human tissue and use these to interrogate human tumour arrays. Results The close proximity of Arg/Lys amino acids and a proline two residues N-terminal to the phosphorylated residue both improve recognition of the substrate by CDK5. In contrast the presence of a proline two residues C-terminal to the target residue dramatically reduces phosphorylation rate. Serine-522 of Collapsin Response Mediator-2 (CRMP2) is a validated CDK5 substrate with many of these structural criteria. We generate and characterise phosphospecific antibodies to Ser522 and show that phosphorylation appears in human tumours (lung, breast, and lymphoma) in stark contrast to surrounding non-neoplastic tissue. In lung cancer the anti-phospho-Ser522 signal is positive in squamous cell carcinoma more frequently than adenocarcinoma. Finally we demonstrate that it is a specific and unusual splice variant of CRMP2 (CRMP2A) that is phosphorylated in tumour cells. Conclusions For the first time this data associates altered CDK5 substrate phosphorylation with oncogenesis in some but not all tumour types, implicating altered CDK5 activity in aspects of pathogenesis. These data identify a novel oncogenic mechanism where CDK5 activation induces CRMP2A phosphorylation in the nuclei of tumour cells

Measurement of the matrix element for the decay η′→ηπ +π -

The Dalitz plot of η⊃′→ηπ⊃+π⊃- decay is studied using (225.2±2.8)×106 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII e⊃+e⊃- collider. With the largest sample of η⊃′ decays to date, the parameters of the Dalitz plot are determined in a generalized and a linear representation. Also, the branching fraction of J/ψ→γη⊃′ is determined to be (4.84±0.03±0.24)×10⊃-3, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. © 2011 American Physical Society.published_or_final_versio

Experimental studies of e + e -→ some charmless processes containing K S0 at √s = 3.773 and 3.65 GeV

We measure the observed cross sections for the charmless processes e + e -→K S0 K - K - K + π ++ c.c., K S0 K - π + η+c.c., K S0 K - π + π + π - η+c.c., K S0 K - K - K + π + η+c.c., K S0 K - K - K + π + π 0+c.c., K S0 K - ρ ++c.c. and K S0 K - π + ρ 0+c.c. We also extract upper limits on the branching fractions for ψ(3770) decays into these final states at 90% C.L. Analyzed data samples correspond to 17.3 pb-1 and 6.5 pb-1 integrated luminosities registered, respectively, at √s = 3.773 and 3.65 GeV, with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider. © 2009 Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Determination of the number of J/ψ events with J/ψ → inclusive decays

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Higher-order multipole amplitude measurement in ψ ′→γχ c2

Using 106×106 ψ ′ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII storage ring, the higher-order multipole amplitudes in the radiative transition ψ ′→γχ c2→γπ +π -/γK +K - are measured. A fit to the χ c2 production and decay angular distributions yields M2=0.046±0. 010±0.013 and E3=0.015±0.008±0.018, where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. Here M2 denotes the normalized magnetic quadrupole amplitude and E3 the normalized electric octupole amplitude. This measurement shows evidence for the existence of the M2 signal with 4.4σ statistical significance and is consistent with the charm quark having no anomalous magnetic moment. © 2011 American Physical Society.published_or_final_versio