Psychiatric disorder in a birth cohort of young adults: Prevalence, comorbidity, clinical significance, and new case incidence from ages 11–21.

Mental health data were gathered at ages 11, 13, 15, 18, and 21 in an epidemiological sample using standardized diagnostic assessments. Prevalence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III-Revised (DSM-III-R) mental disorders increased longitudinally from late childhood (18%) through mid- (22%) to late-adolescence (41%) and young adulthood (40%). Nearly half of age-21 cases had comorbid diagnoses; and comorbidity was associated with severity of impairment. The incidence of cases with adult onset was only 10.6%: 73.8% of adults diagnosed at age 21 had a developmental history of mental disorder. Relative to new cases, those with developmental histories were more severely impaired and more likely to have comorbid diagnoses. The high prevalence rate and significant impairment associated with a diagnosis of mental disorder suggests that treatment resources need to target the young adult sector of the population. The low new-case incidence in young adulthood, however, suggests that primary prevention and etiological research efforts need to target children and adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanical design of a second generation LHC IR quadrupole

One of the proposed options to increase the LHC luminosity is the replacement of the existing inner triplets at the interaction regions with new low-beta larger aperture quadrupoles operating at the same gradient. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is carrying out preliminary studies of a large-bore Nb/sub 3/Sn quadrupole. The mechanical design presents a support structure based on the use of keys and bladders without self-supporting collars. This technology has been proven effective in several successful common coil Nb/sub 3/Sn dipoles built at LBNL, and it is for the first time applied to a cos(2/spl thetav/) design. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the quadrupole mechanical behavior, demonstrating the possibility of delivering, through this method, well-controlled coil pre-compression during assembly, cool-down and excitation. The study has been performed with the finite element program ANSYS.     

Anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapy suppresses the induction of experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis in mice by inhibiting antigen priming

PURPOSE: Experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) serves as a model for several immune-mediated diseases that affect the eye in humans. Previous studies indicated that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) has an important proinflammatory role in EAU and possibly in human uveitis. In this study, the authors investigated the effect of anti-TNF-alpha therapy on EAU in mice. METHODS: Experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis was induced in B10.A mice by immunization with interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP). The mice were treated with 100 or 300 microliters rabbit antiserum or polyclonal antibodies to human TNF-alpha. The treatment spanned either the afferent or the efferent stage of EAU (days -1, 1, 3, 5, 7, or days 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, respectively). Control animals were injected with preimmune rabbit serum at the corresponding times or were not treated. Three weeks after immunization, EAU was assessed by clinical evaluation and by histopathology. Immunologic responses were assessed by delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), lymphocyte proliferation to IRBP, and relative abundance of IRBP-primed splenocytes. RESULTS: The treatment with rabbit anti-TNF-alpha serum significantly ameliorated disease when given during the afferent stage but had no effect when given during the efferent stage of EAU. The effect on DTH, lymphocyte proliferation, and abundance of antigen-reactive cells roughly paralleled the effect on disease. CONCLUSIONS: Neutralization of systemic TNF ameliorates EAU. The effectiveness of afferent treatment in comparison to the treatment during the efferent stage, together with the reduced proliferation and the reduced abundance of IRBP-responsive cells, suggest that interference with afferent-acting processes such as antigen priming is important to achieve protection from EAU by anti-TNF treatment.     

IL-12 induces growth of the IL-4-dependent CT4S line and has a synergistic effect on IL-4-induced CT4S proliferation

In the course of studies designed to explore the effect of interleukin 12 (IL-12) on the development of experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU), we observed that supernatants from IL-12-treated cultures of ocular antigen-specific lymphocytes induced proliferation of the interleukin 4 (IL-4)-dependent CT4S line. This result was surprising, as these supernatants were not expected to contain high levels of IL-4. We therefore explored the possibility that IL-12 itself, that remained in the supernatants, could induce proliferation of CT4S cells. In this series of experiments we demonstrate that CT4S cells proliferate to recombinant as well as to naturally produced IL-12, and that IL-4 and IL-12 synergize in supporting proliferation of CT4S cells. The proliferation induced by IL-12, as well as the synergistic effect with IL-4, can be reversed by neutralizing anti-IL-12 antibodies. Proliferation of CT4S can be abrogated completely by a combination of antibodies against IL-4 and IL-12. Our data have important implications for the use of CT4S as a specific bioassay for IL-4, since both IL-4 and IL-12 may be found together in at least some culture supernatants. Furthermore, our results suggest that the CT4S line (or a derivative selected from it) could be used as a bioassay for detection of IL-12 in combination with the specific antibodies.     

Two personalities, one relationship: Both partners' personality traits shape the quality of their relationship.

This research tested 6 models of the independent and interactive effects of stable personality traits on each partner's reports of relationship satisfaction and quality. Both members of 360 couples (N?=?720) completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire and were interviewed about their relationship. Findings show that a woman's relationship happiness is predicted by her partner's low Negative Emotionality, high Positive Emotionality, and high Constraint, whereas a man's relationship happiness is predicted only by his partner's low Negative Emotionality. Findings also show evidence of additive but not interactive effects: Each partner's personality contributed independently to relationship outcomes but not in a synergistic way. These results are discussed in relation to models that seek to integrate research on individual differences in personality traits with research on interpersonal processes in intimate relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A computer-based method for the assessment of body-imagedistortions in anorexia-nervosa patients

A computer-based method for the assessment of body-image distortions in anorexia nervosa and other eating-disorder patients is presented in this paper. At the core of the method is a realistic pictorial simulation of lifelike weight changes, applied to a real source image of the patient. The patients, using a graphical user interface, adjust their body shapes until they meet their self-perceived appearance. Measuring the extent of virtual fattening or slimming of a body with respect to its real shape and size allows direct quantitative evaluation of the cognitive distortion in body image. In a preliminary experiment involving 33 anorexia-nervosa patients, 70% of the subjects chose an image with simulated visual weight gain between 8%-16% as their "real" body image, while only one of them recognized the original body image. In a second experiment involving 30 healthy participants, the quality of the weight modified images was evaluated by pairwise selection trials. Over a weight change range from -16% to +28%, in about 30% of the trials, artificially modified images were mistakenly taken as "original" images, thus demonstrating the quality of the artificial images. The method presented is currently in a clinical validation phase, toward application in the research, diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of eating disorders     

Flush: an example of development by refinements in SCADE/Lustre

In the domain of safety-critical control systems, the Lustre/SCADE development environment has proved its value, with notable achievements such as the Hong Kong subway signaling system and Airbus A380 flight controls. The interest of the approach comes from the synchronous data-flow style of the Lustre language which makes it well-adapted to the culture of control engineers. Moreover Lustre is endowed with simple formal semantics which makes it amenable to formal development. The currently running Flush project consists in building a formal system development tool on top of Lustre, by taking advantage of the language formal properties. To this end, a refinement calculus is defined, encompassing both functional and temporal aspects. Refinement proof obligations are generated, and several proof approaches can be used to discharge them: model-checking, abstract interpretation, and theorem proving through repeated induction and, finally translation to PVS proof obligations. The resulting methodology is illustrated on the island example used by J.R. Abrial for presenting the B system method.