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Our objective was to examine symptom-level changes in the course in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) across the deployment cycle among combat-exposed Marines, and to determine the degree to which combat exposure and post-deployment stressor exposure predicted PTSD symptom profile transitions. We examined PTSD symptoms in a cohort of U.S. Marines (N = 892) recruited for the Marine Resiliency Study (MRS). Marines deployed as one battalion infantry unit to Afghanistan in 2010 and were assessed pre-deployment and one, five, and eight months post-deployment. We employed latent transition analysis (LTA) to examine Marines' movement across PTSD symptom profiles, determined by latent class analysis (LCA). LCAs revealed a 3-class solution one month pre-deployment, a 4-class solution at five months post-deployment, and a 3-class solution at eight months post-deployment. LTA revealed notable movement between classes over time, which depended chiefly on pre-deployment symptom presentation. Marines who reported few pre-deployment symptoms either maintained these low levels or returned to low levels by eight months. Marines who reported a moderate number of symptoms at pre-deployment had variable outcomes; 50% had reductions by eight months, and those who reported numbing symptoms at five months post-deployment tended to report more symptoms at eight months. Marines who reported more PTSD symptoms prior to deployment retained more symptoms eight months post-deployment. Combat exposure and post-deployment stressor exposure predicted profile transitions. Examining transitions between latent class membership over time revealed prognostic information about Marines' eight-month PTSD outcomes. The extent of pre-deployment PTSD symptoms was particularly informative of likely PTSD outcomes.

Background: Symptom-level variation in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has not yet been examined in the early post-deployment phase, but may be meaningful etiologically, prognostically, and clinically. Methods: Using latent class analysis (LCA), we examined PTSD symptom heterogeneity in a cohort of participants from the Marine Resiliency Study (MRS), a longitudinal study of combat Marines deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan (N¼892). Typologies of PTSD symptom presentation were examined at one month pre-deployment and again one, five, and eight months post-deployment. Results: Heterogeneity in PTSD symptom presentation was evident at each assessment point, and the degree of symptom heterogeneity (i.e., the number of classes identified) differed by time point. Symptom patterns stabilized over time from notable symptom fluctuations during the early post-deployment period to high, medium, and low symptom severity by eight months post-deployment. Hypervigilance and exaggerated startle were frequently endorsed by participants in the initial month post-deployment. Flashbacks, amnesia, and foreshortened future were infrequently endorsed. Greater combat exposure, lifespan trauma, and avoidant coping generally predicted worse outcomes. Limitations: Data were self-report and may have limited generalizability due to our lack of women and inclusion of only combat Marines. Attrition and re-ranging of data resulted in significant missing data and affected the representativeness of the sample. Conclusions: Symptom-level variability is highest in the month following deployment and then stabilizes over time. Should post-deployment assessments occur too soon, they may capture common and transient early post-deployment reactions, particularly anxious arousal. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Aflatoxin M 1 (AFM 1 ), the main monohydroxylated of aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) formed in liver and excreted in the milk, has toxicological proprieties comparable to those of AFB 1 , albeit a lower carcinogenic potency. The presence of AFM 1 was investigated in 30 samples of powdered milk purchased in Argentina and Brazil. The samples were analyzed using an immunoaffinity column for cleanup and HPLC-FLD for determining AFM 1 . The quantification limit was 0.1 μg/kg. AFM 1 was found in all the samples at levels ranging from 0.1 to 0.92 μg kg −1 with average concentration of 0.39 μg kg −1 .

The transfer property for the generalized Browder’s theorem both of the tensor product and of the left-right multiplication operator will be characterized in terms of the B -Weyl spectrum inclusion. In addition, the isolated points of these two classes of operators will be fully characterized.

Several characterizations of EP and normal Moore-Penrose invertible Banach algebra elements will be considered. The Banach space operator case will be also studied. The results of the present article will extend well known facts obtained in the frames of matrices and Hilbert space operators., 15 pages; original research article

The main objective of this work is to study generalized Browder's and Weyl's theorems for the multiplication operators $L_A$ and $R_B$ and for the elementary operator $\tau_{A,B}=L_AR_B$., Comment: 16 pages, original research article

Given a Banach Algebra $A$ and $a\in A$, several relations among the Drazin spectrum of $a$ and the Drazin spectra of the multiplication operators $L_a$ and $R_a$ will be stated. The Banach space operator case will be also examined. Furthermore, a characterization of the Drazin spectrum will be considered., Comment: 16 pages; original research article

Systemic immunization of macaques with a combination of DNA-poxvirus-based vaccines confers protection from high level of both systemic and mucosal viral replication following rectal exposure to the pathogenic SIV(mac251). Here we investigated early post-infection events in rectal and vaginal tissues, and found that the loss of CCR5(+)CD4(+) T cells was equivalent in vaccinated and control macaques, despite a three logs reduction at mucosal sites of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) RNA in the vaccinated group. Even though a normal CD4 (+) T cell number is not reconstituted at mucosal sites in either group, vaccination appeared to confer a better preservation of the CD4 (+) CCR5(+) T cells that replenish these sites. Analysis of rectal tissues RNA following challenge exposure demonstrated a decreased expression in vaccinated macaques of transforming growth factor-β, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4, FoxP3, and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, an immune suppressive enzyme expressed by dendritic cells that converts tryptophan to kynurenine and limits T-cell responses. Accordingly, the ratio of kynurenine and tryptophan in the plasma was significantly reduced in the vaccinated animals respect to the controls. Thus, preexisting adaptive immune responses induced by these vaccine modalities, although they do not protect from CD4 (+) T-cell depletion, nevertheless, they contain SIV(mac251) replication and delay expression of markers of T-cell activation and/or suppression at mucosal sites.

The programmed death (PD)-1 interacts with its ligand (PDL-1) delivering a negative signal to T cells. During human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection PD-1 and PDL-1 expressions are increased. Here we show that monocytes and CCR5(+) T cells of HIV-uninfected donors upregulated PDL-1 upon in vitro exposure to HIV. HIV-induced PDL-1 required interferon (IFN)-alpha, but not IFN-gamma, production. Inhibition of endocytosis, required for HIV-induced IFN-alpha production, prevented PDL-1 upregulation. IFN-alpha-inducing Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists increased PDL-1 on monocytes and CCR5(+) T cells. CD80 and CD86 were also increased on monocytes and CCR5(+) T cells after HIV exposure, but only CD80 was IFN-alpha-dependent. IFN-alpha-receptor subunit 2 (IFNAR2), was expressed only by CCR5(+) T cells and monocytes, explaining why these leukocytes responded to HIV-induced IFN-alpha. Finally, T cell proliferation was improved by PDL-1 blockade in HIV-treated PBMC. In the setting of HIV infection, IFN-alpha may negatively affect T cell responses by inducing PDL-1.

Intrathecal production of neopterin, a pteridine produced by interferon (IFN)-gamma-stimulated monocyte-derived macrophages, is associated with neurological disorders and infections. We investigated whether IFN-alpha/beta, IFN-gamma, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) induce neopterin production by human astroglioma cells. IFN-alpha/beta and IFN-gamma, but not HIV, induced neopterin. Interestingly, IFN-gamma, but not IFN-alpha/beta, increased expression and activity of the tryptophan-catabolizing enzyme indoleamine (2,3)-dioxygenase. In contrast, IFN-alpha/beta, but not IFN-gamma, reduced the uptake of three aromatic amino acids in U87MG and U138 astroglioma cells. Thus type I and type II IFN stimulate astrocyte-derived cells to produce neopterin and exert differential effects on amino acid metabolism.

The main concern of this note is the Moore–Penrose inverse in the context of Banach spaces and algebras. Especially attention will be given to a particular class of elements with the aforementioned inverse, namely EP Banach space operators and Banach algebra elements, which will be studied and characterized extending well-known results obtained in the frame of Hilbert space operators and C ∗ -algebra elements.