Comparison of changes in stress coping strategies between cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy.

Background: Coping refers to conscious responses to negative circumstances, with the intention of ameliorating these situations. Few studies have compared the differences between psychotherapy and medication treatment for coping strategies for depression. In this study, we investigated the differences in coping strategies between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) combined with medication (CBT group) and medication alone (pharmacotherapy group) among outpatients with depression. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted among 50 patients with major depression (24 and 26 in the CBT and pharmacotherapy groups, respectively). Stress coping strategies (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations [CISS]) and depression severity (Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition [BDI-II]) were assessed at baseline and 16 weeks later. Changes in the CISS and BDI-II scores in both groups were tested using repeated analysis of variance. Inverse probability weighting with propensity score analysis was applied to address potential selection bias. Results: At 16 weeks, the CBT group exhibited increased CISS task-oriented coping, distraction, and social diversion scores, which differed from those of the pharmacotherapy group. The CBT group exhibited a significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms than the pharmacotherapy group. Limitations: This study was not a randomized controlled trial and thus may have selection bias. Conclusion: Gaining adaptive coping skills, including task-oriented coping, distraction, and social diversion skills, by combining CBT with medication may lead to greater improvement in depression symptoms. These findings suggest that clinicians should evaluate coping strategies and facilitate the acquisition of adaptive coping strategies in patients with depression to reduce their symptoms.

Ultra-high temperature Soret effect in a silicate melt: SiO2 migration to cold side.

The Soret effect, temperature gradient driven diffusion, in silicate melts has been investigated intensively in the earth sciences from the 1980s. The SiO2 component is generally concentrated in the hotter region of silicate melts under a temperature gradient. Here, we report that at ultra-high temperatures above ∼3000 K, SiO2 becomes concentrated in the colder region of the silicate melts under a temperature gradient. The interior of an aluminosilicate glass [63.3SiO2-16.3Al2O3-20.4CaO (mol. %)] was irradiated with a 250 kHz femtosecond laser pulse for local heating. SiO2 migrated to the colder region during irradiation with an 800 pulse (3.2 ms irradiation). The temperature analysis indicated that migration to the colder region occurred above 3060 K. In the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulation, SiO2 migrated to the colder region under a temperature gradient, which had an average temperature of 4000 K; this result supports the experimental result. On the other hand, SiO2 exhibited a tendency to migrate to the hotter region at 2400 K in both the NEMD and experimental study. The molar volume calculated by molecular dynamics simulation without a temperature gradient indicates two bends at 1650 and 3250 K under 500 MPa. Therefore, the discontinuous (first order) transition with coexistence of two phases of different composition could be related to the migration of SiO2 to colder region. However, the detailed mechanism has not been elucidated.

Alterations of auditory-evoked gamma oscillations are more pronounced than alterations of spontaneous power of gamma oscillation in early stages of schizophrenia.

Several animal models of schizophrenia and patients with chronic schizophrenia have shown increased spontaneous power of gamma oscillations. However, the most robust alterations of gamma oscillations in patients with schizophrenia are reduced auditory-oscillatory responses. We hypothesized that patients with early-stage schizophrenia would have increased spontaneous power of gamma oscillations and reduced auditory-oscillatory responses. This study included 77 participants, including 27 ultra-high-risk (UHR) individuals, 19 patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (ROS), and 31 healthy controls (HCs). The auditory steady-state response (ASSR) and spontaneous power of gamma oscillations measured as induced power during the ASSR period were calculated using electroencephalography during 40-Hz auditory click-trains. The ASSRs were lower in the UHR and ROS groups than in the HC group, whereas the spontaneous power of gamma oscillations in the UHR and ROS groups did not significantly differ from power in the HC group. Both early-latency (0-100 ms) and late-latency (300-400 ms) ASSRs were significantly reduced and negatively correlated with the spontaneous power of gamma oscillations in the ROS group. In contrast, UHR individuals exhibited reduced late-latency ASSR and a correlation between the unchanged early-latency ASSR and the spontaneous power of gamma oscillations. ASSR was positively correlated with the hallucinatory behavior score in the ROS group. Correlation patterns between the ASSR and spontaneous power of gamma oscillations differed between the UHR and ROS groups, suggesting that the neural dynamics involved in non-stimulus-locked/task modulation change with disease progression and may be disrupted after psychosis onset.

Preliminary Evaluation of Translated and Culturally Adapted Internet-Delivered Cognitive Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: Multicenter, Single-Arm Trial in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Internet-delivered cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder (iCT-SAD), which is a therapist-guided modular web-based treatment, has shown strong efficacy and acceptability in English-language randomized controlled trials in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. However, it is not yet known whether iCT-SAD can retain its efficacy following linguistic translation and cultural adaptation of treatment contents and implementation in other countries such as Japan. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the preliminary efficacy and acceptability of the translated and culturally adapted iCT-SAD in Japanese clinical settings. METHODS: This multicenter, single-arm trial recruited 15 participants with social anxiety disorder. At the time of recruitment, participants were receiving usual psychiatric care but had not shown improvement in their social anxiety and required additional treatment. iCT-SAD was provided in combination with usual psychiatric care for 14 weeks (treatment phase) and for a subsequent 3-month follow-up phase that included up to 3 booster sessions. The primary outcome measure was the self-report version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. The secondary outcome measures examined social anxiety-related psychological processes, taijin kyofusho (the fear of offending others), depression, generalized anxiety, and general functioning. The assessment points for the outcome measures were baseline (week 0), midtreatment (week 8), posttreatment (week 15; primary assessment point), and follow-up (week 26). Acceptability was measured using the dropout rate from the treatment, the level of engagement with the program (the rate of module completion), and participants' feedback about their experience with the iCT-SAD. RESULTS: Evaluation of the outcome measures data showed that iCT-SAD led to significant improvements in social anxiety symptoms during the treatment phase (P<.001; Cohen d=3.66), and these improvements were maintained during the follow-up phase. Similar results were observed for the secondary outcome measures. At the end of the treatment phase, 80% (12/15) of participants demonstrated reliable improvement, and 60% (9/15) of participants demonstrated remission from social anxiety. Moreover, 7% (1/15) of participants dropped out during treatment, and 7% (1/15) of participants declined to undergo the follow-up phase after completing the treatment. No serious adverse events occurred. On average, participants completed 94% of the modules released to them. Participant feedback was positive and highlighted areas of strength in treatment, and it included further suggestions to improve suitability for Japanese settings. CONCLUSIONS: Translated and culturally adapted iCT-SAD demonstrated promising initial efficacy and acceptability for Japanese clients with social anxiety disorder. A randomized controlled trial is required to examine this more robustly.

Role of mixing thermodynamic properties on the Soret effect.

We demonstrate that the modified Kempers model, a recently developed theoretical model for the Soret effect in oxide melts, is applicable for predicting the composition dependence of the Soret coefficient in three binary molecular liquids with negative enthalpies of mixing. We compared the theoretical and experimental values for water/ethanol, water/methanol, water/ethylene glycol, water/acetone, and benzene/n-heptane mixtures. In water/ethanol, water/methanol, and water/ethylene glycol, which have negative enthalpies of mixing across the entire mole fraction range, the modified Kempers model successfully predicts the sign change of the Soret coefficient with high accuracy, whereas, in water/acetone and benzene/n-heptane, which have composition ranges with positive enthalpies of mixing, it cannot predict the sign change of the Soret coefficient. These results suggest that the model is applicable in composition ranges with negative enthalpies of mixing and provides a framework for predicting and understanding the Soret effect from the equilibrium thermodynamic properties of mixing, such as the partial molar volume, partial molar enthalpy of mixing, and chemical potential.

Composition-dependent sign inversion of the Soret coefficient of SiO2 in binary borosilicate melts.

Using a laser-induced local-heating experiment combined with temperature analysis, we observed the composition-dependent sign inversion of the Soret coefficient of SiO2 in binary silicate melts, which was successfully explained by a modified Kempers model used for describing the Soret effect in oxide melts. In particular, the diffusion of SiO2 to the cold side under a temperature gradient, which is an anomaly in silicate melts, was observed in the SiO2-poor compositions. The theoretical model indicates that the thermodynamic mixing properties of oxides, partial molar enthalpy of mixing, and partial molar volume are the dominant factors for determining the migration direction of the SiO2 component under a temperature gradient.

Shared functional impairment in the prefrontal cortex affects symptom severity across psychiatric disorders.

BACKGROUND: The prefrontal deficits in psychiatric disorders have been investigated using functional neuroimaging tools; however, no studies have tested the related characteristics across psychiatric disorders considering various demographic and clinical confounders. METHODS: We analyzed 1558 functional brain measurements using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy during a verbal fluency task from 1200 participants with three disease spectra [196 schizophrenia, 189 bipolar disorder (BPD), and 394 major depressive disorder (MDD)] and 369 healthy controls along with demographic characteristics (age, gender, premorbid IQ, and handedness), task performance during the measurements, clinical assessments, and medication equivalent doses (chlorpromazine, diazepam, biperiden, and imipramine) in a consistent manner. The association between brain functions and demographic and clinical variables was tested using a general linear mixed model (GLMM). Then, the direction of relationship between brain activity and symptom severity, controlling for any other associations, was estimated using a model comparison of structural equation models (SEMs). RESULTS: The GLMM showed a shared functional deficit of brain activity and a schizophrenia-specific delayed activity timing in the prefrontal cortex (false discovery rate-corrected p < 0.05). Comparison of SEMs showed that brain activity was associated with the global assessment of functioning scores in the left inferior frontal gyrus opercularis (IFGOp) in BPD group and the bilateral superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, and the left superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus triangularis, and IFGOp in MDD group. CONCLUSION: This cross-disease large-sample neuroimaging study with high-quality clinical data reveals a robust relationship between prefrontal function and behavioral outcomes across three major psychiatric disorders.

Abnormality of Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Major Depressive Disorder: A Study With Whole-Head Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a functional neuroimaging modality that has advantages in clinical usage. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have found that the resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the default mode network (DMN) is increased, while the RSFC of the cognitive control network (CCN) is reduced in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) compared with healthy controls. This study tested whether the NIRS-based RSFC measurements can detect the abnormalities in RSFC that have been associated with MDD in previous fMRI studies. We measured 8 min of resting-state brain activity in 34 individuals with MDD and 78 age- and gender-matched healthy controls using a whole-head NIRS system. We applied a previously established partial correlation analysis for estimating RSFCs between the 17 cortical regions. We found that MDD patients had a lower RSFC between the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the parietal lobe that comprise the CCN, and a higher RSFC between the right orbitofrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, compared to those in healthy controls. The RSFC strength of the left CCN was negatively correlated with the severity of depressive symptoms and the dose of antipsychotic medication and positively correlated with the level of social functioning. The results of this study suggest that NIRS-based measurements of RSFCs have potential clinical applications.

Identification of three closely linked loci conferring broad-spectrum Phytophthora sojae resistance in soybean variety Tosan-231.

KEY MESSAGE: A variable genomic region containing two Harosoy-derived loci related to Rps7 and one Nemashirazu-derived locus confers broad-spectrum Phytophthora sojae resistance in Tosan-231 and is useful for developing resistant cultivars. We investigated resistance to pathotypically variable Phytophthora sojae isolates in the soybean variety Tosan-231, which has broad-spectrum resistance. Mapping analysis using descendent lines from a cross between Shuurei and Tosan-231 demonstrated that a genomic region between SSR markers BARCSOYSSR_03_0209 and BARCSOYSSR_03_0385 (termed "Region T"), confers broad-spectrum resistance in Tosan-231 and contains three closely linked resistance loci. Inoculation tests with 20 P. sojae isolates of different pathotypes and simple sequence repeat (SSR) analysis of progenitors of Tosan-231 facilitated identification and characterization of Rps genes at the three resistance loci. Two resistance genes, RpsT1 and RpsT2, were found to be derived from Harosoy carrying Rps7. This result suggested two mutually exclusive possibilities: (1) either RpsT1 or RpsT2 is Rps7, and the other is a locally functional novel gene; (2) Rps7 is not a single gene but in fact comprises RpsT1 and RpsT2. The resistance locus containing RpsT3 is derived from Nemashirazu, in which Rps genes have remained poorly defined. Moreover, we identified two genomic regions with relatively high recombination frequencies on the basis of mapping information and proposed a strategy to readily assemble useful resistance genes in or around Region T.

Determination of thermodynamic and microscopic origins of the Soret effect in sodium silicate melts: Prediction of sign change of the Soret coefficient.

The Soret effect in silicate melts has attracted attention in earth and material sciences, particularly in glass science and engineering, because a compositional change caused by the Soret effect modifies the material properties of silicate melts. We investigated the Soret effect in an Na2O-SiO2 system, which is the most common representative of silicate melts. Our theoretical approach based on the modified Kempers model and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation was validated for 30Na2O-70SiO2(mol. %). The sign and order of the absolute values of the calculated Soret coefficients were consistent with the experimental values. The positive Soret coefficient of SiO2 in the SiO2-poor composition range was accurately predicted. Previous experimental studies have focused on SiO2-rich compositions, and only the negative sign, indicating SiO2 migration to the hot side, has been observed. In the SiO2-poor composition range, the Q0 structure was dominant and had four Si-O-Na bonds around an SiO4 unit. The Si-O-Na bond had high enthalpic stability and contributed to the large negative enthalpy of SiO2 mixing. According to our model, components with a large negative partial molar enthalpy of mixing will concentrate in the cold region. The microscopic and thermodynamic origins of the sign change in the Soret effect were determined.

Prefrontal dysfunction associated with a history of suicide attempts among patients with recent onset schizophrenia.

Suicide is a major cause of death in patients with schizophrenia, particularly among those with recent disease onset. Although brain imaging studies have identified the neuroanatomical correlates of suicidal behavior, functional brain activity correlates particularly in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSZ) remain unknown. Using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) recording with a high-density coverage of the prefrontal area, we investigated whether prefrontal activity is altered in patients with ROSZ having a history of suicide attempts. A 52-channel NIRS system was used to examine hemodynamic changes in patients with ROSZ that had a history of suicide attempts (n = 24) or that lacked such a history (n = 62), and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 119), during a block-design letter fluency task (LFT). Patients with a history of suicide attempts exhibited decreased activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared with those without such a history. Our findings indicate that specific regions of the prefrontal cortex may be associated with suicidal attempts, which may have implications for early intervention for psychosis.

Variation in the Resistance of Japanese Soybean Cultivars to Phytophthora Root and Stem Rot during the Early Plant Growth Stages and the Effects of a Fungicide Seed Treatment.

Soybean cultivars susceptible to Phytophthora root and stem rot are vulnerable to seed rot and damping-off of seedlings and young plants following an infection by Phytophthora sojae. In this study, the disease responses of Japanese soybean cultivars including currently grown main cultivars during the early growth stages were investigated following infections by multiple P. sojae isolates from Japanese fields. The extent of the resistance to 17 P. sojae isolates after inoculations at 14, 21, and 28 days after seeding varied significantly among 18 Japanese and two US soybean cultivars. Moreover, the disease responses of each cultivar differed significantly depending on the P. sojae isolate and the plant age at inoculation. Additionally, the treatment of 'Nattosyo-ryu' seeds with three fungicidal agrochemicals provided significant protection from P. sojae when plants were inoculated at 14-28 days after seeding. These results indicate that none of the Japanese soybean cultivars are completely resistant to all tested P. sojae isolates during the first month after sowing. However, the severity of the disease was limited when plants were inoculated during the later growth stages. Furthermore, the protective effects of the tested agrochemicals were maintained for at least 28 days after the seed treatment. Japanese soybean cultivars susceptible to Phytophthora root and stem rot that are grown under environmental conditions favorable for P. sojae infections require the implementation of certain practices, such as seed treatments with appropriate agrochemicals, to ensure they are protected from P. sojae during the early part of the soybean growing season.

Localization of the reb operon expression is inconsistent with that of the R-body production in the stem nodules formed by Azorhizobium caulinodans mutants having a deletion of praR.

Azorhizobium caulinodans, a kind of rhizobia, has a reb operon encoding pathogenic R-body components, whose expression is usually repressed by a transcription factor PraR. Mutation on praR induced a high expression of reb operon and the formation of aberrant nodules, in which both morphologically normal and shrunken host cells were observed. Histochemical GUS analyses of praR mutant expressing reb operon-uidA fusion revealed that the bacterial cells within the normal host cells highly expressed the reb operon, but rarely produced R-bodies. On the other hand, the bacterial cells within the shrunken host cells frequently produced R-bodies but rarely expressed the reb operon. This suggests that R-body production is not only regulated at the transcriptional level, but by other regulatory mechanisms as well.

Severity-dependent and -independent brain regions of major depressive disorder: A long-term longitudinal near-infrared spectroscopy study.

BACKGROUND: Long-term longitudinal studies are necessary to establish neuroimaging indicators which contribute to the detection of severity changes over time in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: One hundred sixty-five patients with MDD underwent clinical assessments and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) examination at the initial evaluation (T0). After 1.5 years, 45 patients who visited for the follow-up evaluation (T1.5) were included in the analysis. The authors conducted analyses using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) scores and mean oxy-hemoglobin concentration ([oxy-Hb]) changes during a cognitive task in NIRS at T0 (T0_HAMD, T0_[oxy-Hb]) and at T1.5 (T1.5_HAMD, T1.5_[oxy-Hb]), and their intra-individual longitudinal changes (ΔHAMD = T1.5_HAMD - T0_HAMD, Δ[oxy-Hb] = T1.5_[oxy-Hb] - T0_[oxy-Hb]). RESULTS: For severity-dependent regions, the Δ[oxy-Hb] in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was negatively correlated with the ΔHAMD. For severity-independent regions, the intra-class correlation coefficients between T0_ and T1.5_[oxy-Hb] were moderate in the bilateral middle frontal gyri (MFG). LIMITATIONS: The percentage of patients included in the follow-up examination was relatively small. CONCLUSIONS: Brain activation in the right IFG and the bilateral MFG as measured by NIRS may differentially indicate clinical severity and trait-related abnormalities in MDD.

Role of partial molar enthalpy of oxides on Soret effect in high-temperature CaO-SiO2 melts.

The Soret effect or thermodiffusion is the temperature-gradient driven diffusion in a multicomponent system. Two important conclusions have been obtained for the Soret effect in multicomponent silicate melts: first, the SiO2 component concentrates in the hot region; and second, heavier isotopes concentrate in the cold region more than lighter isotopes. For the second point, the isotope fractionation can be explained by the classical mechanical collisions between pairs of particles. However, as for the first point, no physical model has been reported to answer why the SiO2 component concentrates in the hot region. We try to address this issue by simulating the composition dependence of the Soret effect in CaO-SiO2 melts with nonequilibrium molecular dynamics and determining through a comparison of the results with those calculated from the Kempers model that partial molar enthalpy is one of the dominant factors in this phenomenon.

Electrophysiological evidence for abnormal glutamate-GABA association following psychosis onset.

Previous studies have shown glutamatergic dysfunction and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic dysfunction in schizophrenia. Animal studies suggest that N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) dysfunction and GABA-ergic dysfunction interact with each other and lead to alterations in excitatory/inhibitory balance. The NMDAR and GABAergic-interneuron functions may be indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN) and auditory steady-state gamma-band response (ASSR), respectively. However, no previous studies have tested the hypothesis of an abnormal association between MMN and gamma-band ASSR in the same patients to identify the in vivo evidence of NMDAR-GABA association during the early stages of psychosis. Participants were individuals with recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSZ; N = 21), ultra-high risk (UHR; N = 27), and healthy controls (HCs; N = 24). The MMN amplitude was significantly impaired in ROSZ (p = 0.001, d = 1.20) and UHR (p = 0.003, d = 1.01) compared with HCs. The intertrial phase coherence (ITC) index of gamma-band ASSR was significantly reduced in ROSZ compared with HCs (p < 0.001, d = -1.27) and UHR (p = 0.032, d = -0.75). The event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) index of gamma-band ASSR was significantly smaller in ROSZ compared with HCs (p < 0.001, d = -1.21). The MMN amplitude was significantly correlated with the ITC in ROSZ (r = -0.69, p < 0.001). These findings provide the first in vivo evidence that an abnormal association of the electrophysiological indices of NMDAR and GABA dysfunctions may be present in recent-onset schizophrenia.

Auditory gamma oscillations predict global symptomatic outcome in the early stages of psychosis: A longitudinal investigation.

OBJECTIVES: The gamma-band auditory steady-state response (ASSR) is thought to reflect the function of parvalbumin-positive γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic interneurons and may be a candidate biomarker in early psychosis. Although previous cross-sectional studies have shown that gamma-band ASSR is reduced in early psychosis, whether reduced gamma-band ASSR could be a predictor of the long-term prognosis remains unknown. METHODS: In this longitudinal study, we investigated the association between gamma-band ASSR reduction and future global symptomatic or functional outcome in early psychosis. We measured 40-Hz ASSR in 34 patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSZ), 28 ultra-high risk (UHR) individuals, and 30 healthy controls (HCs) at baseline. After 1-2 years, we evaluated the global assessment of functioning (GAF) in the ROSZ (N = 20) and UHR (N = 20) groups. RESULTS: The 40-Hz ASSR was significantly reduced in the ROSZ and UHR groups. The attenuated 40-Hz ASSR was correlated with the future global symptomatic outcome in the ROSZ, but not in the UHR groups. CONCLUSIONS: A reduction in the gamma-band ASSR after the onset of psychosis may predict symptomatic outcomes in early psychosis. SIGNIFICANCE: Gamma-band ASSR may be a potentially useful biomarker of the long-term prognosis in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia.

Stringent Expression Control of Pathogenic R-body Production in Legume Symbiont Azorhizobium caulinodans.

R bodies are insoluble large polymers consisting of small proteins encoded by reb genes and are coiled into cylindrical structures in bacterial cells. They were first discovered in Caedibacter species, which are obligate endosymbionts of paramecia. Caedibacter confers a killer trait on the host paramecia. R-body-producing symbionts are released from their host paramecia and kill symbiont-free paramecia after ingestion. The roles of R bodies have not been explained in bacteria other than CaedibacterAzorhizobium caulinodans ORS571, a microsymbiont of the legume Sesbania rostrata, carries a reb operon containing four reb genes that are regulated by the repressor PraR. Herein, deletion of the praR gene resulted in R-body formation and death of host plant cells. The rebR gene in the reb operon encodes an activator. Three PraR binding sites and a RebR binding site are present in the promoter region of the reb operon. Expression analyses using strains with mutations within the PraR binding site and/or the RebR binding site revealed that PraR and RebR directly control the expression of the reb operon and that PraR dominantly represses reb expression. Furthermore, we found that the reb operon is highly expressed at low temperatures and that 2-oxoglutarate induces the expression of the reb operon by inhibiting PraR binding to the reb promoter. We conclude that R bodies are toxic not only in paramecium symbiosis but also in relationships between other bacteria and eukaryotic cells and that R-body formation is controlled by environmental factors.IMPORTANCECaedibacter species, which are obligate endosymbiotic bacteria of paramecia, produce R bodies, and R-body-producing endosymbionts that are released from their hosts are pathogenic to symbiont-free paramecia. Besides Caedibacter species, R bodies have also been observed in a few free-living bacteria, but the significance of R-body production in these bacteria is still unknown. Recent advances in genome sequencing technologies revealed that many Gram-negative bacteria possess reb genes encoding R-body components, and interestingly, many of them are animal and plant pathogens. Azorhizobium caulinodans, a microsymbiont of the tropical legume Sesbania rostrata, also possesses reb genes. In this study, we demonstrate that A. caulinodans has ability to kill the host plant cells by producing R bodies, suggesting that pathogenicity conferred by an R body might be universal in bacteria possessing reb genes. Furthermore, we provide the first insight into the molecular mechanism underlying the expression of R-body production in response to environmental factors, such as temperature and 2-oxoglutarate.

Application of functional near infrared spectroscopy as supplementary examination for diagnosis of clinical stages of psychosis spectrum.

AIM: Research efforts aiming at neuroimaging-aided differential diagnosis for psychiatric disorders have been progressing rapidly. A previous multisite study has developed a supplementary diagnostic system using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) that can be easily applied to clinical settings. However, few neuroimaging biomarkers have been developed for the psychosis spectrum with various clinical stages. METHODS: We employed the fNIRS as a clinical examination device for 143 participants, comprising 47 ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) individuals, 30 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP), 34 patients with chronic schizophrenia (ChSZ), and 33 healthy controls, who were independent of the previous study. A 12-month follow-up measurement was also carried out on 34 UHR individuals (72%), 21 patients with FEP (70%), and 33 controls. The fNIRS algorithm variables used for classification were the intensity and timing of prefrontal activation following the start of the cognitive task as used in the previous multisite study. RESULTS: The discrimination rate by timing of activation was modest but it became acceptable after adjusting confounding factors. Discrimination by intensity of activation was not improved by similar adjustment. A total of 63.8%, 86.7%, and 81.3% patients were classified as UHR, FEP, and ChSZ, respectively; and 85.1%, 86.7%, and 71.9% of patients in these groups, respectively, were classified as being on the psychosis spectrum. In the follow-up measurement, 88.2% of individuals with UHR and 95.0% of patients with FEP were successfully classified into the psychosis spectrum group. CONCLUSION: The fNIRS for supplementary clinical examination could be validly applied to differentiating people with the psychosis spectrum in various clinical stages. The fNIRS is a candidate biological marker for aiding diagnosis of psychosis spectrum in routine clinical settings.

Detection of resting state functional connectivity using partial correlation analysis: A study using multi-distance and whole-head probe near-infrared spectroscopy.

Multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a functional neuroimaging modality that enables easy-to-use and noninvasive measurement of changes in blood oxygenation levels. We developed a clinically-applicable method for estimating resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) with NIRS using a partial correlation analysis to reduce the influence of extraneural components. Using a multi-distance probe arrangement NIRS, we measured resting state brain activity for 8min in 17 healthy participants. Independent component analysis was used to extract shallow and deep signals from the original NIRS data. Pearson's correlation calculated from original signals was significantly higher than that calculated from deep signals, while partial correlation calculated from original signals was comparable to that calculated from deep (cerebral-tissue) signals alone. To further test the validity of our method, we also measured 8min of resting state brain activity using a whole-head NIRS arrangement consisting of 17 cortical regions in 80 healthy participants. Significant RSFC between neighboring, interhemispheric homologous, and some distant ipsilateral brain region pairs was revealed. Additionally, females exhibited higher RSFC between interhemispheric occipital region-pairs, in addition to higher connectivity between some ipsilateral pairs in the left hemisphere, when compared to males. The combined results of the two component experiments indicate that partial correlation analysis is effective in reducing the influence of extracerebral signals, and that NIRS is able to detect well-described resting state networks and sex-related differences in RSFC.