Evaluating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Self-Help Books for College Student Mental Health

Objectives: Self-help has the potential to improve access to mental health resources for college students. However, solutions are needed to improve sustainable delivery, cost- effectiveness, and to know which resources are most useful. Methods: A sample of 109 college students were randomly assigned to read either an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) self-help book through the University library website over 8 weeks with assessments at baseline, midtreatment (4-weeks), and posttreatment (8-weeks). Results: The majority of participants reported reading over half of their assigned book and high satisfaction ratings were given for both books. Both conditions demonstrated equivalent medium to large effect sizes for improvements over time on outcomes (psychological distress, positive mental health, academic distress) and processes of change (psychological inflexibility, mindfulness, cognitive fusion). However, the ACT condition produced improvements on obstruction with valued action more quickly than MBSR. Across conditions, baseline to midtreatment improvements in psychological inflexibility, valued action, cognitive fusion, and mindfulness all predicted baseline to posttreatment improvements in psychological distress. Improvements in psychological inflexibility more strongly predicted improvements in positive mental health in the MBSR condition. Conclusions: Overall, results suggest the potential benefits of both ACT and MBSR self-help books for improving student mental health and the potential promise of delivering these books through online university library systems

IR Spectrum of the O-H......O Hydrogen Bond of Phthalic Acid Monomethylester in Gas Phase and in CCl4_4 Solution

The absorption spectrum of the title compound in the spectral range of the Hydrogen-bonded OH-stretching vibration has been investigated using a five-dimensional gas phase model as well as a QM/MM classical molecular dynamics simulation in solution. The gas phase model predicts a Fermi-resonance between the OH-stretching fundamental and the first OH-bending overtone transition with considerable oscillator strength redistribution. The anharmonic coupling to a low-frequency vibration of the Hydrogen bond leading to a vibrational progression is studied within a diabatic potential energy curve model. The condensed phase simulation of the dipole-dipole correlation function results in a broad band in the 3000 \cm region in good agreement with experimental data. Further, weaker absorption features around 2600 \cm have been identified as being due to motion of the Hydrogen within the Hydrogen bond.Comment: Contribution to Horizons in Hydrogen Bond Research Conference, Paris 200

Mesozoic–Tertiary exhumation history of the Altai Mountains, northern Xinjiang, China: New constraints from apatite fission track data

This study uses apatite fission track (FT) analysis to constrain the exhumation history of bedrock samples collected from the Altai Mountains in northern Xinjiang, China. Samples were collected as transects across the main structures related to Palaeozoic crustal accretion events. FT results and modeling identify three stages in sample cooling history spanning the Mesozoic and Tertiary. Stage one records rapid cooling to the low temperature part of the fission track partial annealing zone circa 70 ± 10 °C. Stage two, records a period of relative stability with little if any cooling taking place between 75 and 25–20 Ma suggesting the Altai region had been reduced to an area of low relief. Support for this can be found in the adjacent Junngar Basin that received little if any sediment during this interval. Final stage cooling took place in the Miocene at an accelerated rate bringing the sampled rocks to the Earth's surface. This last stage, linked to the far field effects of the Himalayan collision, most likely generated the surface uplift and relief that define the present-day Altai Mountains

Associations between reliable changes in depression and changes in BMI, total body fatness and visceral adiposity during a 12-month weight loss trial.

We investigated associations between changes in depression and body composition over a 12-month weight loss trial. Of the 298 adults (BMI > 27 m/kg2), 219 with complete depression and body composition data were included. A 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale measured depression; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measured body composition. Multinomial logistic regression predicted reliable changes in depression by BMI, body fat (BF) and visceral adiposity (VAT). Multiplicative interaction terms tested modification by sex and ethnicity. Participants with increases in body composition were less likely to experience improvements in depression (BMI: RRR = 0.79 (0.68-0.91), p < 0.01; BF: RRR = 0.97 (0.94 - 0.99), p = 0.01; VAT: RRR = 0.99 (0.98-1.00), p = 0.02), but not worsening of depression (BMI: RRR = 1.29 (0.96-1.73), p = 0.10; BF: RRR = 1.04 (0.99-1.09), p = 0.15; VAT: RRR = 1.01 (1.00-1.03), p = 0.18). Sex and ethnicity interaction terms were not significant. However, the relationship was only significant among females, among non-Latinos for BMI and BF, and among Latinos for VAT. Our study supports the association between depression and obesity and highlights the need for longitudinal studies investigating VAT and depression in diverse ethnic groups

Federal and state cooperation necessary but not sufficient for effective regional mental health systems : insights from systems modelling and simulation

For more than a decade, suicide rates in Australia have shown no improvement despite significant investment in reforms to support regionally driven initiatives. Further recommended reforms by the Productivity Commission call for Federal and State and Territory Government funding for mental health to be pooled and new Regional Commissioning Authorities established to take responsibility for efficient and effective allocation of ‘taxpayer money.’ This study explores the sufficiency of this recommendation in preventing ongoing policy resistance. A system dynamics model of pathways between psychological distress, the mental health care system, suicidal behaviour and their drivers was developed, tested, and validated for a large, geographically diverse region of New South Wales; the Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network (PHN). Multi-objective optimisation was used to explore potential discordance in the best-performing programs and initiatives (simulated from 2021 to 2031) across mental health outcomes between the two state-governed Local Health Districts (LHDs) and the federally governed PHN. Impacts on suicide deaths, mental health-related emergency department presentations, and service disengagement were explored. A combination of family psychoeducation, post-attempt aftercare, and safety planning, and social connectedness programs minimises the number of suicides across the PHN and in the Hunter New England LHD (13.5% reduction; 95% interval, 12.3–14.9%), and performs well in the Central Coast LHD (14.8% reduction, 13.5–16.3%), suggesting that aligned strategic decision making between the PHN and LHDs would deliver substantial impacts on suicide. Results also highlighted a marked trade-off between minimising suicide deaths versus minimising service disengagement. This is explained in part by the additional demand placed on services of intensive suicide prevention programs leading to increases in service disengagement as wait times for specialist community based mental health services and dissatisfaction with quality of care increases. Competing priorities between the PHN and LHDs (each seeking to optimise the different outcomes they are responsible for) can undermine the optimal impact of investments for suicide prevention. Systems modelling provides essential regional decision analysis infrastructure to facilitate coordinated federal and state investments for optimal impacts

Insufficient Impact: Limited Implementation of Federal Regulatory Changes to Methadone and Buprenorphine Access in Arizona During COVID-19

Introduction: This study examined the impact of federal regulatory changes on methadone and buprenorphine treatment during COVID-19 in Arizona. Methods: A cohort study of methadone and buprenorphine providers from September 14, 2021 to April 15, 2022 measured the proportion of 6 treatment accommodations implemented at 3 time periods: before COVID-19, during Arizona's COVID-19 shutdown, and at the time of the survey completion. Accommodations included (1) telehealth, (2) telehealth buprenorphine induction, (3) increased multiday dosing, (4) license reciprocity, (5) home medications delivery, and (6) off-site dispensing. A multilevel model assessed the association of treatment setting, rurality, and treatment with accommodation implementation time. Results: Over half (62.2%) of the 74-provider sample practiced in healthcare settings not primarily focused on addiction treatment, 19% practiced in methadone clinics, and 19% practiced in treatment clinics not offering methadone. Almost half (43%) were unaware of the regulatory changes allowing treatment accommodation. Telehealth was most frequently reported, increasing from 30% before COVID-19 to 80% at the time of the survey. Multiday dosing was the only accommodation substantially retracted after COVID-19 shutdown: from 41% to 23% at the time of the survey. Providers with higher patient limits were 2.5–3.2 times as likely to implement telehealth services, 4.4 times as likely to implement buprenorphine induction through telehealth, and 15.2–20.9 times as likely to implement license reciprocity as providers with lower patient limits. Providers of methadone implemented 12% more accommodations and maintained a higher average proportion of implemented accommodations during the COVID-19 shutdown period but were more likely to reduce the proportion of implemented accommodations (a 17-percentage point gap by the time of the survey). Conclusions: Federal regulatory changes are not sufficient to produce a substantive or sustained impact on provider accommodations, especially in methadone medical treatment settings. Practice change interventions specific to treatment settings should be implemented and studied for their impact

Upper limits on the observational effects of nuclear pasta in neutron stars

The effects of the existence of exotic nuclear shapes at the bottom of the neutron star inner crust - nuclear `pasta' - on observational phenomena are estimated by comparing the limiting cases that those phases have a vanishing shear modulus and that they have the shear modulus of a crystalline solid . We estimate the effect on torsional crustal vibrations and on the maximum quadrupole ellipticity sustainable by the crust. The crust composition and transition densities are calculated consistently with the global properties, using a liquid drop model with a bulk nuclear equation of state (EoS) which allows a systematic variation of the nuclear symmetry energy. The symmetry energy J and its density dependence L at nuclear saturation density are the dominant nuclear inputs which determine the thickness of the crust, the range of densities at which pasta might appear, as well as global properties such as the radius and moment of inertia. We show the importance of calculating the global neutron star properties on the same footing as the crust EoS, and demonstrate that in the range of experimentally acceptable values of L, the pasta phase can alter the crust frequencies by up to a factor of three, exceeding the effects of superfluidity on the crust modes, and decrease the maximum quadrupole ellipticity sustainable by the crust by up to an order of magnitude. The signature of the pasta phases and the density dependence of the symmetry energy on the potential observables highlights the possibility of constraining the EoS of dense, neutron-rich matter and the properties of the pasta phases using astrophysical observations.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Effect of storage temperature on the stability of spray dried bacteriophage powders

This study aimed to assess the robustness of using a spray drying approach and formulation design in producing inhalable phage powders. Two types of Pseudomonas phages, PEV2 (Podovirus) and PEV40 (Myovirus) in two formulations containing different amounts of trehalose (70% and 60%) and leucine (30% and 40%) were studied. Most of the surface of the produced powders was found to be covered in crystalline leucine. The powders were stored at 4 °C and 20 °C under vacuum. The phage stability and in vitro aerosol performance of the phage powders were examined on the day of production and after 1, 3 and 12 months of storage. A minor titer loss during production was observed for both phages (0.2–0.8 log10 pfu/ml). The storage stability of the produced phage powders was found to be phage and formulation dependent. No further reduction in titer occurred for PEV2 powders stored at 4 °C across the study. The formulation containing 30% leucine maintained the viability of PEV2 at 20 °C, while the formulation containing 40% leucine gradually lost titer over time with a storage reduction of ∼0.9 log10 pfu/ml measured after 12 months. In comparison, the PEV40 phage powders generally had a ∼ 0.5 log10 pfu/ml loss upon storage regardless of temperature. When aerosolized, the total in vitro lung doses of PEV2 were of the order of 107 pfu, except the formulation containing 40% leucine stored at 20 °C which had a lower lung dose. The PEV40 powders also had lung doses of 106–107 pfu. The results demonstrate that spray dried Myoviridae and Podoviridae phage in a simple formulation of leucine and trehalose can be successfully stored for one year at 4 °C and 20 °C with vacuum packaging.The University of Sydney; Australian Research Council; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health; National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Contro