Calving Fronts of Antarctica: Mapping and Classification

Antarctica is surrounded by a variety of large, medium and small sized ice shelves, glacier tongues and coastal areas without offshore floating ice masses. We used the mosaic of the Radarsat-1 Antarctica Mapping Project (RAMP) Antarctic Mapping Mission 1 (AMM) to classify the coastline of Antarctica in terms of surface structure patterns close to the calving front. With the aid of an automated edge detection method, complemented by manual control, the surface structures of all ice shelves and glacier tongues around Antarctica were mapped. We found dense and less dense patterns of surface structures unevenly distributed over the ice shelves and ice tongues. Dense surface patterns are frequent on fast flowing ice masses (ice streams), whereas most ice shelves show a dense surface pattern only close to the grounding line. Flow line analyses on ten ice shelves reveal that the time of residence of the ice along a flow path and—associated with it—the healing of surface crevasses can explain the different surface structure distribution close to the grounding line and the calving front on many ice shelves. Based on the surface structures relative to the calving front within a 15 km-wide seaward strip, the ice shelf fronts can be separated into three classes. The resulting map of the classified calving fronts around Antarctica and their description provide a detailed picture of crevasse formation and the observed dominant iceberg shapes

Emotional Intolerance and Core Features of Anorexia Nervosa: A Dynamic Interaction during Inpatient Treatment? Results from a Longitudinal Diary Study.

OBJECTIVE:The role of emotion dysregulation with regard to the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa (AN) is increasingly discussed. It is both assumed that AN symptoms have an impact on difficulties in tolerating aversive emotions and that-conversely-emotion dysregulation influences AN. To date, such conclusions are drawn on the basis of cross-sectional data not allowing for inferences on the temporal dynamics. The current study investigates the longitudinal interaction between emotional intolerance and core AN symptoms over the course of inpatient treatment by comparing patients with high (BMI<15 kg/m2) vs. low symptom severity (HSS vs. LSS). METHOD:The study adopted a longitudinal, process-oriented design with N = 16 analysed electronic diaries. Throughout the course of their inpatient treatment, the patients answered questions daily about emotional intolerance and their AN-specific cognitions and behaviours. The temporal dynamics between emotional intolerance and these variables were analysed using a multivariate time series approach. RESULTS:The time series of the processes under investigation adequately reflected the individual treatment courses. The majority of significant linear time trends was found for HSS patients. Most importantly, analysis revealed significant temporal interactions between emotional intolerance and AN symptoms in almost 70% of HSS patients. Thereby, up to 37% of variance in eating restraint and up to 23% in weight concern could be attributed to changes in emotional intolerance. CONCLUSIONS:The findings support the notion that intolerable unpleasant emotions in severely affected AN patients influence their psychopathology. Additionally, time series analysis outlined the inter-individual heterogeneity of psychosomatic treatment courses of AN patients

Temporal Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life in Elderly People with Diabetes: Results of a German Cohort Study

Background: The aim of the study was to determine predictors that influence health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a large cohort of elderly diabetes patients from primary care over a follow-up period of five years. Methods and Results: At the baseline measurement of the ESTHER cohort study (2000–2002), 1375 out of 9953 participants suffered from diabetes (13.8%). 1057 of these diabetes patients responded to the second-follow up (2005–2007). HRQOL at baseline and follow-up was measured using the SF-12; mental component scores (MCS) and physical component scores (PCS) were calculated; multiple linear regression models were used to determine predictors of HRQOL at follow-up. As possible predictors for HRQOL, the following baseline variables were examined: treatment with insulin, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), number of diabetes related complications, number of comorbid diseases, Body-Mass-Index (BMI), depression and HRQOL. Regression analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic variables and smoking status. 1034 patients (97.8%) responded to the SF-12 both at baseline and after five years and were therefore included in the study. Regression analyses indicated that significant predictors of decreased MCS were a lower HRQOL, a higher number of diabetes related complications and a reported history of depression at baseline. Complications, BMI, smoking and HRQOL at baseline significantly predicted PCS at the five year follow-up. Conclusions: Our findings expand evidence from previous cross-sectional data indicating that in elderly diabetes patients

Time Course of Leptin in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa during Inpatient Treatment: Longitudinal Relationships to BMI and Psychological Factors

<div><p>Background</p><p>Leptin, a hormone secreted by adipose tissue, appears to play a major role in the homeostasis of body weight and psychobiological processes associated with anorexia nervosa (AN). However, there is scarce data on its exact influence on this disorder, in particular data over time.</p><p>Objective</p><p>The present study addresses whether leptin changes during inpatient treatment play a role for treatment outcome and psychological factors in underweight AN patients.</p><p>Methods</p><p>In order to understand whether leptin’s role differs in relation to AN severity, data were assessed from 11 patients with a very low BMI and a higher chronicity (high severity group; HSS; mean BMI at the beginning of the study = 13.6; mean duration of illness = 5.1 years) vs. nine with less severe symptoms (LSS; mean BMI = 16.2; mean duration of illness = 3.7 years). During the course of treatment, serum leptin concentrations were assessed weekly while weight (BMI) was assessed twice per week. Concomitantly, psychological variables were obtained by means of electronic diaries. Unconditional linear growth models were calculated to evaluate the temporal course of leptin in relation to BMI. For HSS patients, two phases of treatment (BMI < 16 and BMI ≥ 16 kg/m²) were investigated.</p><p>Results</p><p>Leptin increased significantly with BMI in both groups of patients. For HSS patients, the increase of leptin in the first treatment phase did not predict later increases in BMI. Furthermore, the relationship of leptin and psychological factors was modulated by symptom severity. In HSS patients, higher leptin levels were associated with greater feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress whereas in LSS patients a higher leptin level showed the trend to be associated with lower psychological symptom burden.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Our results suggest that leptin changes are differently associated with weight gain and psychological symptoms depending on the severity of starvation.</p></div

Plots of significant Granger causal relations combined with information from the electronic diaries as well as corresponding impulse response functions.

<p>Analysed time windows are shadowed in grey; family therapy sessions are marked with a black triangle; special notes from the diary are marked with *. Impulse response function (IRF) / orthogonalised IRF (OIRF): responses are considered significant if their error bands do not include 0. Confidence bounds are computed employing Hall bootstrap method. For a detailed description of IRF / OIRF see explanations in the text.</p

Significant linear time trends of longitudinal regressions during inpatient treatment

<p>Significant linear time trends of longitudinal regressions during inpatient treatment</p

Linear time trends (standardised coefficients from time series regressions) in emotional intolerance and AN symptom variables during inpatient stay (in all patients).

<p>Linear time trends (standardised coefficients from time series regressions) in emotional intolerance and AN symptom variables during inpatient stay (in all patients).</p

Items implemented in the electronic diary.

<p>Items implemented in the electronic diary.</p

Characteristics of the analysed diary sample.

<p>Characteristics of the analysed diary sample.</p

Lagged dependencies between emotional intolerance and AN symptom variables.

<p>Lagged dependencies between emotional intolerance and AN symptom variables.</p