Utilizing ACT Daily as a Self-Guided Mobile App Intervention for Depression and Anxiety in a College Counseling Center

College counseling centers (CCCs) have experienced funding and staffing setbacks in recent years, resulting in higher caseloads, counselor burnout, and bloated waitlists. Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions may offer a cost-effective and innovative solution. The authors developed ACT Daily, a prototype mHealth app based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This study examined the feasibility and possible efficacy of ACT Daily as a brief intervention for individuals placed on CCC waitlists. A sample of 11 depressed/anxious clients waitlisted at a local CCC enrolled in the study, which followed a pre-post, open trial design. Participants received a brief online training that covered the basics of ACT and introduced the app’s functions and features. For the following 2 weeks, participants were asked to use ACT Daily every day. Results displayed high acceptability, usability, and satisfaction ratings across users. Significant improvements were observed on most ACT process measures, including overall psychological inflexibility. Findings from app usage and self-report measures supported ACT Daily’s ability to promote skill use in the moment. Analyses of in-app data indicated that ACT Daily’s skills were potentially effective in the moment and increased in strength over time. Furthermore, ACT Daily appeared to serve as a helpful pre-therapy tool due to significant reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as improvements in emotional self-awareness. Finally, the online training appeared to equip users with a sufficient comprehension of core ACT components and app training. While this pilot study suffered from a low sample size, this pattern of results encourages the application and dissemination of ACT mHealth apps as an added support for waitlisted CCC clients suffering from depression or anxiety. Moreover, it appears that ACT Daily may have enabled users to acquire, strengthen, and potentially generalize useful ACT skills. It is theorized that the app facilitated in-the-moment learning of skills that could then be applied directly to real-world contexts. Future research is advised to target larger, more diverse samples, implement a randomized controlled trial design, add objective behavioral and physiological measures, incorporate all six ACT processes, and integrate client feedback into future iterations of ACT Daily

Economics and Business handbook

2002 handbook for the faculty of Economics and Busines

Reforestación con arbustos para favorecer la conectividad ecológica en el Corredor Verde del Guadiamar

Se propone un diseño de restauración ecológica cuya función específica es fomentar la conectividad regional de un agrosistema (que ha sido contaminado con lodos mineros y posteriormente remediado) para múltiples especies de fauna forestal a través del Paisaje Protegido del Corredor Verde del Guadiamar, Sevilla. La propuesta se basa en el principio de aumentar la heterogeneidad espacial de la vegetación a varias escalas, tanto desde el punto de vista estructural como de diversidad de especies, para tratar de facilitar el aumento de especies animales que de ella dependen y la conectividad del conjunto. Para ello se ha diseñado un sistema de plantación de leñosas arbustivas en forma de parches discretos, distribuidos espacialmente en los herbazales regenerados espontáneamente en la zona inundable del río tras el episodio de contaminación y posterior recuperación de los suelos. Se plantean tres cuestiones para contrastar la capacidad real del modelo de reforestación para satisfacer los objetivos de conservación: 1) Comprobar si el diseño y ejecución de la plantación son adecuados para producir una vegetación estructurada, diversa y que ofrezca un hábitat de calidad para las especies de fauna forestal. 2) Comprobar si el aumento de la diversidad florística (en especies leñosas) se refleja en un aumento de la diversidad de especies animales. 3) Comprobar si el cambio en la cantidad y disposición espacial de la vegetación leñosa favorece la conectividad para las especies de fauna forestal. En este trabajo se presentan algunos resultados preliminares obtenidos a varias escalas: a) En una parcela piloto de 15 ha donde se han plantado 14.668 plantas de 16 especies autóctonas sobre la que se ha realizado un seguimiento de su supervivencia y crecimiento durante los tres primeros años. b) Estudios extensivos en zonas de diferente cobertura arbustiva (plantaciones de hace 7-9 años) a lo largo del Corredor Verde del Guadiamar y en fragmentos forestales vecinos. c) Resultados preliminares sobre el uso que están haciendo de estos parches algunas especies de mamíferos, así como de los movimientos de una especie de mariposa entre fragmentos

Reforestación con arbustos para favorecer la conectividad ecológica en el Corredor Verde del Guadiamar

Se propone un diseño de restauración ecológica cuya función específica es fomentar la conectividad regional de un agrosistema (que ha sido contaminado con lodos mineros y posteriormente remediado) para múltiples especies de fauna forestal a través del Paisaje Protegido del Corredor Verde del Guadiamar, Sevilla. La propuesta se basa en el principio de aumentar la heterogeneidad espacial de la vegetación a varias escalas, tanto desde el punto de vista estructural como de diversidad de especies, para tratar de facilitar el aumento de especies animales que de ella dependen y la conectividad del conjunto. Para ello se ha diseñado un sistema de plantación de leñosas arbustivas en forma de parches discretos, distribuidos espacialmente en los herbazales regenerados espontáneamente en la zona inundable del río tras el episodio de contaminación y posterior recuperación de los suelos. Se plantean tres cuestiones para contrastar la capacidad real del modelo de reforestación para satisfacer los objetivos de conservación: 1) Comprobar si el diseño y ejecución de la plantación son adecuados para producir una vegetación estructurada, diversa y que ofrezca un hábitat de calidad para las especies de fauna forestal. 2) Comprobar si el aumento de la diversidad florística (en especies leñosas) se refleja en un aumento de la diversidad de especies animales. 3) Comprobar si el cambio en la cantidad y disposición espacial de la vegetación leñosa favorece la conectividad para las especies de fauna forestal. En este trabajo se presentan algunos resultados preliminares obtenidos a varias escalas: a) En una parcela piloto de 15 ha donde se han plantado 14.668 plantas de 16 especies autóctonas sobre la que se ha realizado un seguimiento de su supervivencia y crecimiento durante los tres primeros años. b) Estudios extensivos en zonas de diferente cobertura arbustiva (plantaciones de hace 7-9 años) a lo largo del Corredor Verde del Guadiamar y en fragmentos forestales vecinos. c) Resultados preliminares sobre el uso que están haciendo de estos parches algunas especies de mamíferos, así como de los movimientos de una especie de mariposa entre fragmentos

Mobility enhancement among older adults 75 + in rural areas: Study protocol of the MOBILE randomized controlled trial

Background: Maintaining mobility in old age is crucial for healthy ageing including delaying the onset and progress of frailty. However, the extent of an individuals' mobility relies largely on their personal, social, and environmental resources as outlined in the Life-Space Constriction Model. Recent studies mainly focus on facilitating habitual out-of-home mobility by fostering one type of resources only. The MOBILE trial aims at testing whether tablet-assisted motivational counselling enhances the mobility of community-dwelling older adults by addressing personal, social, and environmental resources. Methods: In the MOBILE randomized controlled trial, we plan to enrol 254 community-dwelling older adults aged 75 and older from Havelland, a rural area in Germany. The intervention group will receive a tablet-assisted motivational counselling at the participant's home and two follow-up telephone sessions. Main focus of the counselling sessions lays on setting and adapting individual mobility goals and applying action planning and habit formation strategies by incorporating the personal social network and regional opportunities for engaging in mobility related activities. The control group will receive postal general health information. The primary mobility outcome is time out-of-home assessed by GPS (GPS.Rec2.0-App) at three points in time (baseline, after one month, and after three months for seven consecutive days each). Secondary outcomes are the size of the GPS-derived life-space convex hull, self-reported life-space mobility (LSA-D), physical activity (IPAQ), depressive symptoms (GDS), frailty phenotype, and health status (SF-12). Discussion: The MOBILE trial will test the effect of a motivational counselling intervention on out-of-home mobility in community-dwelling older adults. Novel aspects of the MOBILE trial include the preventive multi-level intervention approach in combination with easy-to-use technology. The ecological approach ensures low-threshold implementation, which increases the benefit for the people in the region

Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling Mediates Pulmonary Endothelial Glycocalyx Reconstitution

The endothelial glycocalyx is a heparan sulfate (HS)-rich endovascular structure critical to endothelial function. Accordingly, endothelial glycocalyx degradation during sepsis contributes to tissue edema and organ injury. We determined the endogenous mechanisms governing pulmonary endothelial glycocalyx reconstitution, and if these reparative mechanisms are impaired during sepsis. We performed intravital microscopy of wild-type and transgenic mice to determine the rapidity of pulmonary endothelial glycocalyx reconstitution after nonseptic (heparinase-III mediated) or septic (cecal ligation and puncture mediated) endothelial glycocalyx degradation. We used mass spectrometry, surface plasmon resonance, and in vitro studies of human and mouse samples to determine the structure of HS fragments released during glycocalyx degradation and their impact on fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) 1 signaling, a mediator of endothelial repair. Homeostatic pulmonary endothelial glycocalyx reconstitution occurred rapidly after nonseptic degradation and was associated with induction of the HS biosynthetic enzyme, exostosin (EXT)-1. In contrast, sepsis was characterized by loss of pulmonary EXT1 expression and delayed glycocalyx reconstitution. Rapid glycocalyx recovery after nonseptic degradation was dependent upon induction of FGFR1 expression and was augmented by FGF-promoting effects of circulating HS fragments released during glycocalyx degradation. Although sepsis-released HS fragments maintained this ability to activate FGFR1, sepsis was associated with the downstream absence of reparative pulmonary endothelial FGFR1 induction. Sepsis may cause vascular injury not only via glycocalyx degradation, but also by impairing FGFR1/EXT1-mediated glycocalyx reconstitution

Equivalence of plasma p-tau217 with cerebrospinal fluid in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

INTRODUCTION: Plasma biomarkers are promising tools for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis, but comparisons with more established biomarkers are needed. METHODS: We assessed the diagnostic performance of p-tau181, p-tau217, and p-tau231 in plasma and CSF in 174 individuals evaluated by dementia specialists and assessed with amyloid-PET and tau-PET. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses assessed the performance of plasma and CSF biomarkers to identify amyloid-PET and tau-PET positivity. RESULTS: Plasma p-tau biomarkers had lower dynamic ranges and effect sizes compared to CSF p-tau. Plasma p-tau181 (AUC = 76%) and p-tau231 (AUC = 82%) assessments performed inferior to CSF p-tau181 (AUC = 87%) and p-tau231 (AUC = 95%) for amyloid-PET positivity. However, plasma p-tau217 (AUC = 91%) had diagnostic performance indistinguishable from CSF (AUC = 94%) for amyloid-PET positivity. DISCUSSION: Plasma and CSF p-tau217 had equivalent diagnostic performance for biomarker-defined AD. Our results suggest that plasma p-tau217 may help reduce the need for invasive lumbar punctures without compromising accuracy in the identification of AD. Highlights: p-tau217 in plasma performed equivalent to p-tau217 in CSF for the diagnosis of AD, suggesting the increased accessibility of plasma p-tau217 is not offset by lower accuracy. p-tau biomarkers in plasma had lower mean fold-changes between amyloid-PET negative and positive groups than p-tau biomarkers in CSF. CSF p-tau biomarkers had greater effect sizes than plasma p-tau biomarkers when differentiating between amyloid-PET positive and negative groups. Plasma p-tau181 and plasma p-tau231 performed worse than p-tau181 and p-tau231 in CSF for AD diagnosis

Collective cancer invasion forms an integrin-dependent radioresistant niche

Contains fulltext : 219833.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Cancer fatalities result from metastatic dissemination and therapy resistance, both processes that depend on signals from the tumor microenvironment. To identify how invasion and resistance programs cooperate, we used intravital microscopy of orthotopic sarcoma and melanoma xenografts. We demonstrate that these tumors invade collectively and that, specifically, cells within the invasion zone acquire increased resistance to radiotherapy, rapidly normalize DNA damage, and preferentially survive. Using a candidate-based approach to identify effectors of invasion-associated resistance, we targeted beta1 and alphaVbeta3/beta5 integrins, essential extracellular matrix receptors in mesenchymal tumors, which mediate cancer progression and resistance. Combining radiotherapy with beta1 or alphaV integrin monotargeting in invading tumors led to relapse and metastasis in 40-60% of the cohort, in line with recently failed clinical trials individually targeting integrins. However, when combined, anti-beta1/alphaV integrin dual targeting achieved relapse-free radiosensitization and prevented metastatic escape. Collectively, invading cancer cells thus withstand radiotherapy and DNA damage by beta1/alphaVbeta3/beta5 integrin cross-talk, but efficient radiosensitization can be achieved by multiple integrin targeting

Nanoencapsulated capsaicin changes migration behavior and morphology of madin darby canine kidney cell monolayers

We have developed a drug delivery nanosystem based on chitosan and capsaicin. Both substances have a wide range of biological activities. We investigated the nanosystem’s influence on migration and morphology of Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK-C7) epithelial cells in comparison to the capsaicin-free nanoformulation, free capsaicin, and control cells. For minimally-invasive quantification of cell migration, we applied label-free digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and single-cell tracking. Moreover, quantitative DHM phase images were used as novel stain-free assay to quantify the temporal course of global cellular morphology changes in confluent cell layers. Cytoskeleton alterations and tight junction protein redistributions were complementary analyzed by fluorescence microscopy. Calcium influx measurements were conducted to characterize the influence of the nanoformulations and capsaicin on ion channel activities. We found that both, capsaicin-loaded and unloaded chitosan nanocapsules, and also free capsaicin, have a significant impact on directed cell migration and cellular motility. Increase of velocity and directionality of cell migration correlates with changes in the cell layer surface roughness, tight junction integrity and cytoskeleton alterations. Calcium influx into cells occurred only after nanoformulation treatment but not upon addition of free capsaicin. Our results pave the way for further studies on the biological significance of these findings and potential biomedical applications, e.g. as drug and gene carriers