Body image as a predictor of nonsuicidal self-injury in women: a longitudinal study

Objectives: To determine whether Body Image Dissatisfaction (BID) predicted NonSuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) cross-sectionally and longitudinally, independent of comorbidity between NSSI and Disordered Eating (DE). Another aim was to determine whether BID could predict number of NSSI methods present. Method: Adult females completed measures of NSSI and DE (n = 283); and a longitudinal sample (n = 106) completed these measures again one year later. Results: BID was a small yet significant predictor of NSSI both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Poorer BID significantly explained a greater number of NSSI methods cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Conclusions: BID explains unique variance in NSSI (including increased number of methods), and is not a function of comorbidity with DE. This has the potential to influence theory, as well as inform early intervention initiatives for BID in females. Further research is required to determine other variables implicated in this relationship, as well as whether these findings are applicable to other groups such as adolescents and males

The importance of soil and vegetation characteristics for establishing ground-nesting bee aggregations

Most bee species are ground-nesters, yet knowledge on the nesting behaviour of this diverse group remains sparse. Evidence on the effectiveness of ground-nesting bee species as crop pollinators is growing, but there is limited information on their nesting habits and preferences and how to manage habitats to enhance populations on farms. In this study, artificially prepared plots of bare soil were constructed with the aim to attract ground-nesting bees to nest in a commercial orchard in Kent, UK. Nine soil parameters were measured to determine their preferred soil properties: hydraulic conductivity, soil compaction, soil moisture, soil temperature, soil stoniness, soil organic matter, soil root biomass, soil texture and vegetation cover. Eighteen non-parasitic ground-nesting bee species (7 Andrena, 9 Lasioglossum, 1 Halictus and 1 Colletes spp.) were recorded in the study plots. Soil stoniness and soil temperature at 10cm depth were positively correlated, and vegetation cover and hydraulic conductivity were negatively correlated with the number of ground-nesting bees on the plots. We show that artificially created habitats can be exploited for nesting by several ground-nesting bee species. This study’s findings can inform management practices to enhance ground-nesting bee populations in agricultural and urban areas

The ENJOY MAP for HEALTH: Exercise interveNtion outdoor proJect in the cOmmunitY for older people—More Active People for HEALTHier communities: a study protocol

Background: Physical activity is important to maintain health in older age, with physical activity in the outdoors providing mental and physical health benefits for all age groups. One way by which older people can engage in physical activity in the outdoors is through using suitable age-friendly outdoor exercise equipment, the Seniors Exercise Park. The ENJOY MAP for HEALTH aims to evaluate the effect of the Seniors Exercise Park installation and associated capacity building activities on park visitation, park-based physical activity by older people and delivery of community physical activity programs. Method: This study is a quasi-experimental (natural experiment) with pre and post study design evaluating the effect of age-friendly outdoor spaces with specialised outdoor exercise equipment on older people’s physical activity and wellbeing in six Victorian municipalities (local governments/councils). Each council will undergo four stages (site construction and development, promotion and marketing, capacity building and training, evaluation and sustainability). Several activities and methods will be employed from stage one through stage four to evaluate the potential impact of the age-friendly outdoor spaces on physical activity and wellbeing and will comprise the following elements: site observation and equipment utilisation, face to face intercept surveys, development of an online access monitor and community building activities. Discussion: The project is expected to result in a significant change in the physical outdoor environment for the participating councils and communities whereby older people and other community members will be able to engage in safe physical and social activity programs, socialise more and hence improve the overall wellbeing of older people. Trial registration: This trial is retrospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. Trial registration number ACTRN12621000965808. Date registered 23/07/2021

Design considerations in a clinical trial of a cognitive behavioural intervention for the management of low back pain in primary care : Back Skills Training Trial

Background Low back pain (LBP) is a major public health problem. Risk factors for the development and persistence of LBP include physical and psychological factors. However, most research activity has focused on physical solutions including manipulation, exercise training and activity promotion. Methods/Design This randomised controlled trial will establish the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a group programme, based on cognitive behavioural principles, for the management of sub-acute and chronic LBP in primary care. Our primary outcomes are disease specific measures of pain and function. Secondary outcomes include back beliefs, generic health related quality of life and resource use. All outcomes are measured over 12 months. Participants randomised to the intervention arm are invited to attend up to six weekly sessions each of 90 minutes; each group has 6–8 participants. A parallel qualitative study will aid the evaluation of the intervention. Discussion In this paper we describe the rationale and design of a randomised evaluation of a group based cognitive behavioural intervention for low back pain

Improving sleep and learning in rehabilitation after stroke, part 2 (INSPIRES2): study protocol for a home-based randomised control trial of digital cognitive behavioural therapy (dCBT) for insomnia

Introduction Consolidation of motor skill learning, a key component of rehabilitation post-stroke, is known to be sleep dependent. However, disrupted sleep is highly prevalent after stroke and is often associated with poor motor recovery and quality of life. Previous research has shown that digital cognitive behavioural therapy (dCBT) for insomnia can be effective at improving sleep quality after stroke. Therefore, the aim of this trial is to evaluate the potential for sleep improvement using a dCBT programme, to improve rehabilitation outcomes after stroke. Methods and analysis We will conduct a parallel-arm randomised controlled trial of dCBT (Sleepio) versus treatment as usual among individuals following stroke affecting the upper limb. Up to 100 participants will be randomly allocated (2:1) into either the intervention (6–8 week dCBT) or control (continued treatment as usual) group. The primary outcome of the study will be change in insomnia symptoms pre to post intervention compared with treatment as usual. Secondary outcomes include improvement in overnight motor memory consolidation and sleep measures between intervention groups, correlations between changes in sleep behaviour and overnight motor memory consolidation in the dCBT group and changes in symptoms of depression and fatigue between the dCBT and control groups. Analysis of covariance models and correlations will be used to analyse data from the primary and secondary outcomes. Ethics and dissemination The study has received approval from the National Research Ethics Service (22/EM/0080), Health Research Authority (HRA) and Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW), IRAS ID: 306 291. The results of this trial will be disseminated via presentations at scientific conferences, peer-reviewed publication, public engagement events, stakeholder organisations and other forms of media where appropriate. Trial registration number NCT05511285

Improving sleep and learning in rehabilitation after stroke, part 2 (INSPIRES2): study protocol for a home-based randomised control trial of digital cognitive behavioural therapy (dCBT) for insomnia

INTRODUCTION: Consolidation of motor skill learning, a key component of rehabilitation post-stroke, is known to be sleep dependent. However, disrupted sleep is highly prevalent after stroke and is often associated with poor motor recovery and quality of life. Previous research has shown that digital cognitive behavioural therapy (dCBT) for insomnia can be effective at improving sleep quality after stroke. Therefore, the aim of this trial is to evaluate the potential for sleep improvement using a dCBT programme, to improve rehabilitation outcomes after stroke. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will conduct a parallel-arm randomised controlled trial of dCBT (Sleepio) versus treatment as usual among individuals following stroke affecting the upper limb. Up to 100 participants will be randomly allocated (2:1) into either the intervention (6–8 week dCBT) or control (continued treatment as usual) group. The primary outcome of the study will be change in insomnia symptoms pre to post intervention compared with treatment as usual. Secondary outcomes include improvement in overnight motor memory consolidation and sleep measures between intervention groups, correlations between changes in sleep behaviour and overnight motor memory consolidation in the dCBT group and changes in symptoms of depression and fatigue between the dCBT and control groups. Analysis of covariance models and correlations will be used to analyse data from the primary and secondary outcomes. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has received approval from the National Research Ethics Service (22/EM/0080), Health Research Authority (HRA) and Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW), IRAS ID: 306 291. The results of this trial will be disseminated via presentations at scientific conferences, peer-reviewed publication, public engagement events, stakeholder organisations and other forms of media where appropriate. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05511285

Altered H19/miR‐675 expression in skeletal muscle is associated with low muscle mass in community‐dwelling older adults

Background: Despite increasing knowledge of the pathogenesis of muscle ageing, the molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Based on an expression analysis of muscle biopsies from older Caucasian men, we undertook an in-depth analysis of the expression of the long non-coding RNA, H19, to identify molecular mechanisms that may contribute to the loss of muscle mass with age. Methods: We carried out transcriptome analysis of vastus lateralis muscle biopsies from 40 healthy Caucasian men aged 68–76 years from the Hertfordshire Sarcopenia Study (HSS) with respect to appendicular lean mass adjusted for height (ALMi). Validation and replication was carried out using qRT-PCR in 130 independent male and female participants aged 73–83 years recruited into an extension of the HSS (HSSe). DNA methylation was assessed using pyrosequencing. Results: Lower ALMi was associated with higher muscle H19 expression (r2 = 0.177, P < 0.001). The microRNAs, miR-675-5p/3p encoded by exon 1 of H19, were positively correlated with H19 expression (Pearson r = 0.192 and 0.182, respectively, P < 0.03), and miR-675-5p expression negatively associated with ALMi (r2 = 0.629, P = 0.005). The methylation of CpGs within the H19 imprinting control region (ICR) were negatively correlated with H19 expression (Pearson r = −0.211 to −0.245, P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, RNA and protein levels of SMAD1 and 5, targets of miR-675-3p, were negatively associated with miR-675-3p (r2 = 0.792 and 0.760, respectively) and miR-675-5p (r2 = 0.584 and 0.723, respectively) expression, and SMAD1 and 5 RNA levels positively associated with greater type II fibre size (r2 = 0.184 and 0.246, respectively, P < 0.05). Conclusions: Increased expression profiles of H19/miR-675-5p/3p and lower expression of the anabolic SMAD1/5 effectors of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signalling are associated with low muscle mass in older individuals

Reliably predicting pollinator abundance: challenges of calibrating process-based ecological models

1. Pollination is a key ecosystem service for global agriculture but evidence of pollinator population declines is growing. Reliable spatial modelling of pollinator abundance is essential if we are to identify areas at risk of pollination service deficit and effectively target resources to support pollinator populations. Many models exist which predict pollinator abundance but few have been calibrated against observational data from multiple habitats to ensure their predictions are accurate. 2. We selected the most advanced process-based pollinator abundance model available and calibrated it for bumblebees and solitary bees using survey data collected at 239 sites across Great Britain. We compared three versions of the model: one parameterised using estimates based on expert opinion, one where the parameters are calibrated using a purely data-driven approach and one where we allow the expert opinion estimates to inform the calibration process. 3. All three model versions showed significant agreement with the survey data, demonstrating this model's potential to reliably map pollinator abundance. However, there were significant differences between the nesting/floral attractiveness scores obtained by the two calibration methods and from the original expert opinion scores. 4. Our results highlight a key universal challenge of calibrating spatially-explicit, process-based ecological models. Notably, the desire to reliably represent complex ecological processes in finely mapped landscapes necessarily generates a large number of parameters, which are challenging to calibrate with ecological and geographical data that is often noisy, biased, asynchronous and sometimes inaccurate. Purely data-driven calibration can therefore result in unrealistic parameter values, despite appearing to improve model-data agreement over initial expert opinion estimates. We therefore advocate a combined approach where data-driven calibration and expert opinion are integrated into an iterative Delphi-like process, which simultaneously combines model calibration and credibility assessment. This may provide the best opportunity to obtain realistic parameter estimates and reliable model predictions for ecological systems with expert knowledge gaps and patchy ecological data

Association between perinatal methylation of the neuronal differentiation regulator HES1 and later childhood neurocognitive function and behaviour

Background: Early life environments induce long-term changes in neurocognitive development and behaviour. In animal models, early environmental cues affect neuropsychological phenotypes via epigenetic processes but as yet there is little direct evidence for such mechanisms in humans. Method: We examined the relation between DNA methylation at birth and child neuropsychological outcomes in two culturally diverse populations using a genome-wide methylation analysis and validation by pyrosequencing. Results: Within the UK Southampton Women’s Survey (SWS) we first which identified 41 differentially methylated regions of interest (DMROI) at birth associated with child’s full-scale IQ at age 4-years. Associations between HES1 DMROI methylation and later cognitive function were confirmed by pyrosequencing in 175 SWS children. Consistent with these findings, higher HES1 methylation was associated with higher executive memory function in a second independent group of 200 SWS seven-year olds. Finally, we examined a pathway for this relationship within a Singaporean cohort (n=108). Here, HES1 DMROI methylation predicted differences in early infant behavior, known to be associated with academic success. In vitro, methylation of HES1 inhibited ETS transcription factor binding, suggesting a functional role of this site. Conclusions: Thus, our findings suggest that perinatal epigenetic processes mark later neuro-cognitive function and behavior, providing support for a role of epigenetic processes in mediating the long-term consequences of early life environment on cognitive development. <br/

Leptin and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha: understanding their contribution towards normalising the programmed phenotype in the peripheral tissues of IUGR offspring

In a rat model of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) induced by maternal global undernutrition, adult offspring are obese with associated metabolic disturbances. These metabolic abnormalities are all augmented by feeding a high calorie postnatal diet and reversed by neonatal leptin treatment. Evidence is now accumulating which indicates that altered epigenetic regulation and gene expression may underpin the relationship between the early life environment and metabolic disturbances in adult life. Therefore, to determine the mechanism responsible for the alterations in energy balance in the IUGR rat, this study investigated the effect of maternal diet, neonatal leptin treatment and a postnatal high fat diet on the expression and DNA methylation of genes involved in energy balance in the liver and adipose tissue of adult offspring. These genes included the peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) and their target genes; acyl-coA oxidase (AOX), carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT-1) and lipoprotein lipase (LPL).Real time PCR indicated that the expression of several key genes involved in energy balance, including PPAR?, PPAR? and their target genes, was not altered by maternal diet or postnatal diet in the liver or adipose tissue of these offspring. However, in adipose tissue, neonatal leptin treatment resulted in an increase in the expression of most genes tested, including PPAR?, PPAR? and their target genes. The increased PPAR? and LPL would facilitate the uptake of fatty acids into the adipocyte, whilst the upregulation of PPAR? and its target genes AOX and CPT-1, not normally expressed in adipocytes, would direct fatty acids taken up towards the ?-oxidation pathway instead of storage. This would imply that the fat cell had transformed from a fat storing cell to a fat metabolising cell. Gene expression data therefore indicated that the phenotypic changes induced by neonatal leptin treatment, i.e. the reduced weight gain, could be due to increased expression of PPAR?, PPAR? and their target genes in adipose tissue: Furthermore, the effects of this are persistent, due to the specific period of leptin administration during neonatal development. There was, however, no evidence of altered DNA methylation in the promoter regions measured which could account for these persistent effects.To investigate mechanisms underlying the regulation of the PPAR? promoter by leptin, the rat PPAR? promoter was mapped, cloned and characterised. As part of this process, six alternatively spliced variants were identified; one from adipose tissue (P1), two from the liver (P2, P3), one from the heart (P4) and two from the kidney (P5, P6). These transcripts were found to differ in their 5’untranslated region due to tissue specific promoter usage and alternative transcription start sites. The liver and adipose specific promoters were cloned and characterised using a reporter gene strategy. They were shown to differ in their basal activity, response to known activators of transcription and to neonatal leptin treatment. The regulation of the PPAR? promoter by leptin was investigated and shown to function via a non-canonical mechanism requiring both signal transducer and activators of transcription (Stat3) and specificity protein-1 (Sp1), which act at a unique region of the liver specific P2 promoter. The adipose specific P1 promoter was shown to be unresponsive to leptin treatment. Furthermore, real time PCR with primers specific to the P1 and P2 PPAR? transcripts indicated that the increased PPAR? expression seen in leptin treated offspring was due to an increase in the P2 specific transcript, not the P1 transcript. This indicated that the neonatal leptin treatment facilitated a selective switch in promoter usage to increase the expression of PPAR? and its target genes in a tissue in which they are not normally expressed, thus inducing an altered metabolism within the adipocytes of these offspring