Targeted prevention of common mental health disorders in university students: randomised controlled trial of a transdiagnostic trait-focused web-based intervention

Background: A large proportion of university students show symptoms of common mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, substance use disorders and eating disorders. Novel interventions are required that target underlying factors of multiple disorders.<p></p> Aims: To evaluate the efficacy of a transdiagnostic trait-focused web-based intervention aimed at reducing symptoms of common mental disorders in university students.<p></p> Method: Students were recruited online (n = 1047, age: M = 21.8, SD = 4.2) and categorised into being at high or low risk for mental disorders based on their personality traits. Participants were allocated to a cognitive-behavioural trait-focused (n = 519) or a control intervention (n = 528) using computerised simple randomisation. Both interventions were fully automated and delivered online (trial registration: ISRCTN14342225). Participants were blinded and outcomes were self-assessed at baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks after registration. Primary outcomes were current depression and anxiety, assessed on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD7). Secondary outcome measures focused on alcohol use, disordered eating, and other outcomes.<p></p> Results: Students at high risk were successfully identified using personality indicators and reported poorer mental health. A total of 520 students completed the 6-week follow-up and 401 students completed the 12-week follow-up. Attrition was high across intervention groups, but comparable to other web-based interventions. Mixed effects analyses revealed that at 12-week follow up the trait-focused intervention reduced depression scores by 3.58 (p<.001, 95%CI [5.19, 1.98]) and anxiety scores by 2.87 (p = .018, 95%CI [1.31, 4.43]) in students at high risk. In high-risk students, between group effect sizes were 0.58 (depression) and 0.42 (anxiety). In addition, self-esteem was improved. No changes were observed regarding the use of alcohol or disordered eating.<p></p> Conclusions This study suggests that a transdiagnostic web-based intervention for university students targeting underlying personality risk factors may be a promising way of preventing common mental disorders with a low-intensity intervention

Gene expression throughout a vertebrate's embryogenesis

Abstract Background Describing the patterns of gene expression during embryonic development has broadened our understanding of the processes and patterns that define morphogenesis. Yet gene expression patterns have not been described throughout vertebrate embryogenesis. This study presents statistical analyses of gene expression during all 40 developmental stages in the teleost Fundulus heteroclitus using four biological replicates per stage. Results Patterns of gene expression for 7,000 genes appear to be important as they recapitulate developmental timing. Among the 45% of genes with significant expression differences between pairs of temporally adjacent stages, significant differences in gene expression vary from as few as five to more than 660. Five adjacent stages have disproportionately more significant changes in gene expression (> 200 genes) relative to other stages: four to eight and eight to sixteen cell stages, onset of circulation, pre and post-hatch, and during complete yolk absorption. The fewest differences among adjacent stages occur during gastrulation. Yet, at stage 16, (pre-mid-gastrulation) the largest number of genes has peak expression. This stage has an over representation of genes in oxidative respiration and protein expression (ribosomes, translational genes and proteases). Unexpectedly, among all ribosomal genes, both strong positive and negative correlations occur. Similar correlated patterns of expression occur among all significant genes. Conclusions These data provide statistical support for the temporal dynamics of developmental gene expression during all stages of vertebrate development

A New Measure of Binge Drinking: Prevalence and Correlates in a Probability Sample of Undergraduates

A standard measure defines binge drinking as the consumption of 5 or more drinks in a row for men (4 or more drinks for women) on at least 1 occasion during the past 2 weeks. A revised operational definition of binge drinking was developed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 2004 and incorporated the duration of the drinking episode in addition to the quantity of alcohol consumed. This study compares the standard and new binge measures for overall and subgroup prevalence rates; associations with gender, race/ethnicity, and age of drinking onset; and associations with negative drinking consequences. Methods : A probability sample of 4,580 randomly selected college students (50.3% female, M age=19.9, SD =2.0) at a large Midwestern university in the United States completed a Web-based survey of alcohol and other drug use. Participants reported on past 2-week binge drinking using the standard measure and past-year binge drinking using the new measure. Results : The longer past-year time frame of the new measure yielded a higher prevalence estimate of binge drinking (63.6%) compared with the 2-week standard measure (53.2%). Approximately 9.9% of those who were classified as binge drinkers using the 2-week standard measure were classified as non–binge drinkers using the new measure specification of a 2-hour duration for the drinking episode. The past-year new binge measure was positively associated with negative drinking consequences even when the 2-week measure was statistically controlled. Conclusions : Using a longer time frame and incorporating the duration of the drinking episode, the new measure of binge drinking appears to capture an important element of risky alcohol involvement in college students that is not fully assessed by the standard measure.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65718/1/j.1530-0277.2006.00234.x.pd

Linking microarray reporters with protein functions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The analysis of microarray experiments requires accurate and up-to-date functional annotation of the microarray reporters to optimize the interpretation of the biological processes involved. Pathway visualization tools are used to connect gene expression data with existing biological pathways by using specific database identifiers that link reporters with elements in the pathways.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This paper proposes a novel method that aims to improve microarray reporter annotation by BLASTing the original reporter sequences against a species-specific EMBL subset, that was derived from and crosslinked back to the highly curated UniProt database. The resulting alignments were filtered using high quality alignment criteria and further compared with the outcome of a more traditional approach, where reporter sequences were BLASTed against EnsEMBL followed by locating the corresponding protein (UniProt) entry for the high quality hits. Combining the results of both methods resulted in successful annotation of > 58% of all reporter sequences with UniProt IDs on two commercial array platforms, increasing the amount of Incyte reporters that could be coupled to Gene Ontology terms from 32.7% to 58.3% and to a local GenMAPP pathway from 9.6% to 16.7%. For Agilent, 35.3% of the total reporters are now linked towards GO nodes and 7.1% on local pathways.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our methods increased the annotation quality of microarray reporter sequences and allowed us to visualize more reporters using pathway visualization tools. Even in cases where the original reporter annotation showed the correct description the new identifiers often allowed improved pathway and Gene Ontology linking. These methods are freely available at http://www.bigcat.unimaas.nl/public/publications/Gaj_Annotation/.</p

Nano-motion Dynamics are Determined by Surface-Tethered Selectin Mechanokinetics and Bond Formation

The interaction of proteins at cellular interfaces is critical for many biological processes, from intercellular signaling to cell adhesion. For example, the selectin family of adhesion receptors plays a critical role in trafficking during inflammation and immunosurveillance. Quantitative measurements of binding rates between surface-constrained proteins elicit insight into how molecular structural details and post-translational modifications contribute to function. However, nano-scale transport effects can obfuscate measurements in experimental assays. We constructed a biophysical simulation of the motion of a rigid microsphere coated with biomolecular adhesion receptors in shearing flow undergoing thermal motion. The simulation enabled in silico investigation of the effects of kinetic force dependence, molecular deformation, grouping adhesion receptors into clusters, surface-constrained bond formation, and nano-scale vertical transport on outputs that directly map to observable motions. Simulations recreated the jerky, discrete stop-and-go motions observed in P-selectin/PSGL-1 microbead assays with physiologic ligand densities. Motion statistics tied detailed simulated motion data to experimentally reported quantities. New deductions about biomolecular function for P-selectin/PSGL-1 interactions were made. Distributing adhesive forces among P-selectin/PSGL-1 molecules closely grouped in clusters was necessary to achieve bond lifetimes observed in microbead assays. Initial, capturing bond formation effectively occurred across the entire molecular contour length. However, subsequent rebinding events were enhanced by the reduced separation distance following the initial capture. The result demonstrates that vertical transport can contribute to an enhancement in the apparent bond formation rate. A detailed analysis of in silico motions prompted the proposition of wobble autocorrelation as an indicator of two-dimensional function. Insight into two-dimensional bond formation gained from flow cell assays might therefore be important to understand processes involving extended cellular interactions, such as immunological synapse formation. A biologically informative in silico system was created with minimal, high-confidence inputs. Incorporating random effects in surface separation through thermal motion enabled new deductions of the effects of surface-constrained biomolecular function. Important molecular information is embedded in the patterns and statistics of motion

Baixa percepção de risco entre adolescentes espanhóis em relação ao consumo de álcool

Según los estudios recientes, los adolescentes españoles muestran una baja percepción del riesgo asociado al consumo de alcohol. El objetivo de la presente investigación es analizar los factores que favorecen esta baja percepción a partir de la opinión de un grupo de 32 profesionales/expertos en adolescencia, familia, escuela, medios de comunicación y políticas locales. Se utilizó una metodología cualitativa, fundamentada en Grounded Theory, a partir de la información obtenida mediante 5 grupos de discusión guiados por entrevistas semiestructuradas. Se identificaron 12 factores o subcategorías agrupados en 4 categorías generales: riesgo a corto plazo, inmediatez y percepción de invulnerabilidad (categoría ¿pensamiento adolescente¿); concepción benévola del alcohol, normalización del consumo y binomio alcohol-diversión (categoría ¿normas sociales¿); consumo habitual en los padres, inconsistencia verbal-no verbal en el modelado parental, consumo sin riesgo en los medios, consumo con resultados positivos en los medios (categoría ¿modelos sociales¿); excesivo contenido sanitario, riesgo a largo plazo (categoría ¿discurso preventivo¿). Tras discutir los resultados en el contexto de la literatura científica actual, se realizan varias propuestas con el objetivo de aumentar la percepción del riesgo en los adolescentes: incidir con mayor fuerza en contenidos sobre los riesgos a corto plazo del alcohol; orientar las estrategias educativas dirigidas al adolescente, también hacia los agentes de socialización, especialmente los padres; incidir en políticas centradas en la sustancia y en reducir la oferta.According to recent studies, Spanish adolescents show low perception of risk in alcohol consumption. The current study aims to analyze the factors that favor this low perception based on the opinion of a group of 32 professional experts on adolescence, family, school, mass media, and local policies. A qualitative methodology was used, based on Grounded Theory, using information from 5 focus groups guided by semi-structured interviews. Twelve factors or subcategories were identified, grouped in 4 general categories: short-term risk, immediacy, and perception of invulnerability (¿adolescent thinking¿ category); benevolent view of alcohol, normalization of consumption, and alcohol-entertainment binomial (¿social norms¿ category); parents¿ habitual consumption, verbal/non-verbal inconsistency in parental model, risk-free consumption depicted in the mass media, consumption with positive results in the media (¿social models¿ category); and excessive health content, long-term risk (¿preventive discourse¿ category). After discussing the results in the context of the current scientific literature, the article offers various proposals for increasing risk perception in adolescents: stronger impact of contents on short-term risks of alcohol; educational strategies targeted to adolescents to include agents of socialization, especially parents; and policies centered on the substance and reduction of supply.De acordo com estudos recentes, os adolescentes espanhóis mostram baixa percepção de risco em relação ao consumo de álcool. O estudo tem como objetivo analisar os fatores associados com a baixa percepção de risco, com base nas opiniões de um grupo de 32 especialistas em adolescência, família, escola, mídia e políticas locais. Foi utilizada uma metodologia qualitativa, baseada na Teoria Fundamentada, usando informações de cinco grupos focais orientados por entrevistas semi-estruturadas. Foram identificados 12 fatores ou subcategorias, agrupados em quatro categorias gerais: risco no curto prazo, imediatismo e percepção de invulnerabilidade (categoria de ¿pensamento adolescente¿); visão benevolente em relação ao álcool, normalização do consumo e binômio álcool-entretenimento (categoria de ¿normas sociais¿); consumo habitual pelos pais, inconsistência na comunicação verbal versus não verbal no modelo representado pelos pais, consumo isento de risco retratado pela mídia, consumo com resultados positivos na mídia (categoria de ¿modelos sociais¿) e excesso de conteúdo relacionado à saúde, risco no longo prazo (categoria de ¿discurso preventivo¿). Depois de discutir os resultados no contexto da literatura científica atual, o artigo oferece várias propostas para aumentar a percepção de risco entre os adolescentes: impacto mais forte de conteúdos sobre os riscos do álcool no curto prazo; estratégias educativas orientadas aos adolescentes para incluir os agentes da socialização, especialmente os pais, além de políticas centradas na substância e na redução da oferta.Departamento de Educación y Psicología SocialVersión del edito