731 research outputs found

    Sleep-related attentional bias for faces depicting tiredness in insomnia: evidence from an eye-tracking study

    Get PDF
    Study Objectives: To date, evidence of an attentional bias in insomnia has mostly been obtained through reaction time tasks, with a limited number of studies using eye tracking. Here, using an eye-tracking paradigm, this study sought to determine whether individuals with insomnia display an attentional bias for novel faces depicting tiredness. Methods: Individuals with insomnia (n = 20) and normal sleepers (n = 20) viewed a series of face pairs depicting neutral and tired expressions each for periods of 4000 milliseconds. Eye movements were recorded using eye tracking, and first fixation onset, first fixation duration, total fixation duration, and total gaze duration were examined for three interest regions (eyes, nose, mouth). Results: Significant group × face interactions for total fixation duration and total gaze duration indicated that, regardless of interest-region, participants with insomnia spent more time fixating on and observing tired faces relative to neutral faces when compared with normal sleepers. Additionally, significant group × face × interest-region interactions for total fixation duration and total gaze duration indicated that participants with insomnia spent more time observing the eye region of the tired faces than the eye region of the neutral faces when compared with normal sleepers. Conclusions: Individuals with insomnia display an attentional bias toward tired faces, more specifically for the eye region compared to normal sleepers. These findings contribute to our understanding of face perception in insomnia and provide more objective support for cognitive models of insomnia, suggesting that individuals with insomnia selectively attend to faces for tiredness cues

    “Violence and aggression although not acceptable will happen, can happen and does happen”: a study of staffs’ experience of violence in child and family services

    Get PDF
    Background: Since the 1980’s incidents of workplace violence have been recognised as a serious problem within social care. It has been found to be particularly rife within residential settings and children’s homes in particular have been found to be one of the most violence-prone settings. And yet, there is a lack of literature on the prevalence and psychosocial impact of workplace violence on staff in residential units for looked after and accommodated children (LAAC). Method: Given the limited literature on residential childcare workers a systematic review was conducted on research of violence towards social workers in child and family services to achieve a better understand of violence within child and family social care generally. An empirical study was also conducted with staff of Local Authority residential units within Central Scotland. The aim of the empirical study was to explore staffs’ experience of workplace violence perpetrated by LAAC in residential settings, using the qualitative methodology Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: The systematic review showed that studies were mostly of medium methodological quality; verbal aggression towards social workers in child and family services was common place; physical violence was comparatively rare; and that all forms of violence impacted on wellbeing and practice. The empirical study had similar findings, but also provided new insights into how staff cope with workplace violence, particularly in the context of young peoples’ life experiences. Conclusion: Violence perpetrated by LAAC in residential units appeared to be lessening and a move towards more behaviour management was aiding staff to better understand the roots of violence. This in turn was found to help staff cope better with the emotional impact of violence. Management need to be mindful of the impact violence has on staff and continue providing training programs to better equip staff to understand violence and support LAAC to manage their aggression

    Sleep duration, sleep variability, and impairments of visual attention

    Get PDF
    Attentional networks are sensitive to sleep deprivation. However, variation in attentional performance as a function of normal sleep parameters is under-studied. We examined whether attentional performance is influenced by 1) individual differences in sleep duration; 2) sleep duration variability; and/or 3) their interaction. Fifty-seven healthy participants (61.4% female; mean age=32.37 years; SD=8.68) completed questionnaires, wore wrist actigraphy for one week, and subsequently completed the Attention Network Test. Sleep duration and sleep duration variability did not predict orienting score, executive control score or error rates. Sleep duration variability appeared to moderate the association between sleep duration with overall reaction time (β = -.34, t= -2.13, p=.04) and alerting scores (β= .43, t=2.94, p=.01), though further inspection of the data suggested that these were spurious findings. Time of testing was a significant predictor of alerting score (β=.35, t=2.96, p=.01), chronotype of orienting (β=.31, t=2.28, p=.03) and age of overall reaction time (β=.35, t=2.70, p=.01). Our results highlight the importance of examining the associations between variations in sleep-wake patterns and attentional networks in samples with greater variation in sleep, as well as the importance of rigorously teasing apart mechanisms of the sleep homeostat from those related to the circadian rhythm in studies examining cognition

    Involvement of Sigma-1 Receptors in the Antidepressant-Like Effects of Dextromethorphan

    Get PDF
    Dextromethorphan is an antitussive with a high margin of safety that has been hypothesized to display rapid-acting antidepressant activity based on pharmacodynamic similarities to the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine. In addition to binding to NMDA receptors, dextromethorphan binds to sigma-1 (s1) receptors, which are believed to be protein targets for a potential new class of antidepressant medications. The purpose of this study was to determine whether dextromethorphan elicits antidepressant-like effects and the involvement of s1 receptors in mediating its antidepressant-like actions. The antidepressant-like effects of dextromethorphan were assessed in male, Swiss Webster mice using the forced swim test. Next, s1 receptor antagonists (BD1063 and BD1047) were evaluated in conjunction with dextromethorphan to determine the involvement of s receptors in its antidepressant-like effects. Quinidine, a cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D6 inhibitor, was also evaluated in conjunction with dextromethorphan to increase the bioavailability of dextromethorphan and reduce exposure to additional metabolites. Finally, saturation binding assays were performed to assess the manner in which dextromethorphan interacts at the s1 receptor. Our results revealed dextromethorphan displays antidepressant-like effects in the forced swim test that can be attenuated by pretreatment with s1 receptor antagonists, with BD1063 causing a shift to the right in the dextromethorphan dose response curve. Concomitant administration of quinidine potentiated the antidepressant-like effects of dextromethorphan. Saturation binding assays revealed that a Ki concentration of dextromethorphan reduces both the Kd and the Bmax of [3H](+)-pentazocine binding to s1 receptors. Taken together, these data suggest that dextromethorphan exerts some of its antidepressant actions through s1 receptors

    Involvement of Sigma-1 Receptors in the Antidepressant-like Effects of Dextromethorphan

    Get PDF
    Dextromethorphan is an antitussive with a high margin of safety that has been hypothesized to display rapid-acting antidepressant activity based on pharmacodynamic similarities to the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine. In addition to binding to NMDA receptors, dextromethorphan binds to sigma-1 (σ1) receptors, which are believed to be protein targets for a potential new class of antidepressant medications. The purpose of this study was to determine whether dextromethorphan elicits antidepressant-like effects and the involvement of σ1 receptors in mediating its antidepressant-like actions. The antidepressant-like effects of dextromethorphan were assessed in male, Swiss Webster mice using the forced swim test. Next, σ1 receptor antagonists (BD1063 and BD1047) were evaluated in conjunction with dextromethorphan to determine the involvement of σ receptors in its antidepressant-like effects. Quinidine, a cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2D6 inhibitor, was also evaluated in conjunction with dextromethorphan to increase the bioavailability of dextromethorphan and reduce exposure to additional metabolites. Finally, saturation binding assays were performed to assess the manner in which dextromethorphan interacts at the σ1 receptor. Our results revealed dextromethorphan displays antidepressant-like effects in the forced swim test that can be attenuated by pretreatment with σ1 receptor antagonists, with BD1063 causing a shift to the right in the dextromethorphan dose response curve. Concomitant administration of quinidine potentiated the antidepressant-like effects of dextromethorphan. Saturation binding assays revealed that a Ki concentration of dextromethorphan reduces both the Kd and the Bmax of [3H](+)-pentazocine binding to σ1 receptors. Taken together, these data suggest that dextromethorphan exerts some of its antidepressant actions through σ1 receptors

    Sleep-related attentional bias for tired faces in insomnia: evidence from a dot-probe paradigm

    Get PDF
    People with insomnia often display an attentional bias for sleep-specific stimuli. However, prior studies have mostly utilized sleep-related words and images, and research is yet to examine whether people with insomnia display an attentional bias for sleep-specific (i.e. tired appearing) facial stimuli. This study aimed to examine whether individuals with insomnia present an attentional bias for sleep-specific faces depicting tiredness compared to normal-sleepers. Additionally, we aimed to determine whether the presence of an attentional bias was characterized by vigilance or disengagement. Forty-one individuals who meet the DSM-5 criteria for Insomnia Disorder and 41 normal-sleepers completed a dot-probe task comprising of neutral and sleep-specific tired faces. The results demonstrated that vigilance and disengagement scores differed significantly between the insomnia and normal-sleeper groups. Specifically, individuals with insomnia displayed difficulty in both orienting to and disengaging attention from tired faces compared to normal-sleepers. Using tired facial stimuli, the current study provides novel evidence that insomnia is characterized by a sleep-related attentional bias. These outcomes support cognitive models of insomnia by suggesting that individuals with insomnia monitor tiredness in their social environment

    Assessing the impact of discordant antibiotic treatment on adverse outcomes in community-onset UTI: a retrospective cohort study

    Get PDF
    OBJECTIVES: To investigate the risk of adverse outcomes following discordant antibiotic treatment (urinary organism resistant) for culture-confirmed community-onset lower urinary tract infection (UTI). METHODS: Cohort study using routinely collected linked primary care, secondary care and microbiology data from patients with culture-confirmed community-onset lower UTI (COLUTI). Antibiotic treatment within ±3 days was considered concordant if the urinary organism was sensitive and discordant if resistant.The primary outcome was the proportion of patients experiencing urinary infection-related hospital admission (UHA) within 30 days. Secondary outcomes were the proportion of patients experiencing reconsultation within 30 days, and the odds of UHA and reconsultation following discordant treatment, adjusting for sex, age, risk factors for complicated UTI, previous antibiotic treatment, recurrent UTI and comorbidities. RESULTS: A total of 11 963 UTI episodes in 8324 patients were included, and 1686 episodes (14.1%, 95% CI 13.5%-14.7%) were discordant. UHA occurred in 212/10 277 concordant episodes (2.1%, 95% CI 1.8%-2.4%) and 88/1686 discordant episodes (5.2%, 95% CI 4.2%-6.4%). Reconsultation occurred in 3961 concordant (38.5%, 95% CI 37.6%-39.5%) and 1472 discordant episodes (87.3%, 95% CI 85.6%-88.8%). Discordant treatment compared with concordant was associated with increased odds of UHA (adjusted OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.77-3.0, P < 0.001) and reconsultation (adjusted OR 11.25, 95% CI 9.66-13.11, P < 0.001) on multivariable analysis. Chronic kidney disease and diabetes mellitus were also independently associated with increased odds of UHA. CONCLUSIONS: One in seven COLUTI episodes in primary care were treated with discordant antibiotics. In higher risk patients requiring urine culture, empirical antibiotic choice optimization could meaningfully reduce adverse outcomes
    • …
    corecore