Cultural Sensitive Care Provision in a Public Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre: A Case Study from the Toulouse University Hospital Intercultural Consultation

Child and adolescent mental health services in Europe are confronted with children with increasingly diverse socio-cultural backgrounds. Clinicians encounter cultural environments of hyperdiversity in terms of languages and countries of origin, growing diversity within groups, and accelerated change with regards to social and administrational situations (Hannah, in: DelVecchio Good et al. (eds) Shattering culture: American medicine responds to cultural diversity, Russel Sage Foundation, New York, 2011). Children and families who live in these complex constellations face multiple vulnerabilizing factors related to overlapping or intersecting social identities (Crenshaw in Univ Chic Leg Forum 140:139–167, 1989). Mobilizing existing resources in terms of social and family support, and encouraging creative strategies of interculturation in therapeutic work (Denoux, in: Blomart and Krewer (eds) Perspectives de l’interculturel, L’Harmattan, Paris, 1994) may be helpful in order to enhance resilience. Drawing from experiences in the context of French transcultural and intercultural psychiatry, and inspired by the Mc Gill Cultural Consultation in Child Psychiatry, we developed an innovative model, the Intercultural Consultation Service (ICS). This consultation proposes short term interventions to children and families with complex migration experiences. It has been implemented into a local public health care structure in Toulouse, the Medical and Psychological Centre la Grave. The innovation includes the creation of a specific setting for short term therapeutic interventions and team training via shared case discussions. Our objectives are (a) to improve outcomes of mental health care for the children through a better understanding of the child’s family context (exploration of family dynamics and their relatedness to complex migration histories), (b) to enhance intercultural competencies in professionals via shared case discussions, and, (c) to improve the therapeutic relationship between children and professionals on the basis of the work with the family and the dialogue with the team. In our paper, we present the rationale and functioning of the ICS and illustrate our work with a case study. The presentation of the case uses the Mc Gill B-version of the Cultural Formulation, combined with a relational and process oriented reflection on the intercultural dynamics that unfold during the encounter with a family.     

Lack of efficacy of a partial adenosine A1 receptor agonist in neuropathic pain models in mice

Previous studies suggest that adenosine A₁ receptors (A₁R) modulate the processing of pain. The aim of this study was to characterize the distribution of A₁R in nociceptive tissues and to evaluate whether targeting A₁R with the partial agonist capadenoson may reduce neuropathic pain in mice. The cellular distribution of A₁R in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and the spinal cord was analyzed using fluorescent in situ hybridization. In behavioral experiments, neuropathic pain was induced by spared nerve injury or intraperitoneal injection of paclitaxel, and tactile hypersensitivities were determined using a dynamic plantar aesthesiometer. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were performed to assess electrophysiological properties of dissociated DRG neurons. We found A₁R to be expressed in populations of DRG neurons and dorsal horn neurons involved in the processing of pain. However, administration of capadenoson at established in vivo doses (0.03–1.0 mg/kg) did not alter mechanical hypersensitivity in the spared nerve injury and paclitaxel models of neuropathic pain, whereas the standard analgesic pregabalin significantly inhibited the pain behavior. Moreover, capadenoson failed to affect potassium currents in DRG neurons, in contrast to a full A₁R agonist. Despite expression of A₁R in nociceptive neurons, our data do not support the hypothesis that pharmacological intervention with partial A₁R agonists might be a valuable approach for the treatment of neuropathic pain.     

Predicting and validating protein interactions using network structure

Protein interactions play a vital part in the function of a cell. As experimental techniques for detection and validation of protein interactions are time consuming, there is a need for computational methods for this task. Protein interactions appear to form a network with a relatively high degree of local clustering. In this paper we exploit this clustering by suggesting a score based on triplets of observed protein interactions. The score utilises both protein characteristics and network properties. Our score based on triplets is shown to complement existing techniques for predicting protein interactions, outperforming them on data sets which display a high degree of clustering. The predicted interactions score highly against test measures for accuracy. Compared to a similar score derived from pairwise interactions only, the triplet score displays higher sensitivity and specificity. By looking at specific examples, we show how an experimental set of interactions can be enriched and validated. As part of this work we also examine the effect of different prior databases upon the accuracy of prediction and find that the interactions from the same kingdom give better results than from across kingdoms, suggesting that there may be fundamental differences between the networks. These results all emphasize that network structure is important and helps in the accurate prediction of protein interactions. The protein interaction data set and the program used in our analysis, and a list of predictions and validations, are available at http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/bioinfo/resources/PredictingInteractions.     

Rapid degradation of dominant-negative Rab27 proteins <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vivo</Emphasis> precludes their use in transgenic mouse models

Background

Transgenic mice have proven to be a powerful system to study normal and pathological gene functions. Here we describe an attempt to generate a transgenic mouse model for choroideremia (CHM), a slow-onset X-linked retinal degeneration caused by mutations in the Rab Escort Protein-1 (REP1) gene. REP1 is part of the Rab geranylgeranylation machinery, a modification that is essential for Rab function in membrane traffic. The loss of REP1 in CHM patients may trigger retinal degeneration through its effects on Rab proteins. We have previously reported that Rab27a is the Rab most affected in CHM lymphoblasts and hypothesised that the selective dysfunction of Rab27a (and possibly a few other Rab GTPases) plays an essential role in the retinal degenerative process.

Results

To investigate this hypothesis, we generated several lines of dominant-negative, constitutively-active and wild-type Rab27a (and Rab27b) transgenic mice whose expression was driven either by the pigment cell-specific tyrosinase promoter or the ubiquitous β-actin promoter. High levels of mRNA and protein were observed in transgenic lines expressing wild-type or constitutively active Rab27a and Rab27b. However, only modest levels of transgenic protein were expressed. Pulse-chase experiments suggest that the dominant-negative proteins, but not the constitutively-active or wild type proteins, are rapidly degraded. Consistently, no significant phenotype was observed in our transgenic lines. Coat-colour was normal, indicating normal Rab27a activity. Retinal function as determined by fundoscopy, angiography, electroretinography and histology was also normal.

Conclusions

We suggest that the instability of the dominant-negative mutant Rab27 proteins in vivo precludes the use of this approach to generate mouse models of disease caused by Rab27 GTPases.

     

On the length of the longest exact position match in a random sequence

A mixed Poisson approximation and a Poisson approximation for the length of the longest exact match of a random sequence across another sequence are provided, where the match is required to start at position 1 in the first sequence. This problem arises when looking for suitable anchors in whole genome alignments.     

Untersuchungen über den aeroben Cellulosezersetzer Itersonia ferruginea

Zusammenfassung Es wurde ein aerober cellulosezersetzender Mikroorganismus isoliert, der 0,4 bis 0,5 breite und 1,6 bis 1,8 lange Stäbchen zeigt, die in 1,2 bis 1,3 dicke Kokken übergehen. Der Nachweis erfolgte durch Isolierung mit dem Mikromanipulator. In Übereinstimmung mit Krzemienieuska finden wir, von der Fruchtkörperbildung abgesehen, größte Ähnlichkeit mit Myxococcus und schlagen vor, solche Mikroorganismen einstweilen als Hemimyxobacteria den Eumyxobacteria anzugliedern. Die beschriebene Art erhält die Bezeichnung Itersonia ferruginea.Es handelt sich um einen typischen Cellulosezersetzer, der auf keinem zuckerhaltigen Substrat, ob mit oder ohne Cellulose, zu wachsen vermag; nur auf Pepton erfolgt Wachstum, das aber etwa nach der vierten bis fünften Überimpfung wieder aufhört.Charakteristisch ist besonders die Empfindlichkeit gegen höhere Temperatur: Erwärmen der Kultur auf 31° C l Minute lang tötet bereits ab. Trockenes Erwärmen 5 Minuten lang auf 35° C tötet ebenfalls.