Fidelity of delivery and contextual factors influencing children’s level of engagement: Process evaluation of the Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics (ORBIT) Trial (Preprint)

BACKGROUND: The Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics (ORBIT) study was a multicentre randomized controlled trial of a complex intervention that consisted of an online behavioural intervention for children and young people (CYP) with tic disorders. In this first part of a two-stage process evaluation, we conducted a mixed-methods study exploring reach, dose, and fidelity of the intervention and contextual factors influencing engagement with the intervention. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the fidelity of delivery and the contextual factors underpinning the ORBIT intervention. METHODS: Baseline study data and intervention usage metrics from participants in the intervention arm were used as quantitative implementation data (n=112). The experiences of being in the intervention were explored by semi-structured interviews with children (n=20) and parent (n=20) participants, therapists (n=4), and referring clinicians (n=6). A principal components analysis was used to create a comprehensive, composite measure of CYP’s engagement with the intervention. Engagement factor scores reflected relative uptake as assessed by a range of usage indices including chapters accessed, number of pages visited and number of logins. RESULTS: The intervention was implemented with high fidelity, and participants deemed the intervention acceptable and satisfactory. Engagement and adherence were high with child participants completing an average of 7.5/10 chapters and 100/112 (89.3%) participants completed a minimum of 4 chapters: the pre-defined threshold for effective dose. Compared to the total population of children with tic disorders, the sample tended to have more educated parents and live in more economically advantaged areas but socioeconomic factors were not related to engagement factor scores. Factors associated with higher engagement factor scores included participants enrolled at the London site vs. the Nottingham site (P=.011), self-referred vs. clinic-referred (P=.041), higher parental engagement as evidenced by number of parental chapters completed (ρ=0.73, n=111, P<.001) and more therapist time for parent (ρ=0.46, n=111, P<.001). A multiple linear regression indicated that parents’ chapter completion (β=.69, t110=10.18, P<.001) and therapist time for parent (β=.19, t110=2.95, P=.004) were the only significant independent predictors of engagement factor scores. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the intervention had high fidelity of delivery and was evaluated positively by participants, although reach may have been constrained by the nature of the randomized controlled trial. Parental engagement and therapist time for parent were strong predictors of intervention implementation which has important implications for the design and implementation of digital therapeutic interventions into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Clinical Trial: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 70758207; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN70758207 and ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03483493; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT0348349

Factors influencing the efficacy of an online behavioural intervention for children and young people with tics: Process evaluation of a randomised controlled trial

The Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics (ORBIT) trial found that an internet-delivered, therapist-supported, and parent-assisted Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) intervention reduced tic severity and improved clinical outcomes. This process evaluation aimed to explore mechanisms of impact and factors influencing efficacy. Participants were 112 children with a tic disorder and their parents randomised to the active intervention arm of the ORBIT trial. Child engagement was assessed by usage metrics and parent engagement by chapter completion. Experiences of the digital intervention were explored by semi-structured interviews. Outcomes (3-months post randomisation) were change in tic severity and overall clinical improvement. Tic severity reduced from baseline to 3-month follow-up and 36% were rated as much improved clinically. Greater tic severity at baseline predicted reduction in tic severity. Parental engagement was the only independent predictor of clinical improvement. There were no statistically significant mediators or moderators of the relationship between level of child engagement and outcome. From the qualitative findings, child participants appreciated working together with parents on the intervention and participants found the intervention engaging. ORBIT may be an effective and acceptable intervention for children and young people with tic disorders, with parental engagement being a key factor in successful outcomes

Mechanisms of Psychological Distress following War in the Former Yugoslavia: The Role of Interpersonal Sensitivity

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This study was funded by a grant from the European Commission, contract number INCO-CT-2004-509176. AN was supported by a Clinical Early Career Research Fellowship (113295) and a Project Grant (104288

Genome-wide signatures of convergent evolution in echolocating mammals

Evolution is typically thought to proceed through divergence of genes, proteins, and ultimately phenotypes(1-3). However, similar traits might also evolve convergently in unrelated taxa due to similar selection pressures(4,5). Adaptive phenotypic convergence is widespread in nature, and recent results from a handful of genes have suggested that this phenomenon is powerful enough to also drive recurrent evolution at the sequence level(6-9). Where homoplasious substitutions do occur these have long been considered the result of neutral processes. However, recent studies have demonstrated that adaptive convergent sequence evolution can be detected in vertebrates using statistical methods that model parallel evolution(9,10) although the extent to which sequence convergence between genera occurs across genomes is unknown. Here we analyse genomic sequence data in mammals that have independently evolved echolocation and show for the first time that convergence is not a rare process restricted to a handful of loci but is instead widespread, continuously distributed and commonly driven by natural selection acting on a small number of sites per locus. Systematic analyses of convergent sequence evolution in 805,053 amino acids within 2,326 orthologous coding gene sequences compared across 22 mammals (including four new bat genomes) revealed signatures consistent with convergence in nearly 200 loci. Strong and significant support for convergence among bats and the dolphin was seen in numerous genes linked to hearing or deafness, consistent with an involvement in echolocation. Surprisingly we also found convergence in many genes linked to vision: the convergent signal of many sensory genes was robustly correlated with the strength of natural selection. This first attempt to detect genome-wide convergent sequence evolution across divergent taxa reveals the phenomenon to be much more pervasive than previously recognised

Anti-Allergic Cromones Inhibit Histamine and Eicosanoid Release from Activated Human and Murine Mast Cells by Releasing Annexin A1

PMCID: PMC3601088This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

A behavioral comparison of male and female adults with high functioning autism spectrum conditions

Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) affect more males than females in the general population. However, within ASC it is unclear if there are phenotypic sex differences. Testing for similarities and differences between the sexes is important not only for clinical assessment but also has implications for theories of typical sex differences and of autism. Using cognitive and behavioral measures, we investigated similarities and differences between the sexes in age- and IQ-matched adults with ASC (high-functioning autism or Asperger syndrome). Of the 83 (45 males and 38 females) participants, 62 (33 males and 29 females) met Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) cut-off criteria for autism in childhood and were included in all subsequent analyses. The severity of childhood core autism symptoms did not differ between the sexes. Males and females also did not differ in self-reported empathy, systemizing, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive traits/symptoms or mentalizing performance. However, adult females with ASC showed more lifetime sensory symptoms (p = 0.036), fewer current socio-communication difficulties (p = 0.001), and more self-reported autistic traits (p = 0.012) than males. In addition, females with ASC who also had developmental language delay had lower current performance IQ than those without developmental language delay (p<0.001), a pattern not seen in males. The absence of typical sex differences in empathizing-systemizing profiles within the autism spectrum confirms a prediction from the extreme male brain theory. Behavioral sex differences within ASC may also reflect different developmental mechanisms between males and females with ASC. We discuss the importance of the superficially better socio-communication ability in adult females with ASC in terms of why females with ASC may more often go under-recognized, and receive their diagnosis later, than males

Incidence of synchronous appendiceal neoplasm in patients with colorectal cancer and its clinical significance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of synchronous appendiceal neoplasm in patients with colorectal cancer, and to determine its clinical significance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pathological reports and medical records were reviewed of patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma who underwent oncological resection of the tumor together with appendectomy at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand between September 2000 and April 2008.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study included 293 patients with an average age of 62 years (range 19–95) and 51 percent were male. Of the patients studied, 228 (78 percent) had right hemicolectomy, whereas the others (22 percent) had surgery for left-sided colon cancer or rectal cancer. One patient (0.3 percent) had epithelial appendiceal neoplasm (mucinous cystadenoma) and 3 patients (1.0 percent) had metastatic colorectal cancer in the mesoappendix. However, the presence of synchronous appendiceal tumors and/or metastasis did not alter postoperative management, as these patients had received adjuvant therapy and were scheduled for surveillance program because of nodal involvement.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The incidence of synchronous primary appendiceal neoplasm and secondary (metastatic) appendiceal neoplasm in colorectal cancer patients was 0.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively. However, these findings did not change the postoperative clinical management.</p

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory mechanisms in uveitis

The eye, as currently viewed, is neither immunologically ignorant nor sequestered from the systemic environment. The eye utilises distinct immunoregulatory mechanisms to preserve tissue and cellular function in the face of immune-mediated insult; clinically, inflammation following such an insult is termed uveitis. The intra-ocular inflammation in uveitis may be clinically obvious as a result of infection (e.g. toxoplasma, herpes), but in the main infection, if any, remains covert. We now recognise that healthy tissues including the retina have regulatory mechanisms imparted by control of myeloid cells through receptors (e.g. CD200R) and soluble inhibitory factors (e.g. alpha-MSH), regulation of the blood retinal barrier, and active immune surveillance. Once homoeostasis has been disrupted and inflammation ensues, the mechanisms to regulate inflammation, including T cell apoptosis, generation of Treg cells, and myeloid cell suppression in situ, are less successful. Why inflammation becomes persistent remains unknown, but extrapolating from animal models, possibilities include differential trafficking of T cells from the retina, residency of CD8(+) T cells, and alterations of myeloid cell phenotype and function. Translating lessons learned from animal models to humans has been helped by system biology approaches and informatics, which suggest that diseased animals and people share similar changes in T cell phenotypes and monocyte function to date. Together the data infer a possible cryptic infectious drive in uveitis that unlocks and drives persistent autoimmune responses, or promotes further innate immune responses. Thus there may be many mechanisms in common with those observed in autoinflammatory disorders