Economics methods in Cochrane systematic reviews of health promotion and public health related interventions.

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Auditory presentation and synchronization in Adobe Flash and HTML5/JavaScript Web experiments

Substantial recent research has examined the accuracy of presentation durations and response time measurements for visually presented stimuli in Web-based experiments, with a general conclusion that accuracy is acceptable for most kinds of experiments. However, many areas of behavioral research use auditory stimuli instead of, or in addition to, visual stimuli. Much less is known about auditory accuracy using standard Web-based testing procedures. We used a millisecond-accurate Black Box Toolkit to measure the actual durations of auditory stimuli and the synchronization of auditory and visual presentation onsets. We examined the distribution of timings for 100 presentations of auditory and visual stimuli across two computers with difference specs, three commonly used browsers, and code written in either Adobe Flash or JavaScript. We also examined different coding options for attempting to synchronize the auditory and visual onsets. Overall, we found that auditory durations were very consistent, but that the lags between visual and auditory onsets varied substantially across browsers and computer systems

A factorial-design cluster randomised controlled trial investigating the cost-effectiveness of a nutrition supplement and an exercise programme on pneumonia incidence, walking capacity and body mass index in older people living in Santiago, Chile: the CENEX study protocol

BACKGROUND: Chile is currently undergoing a period of rapid demographic transition which has led to an increase in the proportion of older people in the population; the proportion aged 60 years and over, for example, increased from 8% of the population in 1980 to 12% in 2005. In an effort to promote healthy ageing and preserve function, the government of Chile has formulated a package of actions into the Programme of Complementary Feeding for the Older Population (PACAM) which has been providing a nutritional supplement to older people since 1998. PACAM distributes micronutrient fortified foods to individuals aged 70 years and over registered at Primary Health Centres and enrolled in the programme. The recommended serving size (50 g/day) of these supplements provides 50% of daily micronutrient requirements and 20% of daily energy requirements of older people. No information is currently available on the cost-effectiveness of the supplementation programme. AIM: The aim of the CENEX cluster randomised controlled trial is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an ongoing nutrition supplementation programme, and a specially designed physical exercise intervention for older people of low to medium socio-economic status living in Santiago, Chile. METHODS: The study has been conceptualised as a public health programme effectiveness study and has been designed as a 24-month factorial cluster-randomised controlled trial conducted among 2800 individuals aged 65.0-67.9 years at baseline attending 28 health centres in Santiago. The main outcomes are incidence of pneumonia, walking capacity and change in body mass index over 24 months of intervention. Costing data (user and provider), collected at all levels, will enable the determination of the cost-effectiveness of the two interventions individually and in combination. The study is supported by the Ministry of Health in Chile, which is keen to expand and improve its national programme of nutrition for older people based on sound science-base and evidence for cost-effectiveness. : TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN48153354

MicroRNA-196a & microRNA-101 expression in Barrett's oesophagus in patients with medically and surgically treated gastro-oesophageal reflux

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) medication and surgical fundoplication are used for the control of gastro-oesophageal reflux in patients with Barrett's oesophagus, but differ in their effectiveness for both acid and bile reflux. This might impact on the inflammatory processes that are associated with progression of Barrett's oesophagus to cancer, and this may be evident in the gene expression profile and microRNA expression pattern in Barrett's oesophagus mucosa. We hypothesised that two miRNAs with inflammatory and oncogenic roles, miR-101 and miR-196a, are differentially expressed in Barrett's oesophagus epithelium in patients with reflux treated medically vs. surgically.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Mucosal tissue was obtained at endoscopy from patients with Barrett's oesophagus whose reflux was controlled by proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy (n = 20) or by fundoplication (n = 19). RNA was extracted and the expression of miR-101 and miR-196a was measured using real-time reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction. There were no significant differences in miR-101 and miR-196a expression in Barrett's oesophagus epithelium in patients treated by PPI vs. fundoplication (p = 0.768 and 0.211 respectively). Secondary analysis showed a correlation between miR-196a expression and Barrett's oesophagus segment length (p = 0.014).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The method of reflux treatment did not influence the expression of miR-101 and miR-196a in Barrett's oesophagus. This data does not provide support to the hypothesis that surgical treatment of reflux better prevents cancer development in Barrett's oesophagus. The association between miR-196a expression and Barrett's oesophagus length is consistent with a tumour promoting role for miR-196a in Barrett's oesophagus.</p

Motor expertise modulates the unconscious processing of human body postures

Little is known about the cognitive background of unconscious visuomotor control of complex sports movements. Therefore, we investigated the extent to which novices and skilled high-jump athletes are able to identify visually presented body postures of the high jump unconsciously. We also asked whether or not the manner of processing differs (qualitatively or quantitatively) between these groups as a function of their motor expertise. A priming experiment with not consciously perceivable stimuli was designed to determine whether subliminal priming of movement phases (same vs. different movement phases) or temporal order (i.e. natural vs. reversed movement order) affects target processing. Participants had to decide which phase of the high jump (approach vs. flight phase) a target photograph was taken from. We found a main effect of temporal order for skilled athletes, that is, faster reaction times for prime-target pairs that reflected the natural movement order as opposed to the reversed movement order. This result indicates that temporal-order information pertaining to the domain of expertise plays a critical role in athletes’ perceptual capacities. For novices, data analyses revealed an interaction between temporal order and movement phases. That is, only the reversed movement order of flight-approach pictures increased processing time. Taken together, the results suggest that the structure of cognitive movement representation modulates unconscious processing of movement pictures and points to a functional role of motor representations in visual perception

Your Unconscious Knows Your Name

One's own name constitutes a unique part of conscious awareness – but does this also hold true for unconscious processing? The present study shows that the own name has the power to bias a person's actions unconsciously even in conditions that render any other name ineffective. Participants judged whether a letter string on the screen was a name or a non-word while this target stimulus was preceded by a masked prime stimulus. Crucially, the participant's own name was among these prime stimuli and facilitated reactions to following name targets whereas the name of another, yoked participant did not. Signal detection results confirmed that participants were not aware of any of the prime stimuli, including their own name. These results extend traditional findings on “breakthrough” phenomena of personally relevant stimuli to the domain of unconscious processing. Thus, the brain seems to possess adroit mechanisms to identify and process such stimuli even in the absence of conscious awareness

Swearing, Euphemisms, and Linguistic Relativity

Participants read aloud swear words, euphemisms of the swear words, and neutral stimuli while their autonomic activity was measured by electrodermal activity. The key finding was that autonomic responses to swear words were larger than to euphemisms and neutral stimuli. It is argued that the heightened response to swear words reflects a form of verbal conditioning in which the phonological form of the word is directly associated with an affective response. Euphemisms are effective because they replace the trigger (the offending word form) by another word form that expresses a similar idea. That is, word forms exert some control on affect and cognition in turn. We relate these findings to the linguistic relativity hypothesis, and suggest a simple mechanistic account of how language may influence thinking in this context

Synergistic binding of transcription factors to cell-specific enhancers programs motor neuron identity

Efficient transcriptional programming promises to open new frontiers in regenerative medicine. However, mechanisms by which programming factors transform cell fate are unknown, preventing more rational selection of factors to generate desirable cell types. Three transcription factors, Ngn2, Isl1 and Lhx3, were sufficient to program rapidly and efficiently spinal motor neuron identity when expressed in differentiating mouse embryonic stem cells. Replacement of Lhx3 by Phox2a led to specification of cranial, rather than spinal, motor neurons. Chromatin immunoprecipitation–sequencing analysis of Isl1, Lhx3 and Phox2a binding sites revealed that the two cell fates were programmed by the recruitment of Isl1-Lhx3 and Isl1-Phox2a complexes to distinct genomic locations characterized by a unique grammar of homeodomain binding motifs. Our findings suggest that synergistic interactions among transcription factors determine the specificity of their recruitment to cell type–specific binding sites and illustrate how a single transcription factor can be repurposed to program different cell types.Project ALS FoundationNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P01 NS055923

Differentiation-Dependent Secretion of Proangiogenic Factors by Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a promising cell population for cell-based bone repair due to their proliferative potential, ability to differentiate into bone-forming osteoblasts, and their secretion of potent trophic factors that stimulate angiogenesis and neovascularization. To promote bone healing, autogenous or allogeneic MSCs are transplanted into bone defects after differentiation to varying degrees down the osteogenic lineage. However, the contribution of the stage of osteogenic differentiation upon angiogenic factor secretion is unclear. We hypothesized that the proangiogenic potential of MSCs was dependent upon their stage of osteogenic differentiation. After 7 days of culture, we observed the greatest osteogenic differentiation of MSCs when cells were cultured with dexamethasone (OM+). Conversely, VEGF protein secretion and upregulation of angiogenic genes were greatest in MSCs cultured in growth media (GM). Using conditioned media from MSCs in each culture condition, GM-conditioned media maximized proliferation and enhanced chemotactic migration and tubule formation of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs). The addition of a neutralizing VEGF165/121 antibody to conditioned media attenuated ECFC proliferation and chemotactic migration. ECFCs seeded on microcarrier beads and co-cultured with MSCs previously cultured in GM in a fibrin gel exhibited superior sprouting compared to MSCs previously cultured in OM+. These results confirm that MSCs induced farther down the osteogenic lineage possess reduced proangiogenic potential, thereby providing important findings for consideration when using MSCs for bone repair