Mitigating adolescent social anxiety symptoms : the effects of social support and social self-efficacy in findings from the Young-HUNT 3 study

Adolescents’ exposure to negative life events (NLEs) and potentially traumatic events is highly prevalent and increases their risk of developing psychological disorders considerably. NLE exposure has also been linked to the development of social anxiety disorder (SAD) among older children and young adolescents. Despite the relatively low treatment efficacy reported for children and adolescents suffering from SAD, few studies have addressed the extent to which resilience factors, such as social support and social self-efficacy, are associated with SAD symptoms. This study examined whether social support and social self-efficacy predict, and buffer against SAD symptoms using a large, population-based sample of adolescents, among whom a large proportion have experienced NLEs. The results reveal that NLEs are significantly associated with SAD symptoms, while social support and social self-efficacy are both negatively associated with SAD symptoms. Only the NLEs × social support interaction significantly predicted SAD symptoms, with social support attenuating the association between NLEs and SAD symptoms. Moreover, increases in both social self-efficacy and social support were associated with reduced SAD symptoms, over and above variance explained by social support alone. Our cumulative results suggest that interventions that can modify both social support and social self-efficacy may help reduce SAD symptoms in at-risk adolescents.publishedVersionUnit Licence Agreemen

Updated Poster Presentation Abstract (n = 58) From 2020 Combined Sections Meeting Of The American Physical Therapy Association: How Well Do Clinical Walking Measures Predict Natural Walking Behavior In Parkinson Disease?

Declines in the amount and intensity of natural walking behavior in people with Parkinson disease (PD) may precede declines in motor behavior, gait, and balance. Physical interventions targeting walking behavior in PD may have the greatest impact on slowing the progression of disability. Despite a lack of supporting evidence, however, clinicians may be more likely to rely on quick performance measures of walking speed, capacity, and balance to make inferences about a patient’s walking health, rather than direct measures of natural walking behavior. Our primary purpose, therefore, was to examine the extent to which clinical walking measures might predict natural walking behavior in early to mid-stage PD. Secondarily we sought to explore differences in the predictive capability of clinical measures between relatively less active and more active participants

Design of the WHIP-PD study: a phase II, twelve-month, dual-site, randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of a cognitive-behavioral approach for promoting enhanced walking activity using mobile health technology in people with Parkinson-disease

BACKGROUND: Parkinson disease (PD) is a debilitating and chronic neurodegenerative disease resulting in ambulation difficulties. Natural walking activity often declines early in disease progression despite the relative stability of motor impairments. In this study, we propose a paradigm shift with a "connected behavioral approach" that targets real-world walking using cognitive-behavioral training and mobile health (mHealth) technology. METHODS/DESIGN: The Walking and mHealth to Increase Participation in Parkinson Disease (WHIP-PD) study is a twelve-month, dual site, two-arm, randomized controlled trial recruiting 148 participants with early to mid-stage PD. Participants will be randomly assigned to connected behavioral or active control conditions. Both conditions will include a customized program of goal-oriented walking, walking-enhancing strengthening exercises, and eight in-person visits with a physical therapist. Participants in the connected behavioral condition also will (1) receive cognitive-behavioral training to promote self-efficacy for routine walking behavior and (2) use a mHealth software application to manage their program and communicate remotely with their physical therapist. Active control participants will receive no cognitive-behavioral training and manage their program on paper. Evaluations will occur at baseline, three-, six-, and twelve-months and include walking assessments, self-efficacy questionnaires, and seven days of activity monitoring. Primary outcomes will include the change between baseline and twelve months in overall amount of walking activity (mean number of steps per day) and amount of moderate intensity walking activity (mean number of minutes per day in which > 100 steps were accumulated). Secondary outcomes will include change in walking capacity as measured by the six-minute walk test and ten-meter walk test. We also will examine if self-efficacy mediates change in amount of walking activity and if change in amount of walking activity mediates change in walking capacity. DISCUSSION: We expect this study to show the connected behavioral approach will be more effective than the active control condition in increasing the amount and intensity of real-world walking activity and improving walking capacity. Determining effective physical activity interventions for persons with PD is important for preserving mobility and essential for maintaining quality of life. Clinical trials registration NCT03517371, May 7, 2018. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03517371. Date of registration: May 7, 2018. Protocol version: Original.R01 HD092444 - NICHD NIH HHS; 1R01HD092444-01A1 - National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentPublished versio

Global monitoring of antimicrobial resistance based on metagenomics analyses of urban sewage

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to global public health, but obtaining representative data on AMR for healthy human populations is difficult. Here, we use meta-genomic analysis of untreated sewage to characterize the bacterial resistome from 79 sites in 60 countries. We find systematic differences in abundance and diversity of AMR genes between Europe/North-America/Oceania and Africa/Asia/South-America. Antimicrobial use data and bacterial taxonomy only explains a minor part of the AMR variation that we observe. We find no evidence for cross-selection between antimicrobial classes, or for effect of air travel between sites. However, AMR gene abundance strongly correlates with socio-economic, health and environmental factors, which we use to predict AMR gene abundances in all countries in the world. Our findings suggest that global AMR gene diversity and abundance vary by region, and that improving sanitation and health could potentially limit the global burden of AMR. We propose metagenomic analysis of sewage as an ethically acceptable and economically feasible approach for continuous global surveillance and prediction of AMR.Peer reviewe

Children's political activism: An analysis of news coverage of the School Strike for Climate movement in Norway

Denne masteroppgaven gir innsikt i pressedekning om miljøbevegelsen Skolestreik for klima. Siden mars 2019 har barn og unge over hele verden nektet å gå på skolen hver fredag og samlet seg i gatene for å kreve politisk handling for å begrense klimakrisen. Dette har fått mye medieoppmerksomhet, og barn og unge blir både hyllet og møtt med kritikk i nyhetsmediene. Målet med denne oppgaven er å bidre med ny kunnskap om temaet og aktualisere debatten rundt denne saken. Gjennom å analysere nyhetsartikler fra de tre største avisene i Norge i 2019, Aftenposten, VG og Adresseavisen, er målet å utforske hvordan barn og unge som skolestreiker for klima blir fremstilt i norske nyhetsmedier. For å få et rikt bilde og en nyansert forståelse av nyhetsinnholdet, er det brukt en kombina fsjon av både kvantitative og kvalitative forskningsmetoder. Nyhetsartiklene er analysert gjennom en kvantitativ innholdsanalyse og en kvalitativ innrammingsanalyse, og undersøker forskningsspørsmål om hvilke synspunkter som er representert, hvordan nyhetsinnholdet er innrammet, og hvilke forestillinger om barn og barndom som kommer fram i nyhetsdekningen. Resultatene av analysene viser at den generalle holdningen til barn og unge som skolestreiker for klima er positiv, og at media er villige til å la barna snakke for seg selv i nyhetsinnholdet. Innholdsanalysen viser at tre ulike rammer er spesielt fremtredende i materialet. I den første rammen fremstilles barn og unge som aktører som bidrar til ending, i den andre ligger fokuset på klimastreiker som begivenheter og i den tredje rammen fokuseres det på valgene barn og unge tar som individer i hverdagen. Med utgangspunkt i funnene om disse tre rammene diskuteres forestillinger om barn og barndom i nyhetsinnholdet. Analysene illustrerer hvordan forestilliner om barn og barndom er komplekse og motstridende. På noen måter blir barn og unge fremstilt som ressurser og politiske aktører i samfunnet i dag, og på andre måter blir de fremstilt som uskyldige, uvitende og at de trenger voksnes veiledning og beskyttelse. Dermed får barn og unge motstridende signaler om deres rolle i samfunnet gjennom de ulike forestillingene om barn og barndom som kjennetegner den norske nyhetsdekningen om de unge klimastreikerne

Detection of Residents' Abnormal Behaviour by Analysing Energy Consumption of Individual Households

As average life expectancy continuously rises, assisting the elderly population with living independently is of great importance. Detecting abnormal behaviour of the elderly living at home is one way to assist the eldercare systems with the increase of the elderly population. In this study, we perform an initial investigation to identify abnormal behaviour of household residents using energy consumption data. We conduct an experiment in two parts, the first to identify a suitable prediction algorithm to model energy consumption behaviour, and the second to detect abnormal behaviour. This approach allows for an initial step for the elderly care that has a low cost, is easily deployable, and is non-intrusive