Psychometric properties of the Mental Health Recovery Star.

BACKGROUND: The Mental Health Recovery Star (MHRS) is a popular outcome measure rated collaboratively by staff and service users, but its psychometric properties are unknown. AIMS: To assess the MHRS's acceptability, reliability and convergent validity. METHOD: A total of 172 services users and 120 staff from in-patient and community services participated. Interrater reliability of staff-only ratings and test-retest reliability of staff-only and collaborative ratings were assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Convergent validity between MHRS ratings and standardised measures of social functioning and recovery was assessed using Pearson correlation. The influence of collaboration on ratings was assessed using descriptive statistics and ICCs. RESULTS: The MHRS was relatively quick and easy to use and had good test-retest reliability, but interrater reliability was inadequate. Collaborative ratings were slightly higher than staff-only ratings. Convergent validity suggests it assesses social function more than recovery. CONCLUSIONS: The MHRS cannot be recommended as a routine clinical outcome tool but may facilitate collaborative care planning

Emerging Tools to Control Feral Horse Populations in the Western USA

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been conducting research to support the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Program since 1996 and is currently engaged in testing additional tools to curb high population growth of feral horses. Horses are protected by the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 and are managed to maintain populations at appropriate management level (AML). With no natural predators, many populations double in 4-5 years. Population size is controlled primarily with “gathers” in which horses are rounded up and made available for adoption by the public. This is a costly enterprise in which animals are housed in holding facilities while they await potential adoption and many horses are never adopted. Today ~48,000 horses remain in holding facilities across the USA, and facilities are now full. There are approximately 72,000 horses on public lands across the west, which is almost 3 times range wide AML. Horses have profound impacts on habitat and other wildlife, and the situation is becoming critical on western landscapes. With holding facilities at capacity, BLM is forced to leave excess animals on public lands, leading to rangeland degradation and impacts to sage grouse and other wildlife. Solutions are needed quickly to address exponential population growth of horses. USGS partnered with Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Colorado State University (CSU), respectively, to conduct studies testing the efficacy of intrauterine devices (IUD) for horses, and gelding a proportion of males in a population. The IUD study was conducted on 20 domestic mares that were housed with stallions at OSU. Fifteen mares retained IUDs for the 18-month duration of the trial before IUDs were removed. Mares who received progesterone at the time of IUD insertion retained their IUDs, and no mares with an IUD became pregnant. Next we will test IUDs in free-roaming mares. In the gelding study with CSU, there were no differences in individual behavior or movement rates between gelded and non-gelded harem stallions or bachelors after the first breeding season. Gelded harem stallions did not lose their mares at a higher rate than intact stallions, and mares joined gelded harem stallions as often as they joined intact stallions. Preliminary results indicate little if any change to social structure or individual behavior of stallions or mares compared to controls. We will determine after the summer 2019 birthing season if gelding males affects population growth rate. USGS proposed a field study to determine behavior and population growth reduction of sterilizing mares but the study was litigated and postponed. Modeling by USGS indicates sterilization is the most effective and promising tool to reduce herds to AML and would potentially save BLM \u3e$1 billion annually in direct operational costs. The environmental cost to habitat and other wildlife associated with keeping excess horses on the range, as well as direct economic costs, have not yet been calculated for comparison

Impaired contextual modulation of memories in PTSD: an fMRI and psychophysiological study of extinction retention and fear renewal

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients display pervasive fear memories, expressed indiscriminately. Proposed mechanisms include enhanced fear learning and impaired extinction or extinction recall. Documented extinction recall deficits and failure to use safety signals could result from general failure to use contextual information, a hippocampus-dependent process. This can be probed by adding a renewal phase to standard conditioning and extinction paradigms. Human subjects with PTSD and combat controls were conditioned (skin conductance response), extinguished, and tested for extinction retention and renewal in a scanner (fMRI). Fear conditioning (light paired with shock) occurred in one context, followed by extinction in another, to create danger and safety contexts. The next day, the extinguished conditioned stimulus (CS+E) was re-presented to assess extinction recall (safety context) and fear renewal (danger context). PTSD patients showed impaired extinction recall, with increased skin conductance and heightened amygdala activity to the extinguished CS+ in the safety context. However, they also showed impaired fear renewal; in the danger context, they had less skin conductance response to CS+E and lower activity in amygdala and ventral-medial prefrontal cortex compared with combat controls. Control subjects displayed appropriate contextual modulation of memory recall, with extinction (safety) memory prevailing in the safety context, and fear memory prevailing in the danger context. PTSD patients could not use safety context to sustain suppression of extinguished fear memory, but they also less effectively used danger context to enhance fear. They did not display globally enhanced fear expression, but rather showed a globally diminished capacity to use contextual information to modulate fear expression

Role of angiopoietin-like protein 3 in sugar-induced dyslipidemia in rhesus macaques: suppression by fish oil or RNAi.

Angiopoietin-like protein 3 (ANGPTL3) inhibits lipid clearance and is a promising target for managing cardiovascular disease. Here we investigated the effects of a high-sugar (high-fructose) diet on circulating ANGPTL3 concentrations in rhesus macaques. Plasma ANGPTL3 concentrations increased ∼30% to 40% after 1 and 3 months of a high-fructose diet (both P < 0.001 vs. baseline). During fructose-induced metabolic dysregulation, plasma ANGPTL3 concentrations were positively correlated with circulating indices of insulin resistance [assessed with fasting insulin and the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)], hypertriglyceridemia, adiposity (assessed as leptin), and systemic inflammation [C-reactive peptide (CRP)] and negatively correlated with plasma levels of the insulin-sensitizing hormone adropin. Multiple regression analyses identified a strong association between circulating APOC3 and ANGPTL3 concentrations. Higher baseline plasma levels of both ANGPTL3 and APOC3 were associated with an increased risk for fructose-induced insulin resistance. Fish oil previously shown to prevent insulin resistance and hypertriglyceridemia in this model prevented increases of ANGPTL3 without affecting systemic inflammation (increased plasma CRP and interleukin-6 concentrations). ANGPTL3 RNAi lowered plasma concentrations of ANGPTL3, triglycerides (TGs), VLDL-C, APOC3, and APOE. These decreases were consistent with a reduced risk of atherosclerosis. In summary, dietary sugar-induced increases of circulating ANGPTL3 concentrations after metabolic dysregulation correlated positively with leptin levels, HOMA-IR, and dyslipidemia. Targeting ANGPTL3 expression with RNAi inhibited dyslipidemia by lowering plasma TGs, VLDL-C, APOC3, and APOE levels in rhesus macaques

Mathematical modelling of tissue-engineering angiogenesis

We present a mathematical model for the vascularisation of a porous scaffold following implantation in vivo. The model is given as a set of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) which describe the evolution in time of the amounts of the different tissue constituents inside the scaffold. Bifurcation analyses reveal how the extent of scaffold vascularisation changes as a function of the parameter values. For example, it is shown how the loss of seeded cells arising from slow infiltration of vascular tissue can be overcome using a prevascularisation strategy consisting of seeding the scaffold with vascular cells. Using certain assumptions it is shown how the system can be simplified to one which is partially tractable and for which some analysis is given. Limited comparison is also given of the model solutions with experimental data from the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay

Munch and Move: evaluation of a preschool healthy eating and movement skill program

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early childhood services have been identified as a key setting for promoting healthy eating and physical activity as a means of preventing overweight and obesity. However, there is limited evidence on effective nutrition and physical activity programs in this setting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate <it>Munch and Move</it>, a low-intensity, state-wide, professional development program designed to support early childhood professionals to promote healthy eating and physical activity among children in their care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The evaluation involved 15 intervention and 14 control preschools (n = 430; mean age 4.4 years) in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and was based on a randomised-control design with pre and post evaluation of children's lunchbox contents, fundamental movement skills (FMS), preschool policies and practices and staff attitudes, knowledge and confidence related to physical activity, healthy eating and recreational screen time.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At follow up, FMS scores for locomotor, object control and total FMS score significantly improved by 3.4, 2.1 and 5.5 points more (respectively) in the intervention group compared with the control group (P < 0.001) and the number of FMS sessions per week increased by 1.5 (P = 0.05). The lunchbox audit showed that children in the intervention group significantly reduced sweetened drinks by 0.13 serves (i.e., 46 ml) (P = 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings suggest that a low intensity preschool healthy weight intervention program can improve certain weight related behaviours. The findings also suggest that change to food policies are difficult to initiate mid-year and potentially a longer implementation period may be required to determine the efficacy of food policies to influence the contents of preschoolers lunchboxes.</p

Does probiotic consumption reduce antibiotic utilization for common acute infections? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BackgroundOverall reduction of antibiotic use is a widely adopted public health goal. Given evidence that consuming probiotics reduce the incidence, duration and/or severity of certain types of common acute infections, we hypothesized that probiotics are associated with reduced antibiotic use. This systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessed the impact of probiotic supplementation (any strain, dose or duration), compared to placebo, on antibiotic utilization for common, acute infections in otherwise healthy people of all ages.MethodsWe searched 13 electronic databases including MEDLINE, Embase and CENTRAL from inception to 17th January 2017. Backward and forward citation searches were also conducted. Two reviewers independently selected studies for inclusion and extracted study data. We assessed risk of bias for individual studies using criteria adapted from the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, and the quality of evidence for each outcome was assessed using the GRADE system. Studies that evaluated similar outcomes were pooled statistically in meta-analyses using a random-effects model.ResultsWe screened 1533 citations, and of these, 17 RCTs met our predefined inclusion criteria. All 17 were conducted in infants and/or children with a primary aim of preventing acute respiratory tract infections, acute lower digestive tract infections or acute otitis media. Included studies used 13 probiotic formulations, all comprising single or combination Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium delivered in a range of food or supplement products. Mean duration of probiotic supplementation ranged from 4 days to 9 months. Trial quality was variable. Meta-analysis demonstrated that infants and children who received probiotics to prevent acute illnesses had a lower risk of being prescribed antibiotics, relative to those who received placebo (Pooled Relative Risk = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.54-0.94). When restricted to five studies with a low risk of bias, the pooled relative risk was 0.46 (95% CI: 0.23-0.97). Significant statistical heterogeneity was present in effect size estimates, which appeared to be due to one trial which could partly be considered as an outlier.ConclusionsProbiotics, provided to reduce the risk for common acute infections, may be associated with reduced antibiotic use in infants and children. Additional well-designed studies are needed to substantiate these findings in children and explore similar findings in other population groups

Conditional expression in corticothalamic efferents reveals a developmental role for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in modulation of passive avoidance behavior

Prenatal nicotine exposure has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and cognitive impairment, but the sites of action for these effects of nicotine are still under investigation. High-affinity nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) contain the .2 subunit and modulate passive avoidance (PA) learning in mice. Using an inducible, tetracycline-regulated transgenic system, we generated lines of mice with expression of high-affinity nicotinic receptors restored in specific neuronal populations. One line of mice shows functional .2 subunit-containing nAChRs localized exclusively in corticothalamic efferents. Functional, presynaptic nAChRs are present in the thalamus of these mice as detected by nicotine-elicited rubidium efflux assays from synaptosomes. Knock-out mice lacking high-affinity nAChRs show elevated baseline PA learning, whereas normal baseline PA behavior is restored in mice with corticothalamic expression of these nAChRs. In contrast, nicotine can enhance PA learning in adult wild-type animals but not in corticothalamic-expressing transgenic mice. When these transgenic mice are treated with doxycycline in adulthood to switch off nAChR expression, baseline PA is maintained even after transgene expression is abolished. These data suggest that high-affinity nAChRs expressed on corticothalamic neurons during development are critical for baseline PA performance and provide a potential neuroanatomical substrate for changes induced by prenatal nicotine exposure leading to long-term behavioral and cognitive deficits

Factors contributing to high performance of sows in free farrowing systems

BackgroundPressure to abolish farrowing crates is increasing, and producers are faced with decisions about which alternative system to adopt. For sow welfare, well designed free farrowing systems without close confinement are considered optimal but producers have concerns about increased piglet mortality, particularly crushing by the sow. Reporting accurate performance figures from commercial farms newly operating such systems could inform the transition process. This study investigated performance on three commercial farms operating four different zero-confinement systems, three of which were newly installed. A total of 3212 litters from 2920 sows were followed from farrowing to weaning over a three-year period with key performance indicators (KPIs) recorded. Mixed Models (LMMs, GLMMs) determined the influence of different factors (e.g. farrowing system, sow parity, management aspects) and litter characteristics on performance, including levels and causes of piglet mortality.ResultsPiglet mortality was significantly influenced by farm/system. Live-born mortality ranged from 10.3 to 20.6% with stillbirths ranging from 2.5 to 5.9%. A larger litter size and higher parity resulted in higher levels of mortality regardless of system. In all systems, crushing was the main cause of piglet mortality (59%), but 31% of sows did not crush any piglets, whilst 26% crushed only one piglet and the remaining sows (43%) crushed two or more piglets. System significantly influenced crushing as a percentage of all deaths, with the system with the smallest spatial footprint (m2) compared to the other systems, recording the highest levels of crushing. Time from the start of the study influenced mortality, with significant reductions in crushing mortality (by ~ 4%) over the course of the three-year study. There was a highly significant effect of length of time (days) between moving sows into the farrowing accommodation and sows farrowing on piglet mortality (P &lt; 0.001). The less time between sows moving in and farrowing, the higher the levels of piglet mortality, with ~ 3% increase in total mortality every five days. System effects were highly significant after adjusting for parity, litter size, and days pre-farrowing.ConclusionThese results from commercial farms demonstrate that even sows that have not been specifically selected for free farrowing are able, in many cases, to perform well in these zero-confinement systems, but that a period of adaptation is to be expected for overall farm performance. There are performance differences between the farms/systems which can be attributed to individual farm/system characteristics (e.g. pen design and management, staff expertise, pig genotypes, etc.). Higher parity sows and those producing very large litters provide a greater challenge to piglet mortality in these free farrowing systems (just as they do in crate systems). Management significantly influences performance, and ensuring sows have plenty of time to acclimatise between moving in to farrowing accommodation and giving birth is a critical aspect of improving piglet survival