Preliminary evaluation of a “formulation-driven cognitive behavioral guided self-help (fCBT-GSH)” for crisis and transitional case management clients

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is found to be effective for common mental disorders and has been delivered in self-help and guided self-help formats. Crisis and transitional case management (TCM) services play a vital role in managing clients in acute mental health crises. It is, therefore, an appropriate setting to try CBT in guided self-help format. METHODS: This was a preliminary evaluation of a formulation-driven cognitive behavioral guided self-help. Thirty-six (36) consenting participants with a diagnosis of nonpsychotic illness, attending crisis and the TCM services in Kingston, Canada, were recruited in this study. They were randomly assigned to the guided self-help plus treatment as usual (TAU) (treatment group) or to TAU alone (control group). The intervention was delivered over 8–12 weeks. Assessments were completed at baseline and 3 months after baseline. The primary outcome was a reduction in general psychopathology, and this was done using Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure. The secondary outcomes included a reduction in depression, measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and reduction in disability, measured using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. FINDINGS: Participants in the treatment group showed statistically significant improvement in overall psychopathology (P<0.005), anxiety and depression (P<0.005), and disability (P<0.005) at the end of the trial compared with TAU group. CONCLUSION: A formulation-driven cognitive behavioral guided self-help was feasible for the crisis and TCM clients and can be effective in improving mental health, when compared with TAU. This is the first report of a trial of guided self-help for clients attending crisis and TCM services

Eilat virus displays a narrow mosquito vector range

BACKGROUND: Most alphaviruses are arthropod-borne and utilize mosquitoes as vectors for transmission to susceptible vertebrate hosts. This ability to infect both mosquitoes and vertebrates is essential for maintenance of most alphaviruses in nature. A recently characterized alphavirus, Eilat virus (EILV), isolated from a pool of Anopheles coustani s.I. is unable to replicate in vertebrate cell lines. The EILV host range restriction occurs at both attachment/entry as well as genomic RNA replication levels. Here we investigated the mosquito vector range of EILV in species encompassing three genera that are responsible for maintenance of other alphaviruses in nature. METHODS: Susceptibility studies were performed in four mosquito species: Aedes albopictus, A. aegypti, Anopheles gambiae, and Culex quinquefasciatus via intrathoracic and oral routes utilizing EILV and EILV expressing red fluorescent protein (−eRFP) clones. EILV-eRFP was injected at 10(7) PFU/mL to visualize replication in various mosquito organs at 7 days post-infection. Mosquitoes were also injected with EILV at 10(4)-10(1) PFU/mosquito and virus replication was measured via plaque assays at day 7 post-infection. Lastly, mosquitoes were provided bloodmeals containing EILV-eRFP at doses of 10(9), 10(7), 10(5) PFU/mL, and infection and dissemination rates were determined at 14 days post-infection. RESULTS: All four species were susceptible via the intrathoracic route; however, replication was 10–100 fold less than typical for most alphaviruses, and infection was limited to midgut-associated muscle tissue and salivary glands. A. albopictus was refractory to oral infection, while A. gambiae and C. quinquefasciatus were susceptible only at 10(9) PFU/mL dose. In contrast, A. aegypti was susceptible at both 10(9) and 10(7) PFU/mL doses, with body infection rates of 78% and 63%, and dissemination rates of 26% and 8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The exclusion of vertebrates in its maintenance cycle may have facilitated the adaptation of EILV to a single mosquito host. As a consequence, EILV displays a narrow vector range in mosquito species responsible for the maintenance of other alphaviruses in nature. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-014-0595-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Utilization of an Eilat Virus-Based Chimera for Serological Detection of Chikungunya Infection.

In December of 2013, chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an alphavirus in the family Togaviridae, was introduced to the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean, resulting in the first autochthonous cases reported in the Americas. As of January 2015, local and imported CHIKV has been reported in 50 American countries with over 1.1 million suspected cases. CHIKV causes a severe arthralgic disease for which there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics. Furthermore, the lack of a commercially available, sensitive, and affordable diagnostic assay limits surveillance and control efforts. To address this issue, we utilized an insect-specific alphavirus, Eilat virus (EILV), to develop a diagnostic antigen that does not require biosafety containment facilities to produce. We demonstrated that EILV/CHIKV replicates to high titers in insect cells and can be applied directly in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays without inactivation, resulting in highly sensitive detection of recent and past CHIKV infection, and outperforming traditional antigen preparations

Enhancement of magnetic and dielectric properties of Ni0.25Cu0.25Zn0.50Fe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles through non-thermal microwave plasma treatment for high-frequency and energy storage applications

Spinel ferrites are widely investigated for their widespread applications in high-frequency and energy storage devices. This work focuses on enhancing the magnetic and dielectric properties of Ni0.25Cu0.25Zn0.50 ferrite series through non-thermal microwave plasma exposure under low-pressure conditions. A series of Ni0.25Cu0.25Zn0.50 ferrites was produced using a facile sol-gel auto-ignition approach. The post-synthesis plasma treatment was given in a low-pressure chamber by sustaining oxygen plasma with a microwave source. The structural formation of control and plasma-modified ferrites was investigated through X-ray diffraction analysis, which confirmed the formation of the fcc cubical structure of all samples. The plasma treatment did not affect crystallize size but significantly altered the surface porosity. The surface porosity increased after plasma treatment and average crystallite size was measured as about similar to 49.13 nm. Morphological studies confirmed changes in surface morphology and reduction in particle size on plasma exposure. The saturation magnetization of plasma-exposed ferrites was roughly 65% higher than the control. The saturation magnetization, remnant magnetization, and coercivity of plasma-exposed ferrites were calculated as 74.46 emu/g, 26.35 emu/g, and 1040 Oe, respectively. Dielectric characteristics revealed a better response of plasma-exposed ferrites to electromagnetic waves than control. These findings suggest that the plasma-exposed ferrites are good candidates for constructing high-frequency devices.Web of Science1519art. no. 689

Characterization of a Newly Identified Alphavirus, Eilat Virus

Most alphaviruses are mosquito-borne and exhibit a broad host range, infecting many different vertebrates including birds, rodents, equids, humans, and nonhuman primates as well as mosquito species encompassing at least eight genera. The ability of alphaviruses to infect both arthropods and vertebrates is essential for their maintenance in nature. Herein I describe a unique alphavirus, Eilat virus (EILV), isolated from a pool of Anopheles coustani mosquitoes from the Negev desert, Israel. Genetic analysis showed considerable sequence divergence at the both nucleotide and amino acid levels. Phylogenetic analyses placed EILV basal to the western equine encephalitis antigenic complex within the main clade of mosquito-borne alphaviruses. Electron microscopy revealed that, like other alphaviruses, EILV virions are spherical, 70 nm in diameter, and they bud from the plasma membrane of infected mosquito cells. EILV readily infects a variety of insect cells with little overt cytopathic effect. However, in contrast to all other mosquito-borne alphaviruses, EILV was not able to infect mammalian or avian cell lines. EILV host range restriction was present at attachment and entry, as well as at the RNA replication level, suggesting the involvement of multiple viral genes. Susceptibility studies showed that Aedes albopictus, A. aegypti, Anopheles gambiae, Culex quinquefasciatus were susceptible to EILV infection via the intrathoracic route, but only A. aegypti was susceptible via the oral route suggesting a narrow vector range. Lastly, superinfection experiments in an A. albopictus cell line, C7/10, demonstrated that a prior infection with EILV reduced virus replication of Sindbis, chikungunya, eastern, western and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus by 100- to 10,000-fold indicating that EILV virus may alter host susceptibility to superinfection and therefore the ability to transmit pathogenic alphaviruses. Taken together, these data identify the first host restricted mosquito-borne alphavirus and suggest that, evolutionarily, EILV has lost the ability to infect vertebrate cells. Thus, EILV may represent a previously undescribed complex within the genus Alphavirus. Reverse genetic studies of EILV may facilitate the discovery of determinants of alphavirus host range that mediate disease emergence as well as potential vector control and transmission disruption measures

Long Palindromic Sequences Induce Double-Strand Breaks during Meiosis in Yeast

Inverted-repeated or palindromic sequences have been found to occur in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. Such repeated sequences are usually short and present at several functionally important regions in the genome. However, long palindromic sequences are rare and are a major source of genomic instability. The palindrome-mediated genomic instability is believed to be due to cruciform or hairpin formation and subsequent cleavage of this structure by structure-specific nucleases. Here we present both genetic and physical evidence that long palindromic sequences (>50 bp) generate double-strand breaks (DSBs) at a high frequency during meiosis in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The palindrome-mediated DSB formation depends on the primary sequence of the inverted repeat and the location and length of the repeated units. The DSB formation at the palindrome requires all of the gene products that are known to be responsible for DSB formation at the normal meiosis-specific sites. Since DSBs are initiators of nearly all meiotic recombination events, most of the palindrome-induced breaks appear to be repaired by homologous recombination. Our results suggest that short palindromic sequences are highly stable in vivo. In contrast, long palindromic sequences make the genome unstable by inducing DSBs and such sequences are usually removed from the genome by homologous recombination events