WELLFOCUS PPT – modified positive psychotherapy to improve well-being in psychosis: study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: The promotion of well-being is an important goal of recovery oriented mental health services. No structured, evidence-based intervention exists that aims to increase the well-being in people with severe mental illness such as psychosis. Positive psychotherapy (PPT) is a promising intervention for this goal. Standard PPT was adapted for use with people with psychosis in the UK following the Medical Research Council framework for developing and testing complex interventions, resulting in the WELLFOCUS Model describing the intended impact of WELLFOCUS PPT. This study aims to test the WELLFOCUS Model, by piloting the intervention, trial processes, and evaluation strategy. METHODS/DESIGN: This study is a non-blinded pragmatic pilot RCT comparing WELLFOCUS PPT provided as an 11-session group therapy in addition to treatment as usual to treatment as usual alone. Inclusion criteria are adults (aged 18–65 years) with a main diagnosis of psychosis who use mental health services. A target sample of 80 service users with psychosis are recruited from mental health services across the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Participants are randomised in blocks to the intervention and control group. WELLFOCUS PPT is provided to groups by specifically trained and supervised local therapists and members of the research team. Assessments are conducted before randomisation and after the group intervention. The primary outcome measure is well-being assessed by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. Secondary outcomes include good feelings, symptom relief, connectedness, hope, self-worth, empowerment, and meaning. Process evaluation using data collected during the group intervention, post-intervention individual interviews and focus groups with participants, and interviews with trial therapists will complement quantitative outcome data. DISCUSSION: This study will provide data on the feasibility of the intervention and identify necessary adaptations. It will allow optimisation of trial processes and inform the evaluation strategy, including sample size calculation, for a future definitive RCT. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN04199273 – WELLFOCUS study: an intervention to improve well-being in people with psychosis, Date registered: 27 March 2013, first participant randomised on 26 April 2013

Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger

On September 14, 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC the two detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory simultaneously observed a transient gravitational-wave signal. The signal sweeps upwards in frequency from 35 to 250 Hz with a peak gravitational-wave strain of 1.0 × 10−21. It matches the waveform predicted by general relativity for the inspiral and merger of a pair of black holes and the ringdown of the resulting single black hole. The signal was observed with a matched-filter signal-to-noise ratio of 24 and a false alarm rate estimated to be less than 1 event per 203 000 years, equivalent to a significance greater than 5.1σ. The source lies at a luminosity distance of 410þ160 −180 Mpc corresponding to a redshift z ¼ 0.09þ0.03 −0.04 . In the source frame, the initial black hole masses are 36þ5 −4M⊙ and 29þ4 −4M⊙, and the final black hole mass is 62þ4 −4M⊙, with 3.0þ0.5 −0.5M⊙c2 radiated in gravitational waves. All uncertainties define 90% credible intervals. These observations demonstrate the existence of binary stellar-mass black hole systems. This is the first direct detection of gravitational waves and the first observation of a binary black hole merger

Radiative bioconvection nanofluid squeezing flow between rotating circular plates : semi-numerical study with the DTM-Padé approach

Modern biomedical and tribological systems are increasingly deploying combinations of nanofluids and bioconvecting micro-organisms which enable improved control of thermal management. Motivated by these developments, in this study a new mathematical model is developed for the combined nanofluid bioconvection axisymmetric squeezing flow between rotating circular plates (an important configuration in, for example, rotating bioreactors and lubrication systems). The Buongiorno twocomponent nanoscale model is deployed, and swimming gyrotactic microorganisms are considered which do not interact with the nanoparticles. Thermal radiation is also included, and a Rosseland diffusion flux approximation utilized. Appropriate similarity transformations are implemented to transform the nonlinear, coupled partial differential conservation equations for mass, momentum, energy, nanoparticle species and motile micro-organism species under suitable boundary conditions from a cylindrical coordinate system, into a dimensionless nonlinear ordinary differential boundary value problem. An efficient scheme known as Differential Transform Method (DTM) combined with Padé-approximations is then applied to solve the emerging nonlinear similarity equations. The impact of different nondimensional parameters i.e. squeezing Reynolds number, rotational Reynolds number, Prandtl number, thermophoresis parameter, Brownian dynamics parameter, thermal radiation parameter, Schmidt number, bioconvection number and Péclet number on velocity, temperature, nanoparticle concentration and motile gyrotactic microorganism density number distributions are computed and visualized graphically. The torque effects on both plates, i.e., the lower and the upper plate, are also determined. From the graphical results it is seen that momentum in the squeezing regime is suppressed clearly as the upper disk approaches the lower disk. This inhibits the axial flow and produces axial flow retardation. Similarly, by enhancing the value of squeezing Reynolds number, the tangential velocity distribution also decreases. More rigorous squeezing clearly therefore also inhibits tangential momentum development in the regime and leads to tangential flow deceleration. Tables are also provided for multiple values of flow parameters. The numerical values obtained by DTM-Padé computation show very good agreement with Shooting quadrature. DTM-Padé is shown to be a precise and stable semi-numerical methodology for studying rotating multi-physical flow problems. Radiative heat transfer has an important influence on the transport characteristics. When radiation is neglected different results are obtained. It is important therefore to include radiative flux in models of rotating bioreactors and squeezing lubrication dual disk damper technologies since high temperatures associated with radiative flux can impact significantly on combined nanofluid bioconvection which enables more accurate prediction of actual thermofluidic characteristics. Corrosion and surface degradation effects may therefore be mitigated in designs

Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in Indus River Basin of Pakistan

Arsenic (As) contamination of drinking water from groundwater sources is an issue of public health concern in many parts of the world, including South Asia. The presence of As in groundwater of Pakistan was reported around the city of Karachi as early as 1997. Widespread occurrences of As are reported in groundwater through a number of subsequent studies in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh, the two most populated provinces in the Indus River basin of Pakistan and thereby emerged as an issue of public health concern. These studies have revealed that concentrations of As are elevated by a factor of 10–250 as compared to the WHO drinking water guideline. Both natural and anthropogenic processes have been primarily indicated as cause for elevated As concentration in groundwater. An increasing number of studies also show evidence that irrigation with As contaminated groundwater is associated with elevated As concentrations in agricultural products. The future research should therefore focus on the detailed understanding of the complexities of the geological and hydrogeological setting of Pakistan and to outline the sources of As and the mechanisms of transport to the Indus basin aquifers