mHealth: providing a mindfulness app for women with chronic pelvic pain in gynaecology outpatient clinics: qualitative data analysis of user experience and lessons learnt

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a pre-existing smartphone app to teach mindfulness meditation is acceptable to women with chronic pelvic pain (CPP) and can be integrated into clinical practice within the National Health Service (NHS) CPP pathways, and to inform the design of a potential randomised clinical trial. DESIGN: A prestudy patient and public involvement (PPI) group to collect feedback on the acceptability of the existing app and study design was followed by a three-arm randomised feasibility trial. In addition, we undertook interviews and focus groups with patients and staff to explore app usability and acceptability. We also obtained participant comments on the research process, such as acceptability of the study questionnaires. SETTING: Two gynaecology clinics within Barts Health NHS, London, UK. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with CPP lasting ≥6 months with access to smartphone or personal computer and understanding of basic English. INTERVENTION: The intervention was mindfulness meditation content plus additional pain module delivered by a smartphone app. Active controls received muscle relaxation content from the same app. Passive (waiting list) controls received usual care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Themes on user feedback, app usability and integration, and reasons for using/not using the app. RESULTS: The use of the app was low in both active groups. Patients in the prestudy PPI group, all volunteers, were enthusiastic about the app (convenience, content, portability, flexibility, ease of use). Women contributing to the interview or focus group data (n=14), from a 'real world' clinic (some not regular app users), were less positive, citing as barriers lack of opportunities/motivation to use the app and lack of familiarity and capabilities with technology. Staff (n=7) were concerned about the potential need for extra support for them and for the patients, and considered the app needed organisational backing and peer acceptance. CONCLUSION: The opinions of prestudy PPI volunteers meeting in their private time may not represent those of patients recruited at a routine clinic appointment. It may be more successful to codesign/codevelop an app with typical users than to adapt existing apps for use in real-world clinical populations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN10925965

First report of root-knot nematode Meloidogyne hispanica infecting grapevines in southern Spain

Artículo open access.Some commercial vineyards producing the ‘Condado de Huelva’ wine denomination of origin in Almonte, Bonares, and Rociana (Huelva Province), southern Spain, showed general decline in sandy soils in 2009. Disease surveys revealed severe infections of grapevine rootstock Richter 110 feeder roots and heavy soil infestations by a root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne sp.).Peer Reviewe

An Italian dinosaur Lagerstätte reveals the tempo and mode of hadrosauriform body size evolution

During the latest Cretaceous, the European Archipelago was characterized by highly fragmented landmasses hosting putative dwarfed, insular dinosaurs, claimed as fossil evidence of the “island rule”. The Villaggio del Pescatore quarry (north-eastern Italy) stands as the most informative locality within the palaeo-Mediterranean region and represents the first, multi-individual Konservat-Lagerstätte type dinosaur-bearing locality in Italy. The site is here critically re-evaluated as early Campanian in age, thus preceding the final fragmentation stages of the European Archipelago, including all other European localities preserving hypothesized dwarfed taxa. New skeletal remains allowed osteohistological analyses on the hadrosauroid Tethyshadros insularis indicating subadult features in the type specimen whereas a second, herein newly described, larger individual is likely somatically mature. A phylogenetic comparative framework places the body-size of T. insularis in range with other non-hadrosaurid Eurasian hadrosauroids, rejecting any significant evolutionary trend towards miniaturisation in this clade, confuting its ‘pygmy’ status, and providing unmatched data to infer environmentally-driven body-size trends in Mesozoic dinosaurs

Universality of the Gunn effect: self-sustained oscillations mediated by solitary waves

The Gunn effect consists of time-periodic oscillations of the current flowing through an external purely resistive circuit mediated by solitary wave dynamics of the electric field on an attached appropriate semiconductor. By means of a new asymptotic analysis, it is argued that Gunn-like behavior occurs in specific classes of model equations. As an illustration, an example related to the constrained Cahn-Allen equation is analyzed.Comment: 4 pages,3 Post-Script figure

Description of the first-stage juveniles of Xiphinema cretense and X. herakliense - Distribution of Xiphinema and Longidorus species in olive orchards and grapevines in Crete, Greece

The occurrence of nematodes of the family Longidoridae was investigated in soil samples collected from cultivated and wild olives and grapevines in Crete. The first-stage juveniles of Xiphinema cretense and X. herakliense are described for the first time. The species X. israeliae, X. cretense, X. herakliense and Longidorus pseudoelongatus, previously recorded exclusively from olives in Crete, are herein reported in the rhizosphere of grapevines. Also L. iranicus is reported for the first time in cultivated olive, while X. italiae and L. closelongatus are reported for the first time in wild olive in Crete. Data on the occurrence of phytoparasitic nematode species in cultivated olives, wild olives and grapevines are updated with those previously published.This research was supported by grant KBBE 219262 ArimNET-ERANET FP7 2012-2015 Project PESTOLIVE ‘Contribution of olive history for the management of soilborne parasites in the Mediterranean basin’ from Hellenic Agricultural Organization-DEMETER and Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), grant AGR-136 from ‘Consejería de Economía, Innvovación y Ciencia’ from Junta de Andalucía, and Union Europea, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo regional, “Una manera de hacer Europa”. I.G. Birmpilis and E. Nasiou were employed by the ARIMNET-PESTOL-IVE project.Peer reviewe

Study of the virus vector genus Trichodorus (Diphtherophorina, Trichodoridae) from the Iberian Peninsula, an apparent centre of speciation

Trichodoridae are polyphagous root ectoparasites occurring worldwide. Their major pest status is as virus vector of Tobraviruses. Currently, the family has 102 species classified within 6 genera. The genus Trichodorus is the largest in number of species (56) and predominantly occurs in temperate regions. Traditional morphology-based taxonomy revealed for Europe, a very high species diversity within the Iberian Peninsula, comprising about one fifth of all Trichodoridae described. Characteristic for this fauna is the presence of a morpho-species group within Trichodorus, characterized in males by slightly ventrally curved spicules with a mid-blade constriction with bristles and females with relatively large vaginal sclerotized pieces, quadrangular to triangular in shape. Recent surveys for Trichodoridae in cultivated and natural environments in Southern Spain and compared with the fauna from Portugal revealed four new species of Trichodorus, three of them belonging to this morpho-species group. Molecular analyses based on nuclear ribosomal RNA genes (D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S and partial 18S gene) supported not only the new species but also the morpho-species group as a separate clade. The integrated approach of morphology based taxonomy with molecular and biogeographic data enhanced the accuracy of the observed biodiversity and strengthen the hypothesis of the Iberian Peninsula as a center of speciation.The Society of Nematologists (SON

MEMPHIS: a smartphone app using psychological approaches for women with chronic pelvic pain presenting to gynaecology clinics: a randomised feasibility trial.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the feasibility of a randomised trial of a modified, pre-existing, mindfulness meditation smartphone app for women with chronic pelvic pain. DESIGN: Three arm randomised feasibility trial. SETTING: Women were recruited at two gynaecology clinics in the UK. Interventions were delivered via smartphone or computer at a location of participants choosing. PARTICIPANTS: Women were eligible for the study if they were over 18, had been experiencing organic or non-organic chronic pelvic pain for 6 months or more, and had access to a computer or smartphone. 90 women were randomised. INTERVENTIONS: Daily mindfulness meditation delivered by smartphone app, an active control app which delivered muscle relaxation techniques, and usual care without app. Interventions were delivered over 60 days. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcomes included length of recruitment, follow-up rates, adherence to the app interventions, and clinical outcomes measured at baseline, two, three and 6 months. RESULTS: The target sample size was recruited in 145 days. Adherence to the app interventions was extremely low (mean app use 1.8 days mindfulness meditation group, 7.0 days active control). Fifty-seven (63%) women completed 6-month follow-up, and 75 (83%) women completed at least one postrandomisation follow-up. The 95% CIs for clinical outcomes were consistent with no benefit from the mindfulness meditation app; for example, mean differences in pain acceptance scores at 60 days (higher scores are better) were -2.3 (mindfulness meditation vs usual care, 95% CI: -6.6 to 2.0) and -4.0 (mindfulness meditation vs active control, 95% CI: -8.1 to 0.1). CONCLUSIONS: Despite high recruitment and adequate follow-up rates, demonstrating feasibility, the extremely low adherence suggests a definitive randomised trial of the mindfulness meditation app used in this study is not warranted. Future research should focus on improving patient engagement. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: NCT02721108; ISRCTN10925965; Results

Integrative taxonomic study of the virus vector family Trichodoridae from the Iberian Peninsula, an apparent centre of speciation

Trichodoridae are polyphagous root ectoparasites occurring worldwide. Their major pest status is as virus vector of Tobraviruses. Currently, the family has 102 species classified within 6 genera. 88% of the species belong to the didelphic genera (females with two well developed genital branches) with the genus Trichodorus being the largest in number of species (56). Trichodorus species predominantly occur in temperate regions. Surveys for trichodorids were carried out in cultivated and natural habitats in Spain and compared with the trichodorid fauna from Portugal. A comparative morphological study was carried out together with molecular analyses based on nuclear ribosomal RNA genes (D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S and partial 18S gene). Characteristic for the Iberian Peninsula is the high number of morphologically closely resembling species but clearly separated molecularly (cryptic species), characterized in males by slightly ventrally curved spicules with a mid-blade constriction with bristles and females with relatively large vaginal sclerotized pieces, quadrangular to triangular in shape. Molecular analyses demonstrated that D2-D3 expansion segments are suitable diagnostic markers for Trichodoridae. Comparative morphology and molecular analyses provide support for the Iberian Peninsula as an apparent centre of speciation. South Africa is another known centre of speciation of Trichodorus.Nematological Society of Southern Afric

Chaos in resonant-tunneling superlattices

Spatio-temporal chaos is predicted to occur in n-doped semiconductor superlattices with sequential resonant tunneling as their main charge transport mechanism. Under dc voltage bias, undamped time-dependent oscillations of the current (due to the motion and recycling of electric field domain walls) have been observed in recent experiments. Chaos is the result of forcing this natural oscillation by means of an appropriate external microwave signal.Comment: 3 pages, LaTex, RevTex, 3 uuencoded figures (1.2M) are available upon request from [email protected], to appear in Phys.Rev.