Characteristics and service needs of women and babies admitted to residential parenting units in New South Wales: A mixed-methods study

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aims and objectives: To examine the characteristics and service needs of women and babies admitted to residential parenting services (RPS) in the first year following birth in New South Wales, Australia. Background: In Australia, there is a tiered system to support maternal, child and family health, which includes RPS. Design: Sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. Methods: Individual patient data were obtained from a random review of 10% of all medical records (n = 300 of 3,011 admissions) of women with an infant of <12 months of age who were admitted to RPS in 2013. Following review of the medical records, qualitative data were collected via interviews with eight women who accessed RPS. Chi-square analysis and Student's t test were used to analyse quantitative data. Qualitative data were analysed using a descriptive interpretive approach. An integrative approach was taken in reporting the findings. Results: Women admitted to the RPS were on average 32 years of age, were Australian born (72%) and had a university qualification (40%), and most were employed. The majority of women were primiparous (60%) and had a vaginal birth (61%). Women with male infants were much more likely to be admitted to the RPS (58%) compared to the NSW male-to-female ratio (51.3% vs. 48.7%). Over 50% of women reported mental health issues with 27% having an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale score ≥13 on admission. The primary reason women sought parenting support was for sleep and settling (83%). During their stay, services used by women included social workers (44%), psychologists (52%) and psychiatrists (4.5%). Conclusion: Women who access RPS report psychosocial and mental health issues. Services provided by RPS support women during this challenging early parenting period by providing multidisciplinary, holistic and peer support. Relevance to clinical practice: A high prevalence of mental health issues identified in this study indicated a need for ongoing training and support for RPS staff. Ensuring clinicians have the appropriate skill sets to best support their clientele will maximise the outcomes for women and families who access RPS during the early parenting period

Cell_motility: a cross-platform, open source application for the study of cell motion paths

BACKGROUND: Migration is an important aspect of cellular behaviour and is therefore widely studied in cell biology. Numerous components are known to participate in this process in a highly dynamic manner. In order to obtain a better insight in cell migration, mutants or drugs are used and their motive phenotype is then linked with the disturbing factors. One of the typical approaches to study motion paths of individual cells relies on fitting mean square displacements to a persistent random walk function. Since the numerous calculations involved often rely on diverse commercial software packages, the analysis can be expensive, labour-intensive and error-prone work. Additionally, due to the nature of algorithms employed the calculations involved are not readily reproducible without access to the exact software package(s) used. RESULTS: We here present the cell_motility software, an open source Java application under the GNU-GPL license that provides a clear and concise analysis workbench for large amounts of cell motion data. Apart from performing the necessary calculations, the software also visualizes the original motion paths as well as the results of the calculations to help the user interpret the data. The application features an intuitive graphical user interface as well as full user and developer documentation and both source and binary files can be freely downloaded from the project website at . CONCLUSION: In providing a free, open source software solution for the automated processing of cell motion data, we aim to achieve two important goals: labs can greatly simplify their data analysis pipeline as switching between different computational software packages becomes obsolete (thus reducing the chances for human error during data manipulation and transfer) and secondly, to provide scientists in the field with a freely available common platform to perform their analyses, enabling more efficient data quality control through peer reviewing

Modeling visual-based pitch, lift and speed control strategies in hoverflies

<div><p>To avoid crashing onto the floor, a free falling fly needs to trigger its wingbeats quickly and control the orientation of its thrust accurately and swiftly to stabilize its pitch and hence its speed. Behavioural data have suggested that the vertical optic flow produced by the fall and crossing the visual field plays a key role in this anti-crash response. Free fall behavior analyses have also suggested that flying insect may not rely on graviception to stabilize their flight. Based on these two assumptions, we have developed a model which accounts for hoverflies´ position and pitch orientation recorded in 3D with a fast stereo camera during experimental free falls. Our dynamic model shows that optic flow-based control combined with closed-loop control of the pitch suffice to stabilize the flight properly. In addition, our model sheds a new light on the visual-based feedback control of fly´s pitch, lift and thrust. Since graviceptive cues are possibly not used by flying insects, the use of a vertical reference to control the pitch is discussed, based on the results obtained on a complete dynamic model of a virtual fly falling in a textured corridor. This model would provide a useful tool for understanding more clearly how insects may or not estimate their absolute attitude.</p></div

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Functional Redundancy of Two Pax-Like Proteins in Transcriptional Activation of Cyst Wall Protein Genes in Giardia lamblia

The protozoan Giardia lamblia differentiates from a pathogenic trophozoite into an infectious cyst to survive outside of the host. During encystation, genes encoding cyst wall proteins (CWPs) are coordinately induced. Pax family transcription factors are involved in a variety of developmental processes in animals. Nine Pax proteins have been found to play an important role in tissue and organ development in humans. To understand the progression from primitive to more complex eukaryotic cells, we tried to identify putative pax genes in the G. lamblia genome and found two genes, pax1 and pax2, with limited similarity. We found that Pax1 may transactivate the encystation-induced cwp genes and interact with AT-rich initiatior elements that are essential for promoter activity and transcription start site selection. In this study, we further characterized Pax2 and found that, like Pax1, Pax2 was present in Giardia nuclei and it may specifically bind to the AT-rich initiator elements of the encystation-induced cwp1-3 and myb2 genes. Interestingly, overexpression of Pax2 increased the cwp1-3 and myb2 gene expression and cyst formation. Deletion of the C-terminal paired domain or mutation of the basic amino acids of the paired domain resulted in a decrease of nuclear localization, DNA-binding activity, and transactivation activity of Pax2. These results are similar to those found in the previous Pax1 study. In addition, the profiles of gene expression in the Pax2 and Pax1 overexpressing cells significantly overlap in the same direction and ERK1 associated complexes may phosphorylate Pax2 and Pax1, suggesting that Pax2 and Pax1 may be downstream components of a MAPK/ERK1 signaling pathway. Our results reveal functional redundancy between Pax2 and Pax1 in up-regulation of the key encystation-induced genes. These results illustrate functional redundancy of a gene family can occur in order to increase maintenance of important gene function in the protozoan organism G. lamblia

Bonsai Trees in Your Head: How the Pavlovian System Sculpts Goal-Directed Choices by Pruning Decision Trees

When planning a series of actions, it is usually infeasible to consider all potential future sequences; instead, one must prune the decision tree. Provably optimal pruning is, however, still computationally ruinous and the specific approximations humans employ remain unknown. We designed a new sequential reinforcement-based task and showed that human subjects adopted a simple pruning strategy: during mental evaluation of a sequence of choices, they curtailed any further evaluation of a sequence as soon as they encountered a large loss. This pruning strategy was Pavlovian: it was reflexively evoked by large losses and persisted even when overwhelmingly counterproductive. It was also evident above and beyond loss aversion. We found that the tendency towards Pavlovian pruning was selectively predicted by the degree to which subjects exhibited sub-clinical mood disturbance, in accordance with theories that ascribe Pavlovian behavioural inhibition, via serotonin, a role in mood disorders. We conclude that Pavlovian behavioural inhibition shapes highly flexible, goal-directed choices in a manner that may be important for theories of decision-making in mood disorders

Linking Self-Incompatibility, Dichogamy, and Flowering Synchrony in Two Euphorbia Species: Alternative Mechanisms for Avoiding Self-Fertilization?

Background: Plant species have several mechanisms to avoid selfing such as dichogamy or a self-incompatibility response. Dichogamy in a single flower may reduce autogamy but, to avoid geitonogamy, plants must show flowering synchronization among all their flowers (i.e. synchronous dichogamy). It is hypothesized that one species would not simultaneously show synchronous dichogamy and self-incompatibility because they are redundant mechanisms to reduce selfing; however, this has not been accurately assessed. Methodology/Principal Findings: This expectation was tested over two years in two natural populations of the closely related Mediterranean spurges Euphorbia boetica and E. nicaeensis, which completely avoid autogamy by protogyny at the cyathia level. Both spurges showed a high population synchrony (Z,79), and their inflorescences flower synchronously. In E. nicaeensis, there was no overlap among the cyathia in anthesis of successive inflorescence levels and the overlap between sexual phases of cyathia of the same inflorescence level was uncommon (4–16%). In contrast, E. boetica showed a high overlap among consecutive inflorescence levels (74–93%) and between sexual phases of cyathia of the same inflorescence level (48–80%). The flowering pattern of both spurges was consistent in the two populations and over the two successive years. A hand-pollination experiment demonstrated that E. nicaeensis was strictly self-compatible whereas E. boetica was partially self-incompatible. Conclusions/Significance: We propose that the complex pattern of synchronized protogyny in E. nicaeensis prevents geitonogamous crosses and, consequently, avoids selfing and inbreeding depression. In E. boetica, a high probability of geitonogamous crosses may occur but, alternatively, this plant escapes selfing through a self-incompatibility response. We posit that synchronous dichogamy and physiological self-incompatibility do not co-occur in the same species because each process is sufficiently effective in avoiding self-fertilization.España Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología PLO CGL2005-03731; CGL2008-02533-EEspaña Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología MA CGL2009-0825