Community led active schools programme (CLASP) exploring the implementation of health interventions in primary schools: headteachers’ perspectives

Background: Schools are repeatedly utilised as a key setting for health interventions. However, the translation of effective research findings to the school setting can be problematic. In order to improve effective translation of future interventions, it is imperative key challenges and facilitators of implementing health interventions be understood from a school's perspective. Methods: Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted in primary schools (headteachers n = 16, deputy headteacher n = 1, healthy school co-ordinator n = 2). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Results: The main challenges for schools in implementing health interventions were; government-led academic priorities, initiative overload, low autonomy for schools, lack of staff support, lack of facilities and resources, litigation risk and parental engagement. Recommendations to increase the application of interventions into the school setting included; better planning and organisation, greater collaboration with schools and external partners and elements addressing sustainability. Child-centred and cross-curricular approaches, inclusive whole school approaches and assurances to be supportive of the school ethos were also favoured for consideration. Conclusions: This work explores schools' perspectives regarding the implementation of health interventions and utilises these thoughts to create guidelines for developing future school-based interventions. Recommendations include the need to account for variability between school environments, staff and pupils. Interventions with an element of adaptability were preferred over the delivery of blanket fixed interventions. Involving schools in the developmental stage would add useful insights to ensure the interventions can be tailored to best suit each individual schools' needs and improve implementation.11 page(s

The impact of maternal separation on adult mouse behaviour and on the total neuron number in the mouse hippocampus

The maternal separation paradigm has been applied to C57BL/6J mice as an animal developmental model for understanding structural deficits leading to abnormal behaviour. A maternal separation (MS) model was used on postnatal day (PND) 9, where the pups were removed from their mother for 24 h (MS24). When the pups were 10 weeks old, the level of anxiety and fear was measured with two behavioural tests; an open field test and an elevated plus maze test. The Barnes platform maze was used to test spatial learning, and memory by using acquisition trials followed by reverse trial sessions. The MS24 mice spent more time in the open arms of the elevated plus maze compared to controls, but no other treatment differences were found in the emotional behavioural tests. However, in the reverse trial for the Barnes maze test there was a significant difference in the frequency of visits to the old goal, the number of errors made by the MS24 mice compared to controls and in total distance moved. The mice were subsequently sacrificed and the total number of neurons estimated in the hippocampus using the optical fractionator. We found a significant loss of neurons in the dentate gyrus in MS mice compared to controls. Apparently a single maternal separation can impact the number of neurons in mouse hippocampus either by a decrease of neurogenesis or as an increase in neuron apoptosis. This study is the first to assess the result of maternal separation combining behaviour and stereology

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Measuring Participation in People with Spondyloarthritis Using the Social Role Participation Questionnaire

Objectives: People with spondyloarthritis (SpA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) have identifi ed the importance of understanding how their disease and its treatment impacts on their social roles. This requires a reliable and valid standardised measure, and this study evaluates these measurement properties of the Social Role Participation Questionnaire (SRPQ). Methods: 109 participants (44 with AS, 65 with PsA) completed questionnaires on demographics, participation measures (SRPQ, Keele Assessment of Participation (KAP), Late Life Disability Instrument (LLDI)), disease severity (physician global) and activity (pain, fatigue, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index), psychological measures (depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), Illness Intrusiveness)) and function (Health Assessment Questionnaire, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index). After testing scaling properties, test-retest reliability of the SRPQ was evaluated using intraclass correlation coeffi cients (ICC) and hypotheses of construct validity were evaluated using correlation coeffi cients. Results: Patients with AS had a mean age of 40 years and 65% were male, whereas patients with PsA had a mean age of 53 years and 63% were male. Although there were some differences between AS and PsA participants in their social role participation, scaling properties were good for both groups. ICCs were >0.90 for the satisfaction subscales of the SRPQ. For construct validity, SRPQ satisfaction subscales were moderately correlated with the KAP and LLDI (0.64–0.78), and less satisfaction was associated with higher disease severity and activity, more depressive symptoms, more illness intrusiveness and more disability (coeffi cients −0.67 to −0.88). Conclusion: Social role participation is an important concept for people with SpA, and the SRPQ is a reliable and valid measure for use with people with AS and PsA.National Research Initiative from The Arthritis Society, Canada