The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children's externalizing behavior: A meta-analytic study

This study addresses the extent to which insecure and disorganized attachments increase risk for externalizing problems using meta-analysis. From 69 samples (N = 5,947), the association between insecurity and externalizing problems was significant, d = 0.31 (95% CI: 0.23, 0.40). Larger effects were found for boys (d = 0.35), clinical samples (d = 0.49), and from observation-based outcome assessments (d = 0.58). Larger effects were found for attachment assessments other than the Strange Situation. Overall, disorganized children appeared at elevated risk (d = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.50), with weaker effects for avoidance (d = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.21) and resistance (d = 0.11, 95% CI: −0.04, 0.26). The results are discussed in terms of the potential significance of attachment for mental health

High-Impact Mechanical Loading Increases Bone Material Strength in Postmenopausal Women-A 3-Month Intervention Study.

Bone adapts to loading in several ways, including redistributing bone mass and altered geometry and microarchitecture. Because of previous methodological limitations, it is not known how the bone material strength is affected by mechanical loading in humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a 3-month unilateral high-impact exercise program on bone material properties and microarchitecture in healthy postmenopausal women. A total of 20 healthy and inactive postmenopausal women (aged 55.6 ± 2.3 years [mean ± SD]) were included and asked to perform an exercise program of daily one-legged jumps (with incremental number, from 3×10 to 4×20 jumps/d) during 3 months. All participants were asked to register their performed jumps in a structured daily diary. The participants chose one leg as the intervention leg and the other leg was used as control. The operators were blinded to the participant's choice of leg for intervention. The predefined primary outcome was change in bone material strength index (BMSi), measured at the mid tibia with a handheld reference probe indentation instrument (OsteoProbe). Bone microstructure, geometry, and density were measured with high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (XtremeCT) at the ultradistal and at 14% of the tibia bone length (distal). Differences were analyzed by related samples Wilcoxon signed rank test. The overall compliance to the jumping program was 93.6%. Relative to the control leg, BMSi of the intervention leg increased 7% or 0.89 SD (p = 0.046), but no differences were found for any of the XtremeCT-derived bone parameters. In conclusion, a unilateral high-impact loading program increased BMSi in postmenopausal women rapidly without affecting bone microstructure, geometry, or density, indicating that intense mechanical loading has the ability to rapidly improve bone material properties before changes in bone mass or structure. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Published by Wiley Periodicals Inc

Dietary intake of fish and PUFA, and clinical depressive and anxiety disorders in women

Fish and PUFA consumption are thought to play a role in mental health; however, many studies do not take into account multiple sources of PUFA. The present study analysed data from a sample of 935 randomly selected, population-based women aged 20–93 years. A validated and comprehensive dietary questionnaire ascertained the consumption of n-3 and n-6 PUFA. Another assessed fish and energy intake and provided data for a dietary quality score. The General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) measured psychological symptoms and a clinical interview (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Research Version, Non-patient edition) assessed depressive and anxiety disorders. Median dietary intakes of long-chain n-3 fatty acids (310 mg/d) were below suggested dietary target levels. The only PUFA related to categorical depressive and anxiety disorders was DHA. There was a non-linear relationship between DHA intake and depression; those in the second tertile of DHA intake were nearly 70 % less likely to report a current depressive disorder compared to those in the first tertile. The relationship of DHA to anxiety disorders was linear; for those in the highest tertile of DHA intake, the odds for anxiety disorders were reduced by nearly 50 % after adjustments, including adjustment for diet quality scores, compared to the lowest tertile. Those who ate fish less than once per week had higher GHQ-12 scores, and this relationship was particularly obvious in smokers. These are the first observational data to indicate a role for DHA in anxiety disorders, but suggest that the relationship between DHA and depressive disorders may be non-linear

Mitigating COVID-19 in schools with face masks and proactive testing

Regions throughout the US are experiencing a COVID-19 wave, fueled by the Delta variant, that is straining healthcare systems and complicating the reopening of schools. To support city leadership, public health agencies, and school districts in mitigating risks for students and staff, we developed a granular model of COVID-19 transmission in schools. We use the model to estimate the impacts of two mitigation strategies-face masking and proactive testing of asymptomatic students-under three different scenarios for in-school transmission. We also consider a scenario in which students are separated into all-mask and no-mask classrooms, based on family preference. The model incorporates epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and contact patterns within and between classrooms, as well as school-wide contacts that occur in lunchrooms, at recess, on buses, etc. It also assumes that classes and households are quarantined for 10 days after a student tests positive. Full details of the model and scenarios can be found in the Methods section.Integrative Biolog

Houston Area COVID-19 School Introduction Risks

Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the eighth largest school district in the United States and comprises 284 schools, nearly 215,000 students, and 40,000 staff members. The feasibility and risks of restarting in-person activities on school campuses will partially depend on the changing prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Houston Metropolitan Area. As community prevalence decreases, the chance that students or staff arrive at school infected should also decrease. In this report, we provide simple calculations to help school leadership, students, families and teachers gauge risks in the weeks ahead. The Harvard Global Health Initiative suggests that communities can begin to relax stay-home restrictions when the number of new confirmed cases each day has dropped below 25 per 100,000, but only if the community has sufficient viral testing and contact tracing capacity [2]. While this provides a benchmark for community-wide relaxation of measures, it does not directly indicate when schools should reopen. In this brief report, we provide recommendations for determining the risks of reopening schools based on the size of the school and key indicators of COVID-19 transmission in the local community. As of August 27, 2020, COVID-19 confirmed case data suggest that the prevalence of COVID-19 in Harris County is between 400 and 1400 cases per 100,000 people. If the largest schools in HISD, with over 3,000 students, reopened under these conditions, it is likely that several students and teachers would arrive infected in the first week. One possible threshold for cautiously bringing students back to campus is when the chance of even one person arriving infected in the first week is below 50%. For a school with 3,000 students and staff, this threshold is 24 cases per 100,000 people. The estimated COVID-19 prevalence in the Houston area has been decreasing but is still far above this threshold and not projected to fall below this threshold by the end of September.Integrative Biolog

COVID-19 in Austin, Texas: Epidemiological Assessment of Grocery Shopping

There are an estimated 24,000 grocery store workers in the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area (MSA) representing 2% of the labor force [1]. The Austin Stay Home - Work Safe order that was issued on March 24, 2020 and extended on April 13, 2020 restricts non-essential work, but permits work in grocery stores and public grocery shopping [2,3]. Daily interactions between grocery workers and the general population may undermine efforts to reduce person-to-person contact, and exacerbate the individual and city-wide risks associated with COVID-19 transmission. In response to a request from the city of Austin, we projected the epidemiological impacts of grocery work under different assumptions regarding the effectiveness of precautionary measures taken by workers and shoppers in grocery stores. To do so, we modified the Austin-Round Rock module of our US COVID-19 Pandemic Model to explicitly include a population subgroup representing grocery workers and contacts that occur between members of the general public and grocery workers in stores. As a base case scenario, we assumed that grocery workers would maintain typical workforce contact rates, estimated as twice the average workplace contacts for 18-49 year olds in the general population. Our analysis suggests that grocery shopping can considerably increase the community-wide risk of COVID-19 and that both shoppers and workers can and should do their part to protect themselves and others from transmission in stores. Furthermore, the risk of COVID-19 hospitalizations within the population of grocery workers is expected to be much higher than that in the non-working 18-49 year old population.Integrative Biolog

A partnership in Nebraska with the Humane Society

Perhaps service-learning continues to grow as an effective pedagogy in colleges of education because it offers everyone involved an opportunity to put words into action. With the news full of stories of bullying and school shootings, teachers and teacher candidates look for someone to help them make sense of what feels to be a growing trend of cruelty. Perhaps it is a natural reaction for teachers to want to do something positive in the face of brutality. Perhaps our wanting to be proactive corresponds to whatever drew us to education in the first place. Regardless of the cause, four literacy professors used the vehicle of service-learning to challenge their graduate and undergraduate students to consider issues of bullying, brutality and cruelty