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Massive amounts of sequencing data are being generated thanks to advances in sequencing technology and a dramatic drop in the sequencing cost. Much of the data are comprised of nucleotides and the corresponding quality scores that indicate their reliability. The latter are more difficult to compress and are themselves noisy. As a result, lossy compression of the quality scores has recently been proposed to alleviate the storage costs. Further, it has been shown that lossy compression, at some specific rates, can achieve a performance on variant calling similar to that achieved with the lossless compressed data. We propose CROMqs, a new lossy compressor for the quality scores with the property of "infinitesimal successive refinability". This property allows the decoder to decompress the data iteratively without the need of agreeing with the encoder on a specific rate prior to compression. This characteristic is particularly amenable in practice, as in most cases the appropriate rate at which the lossy compressor should operate can not be established prior to compression. Further, this property can be of interest in scenarios involving streaming of genomic data. CROMqs is the first infinitesimal successive refinement lossy compressor for the quality scores in the literature, and we show that it obtains a comparable rate-distortion performance to previously proposed algorithms. Moreover, we also show that CROMqs achieves a comparable performance on variant calling to that of the lossless compressed data.

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OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of cardiometabolic dysregulations and their somatic treatment regimens in a group of psychiatric patients treated with antipsychotics. METHODS: In a naturalistic cohort study, baseline cardiometabolic parameters were measured in 543 outpatients. After one year, a second assessment was performed in 220 patients out of the total sample. In addition, it was investigated whether in patients with somatic comorbidities adequate treatment was prescribed. RESULTS: In this cohort, about half of the patients fulfilled the criteria for metabolic syndrome. Only a limited number of patients, however, received pharmacologic treatment for individual risk factors: About 19% for hypercholesterolemia, 26% for hypertension, and 52% for diabetes. Non-treated patients were significantly younger than treated patients. Follow-up data show that the course of the cardiometabolic parameters can be dynamic. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiometabolic risk factors are highly prevalent in psychiatric patients treated with antipsychotic drugs. Unfortunately, adequate treatment of cardiometabolic comorbidity in these relatively young patients is seriously hampered. Thus, specific guidelines for psychiatric patients have to be developed taking into account the high cardiovascular risk at a relatively young age and potential pharmacokinetic interactions between psychotropics and somatic compounds. Moreover, integration of psychiatric and physical health care systems for patients with mental disorders is urgently needed.

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AIMS: The aim of this study was to explore a new PCR target gene for Vibrio parahaemolyticus, based on the histone-like nucleoid structure (H-NS) gene. METHODS AND RESULTS: Primers for the H-NS gene were designed for specificity to V. parahaemolyticus and incorporated into a PCR assay. The PCR assay was able to specifically detect all of the 82 V. parahaemolyticus strains tested, but did not result in amplification in the 47 other Vibrio spp. and nonVibrio spp. strains. The detection limit of the PCR assay was 0.14 pg purified genomic DNA and 1.8 × 10(5) CFU g(-1) spiked oyster samples from V. parahaemolyticus RIMD2210633. Furthermore, a multiplex PCR assay targeting the hns, tdh and trh genes was successfully developed to detect virulent V. parahaemolyticus strains. CONCLUSIONS: The H-NS-based PCR assay developed in this study was sensitive and specific, with great potential for field detection of V. parahaemolyticus in seawater or seafood samples. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The H-NS gene was validated as a new specific marker gene in PCR assays for accurate detection and identification of V. parahaemolyticus, which has the potential to be applied in diagnostics and taxonomic studies.

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We investigated the interplay between parathyroid hormone (PTH) and phosphodiesterases (PDEs) in osteoblasts. PDE4 negatively regulated PTH-induced cAMP accumulation. PDE4 inhibitor enhanced PTH-induced osteoclast formation and RANKL mRNA expression, which is partially mediated by COX-2 mRNA expression. Two CRE sites in the COX-2 promoter were required for the increase in COX-2 transcription by PDE4 inhibitor, and the expression of a dominant-negative form of CREB abolished COX-2 mRNA expression in response to PDE4 inhibitor or PTH in osteoblasts. Taken together, our data indicate that PDE4 inhibitor promotes PTH-induced osteoclast formation partially via CRE-mediated COX-2 mRNA expression.

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The aim of our study was to evaluate the modifications of the respiratory pattern during sleeping in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) by a simple pulse-oxymetry. We studied 10 subjects (8M/2F), mean age 71.4 +/- 12.4 yrs, admitted to sub-intensive cardiological therapy unit, with diagnosis of CHF due to left ventricular insufficiency by ischemic, hypertensive or idiopathic cardiopathy, when in a stable clinical condition. All patients presented arterial blood gas values within normal limits. The ejection fraction of left ventricle showed a mean value of 30.4 +/- 8.2% (range 20%-45%). Nocturnal pulse-oxymetry was performed by pulse-oxymeter (PULSOX 7 Minolta) provided with a digital probe at a sliding speed 24 cm/h. Our data showed that all patients presented nocturnal desaturation episodes (mean oxygen desaturation index 15.7 +/- 18.4). In two patients, we found an "Overlap Syndrome" (obstructive sleep apnoea in presence of cardiopathy). In other patients pulse-oxymetry showed a typical sequence of "fall-rise" basal O2 saturation lasting from 36 to 72 seconds, collected in "wave trains" which were present from 14% to 70% of total sleep time compatible with periodic breathing. In conclusion, our study shows that patients affected by CHF, even if in stable condition and with a PaO2, within normal values, present more or less severe disturbances of nocturnal SaO2, with periodic and regular sequences of SaO2 fall-rise that may be referred to ventilatory troubles such as periodic breathing or Cheyne-Stokes breathing. In these patients the pulse-oxymetry may be considered an efficacious, simple, cheap and well tolerated method.

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