The multitasking framework: the effects of increasing workload on acute psychobiological stress reactivity

A variety of techniques exist for eliciting acute psychological stress in the laboratory; however, they vary in terms of their ease of use, reliability to elicit consistent responses and the extent to which they represent the stressors encountered in everyday life. There is, therefore, a need to develop simple laboratory techniques that reliably elicit psychobiological stress reactivity that are representative of the types of stressors encountered in everyday life. The multitasking framework is a performance-based, cognitively demanding stressor, representative of environments where individuals are required to attend and respond to several different stimuli simultaneously with varying levels of workload. Psychological (mood and perceived workload) and physiological (heart rate and blood pressure) stress reactivity was observed in response to a 15-min period of multitasking at different levels of workload intensity in a sample of 20 healthy participants. Multitasking stress elicited increases in heart rate and blood pressure, and increased workload intensity elicited dose–response increases in levels of perceived workload and mood. As individuals rarely attend to single tasks in real life, the multitasking framework provides an alternative technique for modelling acute stress and workload in the laboratory

The effects of a reading intervention on first and second language English medium learners.

Due to the detrimental effects of apartheid on the South African learning environment the implementation of language policies aimed at fostering multilingual and multicultural education to attain educational equity are rendered impractical (DoE, 1995; de Wet, 2002; Pretorius, 2002b). As a result many L2 learners in English medium school are struggling to reach their academic potential due to their lack of cognitive academic English language proficiency. This study aimed to analyse the effects of L1 and L2 reading ability for high school learners’ who were exposed to a reading intervention over a two year period, compared with those who did not experience the intervention. The results indicated that although learners’ improved in their performance on measures of comprehension and vocabulary over time, those who were exposed to the additional experience of a reading intervention did not improve to a significantly greater extent than those who did not take part in the reading intervention. Furthermore, the reading intervention did not serve to significantly narrow the gap in reading ability between L1 and L2 learners. Reasons for the results, limitations to the study, recommendations for future research, and implications for the South African learning context are discussed

The relationship between childhood attachment, parenting styles and social development in autism spectrum disorder

Although social deficits are a defining feature in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), not enough is known about the origin and impact of these impairments. Current research agrees that deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) contribute to the social disconnectedness evident in children with ASD. Furthermore, studies in neurotypical populations have found significant links between attachment security and ToM acquisition, and some have posited parenting behaviours as predictors of social development. Less is known about these construct in children with ASD. This study aimed to form a foundational view of the relationships between parenting style, attachment, and Theory of Mind development in a sample of ASD children compared to a sample of neurotypical children. 80 parent-child pairs were included in the study. The sample was comprised of 40 verbal children with an ASD diagnosis and 40 neurotypical children. Children between the ages of 6 and 16 years were included in the study. Parenting style and attachment were measured using scaled response parent-report questionnaires while ToM was assessed using the University of Cape Town Theory of Mind Battery. ASD diagnoses were confirmed using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS2). Results showed that while both the ASD group and the neurotypical group reported significantly more Authoritative parenting than the other two styles (Authoritarian and Permissive), there was also more of the less positive parenting styles reported in the ASD group. Furthermore, none of the three parenting styles in question were significant predictors of Theory of Mind. The results further indicated that the ASD group reported less secure attachment, and also more insecure attachment (Ambivalent and Avoidant) than the neurotypical group. Attachment classification, specifically insecure attachment, showed to be a significant predictor of Theory of Mind. Associations between parenting style and attachment showed different patterns in the ASD sample compared to the neurotypical sample. Results, limitations, and futher directions were also discussed

Mobility, functionality and functional mobility: A review and application for canine veterinary patients

Mobility is an essential aspect of a dog’s daily life. It is defined as the ability to move freely and easily and deviations from an animals’ normal mobility capabilities are often an indicator of disease, injury or pain. When a dog’s mobility is compromised, often functionality (ability to perform activities of daily living; ADL), is also impeded, which can diminish an animal’s quality of life. Given this, it is necessary to understand the extent to which conditions impact a dog’s physiological ability to freely move around their environment to carry out ADL, a concept termed functional mobility. In contrast to human medicine, validated measures of canine functional mobility are currently limited. The aim of this review is to summarise the extent to which canine mobility and functionality are associated with various diseases and how mobility and functional mobility are currently assessed within veterinary medicine. Future work should focus on developing a standardised method of assessing functional mobility in dogs, which can contextualise how a wide range of conditions impact a dog’s daily life. However, for a true functional mobility assessment to be developed, a greater understanding of what activities dogs do on a daily basis and movements underpinning these activities must first be established

Circulating levels of anti-angiogenic VEGF-A isoform (VEGF-Axxxb) in colorectal cancer patients predicts tumour VEGF-A ratios

Purpose: Bevacizumab as an adjunct to chemotherapy improves survival for some patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Immunohistochemical staining of samples from the registration ECOG E3200 trial of bevacizumab with FOLFOX demonstrated that only patients with carcinomas expressing low levels of VEGF-A(165)b, an anti-angiogenic splice variant of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor family of proteins, benefited from bevacizumab treatment. To identify a more useful biomarker of response we tested the hypothesis that circulating VEGF-A(165)b levels correlate with immunohistochemical staining. Experimental Design: 17 patients with biopsy proven colorectal adenocarcinoma had pre-operative blood samples drawn. They underwent resection and had post-resection blood drawn. The plasma was analysed for levels of VEGF-A(xxx)b using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the tumour blocks stained for VEGF-A(xxx)b and pan-VEGF-A. The normalised ratio of VEGF-A(xxx)b expression to that of panVEGF-A expression scored by IHC was calculated and correlated with plasma VEGF-A(165)b levels. Results: Plasma levels of VEGF-A(xxx)b significantly correlated with the VEGF-A(xxx)b:panVEGF-A ratio (r=0.594, P<0.02) in colorectal cancers. Median plasma VEGF-A(xxx)b levels were 151 pg/ml. The mean (1.5±0.17) and median, IQR (1.8, 1-2) IHC scores of the patients with greater than median plasma VEGF-A(xxx)b were significantly greater than those with less than median plasma VEGF-A(xxx)b levels (mean ± SEM=0.85±10.12, median, IQR=1, 0.54-1). Conclusion: These results suggest that plasma VEGF-A(xxx)b levels could be an effective biomarker of response to Bevacizumab. These results indicate that a prospective trial is warranted to explore the use of plasma VEGF-A(xxx)b levels to stratify patients for colorectal cancer treatment by bevacizumab

Brief Educational Workshops in Secondary Schools Trial (BESST): Protocol for a school-based cluster randomised controlled trial of open-access psychological workshop programme for 16–18-year-olds

Anxiety and depression are increasingly prevalent in adolescents, often causing daily distress and negative long-term outcomes. Despite significant and growing burden, less than 25% of those with probable diagnosis of anxiety and depression are receiving help in England. Significant barriers to help-seeking exist in this population, with a scarcity of easily accessible, effective, and cost-effective interventions tailored specially for this age group. One intervention that has been shown to be feasible to deliver and with the promise of reducing stress in this age group is a school-based stress workshop programme for 16-18-year-olds (herein called DISCOVER). The next step is to rigorously assess the effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness, of the DISCOVER intervention in a fully powered cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT). If found to be clinically and cost effective, DISCOVER could be scaled up as a service model UK-wide and have a meaningful impact on the mental health of adolescents across the country

Implementation barriers for mHealth for non-communicable diseases management in low and middle income countries: a scoping review and field-based views from implementers.

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) has been hailed as a potential gamechanger for non-communicable disease (NCD) management, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Individual studies illustrate barriers to implementation and scale-up, but an overview of implementation issues for NCD mHealth interventions in LMIC is lacking. This paper explores implementation issues from two perspectives: information in published papers and field-based knowledge by people working in this field. Methods: Through a scoping review publications on mHealth interventions for NCDs in LMIC were identified and assessed with the WHO mHealth Evidence Reporting and Assessment (mERA) tool. A two-stage web-based survey on implementation barriers was performed within a NCD research network and through two online platforms on mHealth targeting researchers and implementors. Results: 16 studies were included in the scoping review. Short Message Service (SMS) messaging was the main implementation tool. Most studies focused on patient-centered outcomes. Most studies did not report on process measures and on contextual conditions influencing implementation decisions. Few publications reported on implementation barriers. The websurvey included twelve projects and the responses revealed additional information, especially on practical barriers related to the patients' characteristics, low demand, technical requirements, integration with health services and with the wider context. Many interventions used low-cost software and devices with limited capacity that not allowed linkage with routine data or patient records, which incurred fragmented delivery and increased workload. Conclusion: Text messaging is a dominant mHealth tool for patient-directed of quality improvement interventions in LMIC. Publications report little on implementation barriers, while a questionnaire among implementors reveals significant barriers and strategies to address them. This information is relevant for decisions on scale-up of mHealth in the domain of NCD. Further knowledge should be gathered on implementation issues, and the conditions that allow universal coverage

Meeting report: discussions and preliminary findings on extracellular RNA measurement methods from laboratories in the NIH Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium

Extracellular RNAs (exRNAs) have been identified in all tested biofluids and have been associated with a variety of extracellular vesicles, ribonucleoprotein complexes and lipoprotein complexes. Much of the interest in exRNAs lies in the fact that they may serve as signalling molecules between cells, their potential to serve as biomarkers for prediction and diagnosis of disease and the possibility that exRNAs or the extracellular particles that carry them might be used for therapeutic purposes. Among the most significant bottlenecks to progress in this field is the lack of robust and standardized methods for collection and processing of biofluids, separation of different types of exRNA-containing particles and isolation and analysis of exRNAs. The Sample and Assay Standards Working Group of the Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium is a group of laboratories funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health to develop such methods. In our first joint endeavour, we held a series of conference calls and in-person meetings to survey the methods used among our members, placed them in the context of the current literature and used our findings to identify areas in which the identification of robust methodologies would promote rapid advancements in the exRNA field