HIV Testing and Tolerance to Gender Based Violence: A Cross-Sectional Study in Zambia

This paper explores the effect of social relations and gender-based conflicts on the uptake of HIV testing in the South and Central provinces of Zambia. We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study of 1716 randomly selected individuals. Associations were examined using mixed-effect multivariable logistic regression. A total of 264 men (64%) and 268 women (56%) had never tested for HIV. The strongest determinants for not being tested were disruptive couple relationships (OR = 2.48 95% CI = 1.00–6.19); tolerance to gender-based violence (OR = 2.10 95% CI = 1.05–4.32) and fear of social rejection (OR = 1.48 95% CI = 1.23–1.80). In the Zambian context, unequal power relationships within the couple and the community seem to play a pivotal role in the decision to test which until now have been largely underestimated. Policies, programs and interventions to rapidly increase HIV testing need to urgently address gender-power inequity in relationships and prevent gender-based violence to reduce the negative impact on the lives of couples and families.     

Functional consequences of mutating conserved SF2 helicase motifs in the Type III restriction endonuclease EcoP15I translocase domain

For efficient DNA hydrolysis, Type III restriction endonuclease EcoP15I interacts with two inversely oriented recognition sites in an ATP-dependent process. EcoP15I consists of two methylation (Mod) subunits and a single restriction (Res) subunit yielding a multifunctional enzyme complex able to methylate or to hydrolyse DNA. Comprehensive sequence alignments, limited proteolysis and mass spectroscopy suggested that the Res subunit is a fusion of a motor or translocase (Tr) domain of superfamily II helicases and an endonuclease domain with a catalytic PD…EXK motif. In the Tr domain, seven predicted helicase motifs (I, Ia, II–VI), a recently discovered Q-tip motif and three additional regions (IIIa, IVa, Va) conserved among Type III restriction enzymes have been identified that are predicted to be involved in DNA binding and ATP hydrolysis. Because DNA unwinding activity for EcoP15I (as for bona fide helicases) has never been found and EcoP15I ATPase rates are only low, the functional importance of the helicase motifs and regions was questionable and has never been probed systematically. Therefore, we mutated all helicase motifs and conserved regions predicted in Type III restriction enzyme EcoP15I and examined the functional consequences on EcoP15I enzyme activity and the structural integrity of the variants by CD spectroscopy. The resulting eleven enzyme variants all, except variant IVa, are properly folded showing the same secondary structure distribution as the wild-type enzyme. Classical helicase motifs I–VI are important for ATP and DNA cleavage by EcoP15I and mutations therein led to complete loss of ATPase and cleavage activity. Among the catalytically inactive enzyme variants three preserved the ability to bind ATP. In contrast, newly assigned motifs Q-tip, Ia and Va are not essential for EcoP15I activity and the corresponding enzyme variants were still catalytically active. DNA binding was only marginally reduced (2–7 fold) in all enzyme variants tested.     

Structural Basis for the Interaction of the Golgi-Associated Retrograde Protein Complex with the t-SNARE Syntaxin 6

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Misperceiving Bullshit as Profound Is Associated with Favorable Views of Cruz,Rubio, Trump and Conservatism

The present research investigates the associations between holding favorable views of potential Democratic or Republican candidates for the US presidency 2016 and seeing profoundness in bullshit statements. In this contribution, bullshit is used as a technical term which is defined as communicative expression that lacks content, logic, or truth from the perspective of natural science. We used the Bullshit Receptivity scale (BSR) to measure seeing profoundness in bullshit statements. The BSR scale contains statements that have a correct syntactic structure and seem to be sound and meaningful on first reading but are actually vacuous. Participants (N = 196; obtained via Amazon Mechanical Turk) rated the profoundness of bullshit statements (using the BSR) and provided favorability ratings of three Democratic (Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, and Bernie Sanders) and three Republican candidates for US president (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump). Participants also completed a measure of political liberalism/conservatism. Results revealed that favorable views of all three Republican candidates were positively related to judging bullshit statements as profound. The smallest correlation was found for Donald Trump. Although we observe a positive association between bullshit and support for the three Democrat candidates, this relationship is both substantively small and statistically insignificant. The general measure of political liberalism/conservatism was also related to judging bullshit statements as profound in that individuals who were more politically conservative had a higher tendency to see profoundness in bullshit statements. Of note, these results were not due to a general tendency among conservatives to see profoundness in everything: Favorable views of Republican candidates and conservatism were not significantly related to profoundness ratings of mundane statements. In contrast, this was the case for Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley. Overall, small-to-medium sized correlations were found, indicating that far from all conservatives see profoundness in bullshit statements.     

Cryo-EM Data Are Superior to Contact and Interface Information in Integrative Modeling

Protein-protein interactions carry out a large variety of essential cellular processes. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a powerful technique for the modeling of protein-protein interactions at a wide range of resolutions, and recent developments have caused a revolution in the field. At low resolution, cryo-EM maps can drive integrative modeling of the interaction, assembling existing structures into the map. Other experimental techniques can provide information on the interface or on the contacts between the monomers in the complex. This inevitably raises the question regarding which type of data is best suited to drive integrative modeling approaches. Systematic comparison of the prediction accuracy and specificity of the different integrative modeling paradigms is unavailable to date. Here, we compare EM-driven, interface-driven, and contact-driven integrative modeling paradigms. Models were generated for the protein docking benchmark using the ATTRACT docking engine and evaluated using the CAPRI two-star criterion. At 20 Å resolution, EM-driven modeling achieved a success rate of 100%, outperforming the other paradigms even with perfect interface and contact information. Therefore, even very low resolution cryo-EM data is superior in predicting heterodimeric and heterotrimeric protein assemblies. Our study demonstrates that a force field is not necessary, cryo-EM data alone is sufficient to accurately guide the monomers into place. The resulting rigid models successfully identify regions of conformational change, opening up perspectives for targeted flexible remodeling.     

Widespread Distribution of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dehalococcoides mccartyi</Emphasis> in the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay,Texas, Sediments and the Potential for Reductive Dechlorination of PCDD/F in an Estuarine Environment

Sediments in the Houston Ship Channel and upper Galveston Bay, Texas, USA, are polluted with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans (PCDD/F; ≤46,000 ng/kg dry weight (wt.)) with 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the most toxic congener, contributing >50 % of the total toxic equivalents (TEQ) at most locations. We measured PCDD/F concentrations in sediments and evaluated the potential for enhanced in situ biodegradation by surveying for Dehalococcoides mccartyi, an obligate organohalide respiring bacterium. Dehalococcoides spp. (98 % similar to D. mccartyi) and 22 other members of the class Dehalococcoidia were predominant 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) phylotypes. Dehalococcoides spp. were also present in the active fraction of the bacterial community. Presence/absence PCR screening detected D. mccartyi in sediment cores and sediment grab samples having at least 1 ng/kg dry wt. TEQ at salinities ranging from 0.6 to 19.5 PSU, indicating that they are widespread in the estuarine environment. Organic carbon-only and organic carbon + sulfate-amended sediment microcosm experiments resulted in ～60 % reduction of ambient 2,3,7,8-TCDD in just 24 months leading to reductions in total TEQs by 38.4 and 45.0 %, respectively, indicating that 2,3,7,8-TCDD degradation is occurring at appreciable rates.     

Successful bone marrow transplantation in a patient with DNA ligase IV deficiency and bone marrow failure

Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy is the term used to describe a constellation of features indicative of abnormal heart structure and function in patients with cirrhosis. These include systolic and diastolic dysfunction, electrophysiological changes, and macroscopic and microscopic structural changes. The prevalence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy remains unknown at present, mostly because the disease is generally latent and shows itself when the patient is subjected to stress such as exercise, drugs, hemorrhage and surgery. The main clinical features of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy include baseline increased cardiac output, attenuated systolic contraction or diastolic relaxation in response to physiologic, pharmacologic and surgical stress, and electrical conductance abnormalities (prolonged QT interval). In the majority of cases, diastolic dysfunction precedes systolic dysfunction, which tends to manifest only under conditions of stress. Generally, cirrhotic cardiomyopathy with overt severe heart failure is rare. Major stresses on the cardiovascular system such as liver transplantation, infections and insertion of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stent-shunts (TIPS) can unmask the presence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and thereby convert latent to overt heart failure. Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy may also contribute to the pathogenesis of hepatorenal syndrome. Pathogenic mechanisms of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy are multiple and include abnormal membrane biophysical characteristics, impaired β-adrenergic receptor signal transduction and increased activity of negative-inotropic pathways mediated by cGMP. Diagnosis and differential diagnosis require a careful assessment of patient history probing for excessive alcohol, physical examination for signs of hypertension such as retinal vascular changes, and appropriate diagnostic tests such as exercise stress electrocardiography, nuclear heart scans and coronary angiography. Current management recommendations include empirical, nonspecific and mainly supportive measures. The exact prognosis remains unclear. The extent of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy generally correlates to the degree of liver insufficiency. Reversibility is possible (either pharmacological or after liver transplantation), but further studies are needed.