Weight Loss Apps : Behavioral and Psychological Factors Related to Usage and Success

Mobile weight loss applications (‘apps’) such as MyFitnessPal® and Lose It!® have millions of downloads and allow users to track their intake on the go by accessing a massive digital nutrition database, and while the apps have been successful tools for participants in structured weight loss initiatives, little research has explored their efficacy for stand-alone users. The aim of this study was to examine the role of user adherence behavior, portion estimation and consumption norms, and the potential for the app to act as a behavior change tool. An online survey was administered to individuals 18 years or older who have used either MyFitnessPal or Loselt! in order to assess frequency of use, completeness of food records, portion estimation ability, portion consumption norms, and qualitative feedback on factors that impact user experience. Data was gathered using Qualtrics Survey Software and analyzed in IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 using correlations, t-tests, ANOVA, ANCOYA, and linear regressions. Qualitative data was analyzed through coding and emergence of themes. Fully adherent groups lost significantly more weight than less adherent groups when controlling for duration of usage, and overall, adherence and duration predicted 40% of Average Total Completeness (p\u3c0.01). Participants displayed poor estimation skills, overestimating portion size by an average of 77.54%. Portion norms were not significantly related to weight loss but were positively related to Portion Estimation Error (p\u3c0.01). Qualitative analysis revealed four major themes that influence and explain user experience: App Features, App Qualities, Social Components, and the App as a Behavior Change Tool. Overall, these findings indicate that apps have the potential to be highly effective methods of behavior modification for those looking to lose weight, and strict adherence improves weight loss. Findings also suggest that there is a need for portion education and estimation assistance for users

Évolution de l’auto-efficacité, des émotions et du concept de soi chez des adolescents hospitalisés en Hémato-oncologie pendant une intervention de musicothérapie interactive : une étude pilote

MémoireObjectifs : Cette recherche a pour objectifs : (1) Évaluer dans quelle mesure quatre séances individuelles de musicothérapie interactive sont associées à des changements dans les domaines de l’auto-efficacité, des émotions et du concept de soi chez des adolescents hospitalisés en Hématologie-oncologie ; (2) Documenter l’expérience des adolescents sur les séances de musicothérapie. Méthode : Sept adolescents âgés entre 12 et 18 ans ont participé à des séances de musicothérapie interactive impliquant l’apprentissage d’une chanson à la guitare classique. Le plan de recherche a compris sept temps de mesure. Suite à la dernière séance d’intervention, chaque adolescent a répondu à trois questions ouvertes portant sur son expérience globale en musicothérapie. Des analyses statistiques non-paramétriques et une analyse thématique ont été réalisées sur les résultats obtenus afin d’identifier les évolutions concomitantes à l’intervention. Résultats : Les résultats obtenus au niveau du groupe n’ont pas mis en évidence d’évolutions significatives mais cela cache des différences individuelles importantes. En effet, les analyses centrées sur les profils individuels ont montré des évolutions positives significatives chez deux participants sur sept dans le domaine de l’auto-efficacité, trois participants sur sept sur les émotions positives, deux participants sur sept sur les émotions négatives et trois participants sur sept sur le concept de soi. De plus, les commentaires des adolescents ont mis en évidence une expérience globalement positive marquée par un mieux-être physique et/ou psychologique. Conclusion : Ces résultats plaident pour la réalisation de nouvelles recherches sur les évolutions associées à des séances de musicothérapie interactive réalisées auprès d’adolescents hospitalisés en Hémato-oncologie, en prenant en compte les trajectoires individuelles dans les groupes considérés. Mots-clés: Adolescents, Cancer pédiatrique, Musicothérapie, Hospitalisation, Oncologie psychosocialeObjectives: The present research aims to: (1) Evaluate the extent to which four individual music therapy sessions are associated with changes in the self-efficacy, emotions and self-concept of adolescents hospitalized in Hematology-Oncology; (2) Document the adolescents' experience of music therapy. Method: Seven adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 participated in interactive music therapy sessions, which involved learning how to play a song on the classical guitar. The research plan included seven measurement times. Following the last session of the intervention, each adolescent answered three open-ended questions about their overall experience in music therapy. Non-parametric and thematic statistical analyses were carried out on the results we obtained in order to identify the improvements associated with the intervention. Results: The results obtained at the group level did not show systematic changes although important individual differences were found. Positive developments were observed in 2/7 participants in self-efficacy, in 3/7 on positive emotions, 2/7 on negative emotions, and 3/7 regarding their self-concept. The adolescents' comments highlighted an overall positive experience marked by physical and/or psychological well-being. Conclusion: These results promote the implementation of new research on the effects of interactive music therapy interventions with adolescents who are hospitalized in Hematology-Oncology by considering the individual trajectories in the groups concerned. Keywords: Adolescents, Paediatric cancer, Music therapy, Hospitalization, Psychosocial oncolog

Multilocus Sequence Typing as a Replacement for Serotyping in Salmonella enterica

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica is traditionally subdivided into serovars by serological and nutritional characteristics. We used Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) to assign 4,257 isolates from 554 serovars to 1092 sequence types (STs). The majority of the isolates and many STs were grouped into 138 genetically closely related clusters called eBurstGroups (eBGs). Many eBGs correspond to a serovar, for example most Typhimurium are in eBG1 and most Enteritidis are in eBG4, but many eBGs contained more than one serovar. Furthermore, most serovars were polyphyletic and are distributed across multiple unrelated eBGs. Thus, serovar designations confounded genetically unrelated isolates and failed to recognize natural evolutionary groupings. An inability of serotyping to correctly group isolates was most apparent for Paratyphi B and its variant Java. Most Paratyphi B were included within a sub-cluster of STs belonging to eBG5, which also encompasses a separate sub-cluster of Java STs. However, diphasic Java variants were also found in two other eBGs and monophasic Java variants were in four other eBGs or STs, one of which is in subspecies salamae and a second of which includes isolates assigned to Enteritidis, Dublin and monophasic Paratyphi B. Similarly, Choleraesuis was found in eBG6 and is closely related to Paratyphi C, which is in eBG20. However, Choleraesuis var. Decatur consists of isolates from seven other, unrelated eBGs or STs. The serological assignment of these Decatur isolates to Choleraesuis likely reflects lateral gene transfer of flagellar genes between unrelated bacteria plus purifying selection. By confounding multiple evolutionary groups, serotyping can be misleading about the disease potential of S. enterica. Unlike serotyping, MLST recognizes evolutionary groupings and we recommend that Salmonella classification by serotyping should be replaced by MLST or its equivalents

Adaptation of sea turtles to climate warming: Will phenological responses be sufficient to counteract changes in reproductive output?

© 2023 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Sea turtles are vulnerable to climate change since their reproductive output is influenced by incubating temperatures, with warmer temperatures causing lower hatching success and increased feminization of embryos. Their ability to cope with projected increases in ambient temperatures will depend on their capacity to adapt to shifts in climatic regimes. Here, we assessed the extent to which phenological shifts could mitigate impacts from increases in ambient temperatures (from 1.5 to 3°C in air temperatures and from 1.4 to 2.3°C in sea surface temperatures by 2100 at our sites) on four species of sea turtles, under a “middle of the road” scenario (SSP2-4.5). Sand temperatures at sea turtle nesting sites are projected to increase from 0.58 to 4.17°C by 2100 and expected shifts in nesting of 26–43 days earlier will not be sufficient to maintain current incubation temperatures at 7 (29%) of our sites, hatching success rates at 10 (42%) of our sites, with current trends in hatchling sex ratio being able to be maintained at half of the sites. We also calculated the phenological shifts that would be required (both backward for an earlier shift in nesting and forward for a later shift) to keep up with present-day incubation temperatures, hatching success rates, and sex ratios. The required shifts backward in nesting for incubation temperatures ranged from −20 to −191 days, whereas the required shifts forward ranged from +54 to +180 days. However, for half of the sites, no matter the shift the median incubation temperature will always be warmer than the 75th percentile of current ranges. Given that phenological shifts will not be able to ameliorate predicted changes in temperature, hatching success and sex ratio at most sites, turtles may need to use other adaptive responses and/or there is the need to enhance sea turtle resilience to climate warming.Peer reviewe

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of Parkinson?s disease

Although over 90 independent risk variants have been identified for Parkinson’s disease using genome-wide association studies, most studies have been performed in just one population at a time. Here we performed a large-scale multi-ancestry meta-analysis of Parkinson’s disease with 49,049 cases, 18,785 proxy cases and 2,458,063 controls including individuals of European, East Asian, Latin American and African ancestry. In a meta-analysis, we identified 78 independent genome-wide significant loci, including 12 potentially novel loci (MTF2, PIK3CA, ADD1, SYBU, IRS2, USP8, PIGL, FASN, MYLK2, USP25, EP300 and PPP6R2) and fine-mapped 6 putative causal variants at 6 known PD loci. By combining our results with publicly available eQTL data, we identified 25 putative risk genes in these novel loci whose expression is associated with PD risk. This work lays the groundwork for future efforts aimed at identifying PD loci in non-European populations

The responsibility of multinational enterprises for human rights violations in European Union law

Defence date: 18 June 2007Examining board: Prof. Francesco Francioni, EUI, Supervisor ; Prof. Marise Cremona, EUI ; Prof. Enzo Cannizzaro, University of Macerata ; Prof. Olivier De Schutter, Catholic University of LouvainThis thesis addresses the question as to how the European Union can ensure that EU based MNEs respect human rights when operating in third countries. Firstly, it identifies primary obligations on MNEs as developed by international law in order to tackle the above question. Secondly, on the basis of this theoretical framework it investigates how the European Union has acted to promote respect of human rights obligations by MNEs which are based on the territory of one of its Member States. Thirdly, the gap between the EU’s commitment to the respect and promotion of human rights, the potential to regulate the conduct of MNEs and the EU’s reluctance to impose human rights obligations on MNEs is explored. It is suggested that current human rights law should develop in the sense of considering companies as duty holders, together with States and other non-state actors, for the realisation of human rights. Moreover, a principle of graduation of responsibility is applied to MNEs, according to the specific human right involved, the proximity to the victim and the element of State authority exercised by the company in a particular situation. The above depicted graduation of responsibility (from the obligation to respect, to the obligation to promote human rights) should be matched by a graduation of corresponding implementing mechanisms. Applying this theoretical framework to the EU, three main recommendations have been formulated. Firstly, the EU should more firmly link the promotion of MNEs’ human rights obligations to international human rights law and support the constitution of an international law framework within the UN. Secondly, the EU should promote MNEs’ human rights obligations within the limits of its competence, both at the international and at an external level. It has been argued that a proactive attitude in this respect would not require the acquisition of new powers, but simply the recognition of a functional competence on the basis of Article 6 TEU in taking positive (and not merely negative) steps for the promotion of human rights in the areas of its competence occurring in international law and the international framework for MNEs’ responsibility. Finally, the EU should not abandon the option of exploring non-binding and incentive measures, both at the international and external levels, to be encouraged as a viable complement to binding measures

Multinational enterprises and human rights obligations under EU law and international law

This book examines how the European Union could do more to ensure that EU-based multinational enterprises (MNEs) respect human rights when operating in third world countries. Alexandra Gatto identifies the primary obligations of MNEs as developed by international law, and investigates how the EU has promoted the respect of human rights obligations by the MNEs to date. The significant gap between the EU's commitment to the respect and promotion of human rights, the potential to regulate the conduct of MNEs, and the EU's reluctance to impose human rights obligations on MNEs, is thoroughly explored. It is suggested that the current human rights law should be developed, and this timely book recommends that the EU should firmly link the promotion of MNEs' human rights obligations to international human rights law, thereby supporting the constitution of an international law framework within the UN. Multinational Enterprises and Human Rights will be of very great interest to scholars of EU or International Human Rights as well as NGOs and policymakers in international organizations and corporations that support corporate social responsibility and human rights.Part I: Multinational Enterprises and Human Rights: The International Legal Framework 1. Theoretical Framework 2. Multinational Enterprises as Addresses of International Law 3. MNEs and International Human Rights Law Part II: MNEs and Human Rights in the European Union 4. Multinational Enterprises in the Present European Union System and the Emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility 5. Internal Measures Addressed to MNEs 6. External Measures Addressed to MNEs Part III: MNEs and Human Rights in the External Relations of the European Union 7. The External Relations of the European Union, MNEs and Human Rights 8. Measures Addressed to Host States in the Development and Co-operation of the European Union 9. Measures Addressed to Host States in the Common Commercial Policy of the European Union Part IV: General Conclusions 10. Conclusions BibliographyPublished version of EUI PhD thesis, 200