Personality Type Influences Attentional Bias in Individuals with Chronic Back Pain

Attentional biases reflect an individual’s selective attention to salient stimuli within their environment, for example an experience of back pain. Eysenck suggests that different personality types show different attentional biases to threatening information. This study is the first to test Eysenck’s theory within a chronic back pain population by investigating the attentional biases of four different personality types using a back pain specific dot-probe paradigm. Participants were 70 volunteers (45 female) recruited from a back rehabilitation program at an NHS Trust. The four groups were selected on their trait anxiety and defensiveness scores: defensive high-anxious; high-anxious; repressor and non-extreme. Participants completed a dot probe task comprising 20 practice trials and 250 experimental trials. The experimental trials contained 100 threat-neutral pairs, 100 positive-neutral pairs and 50 neutral-neutral image pairings. The threat images were taken from the Photograph Series of Daily Activities (PHODA) and the neutral and positive images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) image bank. The results provided partial support for Eysenck’s theory; defensive high-anxious individuals showed an attentional bias for threatening information compared to high-anxious individuals who demonstrated no bias. Repressors showed an avoidant bias to threatening images and an attentional bias to positive stimuli relative to neutral images. The clear difference in responses demonstrated by high-anxious individuals who vary in defensiveness highlight the need for separate investigation of these heterogeneous groups and help to explain the cognitive processes of defensive high-anxious individuals within a pain population. The demonstration of an attentional bias in this group to threatening information could explain why defensive high-anxious individuals are more likely to re-present for treatment

Evidence maps and evidence gaps: evidence review mapping as a method for collating and appraising evidence reviews to inform research and policy

Evidence reviews are a key mechanism for incorporating extensive, complex and specialised evidence into policy and practice, and in guiding future research. However, evidence reviews vary in scope and methodological rigour, creating several risks for decision-makers: decisions may be informed by less reliable reviews; apparently conflicting interpretations of evidence may obfuscate decisions; and low quality reviews may create the perception that a topic has been adequately addressed, deterring new syntheses (cryptic evidence gaps). We present a new approach, evidence review mapping, designed to produce a visual representation and critical assessment of the review landscape for a particular environmental topic or question. By systematically selecting and describing the scope and rigour of each review, this helps guide non-specialists to the most relevant and methodologically reliable reviews. The map can also direct future research through the identification of evidence gaps (whether cryptic or otherwise) and redundancy (multiple reviews on similar questions). We consider evidence review mapping a complementary approach to systematic reviews and systematic maps of primary literature and an important tool for facilitating evidence-based decision-making and research efficiency

Predictors of hospital mortality among septic ICU patients with Acinetobacter spp. bacteremia: A cohort study

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that among septic ICU patients with Acinetobacter spp. bacteremia (Ac-BSI), carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. (CRAc) increase risk for inappropriate initial antibiotic therapy (non-IAAT), and non-IAAT is a predictor of hospital death. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult septic ICU patients with Ac-BSI. Non-IAAT was defined as exposure to initially prescribed antibiotics not active against the pathogen based on in vitro susceptibility testing, and having no exposure to appropriate antimicrobial treatment within 24 hours of drawing positive culture. We compared patients who died to those who survived, and derived regression models to identify predictors of hospital mortality and of non-IAAT. RESULTS: Out of 131 patients with Ac-BSI, 65 (49.6%) died (non-survivors, NS). NS were older (63 [51, 76] vs. 56 [45, 66] years, p = 0.014), and sicker than survivors (S): APACHE II (24 [19, 31] vs. 18 [13, 22], p < 0.001) and Charlson (5 [2, 8] vs. 3 [1, 6], p = 0.009) scores. NS were also more likely than S to require pressors (75.4% vs. 42.4%, p < 0.001) and mechanical ventilation (75.4% vs. 53.0%, p = 0.008). Both CRAc (69.2% vs. 47.0%, p = 0.010) and non-IAAT (83.1% vs. 59.1%, p = 0.002) were more frequent among NS than S. In multivariate analyses, non-IAAT emerged as an independent predictor of hospital death (risk ratio [RR] 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-1.58), while CRAc was the single strongest predictor of non-IAAT (RR 2.66, 95% CI 2.43-2.72). CONCLUSIONS: Among septic ICU patients with Ac-BSI, non-IAAT predicts mortality. Carbapenem resistance appears to mediate the relationship between non-IAAT and mortality

Animal foods, protein, calcium and prostate cancer risk: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

We examined consumption of animal foods, protein and calcium in relation to risk of prostate cancer among 142 251 men in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Associations were examined using Cox regression, stratified by recruitment centre and adjusted for height, weight, education, marital status and energy intake. After an average of 8.7 years of follow-up, there were 2727 incident cases of prostate cancer, of which 1131 were known to be localised and 541 advanced-stage disease. A high intake of dairy protein was associated with an increased risk, with a hazard ratio for the top versus the bottom fifth of intake of 1.22 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07–1.41, Ptrend=0.02). After calibration to allow for measurement error, we estimated that a 35-g day−1 increase in consumption of dairy protein was associated with an increase in the risk of prostate cancer of 32% (95% CI: 1–72%, Ptrend=0.04). Calcium from dairy products was also positively associated with risk, but not calcium from other foods. The results support the hypothesis that a high intake of protein or calcium from dairy products may increase the risk for prostate cancer

Biological Characterisation of Haliclona (?gellius) sp.: Sponge and Associated Microorganisms

We have characterised the northern Pacific undescribed sponge Haliclona (?gellius) sp. based on rDNA of the sponge and its associated microorganisms. The sponge is closely related to Amphimedon queenslandica from the Great Barrier Reef as the near-complete 18S rDNA sequences of both sponges were identical. The microbial fingerprint of three specimens harvested at different times and of a transplanted specimen was compared to identify stably associated microorganisms. Most bacterial phyla were detected in each sample, but only a few bacterial species were determined to be stably associated with the sponge. A sponge-specific β- and γ-Proteobacterium were abundant clones and both of them were present in three of the four specimens analysed. In addition, a Planctomycete and a Crenarchaea were detected in all sponge individuals. Both were closely related to operational taxonomic units that have been found in other sponges, but not exclusively in sponges. Interestingly, also a number of clones that are closely related to intracellular symbionts from insects and amoeba were detected

Are diet–prostate cancer associations mediated by the IGF axis? A cross-sectional analysis of diet, IGF-I and IGFBP-3 in healthy middle-aged men

We examined the association of diet with insulin-like growth factors (IGF) in 344 disease-free men. Raised levels of IGF-I and/or its molar ratio with IGFBP-3 were associated with higher intakes of milk, dairy products, calcium, carbohydrate and polyunsaturated fat; lower levels with high vegetable consumption, particularly tomatoes. These patterns support the possibility that IGFs may mediate some diet-cancer associations

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in ppcollisions at √s=8TeV

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3fb−1of data collected in proton–proton collisions at √s=8TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeVto 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeVto 150 GeV