Tobacco marketing awareness on youth smoking susceptibility and perceived prevalence before and after an advertising ban

Background: The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act (TAPA) was implemented in the UK in 2003, although its impact on young people has not been assessed. This study assessed smoking susceptibility (intention to smoke among never smokers) and perceived prevalence across three British cross-sectional samples (aged 11 to 16) before and after the introduction of the ban. Methods: Three in-home surveys (n = 1078, 1121 and 1121) were conducted before (1999 and 2002) and after (2004) the implementation of the TAPA. Results: Significant declines in awareness of tobacco marketing and perceived prevalence occurred across the three waves. Higher levels of awareness and perceived prevalence were associated with increased susceptibility, but direct measures of susceptibility remained stable. Conclusions: The TAPA is successfully protecting young people in the UK from tobacco marketing and reducing perceived prevalence, both of which are linked to susceptibility. The stability of susceptibility across the three waves is probably best explained by both the partial implementation of TAPA at the final survey point and the time such effects take to emerge. The evidence from this and previous studies is, however, that, ultimately, they will appear

Effect of counseling by paraprofessionals on depression, anxiety, somatization, and functioning in Indonesian torture survivors

The Indonesian population has faced political violence, victimization, and torture throughout the last 70 years. Due to the scarcity of mental health professionals in many low and middle-income countries, counseling programs are increasingly utilizing paraprofessionals to provide support to the affected population as a strategy of task shifting. In this article, we would like to examine the effectiveness of counseling services provided by such trained paraprofessionals. This study was part of program evaluation to determine whether the participants (torture survivors) improved after counseling services provided by trained paraprofessionals in Indonesia. Local communities were invited to join the psychosocial program created and implemented by an NGO in 2005. The 178 participants were recruited from Jakarta, Papua, and Aceh, Indonesia for the program, which aimed to help survivors of violence suffering from “heavy hearts.” The intervention lasted three months, and the follow-up intake was conducted after four months. The results indicated the participants’ anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, somatic symptoms, and functioning improved from the intake to the follow-up. The program appeared to have been effective in reducing the participants’ symptoms and impairment in functioning. This indicates that in countries where there is a scarcity of mental health professionals, working with paraprofessionals has the potential to help survivors of torture and violence

Design of a complex virtual reality simulation to train finger motion for persons with hemiparesis: a proof of concept study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Current neuroscience has identified rehabilitation approaches with the potential to stimulate adaptive changes in the brains of persons with hemiparesis. These approaches include, intensive task-oriented training, bimanual activities and balancing proximal and distal upper extremity interventions to reduce competition between these segments for neural territory.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper describes the design and feasibility testing of a robotic/virtual environment system designed to train the hand and arm of persons with hemiparesis. The system employs a simulated piano that presents visual, auditory and tactile feedback comparable to an actual piano. Arm tracking allows patients to train both the arm and hand as a coordinated unit, emphasizing the integration of both transport and manipulation phases. The piano trainer includes songs and scales that can be performed with one or both hands. Adaptable haptic assistance is available for more involved subjects. An algorithm adjusts task difficulty in proportion to subject performance. A proof of concept study was performed on four subjects with upper extremity hemiparesis secondary to chronic stroke to establish: a) the safety and feasibility of this system and b) the concurrent validity of robotically measured kinematic and performance measures to behavioral measures of upper extremity function.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>None of the subjects experienced adverse events or responses during or after training. As a group, the subjects improved in both performance time and key press accuracy. Three of the four subjects demonstrated improvements in fractionation, the ability to move each finger individually. Two subjects improved their aggregate time on the Jebsen Test of Hand Function and three of the four subjects improved in Wolf Motor Function Test aggregate time.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The system designed in this paper has proven to be safe and feasible for the training of hand function for persons with hemiparesis. It features a flexible design that allows for the use and further study of adjustments in point of view, bilateral and unimanual treatment modes, adaptive training algorithms and haptically rendered collisions in the context of rehabilitation of the hemiparetic hand.</p

Tobacco policy influence on denormalisation of smoking

The social norms concept provides a fresh basis for thinking about how public health policies and campaigns impact health behaviour. Social norms offer much promise to the field of public health, nonetheless, the potential role of norms in changing health behaviour have not been fully embraced. This thesis demonstrates that one of the mechanisms by which national level policies (e.g. tobacco control) can promote health behaviour change, such as an increase in quit intentions, is by making smoking less normative and an undesirable behaviour. This study is vital as it provides a broad conceptualization of tobacco denormalisation and shows how its reasoning is able to influence normative beliefs and smoking behaviour. A review of literature was carried out to establish the generic origins of denormalisation as well as demonstrate that this approach (i.e. social norms) has been widely adopted in schools and college settings to influence health behaviour. As a broader perspective of this thinking was imperative to address public health issues at a societal level, tobacco control was employed to investigate how individual polices influence behaviour and normative beliefs. The research methodology used was pluralistic in nature, given that the majority of past tobacco control policy studies employed either quantitative or qualitative methods. Thus adopting both methods a richer amount of data would be obtained in order to generate an improved understanding of how public policy affects norms and smoking behaviour. To empirically examine the relationship between public policy, social norms and smoking behaviour a broad conceptualization was developed to investigate the normative pathways between national level tobacco policy effects on youth and adults’ smoking behaviour. Quantitative results from the longitudinal study, the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Scotland/UK survey, indicate that a comprehensive smoke-free law that covers, without exception, an entire nation (i.e. Scotland) has increased adult smokers’ perceived social unacceptability of smoking, to some extent higher in Scotland than rest of the UK which, in turn, is associated with quit intentions at follow-up, in both countries. The examination of data from the UK Youth Tobacco Policy Study (YTPS) also demonstrated that the influence of tobacco marketing awareness on adolescents’ smoking intentions is mediated by perceived norms. Prior to the enactment of the UK Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act (TAPA), higher levels of awareness of tobacco advertising and promotion were independently associated with higher levels of perceived sibling approval which, in turn, were positively related to smoking intentions. Independent paths from perceived smoking prevalence and benefits fully mediated the effects of advertising and promotion awareness on intentions, during and after the enactment of the TAPA. Results from the qualitative study generally supported the quantitative findings and provided new insights into how adolescents’ normative beliefs and smoking behaviour are influenced by tobacco control policies. The qualitative group discussion suggests that smoke-free legislation and anti-smoking ads influence perceptions of prevalence, acceptability and smoking behaviour. A number of theoretical implications were presented, including the belief that social norms campaigns and interventions must be focal and salient in individuals’ consciousness so as to effect the desired behaviour change. A theoretical framework of the various normative mechanisms should consequently be integrated into tobacco control policies and norm-based interventions to work in a synergistic manner to influence health-related behaviour. Practical implications of this conceptualization include the view that, instead of public health interventions focusing on conventional approaches (for example, scare tactics), an appropriate strategy would be to incorporate specific information that corrects normative misperceptions and ambiguities among referent populations at individual and societal levels, with consequential normative and health behaviour change. It is recommended that future research employing tobacco industry perceptions and possibly a descriptive norm as additional normative mediators, aside from unacceptability, would be of value to examine whether smoke-free legislation influences quitting partly via changing favourable tobacco industry perceptions, social acceptability of smoking and perceived prevalence of smoking. To sum up, the findings demonstrate that societal level policy measures such as smoke-free legislation and the TAPA are critical elements of a comprehensive tobacco control program that can significantly influence adult smokers’ quit intentions and reduce adolescents’ smoking intentions respectively, by signifying smoking to be less normative and to be socially unacceptable.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceCancer Research UKGBUnited Kingdo

Leigh syndrome is the main clinical characteristic of PTCD3 deficiency

Mitochondrial translation defects are a continuously growing group of disorders showing a large variety of clinical symptoms including a wide range of neurological abnormalities. To date, mutations in PTCD3, encoding a component of the mitochondrial ribosome, have only been reported in a single individual with clinical evidence of Leigh syndrome. Here, we describe three additional PTCD3 individuals from two unrelated families, broadening the genetic and phenotypic spectrum of this disorder, and provide definitive evidence that PTCD3 deficiency is associated with Leigh syndrome. The patients presented in the first months of life with psychomotor delay, respiratory insufficiency and feeding difficulties. The neurologic phenotype included dystonia, optic atrophy, nystagmus and tonic-clonic seizures. Brain MRI showed optic nerve atrophy and thalamic changes, consistent with Leigh syndrome. WES and RNA-seq identified compound heterozygous variants in PTCD3 in both families: c.[1453-1G>C];[1918C>G] and c.[710del];[902C>T]. The functional consequences of the identified variants were determined by a comprehensive characterization of the mitochondrial function. PTCD3 protein levels were significantly reduced in patient fibroblasts and, consistent with a mitochondrial translation defect, a severe reduction in the steady state levels of complexes I and IV subunits was detected. Accordingly, the activity of these complexes was also low, and high-resolution respirometry showed a significant decrease in the mitochondrial respiratory capacity. Functional complementation studies demonstrated the pathogenic effect of the identified variants since the expression of wild-type PTCD3 in immortalized fibroblasts restored the steady-state levels of complexes I and IV subunits as well as the mitochondrial respiratory capacity. Additionally, minigene assays demonstrated that three of the identified variants were pathogenic by altering PTCD3 mRNA processing. The fourth variant was a frameshift leading to a truncated protein. In summary, we provide evidence of PTCD3 involvement in human disease confirming that PTCD3 deficiency is definitively associated with Leigh syndrome.© 2022 The Authors. Brain Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Neuropathology

Neuronal Generator Patterns At Scalp Elicited By Lateralized Aversive Pictures Reveal Consecutive Stages Of Motivated Attention

Event-related potential (ERP) studies have provided evidence for an allocation of attentional resources to enhance perceptual processing of motivationally salient stimuli. Emotional modulation affects several consecutive components associated with stages of affective-cognitive processing, beginning as early as 100–200 ms after stimulus onset. In agreement with the notion that the right parietotemporal region is critically involved during the perception of arousing affective stimuli, some ERP studies have reported asymmetric emotional ERP effects. However, it is difficult to separate emotional from non-emotional effects because differences in stimulus content unrelated to affective salience or task demands may also be associated with lateralized function or promote cognitive processing. Other concerns pertain to the operational definition and statistical independence of ERP component measures, their dependence on an EEG reference, and spatial smearing due to volume conduction, all of which impede the identification of distinct scalp activation patterns associated with affective processing. Building on prior research using a visual half-field paradigm with highly controlled emotional stimuli (pictures of cosmetic surgery patients showing disordered [negative] or healed [neutral] facial areas before or after treatment), 72channel ERPs recorded from 152 individuals (ages 13–68 years; 81 female) were transformed into reference-free current source density (CSD) waveforms and submitted to temporal principal components analysis (PCA) to identify their underlying neuronal generator patterns. Using both nonparametric randomization tests and repeated measures ANOVA, robust effects of emotional content were found over parietooccipital regions for CSD factors corresponding to N2 sink (212 ms peak latency), P3 source (385 ms) and a late centroparietal source (630 ms), all indicative of greater positivity for negative than neutral stimuli. For the N2 sink, emotional effects were right-lateralized and modulated by hemifield, with larger amplitude and asymmetry for left hemifield (right hemisphere) presentations. For all three factors, more positive amplitudes at parietooccipital sites were associated with increased ratings of negative valence and greater arousal. Distributed inverse solutions of the CSDPCA-based emotional effects implicated a sequence of maximal activations in right occipitotemporal cortex, bilateral posterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral inferior temporal cortex. These findings are consistent with hierarchical activations of the ventral visual pathway reflecting subsequent processing stages in response to motivationally salient stimuli

Motivated Attention And Family Risk For Depression: Neuronal Generator Patterns At Scalp Elicited By Lateralized Aversive Pictures Reveal Blunted Emotional Responsivity

Behavioral and electrophysiologic evidence suggests that major depression (MDD) involves right parietotemporal dysfunction, a region activated by arousing affective stimuli. Building on prior event-related potential (ERP) findings (Kayser et al. 2016 NeuroImage 142:337–350), this study examined whether these abnormalities also characterize individuals at clinical high risk for MDD. We systematically explored the impact of family risk status and personal history of depression and anxiety on three distinct stages of emotional processing comprising the late positive potential (LPP). ERPs (72 channels) were recorded from 74 high and 53 low risk individuals (age 13–59 years, 58 male) during a visual half-field paradigm using highly-controlled pictures of cosmetic surgery patients showing disordered (negative) or healed (neutral) facial areas before or after treatment. Reference-free current source density (CSD) transformations of ERP waveforms were quantified by temporal principal components analysis (tPCA). Component scores of prominent CSD-tPCA factors sensitive to emotional content were analyzed via permutation tests and repeated measures ANOVA for mixed factorial designs with unstructured covariance matrix, including gender, age and clinical covariates. Factor-based distributed inverse solutions provided descriptive estimates of emotional brain activations at group level corresponding to hierarchical activations along ventral visual processing stream. Risk status affected emotional responsivity (increased positivity to negative-than-neutral stimuli) overlapping early N2 sink (peak latency 212 ms), P3 source (385 ms), and a late centroparietal source (630 ms). High risk individuals had reduced right-greater-thanleft emotional lateralization involving occipitotemporal cortex (N2 sink) and bilaterally reduced emotional effects involving posterior cingulate (P3 source) and inferior temporal cortex (630 ms) when compared to those at low risk. While the early emotional effects were enhanced for left hemifield (right hemisphere) presentations, hemifield modulations did not differ between risk groups, suggesting top-down rather than bottom-up effects of risk. Groups did not differ in their stimulus valence or arousal ratings. Similar effects were seen for individuals with a lifetime history of depression or anxiety disorder in comparison to those without. However, there was no evidence that risk status and history of MDD or anxiety disorder interacted in their impact on emotional responsivity, suggesting largely independent attenuation of attentional resource allocation to enhance perceptual processing of motivationally salient stimuli. These findings further suggest that a deficit in motivated attention preceding conscious awareness may be a marker of risk for depression

PLXNA4 is associated with Alzheimer disease and modulates tau phosphorylation

OBJECTIVE: Much of the genetic basis for Alzheimer disease (AD) is unexplained. We sought to identify novel AD loci using a unique family-based approach that can detect robust associations with infrequent variants (minor allele frequency < 0.10). METHODS: We conducted a genome-wide association study in the Framingham Heart Study (discovery) and NIA-LOAD (National Institute on Aging-Late-Onset Alzheimer Disease) Study (replication) family-based cohorts using an approach that accounts for family structure and calculates a risk score for AD as the outcome. Links between the most promising gene candidate and AD pathogenesis were explored in silico as well as experimentally in cell-based models and in human brain. RESULTS: Genome-wide significant association was identified with a PLXNA4 single nucleotide polymorphism (rs277470) located in a region encoding the semaphorin-3A (SEMA3A) binding domain (meta-analysis p value [meta-P] = 4.1 × 10(-8) ). A test for association with the entire region was also significant (meta-P = 3.2 × 10(-4) ). Transfection of SH-SY5Y cells or primary rat neurons with full-length PLXNA4 (TS1) increased tau phosphorylation with stimulated by SEMA3A. The opposite effect was observed when cells were transfected with shorter isoforms (TS2 and TS3). However, transfection of any isoform into HEK293 cells stably expressing amyloid β (Aβ) precursor protein (APP) did not result in differential effects on APP processing or Aβ production. Late stage AD cases (n = 9) compared to controls (n = 5) had 1.9-fold increased expression of TS1 in cortical brain tissue (p = 1.6 × 10(-4) ). Expression of TS1 was significantly correlated with the Clinical Dementia Rating score (ρ = 0.75, p = 2.2 × 10(-4) ), plaque density (ρ = 0.56, p = 0.01), and Braak stage (ρ = 0.54, p = 0.02). INTERPRETATION: Our results indicate that PLXNA4 has a role in AD pathogenesis through isoform-specific effects on tau phosphorylation

Demonstrating test‐retest reliability of electrophysiological measures for healthy adults in a multisite study of biomarkers of antidepressant treatment response

Growing evidence suggests that loudness dependency of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP) and resting EEG alpha and theta may be biological markers for predicting response to antidepressants. In spite of this promise, little is known about the joint reliability of these markers, and thus their clinical applicability. New standardized procedures were developed to improve the compatibility of data acquired with different EEG platforms, and used to examine test‐retest reliability for the three electrophysiological measures selected for a multisite project—Establishing Moderators and Biosignatures of Antidepressant Response for Clinical Care (EMBARC). Thirty‐nine healthy controls across four clinical research sites were tested in two sessions separated by about 1 week. Resting EEG (eyes‐open and eyes‐closed conditions) was recorded and LDAEP measured using binaural tones (1000 Hz, 40 ms) at five intensities (60–100 dB SPL). Principal components analysis of current source density waveforms reduced volume conduction and provided reference‐free measures of resting EEG alpha and N1 dipole activity to tones from auditory cortex. Low‐resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) extracted resting theta current density measures corresponding to rostral anterior cingulate (rACC), which has been implicated in treatment response. There were no significant differences in posterior alpha, N1 dipole, or rACC theta across sessions. Test‐retest reliability was .84 for alpha, .87 for N1 dipole, and .70 for theta rACC current density. The demonstration of good‐to‐excellent reliability for these measures provides a template for future EEG/ERP studies from multiple testing sites, and an important step for evaluating them as biomarkers for predicting treatment response.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135271/1/psyp12758_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135271/2/psyp12758.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135271/3/psyp12758-sup-0001-suppinfo1.pd