Search

The effects of liquid organic fertilizer (LOF) made from anaerobic digestion on some physiological factors and volatile components of arugula plants that were grown in salty conditions were investigated. The experiment was conducted in three different stages. In the first two stages, seeds were grown in petri dishes and pots for seven days. The third stage involved growing seedlings in pots for 60 days. Salinity inhibited the germination of 7-day arugula seedlings in petri dishes and their emergence in pots. In these stages, LOF pretreatment failed to eliminate stress-induced inhibition. Some physiological parameters were analyzed in 60-day seedlings in the third stage. Salt-induced inhibition showed significant negative effects on all parameters. In contrast to previous stages, LOF (1% and 5%) and NPK had positive effects in all groups at the third stage, eliminating salt stress in all parameters except water content. Contrary to expectations, volatile components showed no significant change but had fluctuating values due to salt stress or fertilizer treatments.

Reading is not only a mental decoding activity but also a social, material, bodily, and affective practice. It is learned; changes over time; varies across situations; and is crucial for academic institutions. Nonetheless, academics practice reading largely individually. Yet, reading remains an undervalued part of how professional research (work) is done. In this paper, we take a practice-oriented approach: How is reading enacted as a seemingly self-evident academic technique? Drawing on Science & Technology Studies and collective auto-ethnographic reflections of our readings in the RUSTlab at Ruhr University Bochum, we explore how reading is structured with respect to different goals—be it for critique, fun, teaching, or writing. We consider aspects of the material infrastructure such as pens and (missing) couches, and analyze how situations, bodies, and settings enact and afford different modes of reading. We organize the modes of reading into reading about, reading around, and reading aloud. This paper argues that reading is a craft that requires care and companionship, and that it matters who gets to read, when and where reading is done, and what the legitimate excuses for not reading are. We polemicize that academics would do well to bring reading practices from the individualized margins to the heart of collective exchange.

Individual differences in propensity to nicotine dependence appear to be mediated, in part, by genetic factors. The serotonin transporter gene has a functional polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) which modulates gene transcription and reuptake. A possible role in nicotine dependence is suggested by a link between 5-HTTLPR and neuroticism, a personality trait which has been related to smoking practices. In a cross-sectional study of 185 smokers, we utilized multiple linear regression modeling to examine the interacting effects of the 5HTTLPR and neuroticism on smoking practices and nicotine dependence. Genotype was classified according to the presence or absence of the short (s) allele vs the long (l) allele of 5-HTTLPR (ie, s/s or s/I vs I/I). Models controlled for gender, age, race, and alcohol use. The 5HTTLPR by neuroticism interaction effect was statistically significant in the models of nicotine intake (P = 0.05), nicotine dependence (P = 0.001), and smoking motivations (smoking to reduce negative mood (P = 0.01); smoking for stimulation (P = 0.01)). The results suggested that neuroticism was positively associated with these smoking practices among smokers with 5HTTLPR S genotypes (s/s or s/I), but not among smokers with the L genotype (I/I). The 5-HTTLPR may modify the effects of neuroticism on smoking motivations and nicotine dependence. Assessment of 5-HTTLPR genotype and neuroticism may help to identify smokers who are more responsive to psychotropic medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are being used in smoking cessation treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) associated with cirrhosis is frequent but often overlooked because it is largely considered silent. Until now, little has been known about their presentation and outcomes., Methods: We conducted a retrospective multicenter study on patients with kidney biopsy-proven cirrhosis-related IgAN (cirrhosis-IgAN), diagnosed between 2009 and 2022. We mixed them up with 83 primary IgAN (pIgAN) diagnosed during the same period, using a partitioning clustering approach, to determine common clinicopathological profiles., Results: All the 46 patients with cirrhosis-IgAN had an excessive alcoholic consumption. Clinical presentation was severe with acute kidney injury (AKI) in 79%; alternative causes of AKI was found in 62% of cases. Three clinicopathological clusters were identified as follows: the first one represented chronic involvement, the second one could be assimilated to mild disease, and the third one corresponded to a membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) pattern and was associated with heavy proteinuria and intrinsic AKI (without alternative causes). Whereas the first 2 clusters were equally distributed between pIgAN and cirrhosis-IgAN, the third was more frequent in patients with cirrhosis. The cumulative mortality rate in cirrhosis-IgAN was 26% and 46% at 1-year and 3-years, respectively. Steroid exposure and moderate or severe AKI were associated with higher mortality and steroid exposure was associated with the occurrence of severe infection., Conclusion: Our results suggest that high AKI incidence is related to extrinsic causes in most cases but can also be driven by IgA-dominant MPGN in a subset of patients. Steroid use was associated with infectious disease and mortality. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of immunosuppressive treatment in cirrhosis-IgAN patients., (© 2024 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: The short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) is a brief multi-dimensional measure which explores the metacognitive processes and beliefs about worry and cognition that are central to the vulnerability and maintenance of emotional disorders., Aims: The first aim of the study was to create and validate a French version of the MCQ-30 in a non-clinical and a clinical sample of depressed in-patients., Method: A French adaptation of the MCQ-30 was administered to a sample of 467 individuals from the general population and 73 hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients. Factor structure was assessed using a confirmatory factor analysis on the non-clinical group and a multi-trait-multi-method analysis on the psychiatric group. Criterion validity was explored by comparing the scores of the two samples. Measures of rumination, worry and depression were used to explore convergent validity., Results: Confirmatory factor analysis in the non-clinical sample indicated that the French version of the MCQ-30 has the same factor structure as the MCQ-30's original five-factor solution. In the clinical sample, the multi-trait-multi-method analysis revealed discrepancies with the original factor structure, and the MCQ-30 and its subscales were less reliable. Our results provide evidence of a convergent validity. The MCQ-30 scores were also able to discriminate between psychiatric and non-clinical samples., Conclusions: Our results show that the French version of the MCQ-30 is a valid instrument for measuring metacognitive beliefs in non-clinical population. Further research is needed to support its use among depressed in-patients.

Cognitive remediation (CR) research typically addresses internal validity, and few studies consider CR in a real-world context. This study evaluated the fit between the program conditions and treatment model in research and clinical settings, with the goal of informing future research on the contextual challenges associated with the implementation of CR. Data was drawn from an initiative by New York State's Office of Mental Health (OMH), to implement CR programs for adults with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) in 16 state operated outpatient clinics. One of these clinics first became a research site for a CR randomized clinical trial, which allowed for a comparison of the feasibility and acceptability of CR in a research as compared to a clinical setting. RESULTS: The research site averaged almost triple the number of referrals as the clinical sites. Over nine months 46.51% of clinic referrals were enrolled in the CR program whereas 64.29% of research referrals were enrolled. Clinical site utilization averaged 70.53% while research site utilization averaged 90.47%. At the clinical sites, 97% of respondents reported CR was an excellent or good experience. There was high treatment fidelity for program structure and content across sites. CONCLUSIONS: This comparison of CR in clinical and research sites highlights the decrease in referrals, enrollment and utilization that occurs when a program moves from a highly controlled setting to the real world. Still, the acceptability, fill rates and utilization indicated that CR can be successfully implemented in large scale, geographically diverse, publically funded clinic settings., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Metacognition describes the process of thinking about one's own thought processes. This concept was introduced by Flavell in 1979 and has since been widely developed in the cognitive approach to mood and anxiety disorders. As it happens, many recent studies have underlined the links between metacognition and anxio-depressive symptoms, pointing out the interest of assessing its various dimensions. The short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire is a brief multidimensional measure of a range of metacognitive processes and metacognitive beliefs about worry and cognition relevant to the vulnerability to and the maintenance of emotional disorders. The aim of this study was twofold: firstly to adapt and validate a French version of the short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) and to assess its psychometric properties in a clinical sample, and secondly to investigate metacognitive predictors of anxiety and depression in this sample., Method: The sample included 55 clinical participants (24 men, 31 women, mean age=51.33±14.62) with DSM-IV-TR psychiatric disorders (major depression, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Instrument reliability (internal consistency), construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis), and convergent validity were measured. The total score and the five subscale scores were also compared with previous results in non-clinical samples., Results: Reliability analyses indicated that the French version of the MCQ-30 possessed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach α=0.84), and confirmatory factor analysis supported the MCQ's original five-factor structure. Correlation with measurements of depression, anxiety and pathological worry demonstrated convergent validity (r=0.62, P<0.01 for anxiety; r=0.47, P<0.01 for rumination; r=0.33, P<0.05 for depression). Moreover, our clinical sample scored higher on the global scale when compared to previous non-clinical samples (mean score=71.85±13.57 while previous studies global scores ranged from 48.41±13.31 to 65.89±17.17). Consistent with others studies, negative beliefs about worry concerning uncontrollability and danger, as well as beliefs about the need to control thoughts were the strongest predictors of pathological worry (respectively r=0.68, P<0.01 and r=0.48, P<0.01) and depression (respectively r=0.45, P<0.01 and r=0.39, P<0.01), providing further support for the validity of the measure., Conclusion: These findings provide general support for the internal consistency of the French version of the MCQ-30, as well as its five-factor structure and its good concurrent validity in a clinical sample. They also confirm that this version is a valuable tool for the assessment of various dimensions of metacognition, in relation to the anxio-depressive symptomatology and the subsequent management of patients., (Copyright © 2016 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)