Association between depressive symptom clusters and food attentional bias

Background The mechanisms underlying the depression-obesity relationship are unclear. Food attentional bias (FAB) represents one candidate mechanism that has not been examined. We evaluated the hypothesis that greater depressive symptoms are associated with increased FAB. Method Participants were 89 normal weight or overweight adults (mean age = 21.2 ± 4.0 years, 53% female, 33% non-white, mean body mass index in kg/m2 = 21.9 ± 1.8 for normal weight; 27.2 ± 1.5 for overweight). Total, somatic, and cognitive-affective depressive symptom scores were computed from the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8). FAB scores were calculated using reaction times (RT) and eye-tracking (ET) direction and duration measures for a food visual probe task. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, and body fat percent were covariates. Results Only PHQ-8 somatic symptoms were positively associated with RT-measured FAB (β = 0.23, p = .04). The relationship between somatic symptoms and ET direction (β = 0.18, p = .17) and duration (β = 0.23, p = .08) FAB indices were of similar magnitude but were not significant. Somatic symptoms accounted for 5% of the variance in RT-measured FAB. PHQ-8 total and cognitive-affective symptoms were unrelated to all FAB indices (ps ≥ 0.09). Conclusions Only greater somatic symptoms of depression were linked to food attentional bias as measured using reaction time. Well-powered prospective studies should examine whether this bias replicates, particularly for eye-tracking measures, and whether it partially mediates the depression-to-obesity relationship

Depressive Symptoms and Weight Loss Behaviors in U.S. Adults

Objective We sought to determine whether depressive symptoms are associated with attempting to lose weight and engaging in weight loss behaviors in a large, diverse sample of adults representative of the U.S. population. Methods Respondents were 23,106 adults, free of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, who participated in the 2005–2014 years of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and weight loss variables were obtained from a Weight History Questionnaire. Results PHQ-9 total was not associated with attempting to lose weight in the past year (OR = 1.03, 95%CI = 1.00–1.06, p = 0.074; n = 23,106). Among respondents who attempted to lose weight (n = 9582), PHQ-9 total was associated with a lower odds of exercising (OR = 0.84, 95%CI = 0.79–0.89, p < 0.001) and a greater odds of skipping meals (OR = 1.31, 95%CI = 1.22–1.41, p < 0.001), eating diet foods/products (OR = 1.16, 95%CI = 1.08–1.24, p < 0.001), eating less food (OR = 1.09, 95%CI = 1.04–1.15, p < 0.001), taking non-prescription supplements (OR = 1.31, 95%CI = 1.23–1.41, p < 0.001), taking prescription diet pills (OR = 1.28, 95%CI = 1.10–1.49, p = 0.001), and taking laxatives/vomiting (OR = 1.55, 95%CI = 1.28–1.88, p < 0.001). Conclusions Although depressive symptoms were not associated with attempting to lose weight in the past year, adults who attempted to lose weight tended to employ potentially ineffective/unhealthy weight loss behaviors and avoid effective behaviors. This pattern of behaviors may be another mechanism that explains the excess risk of obesity in depressed adults and may be a modifiable target for future interventions. Given the cross-sectional nature of this study, reverse causality is a possibility. Future studies should investigate the prospective associations between depressive symptoms and weight loss behaviors

Depression and Anxiety Screens as Predictors of 8-Year Incidence of Myocardial Infarction and Stroke in Primary Care Patients

Because depression and anxiety are typically studied in isolation, our purpose was to examine the relative importance of these overlapping emotional factors in predicting incident cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods We examined depression and anxiety screens, and their individual items, as predictors of incident hard CVD events, myocardial infarction, and stroke over eight years in a diverse sample of 2,041 older primary care patients initially free of CVD. At baseline, participants completed self-report depression and anxiety screens. Data regarding CVD events were obtained from an electronic medical record system and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services analytic files. Results During follow-up, 683 (33%) experienced a CVD event. Cox proportional hazards models – adjusted for demographic and CVD risk factors – revealed that a positive anxiety screen, but not a positive depression screen, was associated with an increased risk of a hard CVD event in separate models (Years 0–3: Anxiety HR=1.54, p<.001; Years 3+: Anxiety HR=0.99, p=.93; Depression HR=1.10, p=.41), as well as when entered into the same model (Years 0–3: Anxiety HR=1.53, p<.001; Years 3+: Anxiety HR=0.99, p=.99; Depression HR=1.03, p=.82). Analyses examining individual items and secondary outcomes showed that the anxiety-CVD association was largely driven by the feeling anxious item and the myocardial infarction outcome. Conclusions Anxiety, especially feeling anxious, is a unique risk factor for CVD events in older adults, independent of conventional risk factors and depression. Anxiety deserves increased attention as a potential factor relevant to CVD risk stratification and a potential target of CVD primary prevention efforts

PONDWATER, BIOFILMS, AND CYSTIC FIBROSIS: INTRODUCING CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH INTO THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM

poster abstrac

Dynamically Driven Evolution of the Interstellar Medium in M51

Massive star formation occurs in giant molecular clouds (GMCs); an understanding of the evolution of GMCs is a prerequisite to develop theories of star formation and galaxy evolution. We report the highest-fidelity observations of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 in carbon monoxide (CO) emission, revealing the evolution of GMCs vis-a-vis the large-scale galactic structure and dynamics. The most massive GMCs (giant molecular associations (GMAs)) are first assembled and then broken up as the gas flow through the spiral arms. The GMAs and their H_2 molecules are not fully dissociated into atomic gas as predicted in stellar feedback scenarios, but are fragmented into smaller GMCs upon leaving the spiral arms. The remnants of GMAs are detected as the chains of GMCs that emerge from the spiral arms into interarm regions. The kinematic shear within the spiral arms is sufficient to unbind the GMAs against self-gravity. We conclude that the evolution of GMCs is driven by large-scale galactic dynamics—their coagulation into GMAs is due to spiral arm streaming motions upon entering the arms, followed by fragmentation due to shear as they leave the arms on the downstream side. In M51, the majority of the gas remains molecular from arm entry through the interarm region and into the next spiral arm passage

Dynamically Driven Evolution of the Interstellar Medium in M51

We report the highest-fidelity observations of the spiral galaxy M51 in CO emission, revealing the evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) vis-a-vis the large-scale galactic structure and dynamics. The most massive GMCs (so-called GMAs) are first assembled and then broken up as the gas flow through the spiral arms. The GMAs and their H2 molecules are not fully dissociated into atomic gas as predicted in stellar feedback scenarios, but are fragmented into smaller GMCs upon leaving the spiral arms. The remnants of GMAs are detected as the chains of GMCs that emerge from the spiral arms into interarm regions. The kinematic shear within the spiral arms is sufficient to unbind the GMAs against self-gravity. We conclude that the evolution of GMCs is driven by large-scale galactic dynamics --their coagulation into GMAs is due to spiral arm streaming motions upon entering the arms, followed by fragmentation due to shear as they leave the arms on the downstream side. In M51, the majority of the gas remains molecular from arm entry through the inter-arm region and into the next spiral arm passage.Comment: 6 pages, including 3 figures. Accepted, ApJ

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Depressive symptom clusters as predictors of incident coronary artery disease: a 15-year prospective study

OBJECTIVE: Because it is not known whether particular clusters of depressive symptoms are associated with a greater risk of adverse cardiac outcomes, we compared the utility of four clusters in predicting incident coronary artery disease (CAD) events during a 15-year period in a large cohort of primary care patients 60 years and older. METHODS: Participants were 2537 primary care patients 60 years or older who were screened for depression between 1991 and 1993 and had no existing CAD diagnosis. Depressive symptoms cluster scores (depressed affect, somatic symptoms, interpersonal distress, and positive affect) were computed from responses on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale administered at baseline. CAD events, defined as the occurrence of a nonfatal acute myocardial infarction or CAD death during the follow-up period, were identified using electronic medical record and National Death Index data. RESULTS: There were 678 CAD events. In separate fully adjusted Cox proportional hazard models (controlling for demographics and cardiovascular risk factors), the depressed affect (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.20), somatic (HR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.08-1.26), and positive affect (HR = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.82-0.95) clusters each predicted CAD events. When the depressive symptom clusters were entered simultaneously into the fully adjusted model, however, only the somatic cluster remained predictive of CAD events (HR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.03-1.23). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the longitudinal relationship between overall depressive symptom severity and incident CAD events may be driven primarily by the somatic cluster

Parents of higher-weight children are viewed as responsible for child weight and thus stigmatized

Courts in seven U.S. states have removed children with “obesity” from parental custody until children could maintain “healthy weights.” These rulings—alongside qualitative reports from parents of children with higher-weight (PoCH)—suggest parents of PoCH are stigmatized. Yet little work tests whether social perceivers genuinely stigmatize PoCH, or what drives this. In three experiments (two pre-registered), we test an attribution theory model: Social perceivers attribute children’s (excess) weights to parents, and thus stigmatize those parents. Experiments 1 and 2 support this model (across parent and child gender). Experiment 3 manipulates the extent to which parents are attributed responsibility for child weight, revealing attenuated stigma with lesser attributions of responsibility. Findings are among the first to describe and explain stigma toward a growing demographic (parents of children with “obesity”), may illuminate the psychology underlying stigma toward parents of children with other stigma-evoking identities, and have real-world implications (e.g., for family separation)