Effectiveness of late-life depression interventions on functional limitations:A systematic review

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders in older adults and leads to considerable decreases in health, well-being, and impaired functioning. Intervention studies have focused on the effects on symptomatic recovery, and most do not include functional recovery as an outcome. Reduction of functional limitations as a treatment goal in old-age psychiatry aligns with the values of older persons. The objective of this review was therefore to evaluate the effectiveness of late-life depression interventions on functional limitations. This systematic review identified 15 randomized controlled trials in which the effectiveness of different interventions on functional limitations was evaluated in patients with late-life depression. The interventions were categorized into four categories: psychological interventions, drug treatment, physical exercise, and collaborative care. Multicomponent and collaborative-care interventions appear to be the most promising for improvement of functional limitations, particularly in primary care and community-dwelling populations of older persons with symptoms of depression. There is, however, a lack of evidence regarding studies in specialized mental health care

UC Cooperative Extension sensory analysis panel enhances the quality of California olive oil

California’s olive oil industry has evolved from primarily a salvage operation of the table olive industry to a producer of world-class, premium, extra-virgin olive oil. In 1997, UC Cooperative Extension started the first California olive oil taste panel, which was officially recognized by the International Olive Council in 2001. Specific protocols were used to screen potential panelists and train them to identify defects and positive characteristics, identical to 43 other world taste panels. The UCCE panel helped the California Olive Oil Council develop a seal certification program using sensory analysis. Certification provides consumers with assurance that labeled oils are free of defects and warrant the “extra virgin” grade. Sensory evaluation using a unique UCCE profile sheet provides complete and detailed information about specific positive flavor characteristics of olive cultivars grown in California. The UCCE sensory panel has also contributed to a better understanding of the qualities of California olive oil and advancement of the industry by participating in research on pest management, cultural practices and processing

Symptomatic and functional recovery in depression in later life

Objectives: Functional limitations give an indication of the total impact of diseases, such as depression, on individuals health and recovery. This study examines the change in several domains of functioning over 2 years in older persons depressed at baseline (non-remitted group and remitted group after 2 years) and in a non-depressed comparison group. Methods: Data were used from a cohort study (Netherlands Study of Depression in Older persons [NESDO]) consisting of depressed older persons ≥ 60 years (N = 378) and a non-depressed comparison group (N = 132) with 2 years of follow-up (attrition rate 24%). Functional limitations (outcome) were assessed with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) questionnaire every 6 months. Total scores and domain scores were used. Depression was classified according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria at baseline and at 2-year follow-up. Severity of depression (predictor) was assessed with the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS) at 6-month intervals. Results: Linear mixed models showed that the level of functional limitations differed between the three groups during 2 years of follow-up. The non-remitted group had the highest level of functional limitations during 2 years, followed by the remitted group. Stable low levels of functional limitations were found for the non-depressed group. Remission from depression was accompanied by improvements in functioning, however, compared to the non-depressed comparison group significant functional limitations remained. Higher severity of depression appeared as risk factor for a declining course of functioning, especially the social aspects of functioning. Methodological considerations: Participants that were more severely depressed and more functionally impaired at baseline had higher attrition rates than the participants that were included in the analytical sample. Conclusion: This study showed that depression in later life has long-term debilitating effects on functioning, enduring even after remission from depression. This implies that depression treatment in later life should aim broader than just symptomatic recovery, but also include functional recovery

Understanding the seasonal and reproductive biology of olive fruit fly is critical to its management

The olive fruit fly was first detected in Los Angeles in 1998 and in all the olive-growing regions of California soon after. Following its initial detection, UC researchers and Cooperative Extension farm advisors, county agricultural commissioners and the California Department of Food and Agriculture Pest Detection and Emergency Project established a statewide monitoring program to determine the extent of the olive fruit fly’s occurrence, track its seasonal biology and evaluate monitoring tools. Fly populations and infestations can reach high levels throughout California but tend to be lower in the San Joaquin Valley. Trap captures typically exhibit a bimodal distribution with peaks in the spring and fall. Olive infestation is related to fly densities, climate and fruit size. Gravid, mated females vary in density throughout the year but are present at some level year-round. The data is being used to develop models that will better predict when the adults are active and olives are at risk

Transverse spin effects in hadron-pair production from semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering

First measurements of azimuthal asymmetries in hadron-pair production in deep-inelastic scattering of muons on transversely polarised ^6LiD (deuteron) and NH_3 (proton) targets are presented. The data were taken in the years 2002-2004 and 2007 with the COMPASS spectrometer using a muon beam of 160 GeV/c at the CERN SPS. The asymmetries provide access to the transversity distribution functions, without involving the Collins effect as in single hadron production. The sizeable asymmetries measured on the NH_ target indicate non-vanishing u-quark transversity and two-hadron interference fragmentation functions. The small asymmetries measured on the ^6LiD target can be interpreted as indication for a cancellation of u- and d-quark transversities.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, updated to the published versio

Invariant-mass and fractional-energy dependence of inclusive production of di-hadrons in e+e−e^+e^- annihilation at s=\sqrt{s}= 10.58 GeV

The inclusive cross sections for di-hadrons of charged pions and kaons ($e^+e^- \rightarrow hhX$) in electron-positron annihilation are reported. They are obtained as a function of the total fractional energy and invariant mass for any di-hadron combination in the same hemisphere as defined by the thrust event-shape variable and its axis. Since same-hemisphere di-hadrons can be assumed to originate predominantly from the same initial parton, di-hadron fragmentation functions are probed. These di-hadron fragmentation functions are needed as an unpolarized baseline in order to quantitatively understand related spin-dependent measurements in other processes and to apply them to the extraction of quark transversity distribution functions in the nucleon. The di-hadron cross sections are obtained from a $655\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ data sample collected at or near the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures plus 25 figures in supplemental material, submitted to PR

Observation of D0→ρ0γD^0\to \rho^0\gamma and search for CPCP violation in radiative charm decays

We report the first observation of the radiative charm decay $D^0 \to \rho^0 \gamma$ and the first search for $CP$ violation in decays $D^0 \to \rho^0 \gamma$, $\phi\gamma$, and $\overline{K}{}^{*0} \gamma$, using a data sample of 943 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. The branching fraction is measured to be $\mathcal{B}(D^0 \to \rho^0 \gamma)=(1.77 \pm 0.30 \pm 0.07) \times 10^{-5}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The obtained $CP$ asymmetries, $\mathcal{A}_{CP}(D^0 \to \rho^0 \gamma)=+0.056 \pm 0.152 \pm 0.006$, $\mathcal{A}_{CP}(D^0 \to \phi \gamma)=-0.094 \pm 0.066 \pm 0.001$, and $\mathcal{A}_{CP}(D^0 \to \overline{K}{}^{*0} \gamma)=-0.003 \pm 0.020 \pm 0.000$, are consistent with no $CP$ violation. We also present an improved measurement of the branching fractions $\mathcal{B}(D^0 \to \phi \gamma)=(2.76 \pm 0.19 \pm 0.10) \times 10^{-5}$ and $\mathcal{B}(D^0 \to \overline{K}{}^{*0} \gamma)=(4.66 \pm 0.21 \pm 0.21) \times 10^{-4}$