A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services. METHODS/DESIGN: The Psychosis early Intervention and Assessment of Needs and Outcome (PIANO) trial is part of a larger research program (Genetics, Endophenotypes and Treatment: Understanding early Psychosis - GET UP) which aims to compare, at 9?months, the effectiveness of a multi-component psychosocial intervention versus treatment as usual (TAU) in a large epidemiologically based cohort of patients with FEP and their family members recruited from all public community mental health centers (CMHCs) located in two entire regions of Italy (Veneto and Emilia Romagna), and in the cities of Florence, Milan and Bolzano. The GET UP PIANO trial has a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled design. The randomized units (clusters) are the CMHCs, and the units of observation are the centers' patients and their family members. Patients in the experimental group will receive TAU plus: 1) cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, 2) psycho-educational sessions for family members, and 3) case management. Patient enrolment will take place over a 1-year period. Several psychopathological, psychological, functioning, and service use variables will be assessed at baseline and follow-up. The primary outcomes are: 1) change from baseline to follow-up in positive and negative symptoms' severity and subjective appraisal; 2) relapse occurrences between baseline and follow-up, that is, episodes resulting in admission and/or any case-note records of re-emergence of positive psychotic symptoms. The expected number of recruited patients is about 400, and that of relatives about 300. Owing to the implementation of the intervention at the CMHC level, the blinding of patients, clinicians, and raters is not possible, but every effort will be made to preserve the independency of the raters. We expect that this study will generate evidence on the best treatments for FEP, and will identify barriers that may hinder its feasibility in 'real-world' clinical settings, patient/family conditions that may render this intervention ineffective or inappropriate, and clinical, psychological, environmental, and service organization predictors of treatment effectiveness, compliance, and service satisfaction. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01436331.     

Production of glucuronic acid-based polysaccharides by microbial fermentation for biomedical applications

This review provides an overview of the properties, different biosynthetic machineries, and biotechnological production processes of four microbially derived glucuronic acid-based polysaccharides that are of interest for diverse biomedical purposes. In particular, the utilization of hyaluronic acid and heparin sulfate in high-value medical applications is already well established, whereas chondroitin sulfate and alginate show high potential within this ever-growing field. Furthermore, new strategies exploiting genetically engineered microorganisms generated through improving naturally existing pathways or de novo designed ones are described. These new developments result in increased fermentation titers, and thereby, pave the way towards feasible, or at least improved, process economy. Moreover, these strategies also allow for the future possibility of producing tailor-made biopolymers with specified characteristics, even novel molecules.     

"Cheek-to-cheek" urinary proteome profiling via combinatorial peptide ligand libraries: A novel, unexpected elution system

A new method is here reported for facile elution of the human urinary proteome after being captured with combinatorial peptide ligand libraries (CPLL, ProteoMiner). It consists in challenging the beads with 100 mM Tris, pH 7.4, or with 100 mM Lys, pH 7.4 or even better with a mixture of Lys, Arg, Asp and Glu (150 mM final concentration). These elutions permit recovery of species in a native form, for monitoring any biological activity of the eluted species, while avoiding the noxious presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), reported as the best eluant so far from CPLL beads. SDS, albeit permitting quantitative recovery from the beads, has to be removed from the sample prior to mass spectrometry analysis. This unorthodox elution, which most likely will work only for urine samples, seems to be due to the fact that bile salts and urinary pigments are massively adsorbed by the beads, thus masking the hydrophobic binding sites of aromatic and non-aromatic amino acids. The binding thus occurs mostly via ionic and hydrogen bond interactions via the “Grand Catchers” Arg, Lys, His, which can then be easily challenged by positively charged species, such a Tris, free Lys and free Arg in the eluant as well as by negatively charged compounds, such as Glu and Asp. When eluting with the four-amino acid mix, at least 3300 spots can be visualized in a 2D map.     

Macrotrachela quadricornifera featured in a space experiment

Macrotrachela quadricornifera, a bdelloid rotifer, is the animal model of an experiment scheduled on the International Space Station (ISS). The focus of the experiment is the role of the cytoskeleton during oogenesis and early development. Bdelloids will fly desiccated, be rehydrated on the ISS and cultivated for five generations. We present the outline of the ISS experiment, the expectations and the state-of-the-art of ground-based research run to date on the major topics of the planned experiment: anhydrobiosis and embryogenesis. Anhydrobiosis focuses on two major aspects, storage conditions that enhance recovery rate and comparison of the resistance between dormant and active rotifers to UV radiation and other environmental injuries. Embryogenesis has been approached at the morphological level under ground conditions: developing embryos have been studied by light and confocal microscopes.     

The interaction of IQGAP1 with the exocyst complex is required for tumor cell invasion downstream of Cdc42 and RhoA

Invadopodia are actin-based membrane protrusions formed at contact sites between invasive tumor cells and the extracellular matrix with matrix proteolytic activity. Actin regulatory proteins participate in invadopodia formation, whereas matrix degradation requires metalloproteinases (MMPs) targeted to invadopodia. In this study, we show that the vesicle-tethering exocyst complex is required for matrix proteolysis and invasion of breast carcinoma cells. We demonstrate that the exocyst subunits Sec3 and Sec8 interact with the polarity protein IQGAP1 and that this interaction is triggered by active Cdc42 and RhoA, which are essential for matrix degradation. Interaction between IQGAP1 and the exocyst is necessary for invadopodia activity because enhancement of matrix degradation induced by the expression of IQGAP1 is lost upon deletion of the exocyst-binding site. We further show that the exocyst and IQGAP1 are required for the accumulation of cell surface membrane type 1 MMP at invadopodia. Based on these results, we propose that invadopodia function in tumor cells relies on the coordination of cytoskeletal assembly and exocytosis downstream of Rho guanosine triphosphatases.     

Viral vectors for production of recombinant proteins in plants

Global demand for recombinant proteins has steadily accelerated for the last 20 years. These recombinant proteins have a wide range of important applications, including vaccines and therapeutics for human and animal health, industrial enzymes, new materials and components of novel nano-particles for various applications. The majority of recombinant proteins are produced by traditional biological "factories," that is, predominantly mammalian and microbial cell cultures along with yeast and insect cells. However, these traditional technologies cannot satisfy the increasing market demand due to prohibitive capital investment requirements. During the last two decades, plants have been under intensive investigation to provide an alternative system for cost-effective, highly scalable, and safe production of recombinant proteins. Although the genetic engineering of plant viral vectors for heterologous gene expression can be dated back to the early 1980s, recent understanding of plant virology and technical progress in molecular biology have allowed for significant improvements and fine tuning of these vectors. These breakthroughs enable the flourishing of a variety of new viral-based expression systems and their wide application by academic and industry groups. In this review, we describe the principal plant viral-based production strategies and the latest plant viral expression systems, with a particular focus on the variety of proteins produced and their applications. We will summarize the recent progress in the downstream processing of plant materials for efficient extraction and purification of recombinant proteins.     

Human plasmacytoid dendritic cells interact with gp96 via CD91 and regulate inflammatory responses

Glucose-regulated stress protein gp96 is known to be involved in the host response to pathogens and to cancer. Our study explored the relationships between gp96 and human blood plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) and proved that gp96 directly targets pDC by a receptor-dependent interaction. Competition studies identified CD91 as a gp96 receptor on pDC, and laser confocal imaging indicated that CD91 triggering was followed by gp96 endocytosis and trafficking into early endosomes and later into the endoplasmic reticulum compartment. Using two alternative Abs, we showed that human blood pDC reproducibly expressed CD91, although different levels of expression were detectable among the analyzed donors. Moreover, CpG-matured pDC displayed CD91 receptor up-regulation that correlated with an increased gp96 binding. Functionally, gp96-pDC interaction activated the NF-kappaB pathway, leading to the nuclear translocation of the NF-kappaB complex. gp96-treated pDC maintained an immature phenotype, while they down-modulated the release of IL-8, suggesting an anti-inflammatory role of this pathway, and they strongly up-regulated the cell surface expression of the gp96 receptor CD91. CpG-matured or gp96-treated pDC, expressing high levels of the gp96 receptor CD91, antagonized the gp96-induced activation of monocyte-derived dendritic cells in terms of cell surface phenotype and cytokine production. Altogether, these results suggest that gp96-pDC interaction might represent an active mechanism controlling the strength of the immune response to free, extracellular available gp96; this mechanism could be particularly relevant in wounds and chronic inflammation.     

Hydrolase-catalysed synthesis of peroxycarboxylic acids: Biocatalytic promiscuity for practical applications

The enzymatic promiscuity concept involves the possibility that one active site of an enzyme can catalyse several different chemical transformations. A rational understanding of the mechanistic reasons for this catalytic performance could lead to new practical applications. The capability of certain hydrolases to perform the perhydrolysis was described more than a decade ago, and recently its molecular basis has been elucidated. Remarkably, a similarity between perhydrolases (cofactor-free haloperoxidases) and serine hydrolases was found, with both groups of enzymes sharing a common catalytic triad, which suggests an evolution from a common ancestor. On the other hand, several biotechnological applications derived from the capability of hydrolases to catalyse the synthesis of peracids have been reported: the use of hydrolases as bleaching agents via in situ generation of peracids; (self)-epoxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, olefins, or plant oils, via Prileshajev epoxidation; Baeyer-Villiger reactions. In the present review, the molecular basis for this promiscuous hydrolase capability, as well as identified applications are reviewed and described in detail.     

Territorial male gobies respond aggressively to sneakers but do not adjust their sperm expenditure

We investigated whether mating behavior (sperm expenditure,courtship rate, and nest guarding) varied according to differentlevels of sperm competition in territorial males of two gobyspecies, the grass and the black gobies. We measured sperm expenditure(sperm released after 30 min from the beginning of the spawning),male courtship rate, and nest-guarding behavior in territorialmales of both species during simulated spawnings, in which wevaried the number of attending sneakers. Our results showedthat, in both species, territorial males adjusted their effortin nest guarding to the presence of rival sneakers by increasingthe time spent patrolling the territory and attacking the sneakers.In contrast, sperm expenditure and male courtship rate werenot influenced by the number of attending sneakers. These resultsare in agreement with those reported for other fish with alternativemating tactics and help to interpret previous inconsistenciesbetween theoretical predictions and measured levels of spermreleased at different levels of sperm competition by sneakersof the two gobiids studied here.