A school-based universal programme to prevent depression and to build up life skills

Aim: To prevent the development and increase of depressive symptoms in adolescents by empowering adolescents to improve their life skills, to foster their realistic thinking, and to influence school behaviour. Subjects and methods: Vocational track students in grade 8 from the southwest of Germany participated either in a school-based universal prevention programme or a non-intervention control group (standard curriculum). The cognitive-behavioural programme LARS&LISA includes 10 sessions held in a regular school setting in same-gender groups. The programme is based on the social information-processing model of social competence (Dodge, Annual Review of Psychology 44:559-584, 1993) and consists of five basic elements: (1) formulation and setting of personal goals; (2) relationship between cognitions, emotions and behaviour; (3) exploration and change of dysfunctional cognitions; (4) training of social competence; (5) assertiveness training. Results: The programme is extensively evaluated in three studies and has shown positive effects on the participants’ social network, symptoms of depression and aggressive behaviour compared to teaching as usual. Conclusions: We have demonstrated that the programme can be successfully delivered to students in a higher vocational track of school (Realschule) by psychologists. Currently it is being evaluated in a lower vocational track of school (Hauptschule) by teachers and psychologists. With LARS&LISA we provide a prevention strategy that can be successfully delivered to a school-based population and integrated into classroom curriculum

Mechanical ventilation modulates TLR4 and IRAK-3 in a non-infectious, ventilator-induced lung injury model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous experimental studies have shown that injurious mechanical ventilation has a direct effect on pulmonary and systemic immune responses. How these responses are propagated or attenuated is a matter of speculation. The goal of this study was to determine the contribution of mechanical ventilation in the regulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling and interleukin-1 receptor associated kinase-3 (IRAK-3) during experimental ventilator-induced lung injury.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Prospective, randomized, controlled animal study using male, healthy adults Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 300-350 g. Animals were anesthetized and randomized to spontaneous breathing and to two different mechanical ventilation strategies for 4 hours: high tidal volume (V_T) (20 ml/kg) and low V_T(6 ml/kg). Histological evaluation, TLR2, TLR4, <it>IRAK3 </it>gene expression, IRAK-3 protein levels, inhibitory kappa B alpha (IκBα), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (<it>TNF-α</it>) and interleukin-6 (<it>IL6</it>) gene expression in the lungs and TNF-α and IL-6 protein serum concentrations were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>High V_Tmechanical ventilation for 4 hours was associated with a significant increase of TLR4 but not TLR2, a significant decrease of <it>IRAK3 </it>lung gene expression and protein levels, a significant decrease of IκBα, and a higher lung expression and serum concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The current study supports an interaction between TLR4 and IRAK-3 signaling pathway for the over-expression and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines during ventilator-induced lung injury. Our study also suggests that injurious mechanical ventilation may elicit an immune response that is similar to that observed during infections.</p

Micromechanical Properties of Injection-Molded Starch–Wood Particle Composites

The micromechanical properties of injection molded starch–wood particle composites were investigated as a function of particle content and humidity conditions. The composite materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. The microhardness of the composites was shown to increase notably with the concentration of the wood particles. In addition,creep behavior under the indenter and temperature dependence were evaluated in terms of the independent contribution of the starch matrix and the wood microparticles to the hardness value. The influence of drying time on the density and weight uptake of the injection-molded composites was highlighted. The results revealed the role of the mechanism of water evaporation, showing that the dependence of water uptake and temperature was greater for the starch–wood composites than for the pure starch sample. Experiments performed during the drying process at 70°C indicated that the wood in the starch composites did not prevent water loss from the samples.Peer reviewe

Bounds for Pach's Selection Theorem and for the Minimum Solid Angle in a Simplex

We estimate the selection constant in the following geometric selection theorem by Pach: For every positive integer d, there is a constant such that whenever are n-element subsets of , we can find a point and subsets for every , each of size at least , such that belongs to all rainbow d-simplices determined by , i.e., simplices with one vertex in each . We show a super-exponentially decreasing upper bound . The ideas used in the proof of the upper bound also help us to prove Pach's theorem with , which is a lower bound doubly exponentially decreasing in d (up to some polynomial in the exponent). For comparison, Pach's original approach yields a triply exponentially decreasing lower bound. On the other hand, Fox, Pach, and Suk recently obtained a hypergraph density result implying a proof of Pach's theorem with . In our construction for the upper bound, we use the fact that the minimum solid angle of every d-simplex is super-exponentially small. This fact was previously unknown and might be of independent interest. For the lower bound, we improve the 'separation' part of the argument by showing that in one of the key steps only separations are necessary, compared to separations in the original proof. We also provide a measure version of Pach's theorem

Teachers or Psychologists: Who Should Facilitate Depression Prevention Programs in Schools?

The current study evaluates a depression prevention program for adolescents led by psychologists vs. teachers in comparison to a control. The universal school-based prevention program has shown its efficacy in several studies when implemented by psychologists. The current study compares the effects of the program as implemented by teachers versus that implemented by psychologists under real-life conditions. A total of 646 vocational track 8th grade students from Germany participated either in a universal prevention program, led by teachers (n = 207) or psychologists (n = 213), or a teaching-as-usual control condition (n = 226). The design includes baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up (at 6 and 12 months post-intervention). The cognitive-behavioral program includes 10 sessions held in a regular school setting in same-gender groups and is based on the social information-processing model of social competence. Positive intervention effects were found on the change in girls’ depressive symptoms up to 12 months after program delivery when the program was implemented by psychologists. No such effects were found on boys or when program was delivered by teachers. The prevention program can successfully be implemented for girls by psychologists. Further research is needed for explanations of these effects

Automatic detection of small bowel contraction frequencies in motility plots using lomb-scargle periodogram and sinus-fitting method-initial experience

PURPOSE: Contraction frequencies are an important parameter for the analysis of bowel motility in MRI. The contraction curve can be rather noisy and the frequency-evaluation might be difficult. The aim was to evaluate manual calculations of small bowel contraction frequency in comparison with automatic calculations using two mathematically established methods. METHODS: The institutional-review-board approved study consisted of 48 segmental small-bowel motility-plots out of a previous study with 25 patients (15 men/10 women; mean 39 years, standard deviation ± 14.67) undergoing MRI (1.5 T, GE-Medical Systems; two-dimensional-Fiesta, pulse repetition time 2.91, echo time 1.25, flip-angle 45°, matrix 256 × 256, slice thickness 10 mm) were evaluated. Calculations of contraction frequency was performed either manually or using Lomb-Scargle-periodograms and Sinus-Fitting method. The results were compared using intraclass correlation coefficient, Friedman's-test and Wilcoxon-matched-paired-signed-rank-test (P < 0.05 considered statistically significant). RESULTS: Mean contraction frequency was 5.69 (standard deviation ± 1.99) for manual calculations showing moderate interreader reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.72; 95% confidence-interval: 0.59;0.82). No significant difference (P = 0.776) was found to Lomb-Scargle-periodograms (5.34 contractions-per-minute [cpm], standard deviation ± 2.47; P = 0.174) and to the sinus-fitting-method (5.47 cpm; standard deviation ± 2.57; P = 0.0779). For the latter calculations failed in 3/48 plots, while manual and Lomb-Scargle-periodograms could be performed successfully in all 48/48 plots. CONCLUSION: Herein, we could show that Lomb-Scargle-periodograms and Sinus-Fitting are fast and reliable methods to automatically measure small-bowel contraction frequencies even in noisy small bowel motility plots