Inhibition of vicariously learned fear in children using positive modeling and prior exposure

One of the challenges to conditioning models of fear acquisition is to explain how different individuals can experience similar learning events and only some of them subsequently develop fear. Understanding factors moderating the impact of learning events on fear acquisition is key to understanding the etiology and prevention of fear in childhood. This study investigates these moderators in the context of vicarious (observational) learning. Two experiments tested predictions that the acquisition or inhibition of fear via vicarious learning is driven by associative learning mechanisms similar to direct conditioning. In Experiment 1, 3 groups of children aged 7 to 9 years received 1 of 3 inhibitive information interventions psychoeducation, factual information, or no information (control)—prior to taking part in a vicarious fear learning procedure. In Experiment 2, 3 groups of children aged 7 to 10 years received 1 of 3 observational learning interventions—positive modeling (immunization), observational familiarity (latent inhibition), or no prevention (control)— before vicarious fear learning. Results indicated that observationally delivered manipulations inhibited vicarious fear learning, while preventions presented via written information did not. These findings confirm that vicarious learning shares some of the characteristics of direct conditioning and can explain why not all individuals will develop fear following a vicarious learning event. They also suggest that the modality of inhibitive learning is important and should match the fear learning pathway for increased chances of inhibition. Finally, the results demonstrate that positive modeling is likely to be a particularly effective method for preventing fear-related observational learning in children

Pilot evaluation of a brief training video aimed at reducing mental health stigma amongst emergency first responders (the ENHANcE II study)

Background First responders (i.e. police and ambulance staff) have increasingly become part of the mental health care system, often being the first port of call for those experiencing a crisis. Despite their frequent involvement in supporting those with mental health problems, there is evidence that mental health stigma is high amongst first responders. Aims The aim of the present study was to evaluate a brief training video aimed at reducing mental health stigma amongst first responders. Methods First responders watched a training video based on the cognitive behavioural model of mental health stigma, and involved contributions from people with lived experience, and first responders. Measures of mental health stigma were collected before and after viewing the training. Results The training video produced small but significant improvements in mental health stigma, and these effects did not differ between police and ambulance staff. We were unable to determine what psychological constructs mediated this change in stigma. The feedback on the training video was generally positive, but also indicated some key areas for future development. Conclusions The present study provides encouraging evidence that levels of mental health stigma can be improved using a resource-light training intervention

Enhancing mental health awareness in emergency services (the ENHANcE I project): cross-sectional survey on mental health stigma among emergency services staff

Background The number of mental health-related 999 calls to emergency services has increased in recent years. However, emergency services staff have an unfavourable reputation when it comes to supporting people experiencing mental health problems. Aims To assess the levels of explicit and implicit mental health stigma among accident and emergency, ambulance and police staff, and draw comparisons with the general population. Additional analyses sought to identify which variables predict mental health stigma among emergency services staff. Method A cross-sectional survey of 1837 participants, comprising four independent groups (accident and emergency, ambulance and police staff, and the general population). Results Levels of mental health stigma across all four groups were lower than those reported in recent surveys of the general population by the ‘Time to Change’ campaign. Within this study, explicit levels of mental health stigma were lower among the general population compared with emergency services staff. There was no difference between emergency service professions, nor were there any between-group differences in terms of implicit mental health stigma. The only consistent predictors of mental health stigma were attitudes and future behavioural intentions, whereby increased stigma was predicted by increased fear, reduced sympathy and greater intended discrimination. Conclusions Our findings suggest that levels of mental health stigma have improved over time, but there is room for improvement in emergency services staff. Interventions to improve mental health stigma may be most effective if, in line with the cognitive–behavioural model of stigma, they target attitudes and behavioural intentions

Understanding the barriers to accessing symptom-specific cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for distressing voices: reflecting on and extending the lessons learnt from the CBT for psychosis literature

The experience of hearing voices ('auditory hallucinations') can cause significant distress and disruption to quality of life for people with a psychosis diagnosis. Psychological therapy in the form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy for psychosis is recommended for the treatment of positive symptoms, including distressing voices, but is rarely available to patients in the UK. Cognitive Behavior Therapy for psychosis has recently evolved with the development of symptom-specific therapies that focus upon only one symptom of psychosis at a time. Preliminary findings from randomized controlled trials suggest that these symptom-specific therapies can be more effective for distressing voices than the use of broad CBT protocols, and have the potential to target voices trans-diagnostically. Whilst this literature is evolving, consideration must be given to the potential for a symptom-specific approach to overcome some of the barriers to delivery of evidence-based psychological therapies within clinical services. These barriers are discussed in relation to the UK mental health services, and we offer suggestions for future research to enhance our understanding of these barriers

Progress towards a rapid method for conceptual aerodynamic design for transonic cruise

Results are presented from a study aimed at demonstrating the accuracy and efficiency of a lower order aerodynamic prediction method for transonic cruise flows around aircraft configurations, including conventional swept wing-body and also blended wing-body designs. The Viscous Full Potential (VFP) method, coupling the solution of the full potential equations with the integral boundary layer equations can yield data of almost equivalent accuracy as Navier-Stokes based CFD methods but at 0.5% - 2% of the physical time. In addition it is shown, using both the VFP approach and Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) that the flow physics of the stall mechanism associated with blended wing-body configurations is far more complex than that experienced on more conventional swept-tapered wings. The mechanism appears to involve an initial tip stall but also involves highly 3D vortical flows inboard on the upper surface of the wing which significantly distorts the transonic shock wave

Using MGA to shorten the beef breeding season (2002)

Modified conventional synchronization systems for beef cows boost fertility and increase the total number of females that can be inseminated.New March 2002 -- Extension website

You did, so you can and you will: self-efficacy as a mediator of spillover from easy to more difficult pro-environmental behaviour

The dynamic relationship self-efficacy holds with behaviour leads us to suggest that self-efficacy may be a mediating mechanism for spillover. We tested this proposition by investigating whether engaging in simple and easy pro-environmental behaviour is associated with self-efficacy, which then increases intentions and subsequent actions towards new or more challenging pro-environmental behaviours. We tested this hypothesis in two studies using Australian residents. The first demonstrated spillover from easy water-related behaviours to more difficult water-related behavioural intentions, and the second study used longitudinal data to provide evidence for spillover from easy water conservation behaviours to the more difficult self-reported actions of installing water efficient appliances. Both studies supported our prediction of self-efficacy mediating the relationship between easy and more difficult pro-environmental self-reported behaviour. These results suggest that self-efficacy may be an important motivator of environmental spillover, and could be used to help encourage engagement in more challenging pro-environmental behaviours

Linking spatial and social mobility: is London's “escalator” as strong as it was?

The “escalator region” concept became a key element of migration literature after Fielding's work on South East England and fuelled a welcome growth of interest in the links between spatial and social mobility. More recent research has shown that London has continued to perform an escalator function since the 1970s, but little attention has been given to how its strength has altered both over time and compared with other parts of the UK. Against the background of the declining rates of internal migration observed in the United States and several other countries, this paper seeks to identify whether London's escalator role was waxing or waning over the four intercensal decades between 1971 and 2011. The primary emphasis is on the chances of people shifting up from noncore to core white-collar work during each decade for London's nonmigrant and in-migrant populations, in both absolute terms and relative to England's second-order cities. It is found that over the three decades since the 1970s London's escalator was still performing in the way originally conceived, but although its net gain of young adults from the rest of England and Wales steadily increased over this period, it was not operating as strongly in 2001–2011 as during the 1990s in terms of both the career-progression premium gained by its in-migrants and the extent of its advantage over England's second-order cities

drawProteins: a Bioconductor/R package for reproducible and programmatic generation of protein schematics

Protein schematics are valuable for research, teaching and knowledge communication. However, the tools used to automate the process are challenging. The purpose of the drawProteins package is to enable the generation of schematics of proteins in an automated fashion that can integrate with the Bioconductor/R suite of tools for bioinformatics and statistical analysis. Using UniProt accession numbers, the package uses the UniProt API to get the features of the protein from the UniProt database. The features are assembled into a data frame and visualized using adaptations of the ggplot2 package. Visualizations can be customised in many ways including adding additional protein features information from other data frames, altering colors and protein names and adding extra layers using other ggplot2 functions. This can be completed within a script that makes the workflow reproducible and sharable