Perceived personal, social and environmental barriers to weight maintenance among young women: A community survey

BACKGROUND: Young women are a group at high risk of weight gain. This study examined a range of perceived personal, social and environmental barriers to physical activity and healthy eating for weight maintenance among young women, and how these varied by socioeconomic status (SES), overweight status and domestic situation. METHODS: In October-December 2001, a total of 445 women aged 18–32 years, selected randomly from the Australian electoral roll, completed a mailed self-report survey that included questions on 11 barriers to physical activity and 11 barriers to healthy eating (relating to personal, social and environmental factors). Height, weight and socio-demographic details were also obtained. Statistical analyses were conducted mid-2003. RESULTS: The most common perceived barriers to physical activity and healthy eating encountered by young women were related to motivation, time and cost. Women with children were particularly likely to report a lack of social support as an important barrier to physical activity, and lack of social support and time as important barriers to healthy eating. Perceived barriers did not differ by SES or overweight status. CONCLUSIONS: Health promotion strategies aimed at preventing weight gain should take into account the specific perceived barriers to physical activity and healthy eating faced by women in this age group, particularly lack of motivation, lack of time, and cost. Strategies targeting perceived lack of time and lack of social support are particularly required for young women with children

How feasible are healthy eating and physical activity for young women?

Objective: This study investigated young women&rsquo;s perceptions of the feasibility of physical activity and healthy eating behaviours, and how these vary by socioeconomic status, domestic characteristics and weight status. Design: This population-based study used a mailed questionnaire to investigate perceptions of the feasibility of commonly recommended healthy eating and physical activity behaviours among a sample of young women. The feasibility of 29 physical activity behaviours (e.g. relating to frequency, intensity, duration, domain/setting) and 15 healthy eating behaviours (e.g. relating to location/setting, fruit and vegetable intake, fat/sugar intake) was assessed. Height, weight and sociodemographic details were also obtained. Setting: Nation-wide community-based survey. Subjects: A total of 445 women aged 18&ndash;32 years selected randomly from the Australian electoral roll. Results: Most women reported that they either were already engaged in many of the healthy eating behaviours or saw these as highly feasible. Many physical activity behaviours, on the other hand, were perceived as less feasible, particularly among women with children and women who were overweight. Conclusions: Health promotion messages and strategies aimed at increasing physical activity and healthy eating are unlikely to succeed unless they take into account perceptions that these behaviours are not feasible. For young women, this may involve promoting more time-effective, flexible ways of achieving recommended physical activity. Messages specifically targeted to women with children, and women who are overweight, are required.<br /

Handbook for Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Work

The Handbook for Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Work is a practical tool written for Aboriginal drug and alcohol workers, mental health workers and others working in this field. It offers a detailed look at alcohol and drug work from clinical, through to prevention, early intervention and harm reduction. This handbook is also likely to help people working to improve policy and those advocating for change. The idea for it came from workers all over Australia. They told us that they needed an easy to use handbook that can help them respond to the range of alcohol and drug issues they face every day. They also told us that such a book needs to take into account the complex challenges facing workers when helping clients, their families and, sometimes, whole communities

Distinct fos-expressing neuronal ensembles in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex mediate food reward and extinction memories

In operant learning, initial reward-associated memories are thought to be distinct from subsequent extinction-associated memories. Memories formed during operant learning are thought to be stored in “neuronal ensembles.” Thus, we hypothesize that different neuronal ensembles encode reward- and extinction-associated memories. Here, we examined prefrontal cortex neuronal ensembles involved in the recall of reward and extinction memories of food self-administration.Wefirst trained rats to lever press for palatable food pellets for 7 d (1 h/d) and then exposed them to 0, 2, or 7 daily extinction sessions in which lever presses were not reinforced. Twenty-four hours after the last training or extinction session, we exposed the rats to either a short 15 min extinction test session or left them in their homecage (a control condition). We found maximal Fos (a neuronal activity marker) immunoreactivity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex of rats that previously received 2 extinction sessions, suggesting that neuronal ensembles in this area encode extinction memories. We then used the Daun02 inactivation procedure to selectively disrupt ventral medial prefrontal cortex neuronal ensembles that were activated during the 15 min extinction session following 0 (no extinction) or 2 prior extinction sessions to determine the effects of inactivating the putative food reward and extinction ensembles, respectively, on subsequent nonreinforced food seeking 2 d later. Inactivation of the food reward ensembles decreased food seeking, whereas inactivation of the extinction ensembles increased food seeking. Our results indicate that distinct neuronal ensembles encoding operant reward and extinction memories intermingle within the same cortical area

Natural dimethyl sulfide gradients would lead marine predators to higher prey biomass

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Owen, K., Saeki, K., Warren, J. D., Bocconcelli, A., Wiley, D. N., Ohira, S., Bombosch, A., Toda, K., & Zitterbart, D. P. Natural dimethyl sulfide gradients would lead marine predators to higher prey biomass. Communications Biology, 4(1), (2021): 149, https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01668-3.Finding prey is essential to survival, with marine predators hypothesised to track chemicals such as dimethyl sulfide (DMS) while foraging. Many predators are attracted to artificially released DMS, and laboratory experiments have shown that zooplankton grazing on phytoplankton accelerates DMS release. However, whether natural DMS concentrations are useful for predators and correlated to areas of high prey biomass remains a fundamental knowledge gap. Here, we used concurrent hydroacoustic surveys and in situ DMS measurements to present evidence that zooplankton biomass is spatially correlated to natural DMS concentration in air and seawater. Using agent simulations, we also show that following gradients of DMS would lead zooplankton predators to areas of higher prey biomass than swimming randomly. Further understanding of the conditions and scales over which these gradients occur, and how they are used by predators, is essential to predicting the impact of future changes in the ocean on predator foraging success.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This study was funded by the Herrington Fitch Family Foundation, by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Initiative Awards Fund from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The President’s Investment Fund, and by KAKENHI, Grants-in-Aid for Basic Research (B) (Grant no. 16H04168) and Bilateral Programs Joint Research Projects (open partnership), both from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The authors thank Mrs. Norio Hayashi, Takanori Nagahata, and Ms. Mihoko Asano (Mitsubishi Chemical Analytech Co.) for their support with the SGV-CL device. The research was conducted under Scientific Research Permit number 18059, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Marine Mammal Protection Act

Effect of a Low–Resource-Intensive Lifestyle Modification Program Incorporating Gymnasium-Based and Home-Based Resistance Training on Type 2 Diabetes Risk in Australian Adults

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a low–resource-intensive lifestyle modification program incorporating resistance training and to compare a gymnasium-based with a home-based resistance training program on diabetes diagnosis status and risk

Commentary: An Extension of the Australian Postgraduate Psychology Education Simulation Working Group Guidelines: Simulated Learning Activities Within Professional Psychology Placements

A Commentary on The use of simulated patients in medical education: AMEE Guide No 42 by Cleland, J. A., Abe, K., and Rethans, J. J. (2009). Med. Teach. 31, 477–486. doi: 10.1080/01421590903002821 Simulation based education by Cleland, J. A. (2017). Psychologist 30, 36–40. Building Academic Staff Capacity for Using eSimulations in Professional Education for Experience Transfer by Cybulski, J., Holt, D., Segrave, S., O'Brien, D., Munro, J., Corbitt, B., et al. (2010). Sydney, NSW: Australian Learning and Teaching Council. Student and staff views of psychology OSCEs by Sheen, J., McGillivray, J., Gurtman, C. and Boyd, L. (2015). Aust. Psychol. 50, 51–59. doi: 10.1111/ap.12086 The Australian Postgraduate Psychology Education Simulation Working Group (APPESWG) recently published guidelines titled "A new reality: The role of simulated learning activities in postgraduate psychology training programs" (Paparo et al., 2021). The document was developed in the context of COVID 19-related disruption to practica within professional psychology training. As a consequence, many training providers adopted simulated training activities as a way to support course progression during the pandemic. Paparo and colleagues' stated aims were to provide comprehensive guidance for the use of simulation as a competency-based training tool and in the interests of public and student safety, both during and after COVID 19. The guidelines included nine criteria for best practice in simulated learning activities in training, for example, that activities should be competency-based, should mirror real-life practice situations and should provide opportunities for active participation and trainee reflection (see Paparo et al. for detail). The document provided helpful guidance on the use of simulated learning activities (SLA) as part of course content within an Australian professional psychology training context, however the guidelines did not cover simulated placement experiences. Considerations especially around supervision and the development of professional and ethical practice within a simulated learning environment need to be made to effectively apply the APPESWG Guidelines within a placement context. Here, we extend these guidelines for provision of simulated professional psychology placements based on our successful development and implementation of large-scale simulated placements at an Australian University (2020-current). Previously, all professional psychology placements in Australia were limited to in-vivo options, however the latest version of the Accreditation Standards for Psychology Programs (Australian Psychology Accreditation Council, 2019) now make provision for simulated learning within required placement experiences at Level 3, Professional Competencies. This extension of the Paparo et al. (2021) article provides guidelines specifically for the use of simulation with professional psychology placements, with a focus on the Australian context

IL-21 restricts T follicular regulatory T cell proliferation through Bcl-6 mediated inhibition of responsiveness to IL-2

T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells control the magnitude and specificity of the germinal centre reaction, but how regulation is contained to ensure generation of high-affinity antibody is unknown. Here we show that this balance is maintained by the reciprocal influence of interleukin (IL)-2 and IL-21. The number of IL-2-dependent FoxP3+ regulatory T cells is increased in the peripheral blood of human patients with loss-of-function mutations in the IL-21 receptor (IL-21R). In mice, IL-21:IL-21R interactions influence the phenotype of T follicular cells, reducing the expression of CXCR4 and inhibiting the expansion of Tfr cells after T-cell-dependent immunization. The negative effect of IL-21 on Tfr cells in mice is cell intrinsic and associated with decreased expression of the high affinity IL-2 receptor (CD25). Bcl-6, expressed in abundance in Tfr cells, inhibits CD25 expression and IL-21-mediated inhibition of CD25 is Bcl-6 dependent. These findings identify a mechanism by which IL-21 reinforces humoral immunity by restricting Tfr cell proliferation

Reverse Transcriptase and Cellular Factors: Regulators of HIV-1 Reverse Transcription

There is ample evidence that synthesis of HIV-1 proviral DNA from the viral RNA genome during reverse transcription requires host factors. However, only a few cellular proteins have been described in detail that affect reverse transcription and interact with reverse transcriptase (RT). HIV-1 integrase is an RT binding protein and a number of IN-binding proteins including INI1, components of the Sin3a complex, and Gemin2 affect reverse transcription. In addition, recent studies implicate the cellular proteins HuR, AKAP149, and DNA topoisomerase I in reverse transcription through an interaction with RT. In this review we will consider interactions of reverse transcription complex with viral and cellular factors and how they affect the reverse transcription process