Attachment style, loneliness and depression in older age women

This study explores whether attachment, especially avoidant styles, might be a predictor of social support, loneliness and depression in old age

A contextual approach to trauma experience: lessons from life events research

There has been much debate over what constitutes trauma experience and how this is differentiated from other very negative life events in the diagnosis of PTSD. We believe the DSM implication that trauma events are uniquely different from other types of negative life events and are limited to a few specific types of predetermined event identified categorically hinders the utility of current trauma definitions in research and practice. Whilst we do not take issue with the standard definition of trauma events, a binary checklist-style approach to identifying such events has a potential for missing relevant experience. Instead, we argue that trauma events should be considered to be at one end of a continuum of threat/severity, with potential for more or less ‘threat to life’ in a range of domains. Furthermore, a wider assessment of events could elucidate a greater range of co-existing trauma events, those sub-threshold experiences related to phasing of trauma, and other unrelated negative life events which may contribute to context and impact. In this critique of definitions of trauma events we argue that the current definition of PTSD criterion-A events limits their utility in both research and clinical practice. Following intensive life event assessments such as the LEDS (Life Events and Difficulties Schedule) the application of dimensions underlying a cross spectrum of events includes loss (of person, role, plan or ideas about the self), danger (future loss/threat to security), humiliation (devaluation of self/rejection) and entrapment (sense of imprisonment) can be used to further categorise events or trauma, and specify their likely impact. Data is provided of the overlap of ‘markedly’ threatening negative events (using the LEDS) and those constituting trauma using a commonly used checklist in a high-risk community sample of women. This yielded high specificity (97%; CI = 95.60-97.71) but low sensitivity (41%; (95% CI = 27.57-54.97) with around a third rated on both. Most of the trauma events involved loss and danger categorisation and only in one instance humiliation. Other markedly threatening, non-trauma events, involved not only loss and danger but also humiliation and entrapment. We discuss how a more in-depth assessment of trauma events utilising these dimensions and with the new Computerised Life Events Assessment Record (CLEAR), could aid us in our understanding of trauma events and lead to more personalised treatment possibilities

2D-3D registration of CT vertebra volume to fluoroscopy projection: A calibration model assessment (doi:10.1155/2010/806094)

This study extends a previous research concerning intervertebral motion registration by means of 2D dynamic fluoroscopy to obtain a more comprehensive 3D description of vertebral kinematics. The problem of estimating the 3D rigid pose of a CT volume of a vertebra from its 2D X-ray fluoroscopy projection is addressed. 2D-3D registration is obtained maximising a measure of similarity between Digitally Reconstructed Radiographs (obtained from the CT volume) and real fluoroscopic projection. X-ray energy correction was performed. To assess the method a calibration model was realised a sheep dry vertebra was rigidly fixed to a frame of reference including metallic markers. Accurate measurement of 3D orientation was obtained via single-camera calibration of the markers and held as true 3D vertebra position; then, vertebra 3D pose was estimated and results compared. Error analysis revealed accuracy of the order of 0.1 degree for the rotation angles of about 1?mm for displacements parallel to the fluoroscopic plane, and of order of 10?mm for the orthogonal displacement.<br/

Understanding trauma in children and young people in the school setting

Aim: Educational practitioners are increasingly aware of trauma experiences in students as a factor in child disturbance and schooling problems. This discussion paper aims to clarify definitions of trauma and differentiate them from other adverse childhood experiences (ACE), describe trauma impact in terms of clinical outcomes (PTSD, emotional and behavioural disorder) and how attachment factors mediate risk and discuss the challenges and ethics of identifying and enquiring about trauma experience in a school setting. Rationale: Schools are increasingly required to be 'trauma sensitive' and to intervene where possible, with government requirements of improving mental health in schools. However, this poses a real challenge for educationalists given the barriers due to ethics, stigma/secrecy, referral implications and measurement availability for whole school approaches. Universal screening may provide a framework that helps schools recognise, measure and treat trauma. Findings: A conceptual model clarifying trauma exposure, trauma impact and mediating factors is identified to aid understanding for teachers. Use of technological screening methods for whole school monitoring of trauma impacts, including mediating risks, are outlined. Limitations: A full literature review of trauma or school-based interventions is not provided. Nor are biological impacts of trauma at different developmental stages described. Conclusion: Teachers would benefit from having a psychological understanding of trauma models and their component parts in order to identify what lies within the remit of schools for identification and intervention

The child attachment style interview (Child-ASI) and depression: preliminary findings

Background: Childhood familial trauma is a major contributor to psychological disorder. One of its key impacts is insecure attachment style, which impedes the development of close relationships. Trauma-related vulnerability is important to assess in primary school but there is a gap in age-appropriate measurement tools. This paper outlines the development of the Child Attachment Style Interview (Child-ASI) suitable for 6 to 11-year olds. This can be utilised on-site to identify damaging effects of trauma experience at an early stage. Method: The Child-ASI was developed from an existing adolescent/adult measure and tested on a sample of children in primary school (N=42) together with a subsample of those in care (N=20). A checklist of life events and the Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (MFQ) for depression was also administered. Results: Acceptable inter-rater reliability was found ([kappa]=0.84 for overall attachment style). A factor analysis of subscales produced the expected five factors for classification. Rates of insecure styles (38 per cent in school and 90 per cent in care) were consistent with other studies and related to separation from parent and depression. Logistic regression showed insecure attachment style and negative life events provided the best model for depression. Conclusion: Preliminary findings indicate the Child-ASI provides an effective way of assessing attachment style in children. Its use is for more intensive investigation of trauma-related interpersonal problems, administered by trained teachers. It is less intrusive than direct trauma assessments and fits with the policy need to identify vulnerability for mental health issues in schools

Adolescent attachment style in residential care: the attachment style interview and vulnerable attachment style questionnaire

Attachment frameworks are increasingly used to understand human development and used by social workers in care planning for children and young people in care. To date, there have been few assessment tools that social workers can use easily and therefore little sustained use of attachment assessment by practitioners in residential care. This paper describes the use of the Attachment Style Interview (ASI) for adolescents and the Vulnerable Attachment Style Questionnaire (VASQ) self-report in a pilot study of young people in residential care in the UK and Isle of Man. The aim was to test these relatively new measures in practice contexts administered by practitioners, and to determine rates of insecure and disorganised attachment style to compare with other studies. Results show around half of the young people had disorganised (or mixed) attachment styles using either measure, with avoidant attachment styles more common than anxious ones. Secure style was rare. There was some difference in young person and carer ratings, with young people rating slightly less disorganised style and more anxious style, but simplified classifications were similar. The implications for assessing attachment style in residential care to improve identification of interpersonal risk and aid with care planning are discussed

Revealing Hidden Hierarchical Heavy Hitters in network traffic

© 2018 Association for Computing Machinery. The idea to enable advanced in-network monitoring functionality has been lately fostered by the advent of massive data-plane programmability. A specific example includes the detection of traffic aggregates with programmable switches, i.e., heavy hitters. So far, proposed solutions implement the mining process by partitioning the network stream in disjoint windows. This practice allows efficient implementations but comes at a well-known cost: the results are tightly coupled with the traffic and window's characteristics. This poster quantifies the limitations of disjoint time windows approaches by showing that they hardly cope with traffic dynamics. We report the results of our analysis and unveil that up to 34% of the total number of the hierarchical heavy hitters might not be detected with those approaches. This is a call for a new set of windowless-based algorithms to be implemented with the match-action paradigm

Stereochemical analysis of natural products. Approaches relying on the combination of NMR spectroscopy and computational methods

Abstract The stereochemical study of flexible stereogenic carbon chains, such as those of many novel natural products, is a particularly challenging task. Recent applications of our group on the so-called "J-based approach", a methodology relying on a detailed analysis of homonuclear (H-H) and heteronuclear (C-H) 2,3 J couplings, include the study of the sphinxolide family of antitumor macrolides, a group of molecules characterized by a flexible macrocyclic framework bearing a number of oxygenated and methylated undetermined stereocenters, and of ascaulitoxin, a nitrogen-containing phytotoxin with herbicidal activity produced by a phytopathogenic fungus. An extension of the original procedure, relying on a Hartree-Fock (HF) ab initio calculation of conformational equilibrium and an estimate of the Boltzmann averaged 2,3 JHH and 2,3 JCH couplings, has been applied to the stereochemical study of sapinofuranone A, where the conformational equilibrium among existing rotamers had initially led to controversial results. 13C NMR chemical shifts are additional useful parameters in the study of complex organic molecules. Along these lines, we have lately proposed the use of Hartree–Fock gauge including atomic orbitals (GIAO) calculated 13C NMR chemical shift values as a supporting tool for the validation of the structure of new natural products and the determination of the relative stereochemistry of diastereomeric flexible compounds that are characterized by multiple conformer equilibria

(+/-)-Gelliusines A and B, two diastereomeric brominated tris-indole alkaloids from a deep water New Caledonian marine sponge (Gellius or Orina sp.)

Two new diastereomeric brominated tris-indole alkaloids occurring as enantiomeric pairs, (±)-gelliusine A (I) and its isomer (±)-gelliusine B, have been isolated from a deep water New Caledonian sponge (Gellius or Orina sp.), whose crude ext. exhibited cytotoxicity against KB cells. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. The major compd., I, which showed very weak cytotoxicity, proved to be active at the serotonin receptor