Distribution of the soft tick Carios vespertilionis in lowlands and low mountain regions of Germany.

In Germany, the knowledge about ticks infesting bats is limited, and is restricted only to a few studies, most of them dating back decades. To further improve our knowledge on ticks parasitising bats, healthy and sick bats in central Germany were examined for ticks. In total 519 larvae and one nymph of Carios vespertilionis were collected from nine bat species: Eptesicus nilssonii, Eptesicus serotinus, Myotis daubentonii, Myotis myotis, Nyctalus leisleri, Pipistrellus nathusii, Pipistrellus pygmaeus, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, and Vespertilio murinus. Either the presence of C. vespertilionis was new for some areas or it was confirmed in some federal states in central Germany. The infestation rate was mostly low (n = 1-5 larvae/bat). However, in two cases a high number of ticks was observed. The highest infestation of 97 C. vespertilionis larvae was recorded on one Parti-coloured bat (V. murinus).

The rough endoplasmatic reticulum is a central nucleation site of siRNA-mediated RNA silencing.

Despite progress in mechanistic understanding of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathways, the subcellular sites of RNA silencing remain under debate. Here we show that loading of lipid-transfected siRNAs and endogenous microRNAs (miRNA) into RISC (RNA-induced silencing complexes), encounter of the target mRNA, and Ago2-mediated mRNA slicing in mammalian cells are nucleated at the rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER). Although the major RNAi pathway proteins are found in most subcellular compartments, the miRNA- and siRNA-loaded Ago2 populations co-sediment almost exclusively with the rER membranes, together with the RISC loading complex (RLC) factors Dicer, TAR RNA binding protein (TRBP) and protein activator of the interferon-induced protein kinase (PACT). Fractionation and membrane co-immune precipitations further confirm that siRNA-loaded Ago2 physically associates with the cytosolic side of the rER membrane. Additionally, RLC-associated double-stranded siRNA, diagnostic of RISC loading, and RISC-mediated mRNA cleavage products exclusively co-sediment with rER. Finally, we identify TRBP and PACT as key factors anchoring RISC to ER membranes in an RNA-independent manner. Together, our findings demonstrate that the outer rER membrane is a central nucleation site of siRNA-mediated RNA silencing.

[Psychometric assessment of the German version of the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+) - a new instrument for measuring dental anxiety]. / Psychometrische Überprüfung der deutschsprachigen Adaptation des Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+) - Ein neues Messinstrument zur Erfassung von Zahnbehandlungsängsten.

JM Armfield introduced the questionnaire "Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear" with the intention of giving research into this complex area a broader theoretical base. A German translation of the IDAF-4C+ was given to 287 dental patients in Germany, of which 188 were recruited from a Dental Fears Clinic. Together with the IDAF-4C+ the patients also filled out the Dental Anxiety Scale, the Dental Fear Survey and Beck's Anxiety Inventory. The good reliability of the IDAF core dental anxiety and fear module, that was found in the original Australian research, was found to be even better in the translated version. The factorial validity of the fear- and phobia module could be confirmed, the stimulus module only partly. With the translation of the IDAF-4C+ there is for the first time a questionnaire available in the German language that not only measures the extent of the dental fears but also diagnoses the anxiety-causing stimuli and intends to differentiate between dental fear and phobia.

Behavioral medicine approaches to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prevalent respiratory disease and associated with considerable individual and socioeconomic burden. Recent research started examining the role of psychosocial factors for course and management of the disease. PURPOSE: This review provides an overview on recent findings on psychosocial factors and behavioral medicine approaches in COPD. RESULTS: Research has identified several important psychosocial factors and effective behavioral medicine interventions in COPD. However, there is considerable need for future research in this field. CONCLUSIONS: Although beneficial effects of some behavioral medicine interventions have been demonstrated in COPD, future research efforts are necessary to study the effects of distinct components of these interventions, to thoroughly examine promising but yet not sufficiently proven interventions, and to develop new creative interventions.

The relevance of goal-orientation for motivation in high versus low proneness to negative symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The psychological mechanisms of why individuals with negative symptoms fail to initiate and perform goal-directed behavior are not well understood. Drawing on the reward-sensitivity and expectancy-value theories, we investigate whether negative symptom-like experiences (NSLE) are associated with generating less approach goals (aimed at reaching a positive outcome) and more avoidance goals (aimed at avoiding a negative outcome) and whether this type of goal-orientation explains motivational deficits (i.e., perceiving goals as less feasible and important and being less committed to them). METHODS: Based on the continuum model of negative symptoms, we identified two parallelized extreme groups with high and low levels of NSLE (n = 37, respectively) in an ad-hoc online-sample of healthy individuals (N = 262) using the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences. In an online study, these participants were instructed to generate approach and avoidance goals and to rate each goal in terms of feasibility, importance and goal-commitment. RESULTS: Participants with low levels of NSLE generated more approach than avoidance goals. Participants with high levels of NSLE showed no such difference due to increased numbers of avoidance goals. Furthermore, avoidance goal-orientation predicted reduced subjective feasibility and importance of goals and less goal-commitment. LIMITATIONS: Results are based on a healthy sample rather than people with psychosis. No longitudinal or behavioral data for goal-striving was collected. CONCLUSION: People with NSLE generate more avoidance goals than controls. This is dysfunctional because it correlates with feeling less committed to reach one's goals. Optimizing goal-setting could be a promising starting-point for psychological interventions aimed at reducing negative symptoms.

Anticipation and experience of emotions in patients with schizophrenia and negative symptoms. An experimental study in a social context.

Negative symptoms play a central role in the impairment of social functioning in schizophrenia. Healthy individuals use anticipated emotions to guide their decisions to seek out social interactions. It is unknown whether social withdrawal in negative symptoms is related to a biased anticipation of emotions that will arise in social situations. This study thus examined differences between patients with negative symptoms of schizophrenia and healthy controls in the anticipation and experience of positive and negative emotions related to a social interaction. In a between-subject factorial design, participants were instructed to either predict or to experience emotions related to a simulated social inclusion and exclusion interaction. Overall, patients anticipated more intense negative emotions than controls. Divided by the type of social situation, however, patients reported less intense positive emotions than controls with regard to social inclusion, but not with regard to social exclusion. The lack of an overall deficit in anticipation of positive emotions speaks against the assumption that anticipation abnormalities in negative symptoms are due to a neurocognitive deficit. Rather, the findings seem to reflect negative beliefs about potentially rewarding social situations in people with negative symptoms.

Subclinical negative symptoms and the anticipation, experience and recall of emotions related to social interactions: An experimental study.

Healthy individuals use anticipated and recalled emotions to guide their decisions to seek out social interactions. It is unknown whether individuals with negative symptoms of schizophrenia, who are commonly observed to socially withdraw, show a bias in anticipation and recall of emotions related to a social interaction. To close this knowledge gap, this study examines whether higher levels of subclinical negative symptoms are associated with less positive and more negative anticipated and recalled emotions related to a social interaction. In a mixed model design participants were instructed to either predict or to experience and then recall emotions related to a simulated social inclusion- or exclusion-interaction. Disregarding the type of situation, participants with higher levels of subclinical negative symptoms anticipated more intense fear than participants with lower levels of subclinical negative symptoms. Divided by type of situation, however, participants with higher levels of negative symptoms experienced and recalled more sadness related to being socially included and even recalled more positive emotions after being excluded. These specific associations are likely to reflect negative expectations about potentially rewarding social situations in people with negative symptoms. A replication in populations with clinically relevant negative symptoms and inclusion of measures to assess memory is warranted.

The approach-avoidance task as an online intervention in cigarette smoking: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Dual-process models posit that addictive behaviors are characterized by strong automatic processes that can be assessed with implicit measures. The present study investigated the potential of a cognitive bias modification paradigm, the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT), for retraining automatic behavioral tendencies in cigarette smoking. METHODS: The study was set up as an online intervention. After completing an online survey, 257 smokers were randomly allocated either to one of two experimental conditions (AAT) or a waitlist control group. Participants responded to different pictures by pushing or pulling the computer mouse, depending on the format of the picture. Pictures in portrait format depicted smoking-related items and were associated with pushing, pictures in landscape format depicted neutral items and were associated with pulling. One version of the AAT provided individual feedback after each trial whereas the standard version did not. After four weeks, participants were re-assessed in an online survey. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that the standard AAT, in particular, led to a significant reduction in cigarette consumption, cigarette dependence, and compulsive drive; no effect was found in the control group. LIMITATIONS: Interpretability of the study is constrained by the fact that no active control condition was applied. CONCLUSIONS: Notwithstanding the limitations, our findings indicate that the AAT might be a feasible instrument to reduce tobacco dependence and can be applied as an online intervention. Future studies should investigate whether the effects of behavior therapy can be augmented when combined with retraining interventions.

Investigation of automatic avoidance in displaced individuals with chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Avoidance of trauma-related stimuli is a key feature of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, avoidance has almost exclusively been investigated with explicit measures targeting more strategic aspects of behavior. The aim of the present study was to examine automatic avoidance in older individuals displaced as children at the end of World War II with (n=22) and without PTSD (n=26) and in non-traumatized control participants (n=23) with an Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). Participants were instructed to respond to the color (gray, brown) of trauma-related, neutral, and control pictures by pushing or pulling a joystick. Groups did not differ significantly as to their behavioral tendencies towards trauma-related pictures. Thus, there was no evidence for automatic avoidance in individuals with PTSD. However, high vigilance was associated with stronger implicit avoidance towards trauma-related pictures in the PTSD group. Several explanations for the non-significant results as well as implications and limitations of the present findings are discussed.

Validation of the German version of the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS).

Validated assessment instruments could contribute to a better understanding and assessment of negative symptoms and advance treatment research. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a German version of the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS). In- and outpatients (N=53) with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were assessed with standardized interviews and questionnaires on negative and positive symptoms and general psychopathology in schizophrenia, depression, the ability to experience anticipatory and consummatory pleasure, and global functioning. The results indicated good psychometric properties, high internal consistency and promising inter-rater agreement for the German version of the CAINS. The two-factor solution of the original version of the CAINS was confirmed, indicating good construct validity. Convergent validity was supported by significant correlations between the CAINS subscales with the negative symptom scale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, and with consummatory pleasure. The CAINS also exhibited discriminant validity indicated by its non-significant correlations with positive symptoms, general psychopathology and depression that are in line with the findings for the original version of the CAINS. In addition, the CAINS correlated moderately with global functioning. The German version of the CAINS appears to be a valid and suitable diagnostic tool for measuring negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Anticipatory pleasure and approach motivation in schizophrenia-like negative symptoms.

Previous research of negative symptoms in schizophrenia has emphasized an anticipatory pleasure deficit, yet the relationship of this deficit to patients' motivation in everyday life is poorly understood. This study tested the link between anticipatory pleasure and two broad motivational systems that are said to regulate the intensity of approach and avoidance behavior, the Behavioral Inhibition system (BIS) and the Behavioral Activation System (BAS). It was hypothesized that high vulnerability for negative symptoms would be associated with low reward responsiveness and that this association will be mediated by the amount of anticipated pleasure. Students (n=171) with varying vulnerability for negative symptoms (assessed by the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences) completed questionnaires regarding (a) anticipatory and consummatory pleasure, and (b) responsiveness to threat and reward. As hypothesized, anticipatory pleasure correlated significantly negatively with subclinical negative symptoms (r=-0.21) and significantly positively with BAS (r=0.55). Furthermore, evidence for a partial mediation effect was found. The findings support the notion of a close association between negative symptoms, the ability to anticipate pleasure and approach motivation that is evident even in healthy persons. It is suggested that the behavioral deficits immanent to negative symptoms reflect difficulties in the ability to translate emotions into motivation.

The extent and origin of discordance between self- and observer-rated depression in patients with psychosis.

It is assumed that patients with psychosis have difficulties indicating clinical symptoms accurately in self-reported measures. The present study investigated the ability of self-rating scales to detect symptoms of depression in patients with psychosis and aimed at identifying demographic, clinical and neurocognitive factors that predict the discordance between self-ratings and observer ratings. Inpatients and outpatients with psychosis (n=118) were assessed for depression by applying two observer rating and two self-rating scales. We found reasonable correlation scores between the ratings by patients and observers (range: r=0.50-0.57). In half of the patients (49.2%) the self-ratings corresponded well with the ratings of clinicians. Patients who rated their depressive symptoms as less severe than the clinicians demonstrated more negative symptoms such as blunted affect and poor affective rapport. Patients who rated their depression symptoms as being more severe were characterized by more self-reported general psychopathology. The concordance rates indicate that self-ratings of depression can be a valid additional tool in clinical assessment of patients with psychosis. However, clinicians should be attentive to the fact that some patients might have a general tendency to over-report symptoms and that patients with negative symptoms tend to be rated as more depressed in observer ratings compared with self-assessments.

Cognitive biases in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and depression--a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: Comorbid depression is highly prevalent in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and associated with a worse course of disease; however, the exact mechanisms linking both remain unclear. In currently depressed individuals without lung disease, depression-specific biases in information processing have been suggested as risk factors for the development and maintenance of depression. We examined whether comparable biases in cognitive information processing might underlie depression in COPD. DESIGN: Different aspects of cognitive information processing were examined with computer-based tasks measuring selective attention and memory in patients with COPD who were compared with age-matched, currently depressed patients without lung disease and healthy control participants. METHODS: The Self-Referential Encoding and Incidental Recall Task as well as the emotion face dot-probe task was applied to 21 never-depressed COPD patients, 18 currently depressed COPD patients, 20 currently depressed patients without lung disease and 19 healthy controls to examine cognitive biases. RESULTS: In both patients with COPD who were never and who were currently depressed, depression-like cognitive biases were observed for some attention- and memory-related tasks, but not for all tested aspects of information processing. These biases were particularly prominent in patients with COPD and current depression and comparable to those observed in currently depressed patients without lung disease. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this pilot study suggest that patients with COPD may potentially show depression-like biases in some aspects of cognitive information processing. Future studies are required to examine whether these biases represent a vulnerability factor for the development of depression in patients with COPD.

Psychosocial factors and behavioral medicine interventions in asthma.

OBJECTIVE: This review examines the evidence for psychosocial influences in asthma and behavioral medicine approaches to its treatment. METHOD: We conducted a systematic review of the literature on psychosocial influences and the evidence for behavioral interventions in asthma with a focus on research in the past 10 years and clinical trials. Additional attention was directed at promising new developments in the field. RESULTS: Psychosocial factors can influence the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of asthma, either directly through autonomic, endocrine, immunological, and central nervous system mechanisms or indirectly through lifestyle factors, health behaviors, illness cognitions, and disease management, including medication adherence and trigger avoidance. The recent decade has witnessed surging interest in behavioral interventions that target the various pathways of influence. Among these, self-management training, breathing training, and exercise or physical activation programs have proved particularly useful, whereas other essential or promising interventions, such as smoking cessation, dietary programs, perception and biofeedback training, and suggestive or expressive psychotherapy, require further, more rigorous evaluation. Given the high comorbidity with anxiety and mood disorders, further evaluation of illness-specific cognitive behavior therapy is of particular importance. Progress has also been made in devising community-based and culturally tailored intervention programs. CONCLUSION: In concert with an essential medication treatment, behavioral medicine treatment of asthma is moving closer toward an integrated biopsychosocial approach to disease management.

Effects of medical and psychological treatment of depression in patients with COPD--a review.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory lung disease characterized by progressive and only partially reversible symptoms and by considerable negative consequences such as reductions in functional status and quality of life. Comorbid depression is highly prevalent in patients with COPD and related to a worse course of the disease. Despite its negative impact, depression often remains unrecognized and untreated in COPD patients. This review summarizes the current state of findings from studies examining the effects of antidepressant treatments in patients with COPD. Reviewed treatment options are antidepressant medical therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Antidepressant medical trials include treatments with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) or tricyclic antidepressants (TCA); CBT was applied using various components. Across both treatment types, the majority of studies included patients with a wide range of psychiatric conditions and especially comorbid symptoms of anxiety were often not controlled. Furthermore, greatly varying instruments and methods for assessing depressive symptoms, small sample sizes and rather heterogeneous results were observed. This makes the comparison of treatment options rather difficult and prevents definite conclusions. However, some important implications valuable for further research were obtained. Some limited data suggested that SSRI might show fewer side effects than TCA. A few antidepressants as well as beneficial effects in other outcomes were observed after antidepressant medical treatment. More clearly, CBT showed some potential in terms of improvements in depressive symptoms, and also in other outcome measures. Patient compliance seems more promising for CBT than for antidepressant medical treatment. Overall, the reviewed studies suggest some promising effects for both treatment types and effect sizes in studies with significant antidepressant effects were reasonable. However, future randomized controlled trials comparing antidepressant medical and cognitive-behavioral therapy will be essential to assess distinct and most favorable treatment effects. Because recent data is often limited, sound diagnostic criteria of depression and adequate sample sizes are necessary to draw firm conclusions on the effects of these antidepressant treatment options in patients with COPD and comorbid depression.

The impact of anxiety and depression on outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression are prevalent comorbidities in COPD and are related to a worse course of disease. The present study examined the impact of anxiety and depression on functional performance, dyspnea, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with COPD at the start and end of an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program. METHODS: Before and after PR, 238 patients with COPD (mean FEV(1) % predicted = 54, mean age = 62 years) underwent a 6-min walking test (6MWT). In addition, anxiety, depression, QoL, and dyspnea at rest, after the 6MWT, and during activities were measured. RESULTS: Except for dyspnea at rest, improvements were observed in all outcome measures after PR. Multiple regression analyses showed that before and after PR, anxiety and depression were significantly associated with greater dyspnea after the 6MWT and during activities and with reduced QoL, even after controlling for the effects of age, sex, lung function, and smoking status. Moreover, before and after PR, anxiety was related to greater dyspnea at rest, whereas depression was significantly associated with reduced functional performance in the 6MWT. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that anxiety and depression are significantly associated with increased dyspnea and reduced functional performance and QoL in patients with COPD. These negative associations remain stable over the course of PR, even when improvements in these outcomes are achieved during PR. The results underline the clinical importance of detecting and treating anxiety and depression in patients with COPD.

A novel multiplex cell viability assay for high-throughput RNAi screening.

Cell-based high-throughput RNAi screening has become a powerful research tool in addressing a variety of biological questions. In RNAi screening, one of the most commonly applied assay system is measuring the fitness of cells that is usually quantified using fluorescence, luminescence and absorption-based readouts. These methods, typically implemented and scaled to large-scale screening format, however often only yield limited information on the cell fitness phenotype due to evaluation of a single and indirect physiological indicator. To address this problem, we have established a cell fitness multiplexing assay which combines a biochemical approach and two fluorescence-based assaying methods. We applied this assay in a large-scale RNAi screening experiment with siRNA pools targeting the human kinome in different modified HEK293 cell lines. Subsequent analysis of ranked fitness phenotypes assessed by the different assaying methods revealed average phenotype intersections of 50.7±2.3%-58.7±14.4% when two indicators were combined and 40-48% when a third indicator was taken into account. From these observations we conclude that combination of multiple fitness measures may decrease false-positive rates and increases confidence for hit selection. Our robust experimental and analytical method improves the classical approach in terms of time, data comprehensiveness and cost.

A protein interaction network links GIT1, an enhancer of huntingtin aggregation, to Huntington's disease.

Analysis of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is a valuable approach for characterizing proteins of unknown function. Here, we have developed a strategy combining library and matrix yeast two-hybrid screens to generate a highly connected PPI network for Huntington's disease (HD). The network contains 186 PPIs among 35 bait and 51 prey proteins. It revealed 165 new potential interactions, 32 of which were confirmed by independent binding experiments. The network also permitted the functional annotation of 16 uncharacterized proteins and facilitated the discovery of GIT1, a G protein-coupled receptor kinase-interacting protein, which enhances huntingtin aggregation by recruitment of the protein into membranous vesicles. Coimmunoprecipitations and immunofluorescence studies revealed that GIT1 and huntingtin associate in mammalian cells under physiological conditions. Moreover, GIT1 localizes to neuronal inclusions, and is selectively cleaved in HD brains, indicating that its distribution and function is altered during disease pathogenesis.