Narrative Discourse in Youth Offenders: Examining Individual Differences.

PURPOSE: This study examined narrative discourse in youth offenders, focusing on quality of story retelling, story comprehension, critical thinking, and the use of complex syntax. METHOD: The participants were 15 incarcerated adolescents, ages 13-18 years (Mage = 16 years). Each was evaluated at their detention center via Zoom, using a standardized language test and language samples that elicited narrative speaking with fables. After retelling a fable, the participant answered questions that examined story comprehension and critical thinking. RESULTS: Most participants performed below average on the standardized language test and had difficulty on one or more of the language sampling measures. Areas of concern included quality of story retelling, story comprehension, critical thinking, and the use of complex syntax. Had language sampling not been employed, those weaknesses might have been overlooked. CONCLUSIONS: When evaluating youth offenders, it is important to elicit language samples that can provide detailed information about an adolescent's ability to communicate for genuine purposes. In this regard, the tasks employed in the current study could be helpful to speech-language pathologists in working with youth offenders, enabling them to pinpoint deficits and offer targeted intervention.

Modulation of α-Synuclein Aggregation In Vitro by a DNA Aptamer.

Protein aggregation is an important problem for human health and biotechnology, with consequences in areas ranging from neurodegenerative diseases to protein production yields. Methods to modulate protein aggregation are therefore essential. One suggested method to modulate protein aggregation is the use of nucleic acid aptamers, that is, single-stranded nucleic acids that have been selected to specifically bind to a target. Previous studies in some systems have demonstrated that aptamers may inhibit protein aggregation, including for α-synuclein, a protein implicated in synucleinopathies. However, the mechanisms by which aptamers might affect or modulate aggregation have not been fully determined. In this study, we investigated the effect of an aptamer that binds α-synuclein oligomer, T-SO508, on α-synuclein aggregation in vitro using thioflavin T to monitor aggregation kinetics, and we performed atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and analytical ultracentrifugation to characterize intermediate structures. The results indicated that T-SO508, but not control DNA sequences, extends the lag phase of aggregation and stabilizes formation of a small non-fibrillar aggregate complex. Attempts to use the aptamer-induced complexes to seed fibril formation did not in fact accelerate aggregation, indicating that these structures are off-pathway for aggregation. This study highlights a potential mechanism by which aptamers may modulate the aggregation properties of proteins.

Dynamic Control of Aptamer-Ligand Activity Using Strand Displacement Reactions.

Nucleic acid aptamers are an expandable toolkit of sensors and regulators. To employ aptamer regulators within nonequilibrium molecular networks, the aptamer-ligand interactions should be tunable over time, so that functions within a given system can be activated or suppressed on demand. This is accomplished through complementary sequences to aptamers, which achieve programmable aptamer-ligand dissociation by displacing the aptamer from the ligand. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our simple approach on light-up aptamers as well as on aptamers inhibiting viral RNA polymerases, dynamically controlling the functionality of the aptamer-ligand complex. Mathematical models allow us to obtain estimates for the aptamer displacement kinetics. Our results suggest that aptamers, paired with their complement, could be used to build dynamic nucleic acid networks with direct control over a variety of aptamer-controllable enzymes and their downstream pathways.

A Biomimetic Phosphatidylcholine-Terminated Monolayer Greatly Improves the In Vivo Performance of Electrochemical Aptamer-Based Sensors.

The real-time monitoring of specific analytes in situ in the living body would greatly advance our understanding of physiology and the development of personalized medicine. Because they are continuous (wash-free and reagentless) and are able to work in complex media (e.g., undiluted serum), electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors are promising candidates to fill this role. E-AB sensors suffer, however, from often-severe baseline drift when deployed in undiluted whole blood either in vitro or in vivo. We demonstrate that cell-membrane-mimicking phosphatidylcholine (PC)-terminated monolayers improve the performance of E-AB sensors, reducing the baseline drift from around 70 % to just a few percent after several hours in flowing whole blood in vitro. With this improvement comes the ability to deploy E-AB sensors directly in situ in the veins of live animals, achieving micromolar precision over many hours without the use of physical barriers or active drift-correction algorithms.

Efficacy and satisfaction rates of oral PDE5is in the treatment of erectile dysfunction secondary to spinal cord injury: a review of literature.

CONCEPT: Decreased sexual function is a major concern of men with spinal cord injuries (SCIs). Treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) through oral pharmacotherapies has been proven to be an effective way to address and treat this concern. OBJECTIVE: To find an efficacious and satisfactory treatment ED secondary to SCI through the compilation of studies that utilized the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) when testing phosphodiesterase V inhibitors (PDE5i). METHOD: Ten articles, which used the IIEF to study satisfaction and/or efficacy of PDE5is sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil in the treatment of ED were reviewed and analyzed. Through the use of a self-made grading scale the value of each article was determined for this research. RESULTS: Sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil all have been proven to be effective in treating ED in men with SCI. While sildenafil is the most thoroughly studied ED treatment for patients with SCI, tadalafil has a longer time duration effectiveness, which allows for more spontaneity in the sexual experience. Minimal adverse effects have been noted in patients with SCI using these medications; headache, flushing, and mild hypotension are the most common. In articles that study satisfaction, patients show great improvement over baseline with the use of these medications. CONCLUSION: Although there is a need for further research on the safety in long-term use of tadalafil and vardenafil, comparative studies done on all three medications show no statistically significant difference in effectiveness or satisfaction. New medications and treatment options, such as avanafil, are being studied in hope of continued improvement of sexual function in men with SCI.