The effectiveness of social network interventions for psychiatric patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Strengthening social networks is an important goal in mental health treatment. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of social network interventions for psychiatric patients. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted comparing these interventions with control groups on social and mental health-related outcomes in psychiatric patients. PubMed, EMBASE.com, PsycInfo, Scopus, and IBSS were searched for studies until December 21, 2022. Three-level random effects models were used to obtain Cohen's d mean estimates on composite outcomes of social network and secondary mental health outcomes. Heterogeneity was examined with potential moderators. Thirty-three studies were included. Small-to-moderate effects of social network interventions were detected on positive social network (d = 0.115, p = 0.022) and support (d = 0.159; p = 0.007), general functioning (d = 0.127, p = 0.046), mental health treatment adherence (d = 0.332, p = 0.003), days substance use (d = 0.097, p = 0.004), and abstinence (d = 0.254, p = 0.004). Estimates of psychiatric functioning were higher in samples with more females. The quality of evidence was moderate-to-low. This evidence suggests that social network interventions can improve positive social networks, general functioning, mental health treatment adherence, and substance use in psychiatric patients receiving usual care. PROSPERO ID: CRD42019131959.

Validity and Reliability of the Attachment Insecurity Screening Inventory (AISI) 2-5 Years.

The Attachment Insecurity Screening Inventory (AISI) 2-5 years is a parent-report questionnaire for assessing attachment insecurity in preschoolers. Validity and reliability of the AISI 2-5 years were examined in a general sample (n = 429) and in a clinical sample (n = 71). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed a three-factor model of avoidant, ambivalent/resistant and disorganized attachment, and one higher-order factor of total attachment insecurity. Multi-group CFA indicated measurement invariance across mothers and fathers, and across the general and clinical population sample. Reliability coefficients were generally found to be good. We found partial support for convergent validity in associations between AISI-scores and observed attachment (AQS). Concurrent validity was supported by associations between AISI-scores and observed parental sensitivity (MBQS) and parent-reported psychopathology (SDQ). Finally, the AISI discriminated well between children from the general and from the clinical sample. We argue that both research and practice could benefit from the AISI as there is now a prospect of quickly, reliably and validly screening for attachment insecurity in pre-school aged children. Based on this information, help can be offered timely and, subsequently, the prevention of attachment related problems of children can be strengthened.

A scalable label-free approach to separate human pluripotent cells from differentiated derivatives.

The broad capacity of pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hESC) to grow and differentiate demands the development of rapid, scalable, and label-free methods to separate living cell populations for clinical and industrial applications. Here, we identify differences in cell stiffness, expressed as cell elastic modulus (CEM), for hESC versus mesenchymal progenitors, osteoblast-like derivatives, and fibroblasts using atomic force microscopy and data processing algorithms to characterize the stiffness of cell populations. Undifferentiated hESC exhibited a range of CEMs whose median was nearly three-fold lower than those of differentiated cells, information we exploited to develop a label-free separation device based on the principles of tangential flow filtration. To test the device's utility, we segregated hESC mixed with fibroblasts and hESC-mesenchymal progenitors induced to undergo osteogenic differentiation. The device permitted a throughput of 10(6)-10(7) cells per min and up to 50% removal of specific cell types per single pass. The level of enrichment and depletion of soft, pluripotent hESC in the respective channels was found to rise with increasing stiffness of the differentiating cells, suggesting CEM can serve as a major discriminator. Our results demonstrate the principle of a scalable, label-free, solution for separation of heterogeneous cell populations deriving from human pluripotent stem cells.

Changes in the relative importance of dynamic risk factors for recidivism during adolescence.

This study examined which dynamic risk factors for recidivism play an important role during adolescence. The sample consisted of 13,613 American juveniles who had committed a criminal offense. The results showed that the importance of almost all dynamic risk factors, both in the social environment domain (school, family, relationships) and in the individual domain (attitude, skills, aggressiveness), decreased as juveniles grew older. Therefore, the potential effect of an intervention aimed at these factors will also decrease as juveniles grow older. The relative importance of the risk factors also changed: In early adolescence, risk factors in the family domain showed the strongest association with recidivism, whereas in late adolescence risk factors in the attitude, relationships, and school domain were more strongly related to recidivism. These results suggest that the focus of an intervention needs to be attuned to the age of the juvenile to achieve the maximum potential effect on recidivism.

Monitoring gastric lymphoma in peripheral blood by quantitative IgH allele-specific oligonucleotide real-time PCR and API2-MALT1 PCR.

Gastric extranodal marginal zone lymphoma (EMZL) often shows prolonged localised disease, but the present study demonstrated the presence of tumour cells in peripheral blood (PB) of low stage patients. We studied the presence of tumour cells in PB in gastric lymphoma patients harbouring or lacking t(11;18)(q21;q21), by real-time immunoglobulin (Ig)H allele-specific oligonucleotide-polymerase chain reaction (ASO-PCR) and API2-MALT1 PCR. Tumour cells were exclusively detected in PB of t(11;18)(q21;q21)+-EMZL patients. The presence of tumour cells in PB and gastric biopsy follow-up samples showed a good correlation in these patients, suggesting clinical relevance for monitoring of tumour cells in PB of gastric t(11;18)(q21;q21)+-EMZL patients.

Pneumonia caused by Mycobacterium kansasii in a series of patients without recognised immune defect.

The clinical and epidemiological characteristics of 17 patients diagnosed with Mycobacterium kansasii pneumonia within a limited geographical region over a period of 10 years are described. An in-depth evaluation of the innate and adaptive immune systems was performed for five available patients. A comparison was made of the genetic fingerprint patterns of the isolates obtained by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, with the major polymorphic tandem repeat (MPTR) as a probe. Predisposing factors consisted of smoking, airway abnormalities, substance abuse, diabetes or poor general condition, but in two patients no risk factor was identified. In the five patients tested, no abnormalities or deficiencies were detected in the innate or adaptive type-1 immunity. All M. kansasii isolates had identical MPTR RFLP patterns, although no epidemiological connection could be established, and these were identical to those of clinical isolates from Australian patients. These data do not support the theory that defects in the innate or adaptive type-1 immunity have a role in the pathogenesis of invasive M. kansasii infections. The identical fingerprint patterns of the isolates suggested the existence of a virulent strain of M. kansasii.

Limitations of clonality analysis of B cell proliferations using CDR3 polymerase chain reaction.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Detection of clonal immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) rearrangements by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an attractive alternative to Southern blotting in lymphoma diagnostics. However, the advantages and limitations of PCR in clonality analysis are still not fully appreciated. In this study, clonality was analysed by means of PCR, focusing in particular on the sample size requirements when studying extremely small samples of polyclonal and monoclonal lesions. MATERIALS/METHODS: High resolution complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) PCR was used to investigate the minimum number of cells and the amount of tissue required for the detection of a polyclonal population, both for fresh cells and formalin fixed, paraffin wax embedded tissue. Subsequently, frozen and paraffin wax embedded samples of 76 B cell lymphoproliferative disorders, 43 of which were tested by means of Southern blotting, were analysed to establish the sensitivity of this assay. These specimens included 12 chronic lymphocytic leukaemias (CLLs), nine mantle cell lymphomas (MCLs), 10 follicular lymphomas (FLs), and 45 mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas. The specificity was tested on reactive lymph nodes (n = 19), tonsils (n = 4), peripheral blood lymphocyte fractions (n = 4), and biopsies with gastritis (n = 21). RESULTS: In reactive tissue, 20 ng of high molecular weight DNA derived from 6.5-9 x 10(3) B cells was sufficient to obtain a polyclonal PCR result. With smaller amounts "pseudoclonality" could be induced. When using paraffin wax blocks, undiluted DNA isolated from tonsillar tissue of at least 1 mm2 was necessary to obtain a polyclonal pattern. The sensitivity required to detect clonality in paraffin wax embedded and frozen tissue by PCR for FL (40% and 60%, respectively) was lower than that for MALT lymphomas (60% and 86%, respectively), CLL (78% and 89%, respectively), and MCL (88% and 100%, respectively). PCR specificity was 96% and 100% for frozen and paraffin wax embedded tissue, respectively. CONCLUSION: The minimum amount of template for CDR3 PCR is approximately 20 ng of high molecular weight DNA or 1 mm3 of B cell rich paraffin wax embedded normal tonsillar tissue, but care has to be taken to avoid pseudoclonality when low numbers of B cells are present. Duplicate or triplicate tests should be performed to avoid misinterpretation. The specificity of the PCR assay is almost 100%, whereas sensitivity depends on a combination of factors, such as lymphoma type and tissue fixation. Because frozen samples yield better results, obtaining fresh material for the PCR assay is recommended, especially when analysing FL and MALT lymphomas.

Epidemiological and prognostic aspects of gastric MALT-lymphoma.

Since mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma was defined in the mid-1980s as a clinicopathologic entity, many sets of data on pathological, biological and clinical aspects have been generated. In particular, the finding that this process was responding well to antibiotic treatment fueled interest in it and has led to several clinical trials. This overview deals with epidemiological and prognostic aspects and identifies important questions which need to be answered before data from different sources can be compared. Incidence figures of gastric MALT lymphoma vary between countries and parallel the numbers of all non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The incidence does not parallel the occurrence data of Helicobacter pylori infection. Incidence figures are highly dependent on the definition used for MALT-type primary gastric lymphomas. Several studies show that some prognostic factors are relevant, for instance stage and grade, whereas other factors such as the International Prognostic Index or treatment are not. These studies do not include the recently introduced antibiotic therapy. The inclusion of recent insights in biology and the treatment of gastric MALT lymphomas in prospective clinical studies will soon answer some of the main questions posed.

Frequent allelic imbalance but infrequent microsatellite instability in gastric lymphoma.

Specific defects in DNA repair pathways are reflected by DNA microsatellite instability (MSI) and play an important role in carcinogenesis. Reported frequencies in gastric non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) vary from 14% to as high as 90%. Another form of genetic instability in tumours is allelic imbalance (AI) due to loss or gain of genetic material at a specific chromosomal region. This might point to the presence of a tumour suppressor gene or oncogene. We examined both MSI and AI in 26 gastric lymphomas (10 low-grade and 13 high-grade MALT lymphomas and three cases lacking MALT features and categorised as diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLCL)). Tumour components and normal cells (epithelium, muscle) were microdissected from paraffin-embedded resection samples. Contrary to other studies we did not observe frequent MSI when investigating 18 different loci distributed over 12 chromosomes. Microsatellite instability of a single locus was found in 1/10 (10%) low-grade MALT lymphomas and 2/13 (15%) high-grade MALT lymphomas. These data indicate that DNA mismatch repair genes do not play a role in the pathogenesis of these lymphomas. Allelic imbalance was detected in 60% (6/10) of low-grade MALT lymphomas, in 62% (8/13) of high-grade MALT lymphoma and in 67% (2/3) of DLCL. In high-grade lymphomas more loci showed AI (one to seven loci, with a mean of 2.5 loci per case) than in the low-grade lymphomas (one to two loci, with a mean of 1.3 loci per case), possibly reflecting an increased genomic instability.

Gastric low-grade MALT lymphoma, high-grade MALT lymphoma and diffuse large B cell lymphoma show different frequencies of trisomy.

Gastric MALT lymphoma is a distinct entity related to Helicobacter pylori gastritis. Some studies suggest a role for trisomy 3 in the genesis of these lymphomas, but they mainly focused on low-grade MALT lymphoma. Gastric MALT lymphoma, however, comprises a spectrum from low- to high-grade cases. Furthermore, its exact relation to primary diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) of the stomach is not clear. We applied in situ hybridisation (ISH) with centromeric probes on 43 samples of 39 patients with primary gastric lymphoma (13 samples with low-grade MALT lymphoma, 25 with high-grade MALT lymphoma and five with DLBCL) to detect numerical aberrations of 10 chromosomes. ISH was performed immunohistochemically on nuclei isolated from paraffin-embedded resection tissue and on whole paraffin sections using immunofluorescence. In six of 13 low-grade MALT lymphomas trisomy was detected (46%) and mostly involved chromosome 3 (33%). In high-grade MALT lymphomas, trisomies were found in 16 of 25 cases (64%), mainly involving chromosomes 12 and 18. Trisomy 3 was present in only 13% of these cases. Of five DLBCL, only one showed trisomy. Nine of the 16 aberrant high-grade MALT lymphomas (56%) showed trisomy of more than one chromosome per case vs two of six for low-grade cases. In lymphomas with separate low- and high-grade tumour components some trisomies were detected in both components, whereas others occurred only in the high-grade tumour cells. This supports the hypothesis that high-grade MALT lymphomas can develop from a low-grade type and that this progression is accompanied by the acquisition of more genetic aberrations. However, trisomy 3 probably does not play a major role in this progression.

Allelic loss of chromosome 1p36 in neuroblastoma is of preferential maternal origin and correlates with N-myc amplification.

Neuroblastomas frequently have deletions of chromosome 1p and amplification of the N-myc oncogene. We analysed 53 neuroblastomas for the N-myc copy number, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of chromosome 1p36 and the parental origin of the lost alleles. Allelic loss of 1p36 was found in 15 tumours. All N-myc amplified tumours belonged to this subset. In 13/15 tumours with LOH of 1p36 the lost allele was of maternal origin. This non-random distribution implies that the two alleles of the putative neuroblastoma suppressor gene on chromosome 1p36 are functionally different, depending on their parental origin. This is the first evidence as far as we know for genomic imprinting on chromosome 1p.

Regulation of apical Cl- conductance and basolateral K+ conductances by phorbol esters in HT-29cl.19A cells.

The effect of phorbol esters [4 beta-phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDB) and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)] on potential differences and resistances was studied with the conventional microelectrode technique applied to confluent filter-grown monolayers of the human colon carcinoma cell line HT-29cl.19A. Phorbol esters (PDB or PMA from 10(-7) to 10(-6) M) evoked 1) a transient increase in the transepithelial potential difference (peak value 3.5 +/- 0.5 mV), 2) a depolarization of the cell potential by 23 +/- 2 mV at the peak of the transepithelial potential change and a continued decrease during the decline of the transepithelial potential, and 3) a decrease of the fractional resistance of the apical membrane consisting of two phases, a relative rapid one (time constant 1.2 +/- 0.2 min) and a much slower further decrease during the second phase (time constant 34 +/- 1 min). Ion replacements and electrical circuit analyses indicate that PDB activates an apical Cl- conductance and slowly inhibits the basal K+ conductance of the basolateral membrane. PDB reduced the transepithelial response to forskolin due to inhibition of the basal K+ conductance. The Ca2+ ionophore ionomycin accelerated that effect of PDB. Staurosporine inhibited the effects of PDB, suggesting that the PDB effects are mediated via activation of a protein kinase C.