Investigator experiences with financial conflicts of interest in clinical trials

Background

Sub-threshold depression is common, impairs functioning, and increases the risk of developing major depression. Although psychological treatments have been investigated for sub-threshold depression, they are costly. A less costly alternative could be an educational health promotion campaign about effective self-help for depression symptoms. The aim of the study is to test the efficacy of a low-cost email-based mental health promotion campaign in changing self-help behaviour and preventing more severe depression in adults with sub-threshold depression.

Methods/Design

The project is a randomised controlled trial of an automated preventive email-intervention aimed at people with sub-threshold depression. Adults aged 18+ with sub-threshold depression (as measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9), who are not already receiving professional treatment for depression, are eligible for admission to the study. Internet users will sign up via the study website http://www.moodmemos.com and be randomly allocated to receive emails twice weekly for six weeks containing either self-help coping advice or general information about depression as a control. Outcomes will be assessed at the start, midpoint, and end of the intervention, as well as six months later. Outcomes assessed include symptoms, incidence of major depression, psychological distress, social and occupational functioning, coping strategies, and coping self-efficacy. The primary hypothesis is that the Mood Memo emails containing coping strategies will reduce depression symptoms and be better at preventing major depression than the control emails that contain general information about depression.

Discussion

Promotion of actions an individual can take to prevent physical disease is a technique often used in public health. This study applies this approach to mental health, and explores whether a low-cost, easily disseminated email-based campaign can improve self-help coping behaviour and prevent depression in adults with sub-threshold depression.

Trial Registration

Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR): ACTRN12609000925246     

ProADD: A database on Protein Aggregation Diseases

ProADD, a database for protein aggregation diseases, is developed to organize the data under a single platform to facilitate easy access for researchers. Diseases caused due to protein aggregation and the proteins involved in each of these diseases are integrated. The database helps in classification of proteins involved in the protein aggregation diseases based on sequence and structural analysis. Analysis of proteins can be done to mine patterns prevailing among the aggregating proteins.

Availability

http://bicmku.in/ProADD     

Maximum likelihood estimation for incomplete repeated-measures experiments under an ARMA covariance structure

A stochastic model is presented for the analysis of incomplete repeated-measures experiments. The general linear model is used to relate the response measures to other variables which are thought to account for inherent variation; an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) time series representation is used to model disturbance terms. Maximum likelihood estimation procedures are considered, and the properties of these estimators are derived. It is concluded that while the assumptions underpinning the ARMA covariance models may be somewhat restrictive, they provide a useful inferential vehicle, particularly in the presence of missing values.     

Pt(II) compounds with sulfoxide ligands and crystal structures of complexes of the types I(R2SO)Pt(μ-I)2Pt(R2SO)I and trans-Pt(R2SO)(L)X2 (L = amine,pyridine and pyrimidine)

The crystal structures of several Pt(II) complexes containing sulfoxide ligands are described. The two iodo bridged dimers of the type I(R₂SO)Pt(μ-I)₂Pt(R₂SO)I (where R is ethyl or n-butyl) are twinned structures. The dinuclear species are the trans isomers. Two compounds of the type trans-Pt(DMSO)(amine)X₂ were studied by X-ray diffraction methods. The diiodo MeNH₂ compound forms H-bonded chains, formed by maximizing the H-bonds between the amine group with the O atom of DMSO and one iodo ligand. The H-bonding pattern is quite different in the dichloro t-BuNH₂ complex. In the latter crystal, there are two independent molecules which are H-bonded in pairs. The methyl groups of DMSO and the t-butyl group of the amine are oriented towards the outside of the pairs of molecules, while the H-bonds link the two independent molecules. Again, the amino group forms the maximum H-bonds with the O atom of DMSO and one chloro ligand. The crystal structures of trans-Pt(DMSO)(pyridine)I₂ and of trans-Pt(MeBzSO)(pyrimidine)I₂ (Bz = benzyl) were also studied. In the pyridine complex, the O atom of DMSO is in the Pt(II) plane by symmetry, while in the pyrimidine compound, the C atom of the –CH₃ group is in the Pt(II) plane. The pyridine and the pyrimidine ligands are perpendicular to the Pt(II) square plane. The trans influence of the different ligands is discussed.     

Multinuclear magnetic resonance studies of the reactions of the antitumor complexes cis-Pt(L)2X2 and cis-Pt(NH3)(L)X2 (L = cyclobutylamine and cyclopentylamine) with guanosine and other bases and crystal structures of Pt(cyclopentylamine)2I2

The crystal structures of two Pt(cyclopentylamine)₂I₂ compounds were determined by X-ray diffraction methods. Both crystals contain disordered cyclopentylamine ligands. Crystal I contains two independent trans-Pt(cyclopentylamine)₂I₂ molecules and all the C atoms are disordered on two positions. The second crystal (II) is most interesting since it contains both cis- and trans-Pt(cyclopentylamine)₂I₂ isomers in the same unit cell. It was prepared from the recrystallization of the cis isomer in acetone. The C atoms of the trans molecule in crystal II are disordered on two positions, while only one position was determined in the cis molecule, although some of the C thermal factors are quite high. The reactions of cis-Pt(amine)₂X₂ and cis-Pt(NH₃)(amine)X₂ (amine = cyclobutylamine and cyclopentylamine) with guanosine in water were studied in different Pt:guanosine proportions by multinuclear (¹H, ¹⁹⁵Pt and ¹⁵N) magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The presence of several species in solution was observed. For the mixed-cyclobutylamine compound, ¹⁵N NMR has shown that some of the NH₃ ligands have been displaced from the coordination sphere in the presence of an excess of guanosine. The reactions of the two mixed-ligand complexes cis-Pt(NH₃)(amine)Cl₂ with 9-methylguanine, inosine and 9-methylhypoxanthine were also studied in water and the results are discussed.     

Transition of healthy to diseased synovial tissue in rheumatoid arthritis is associated with gain of mesenchymal/fibrotic characteristics

The healthy synovial lining layer consists of a single cell layer that regulates the transport between the joint cavity and the surrounding tissue. It has been suggested that abnormalities such as somatic mutations in the p53 tumor-suppressor gene contribute to synovial hyperplasia and invasion in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, expression of epithelial markers on healthy and diseased synovial lining tissue was examined. In addition, we investigated whether a regulated process, resembling epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)/fibrosis, could be responsible for the altered phenotype of the synovial lining layer in RA. Synovial tissue from healthy subjects and RA patients was obtained during arthroscopy. To detect signs of EMT, expression of E-cadherin (epithelial marker), collagen type IV (indicator of the presence of a basement membrane) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-sma; a myofibroblast marker) was investigated on frozen tissue sections using immunohistochemistry. Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) from healthy subjects were isolated and subjected to stimulation with synovial fluid (SF) from two RA patients and to transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta. To detect whether EMT/fibrotic markers were increased, expression of collagen type I, alpha-sma and telopeptide lysylhydroxylase (TLH) was measured by real time PCR. Expression of E-cadherin and collagen type IV was found in healthy and arthritic synovial tissue. Expression of alpha-sma was only found in the synovial lining layer of RA patients. Stimulation of healthy FLSs with SF resulted in an upregulation of alpha-sma and TLH mRNA. Collagen type I and TLH mRNA were upregulated after stimulation with TGF-beta. Addition of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-7 to healthy FLS stimulated with SF inhibited the expression of alpha-sma mRNA. The finding that E-cadherin and collagen type IV are expressed in the lining layer of healthy and arthritic synovium indicates that these lining cells display an epithelial-like phenotype. In addition, the presence of alpha-sma in the synovial lining layer of RA patients and induction of fibrotic markers in healthy FLSs by SF from RA patients indicate that a regulated process comparable to EMT might cause the alteration in phenotype of RA FLSs. Therefore, BMP-7 may represent a promising agent to counteract the transition imposed on synoviocytes in the RA joint.     

Induction of particle polymorphism by cucumber necrosis virus coat protein mutants in vivo

The Cucumber necrosis virus (CNV) particle is a T=3 icosahedron consisting of 180 identical coat protein (CP) subunits. Plants infected with wild-type CNV accumulate a high number of T=3 particles, but other particle forms have not been observed. Particle polymorphism in several T=3 icosahedral viruses has been observed in vitro following the removal of an extended N-terminal region of the CP subunit. In the case of CNV, we have recently described the structure of T=1 particles that accumulate in planta during infection by a CNV mutant (R1+2) in which a large portion of the N-terminal RNA binding domain (R-domain) has been deleted. In this report we further describe properties of this mutant and other CP mutants that produce polymorphic particles. The T=1 particles produced by R1+2 mutants were found to encapsidate a 1.9-kb RNA species as well as smaller RNA species that are similar to previously described CNV defective interfering RNAs. Other R-domain mutants were found to encapsidate a range of specifically sized less-than-full-length CNV RNAs. Mutation of a conserved proline residue in the arm domain near its junction with the shell domain also influenced T=1 particle formation. The proportion of polymorphic particles increased when the mutation was incorporated into R-domain deletion mutants. Our results suggest that both the R-domain and the arm play important roles in the formation of T=3 particles. In addition, the encapsidation of specific CNV RNA species by individual mutants indicates that the R-domain plays a role in the nature of CNV RNA encapsidated in particles.     

Identification of specific cucumber necrosis virus coat protein amino acids affecting fungus transmission and zoospore attachment

Cucumber necrosis virus (CNV) is naturally transmitted in the soil by zoospores of the fungal vector Olpidium bornovanus. Successful transmission requires that virus particles attach to the surface of zoospores prior to zoospore encystment on host roots. Mechanically passaged CNV was screened for mutants deficient in fungus transmission. We found six such mutants, exhibiting transmission efficiencies ranging from approximately 14 to 76% of that of wild-type (WT) CNV. Results of in vitro virus-zoospore binding assays show that each mutant binds to zoospores less efficiently than WT CNV (21 to 68%), suggesting that defects in transmission for these mutants are at least partially due to inefficient zoospore binding. Analysis of the structure of the CNV coat protein subunit and trimer indicates that affected amino acids in all of the mutants are located in the shell or protruding domain and that five of six of them are potentially exposed on the surface of the virus particle. In addition, several of the mutated sites, along with a previously identified site in a region of subunit-subunit interaction in the coat protein shell domain (M. A. Robbins, R. D. Reade, and D. M. Rochon, Virology 234:138-146, 1997), are located on the particle quasi-threefold axis, suggesting that this region of the capsid may be important in recognition of a putative zoospore receptor. The individual sites may directly affect attachment to a receptor or could indirectly affect attachment via changes in virion conformation.