Evaluating the merits of using brief measures of PTSD or general mental health measures in two-stage PTSD screening

Psychological screening of large numbers of personnel returning from deployments should be as brief as possible without sacrificing the ability to detect individuals who are experiencing serious psychological difficulties. This study focused on screening for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in 421 deployed male members of the Australian Army while they were on deployment and again 3 to 6 months after they returned home. The first aim was to evaluate the performance of the Primary Care—Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Screen (PC-PTSD) and a 4-item version of the 17-item Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL). A second aim was to evaluate the role of the Kessler-10 (K10) in psychological screening. The results indicated that the short form of the PCL was a better substitute for the full PCL than the PC-PTSD. Other results suggested that a more efficient screening process can be achieved using an initial K10 screening followed by more intensive PTSD screening for people identified as high risk. An additional advantage of an initial K10 filter is that other forms of mental illness could also be targeted in the second stage screening

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Perceptions of the social determinants of health by two groups more and less affiliated with public health in Canada

BACKGROUND: Despite strong academic recognition of the SDOH both in Canada and internationally, acknowledgement and uptake of the SDOH in health policy and public consciousness have remained weak. This paper aims to discern reasons for limited action on the SDOH by examining the perceptions of the SDOH held by two groups more and less affiliated with public health in Canada. We conducted formal consultation with group members on their interpretation of the SDOH and their thoughts on the nature and basis of differences between those more and less aligned with the SDOH as a basis for action. Thematic analysis was used to evaluate the views of the two groups. FINDINGS: Group 1 (community/public health workers) felt overwhelmed when confronted with questions regarding action on the SDOH within the context of their professional lives. They suggested an expanded list of health determinants that included factors such as voluntarism and happiness, transcending traditional notions of “root causes.” Furthermore, they did not articulate value-based reasons why others would oppose the SDOH; rather, in line with their professional roles, they adopted a value-neutral and pragmatic approach to working to improve health. Group 2 (child and youth advocacy organization members) seemed rooted in the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion framework, with their recommendations aligned with strategies such as building healthy public policy and reorienting health services. Neither group made reference to issues of social justice or inequity when they made suggestions for improving health. CONCLUSIONS: We found that two groups with different affiliations to formal public health could discuss the SDOH without acknowledging the inequitable distribution of power and resources that lies at its root. We also found that those working in public health had difficulty moving beyond individual actions that they or their clients could take to improve health. For a group more focused on advocacy than direct service provision, the Ottawa Charter framework seemed more easily suited to their recommendations for action than suggesting actions that would address the SDOH. Our findings indicate that there remains work to be done in terms of translating the SDOH concept into action in Canada

Para-infectious brain injury in COVID-19 persists at follow-up despite attenuated cytokine and autoantibody responses

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1–11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common in COVID-19 than controls and some (including against MYL7, UCH-L1, and GRIN3B) are more frequent with altered consciousness. Additionally, convalescent participants with neurological complications show elevated GFAP and NfL, unrelated to attenuated systemic inflammatory mediators and to autoantibody responses. Overall, neurological complications of COVID-19 are associated with evidence of neuroglial injury in both acute and late disease and these correlate with dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses acutely

Perceptions by Special Education Personnel on the Training and the Effectiveness of School Psychologists

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of special education teachers and personnel concerning their interactions with school psychologists. The subjects were chosen from a rural southwest Kansas educational cooperative. Demographic information was requested of all respondents. This information consisted of gender, years of experience in education, categorical area of exceptionality, e.g., learning disabilities, behavior disorders or area of responsibility, i.e., administration. The respondents, using a questionnaire made their choices by marking a Likert category demonstrating level of satisfaction for 14 statements. The results of this study provided two forms of information. Answers to the questions indicated that school psychologists, in general, should have at least two years of teaching experience preferably in a special education field; should provide useful information to parents, administrators, and teachers; and have an undergraduate degree in elementary or secondary education. Anecdotal information indicated contrary findings that respondents frequently suggest psychologists be more of a team member, spend more time talking to teachers and administrators, and explain test results in a manner to be understood by parents

Can a Theory of Mind Disruption Help Explain OCD Related Metacognitive Disturbances?

This study investigated whether individual differences in obsessive-compulsive symptoms and in thought-action fusion are related to theory of mind abilities. One hundred and ninety-two adult participants completed self-reports of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCI-R), thought-action fusion (TAF), private self-consciousness (PSC and self-reflectiveness (SR) as mentalising abilities, and anxiety and depression. A nonintrospective method examining participants' implicit structure of their lexicon for 'knowing' was used to assess theory of mind. Private self-conciousness and SR added to the prediction of OCD symptoms independently of TAF and depression but did not mediate the relationship between TAF and OCD symptoms. Participants high in thought-action fusion gave a greater emphasis to the certainty dimension of the mental lexicon and placed lesser importance on the source of information dimension than those low in TAF. Our results provide preliminary evidence of a relationship between theory of mind and thought-action fusion. People disposed to thought-action fusion are more likely to make a significance judgment about 'knowing' based on the degree of certainty than on reference to the source of knowledge. Identifying disruptions to theory of mind abilities in OCD provides links to solid theory and evidence about metacognitive development and may help integrate cognitive processing and cognitive appraisal models of OCD

Perceptions of the social determinants of health by two groups more and less affiliated with public health in Canada

Article deposited according to agreement with BMC, December 2, 2010 and according to publisher policies: http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/copyright [October 28, 2013].YesFunding provided by the Open Access Authors Fund

Self-perception of readiness for clinical practice: a survey of accelerated Masters program graduate registered nurses

Accelerated nursing programs are gaining momentum as a means of career transition into the nursing profession for mature age learners in an attempt to meet future healthcare workforce demands in Australia. With a gap in the literature on readiness for practice of graduates from accelerated nursing programs at the Masters level the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the program based on graduates\u27 preparedness for practice and graduate outcomes. Using a descriptive, exploratory design an online survey was used to explore the perception of graduate nurses\u27 readiness for clinical practice. Forty-nine graduates from a nursing Masters program at an Australian university completed the survey defining readiness for practice as knowledge of self-limitations and seeking help, autonomy in basic clinical procedures, exhibiting confidence, possessing theoretical knowledge and practicing safe care. Graduates perceived themselves as adequately prepared to work as a beginner practitioner with their perception of readiness for clinical practice largely positive. The majority of participants agreed that the program had prepared them for work as a beginner practitioner with respondents stating that they felt adequately prepared in most areas relating to clinical practice. This would suggest that educational preparation was adequate and effective in achieving program objectives