Inhibitory control of positive and negative information and adolescent depressive symptoms:a population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Large population-based cohort studies of neuropsychological factors that characterise or precede depressive symptoms are rare. Most studies use small case-control or cross-sectional designs, which may cause selection bias and cannot test temporality. In a large UK population-based cohort, we investigated cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between inhibitory control of positive and negative information and adolescent depressive symptoms.METHODS: Cohort study of 2328 UK adolescents who completed an affective go/no-go task at age 18. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Clinical Interview Schedule Revised (CIS-R) and short Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (sMFQ) at age 18, and with the sMFQ 1 year later (age 19). Analyses were multilevel and traditional linear regressions, before and after adjusting for confounders.RESULTS: Cross-sectionally, we found little evidence that adolescents with more depressive symptoms made more inhibitory control errors [after adjustments, errors increased by 0.04% per 1 s.d. increase in sMFQ score (95% confidence interval 0.02-0.06)], but this association was not observed for the CIS-R. There was no evidence for an influence of valence. Longitudinally, there was no evidence that reduced inhibitory control was associated with future depressive symptoms.CONCLUSIONS: Inhibitory control of positive and negative information does not appear to be a marker of current or future depressive symptoms in adolescents and would not be a useful target in interventions to prevent adolescent depression. Our lack of convincing evidence for associations with depressive symptoms suggests that the affective go/no-go task is not a promising candidate for future neuroimaging studies of adolescent depression.</p

Inhibitory control of positive and negative information and adolescent depressive symptoms:a population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Large population-based cohort studies of neuropsychological factors that characterise or precede depressive symptoms are rare. Most studies use small case-control or cross-sectional designs, which may cause selection bias and cannot test temporality. In a large UK population-based cohort, we investigated cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between inhibitory control of positive and negative information and adolescent depressive symptoms. METHODS: Cohort study of 2328 UK adolescents who completed an affective go/no-go task at age 18. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Clinical Interview Schedule Revised (CIS-R) and short Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (sMFQ) at age 18, and with the sMFQ 1 year later (age 19). Analyses were multilevel and traditional linear regressions, before and after adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: Cross-sectionally, we found little evidence that adolescents with more depressive symptoms made more inhibitory control errors [after adjustments, errors increased by 0.04% per 1 s.d. increase in sMFQ score (95% confidence interval 0.02-0.06)], but this association was not observed for the CIS-R. There was no evidence for an influence of valence. Longitudinally, there was no evidence that reduced inhibitory control was associated with future depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Inhibitory control of positive and negative information does not appear to be a marker of current or future depressive symptoms in adolescents and would not be a useful target in interventions to prevent adolescent depression. Our lack of convincing evidence for associations with depressive symptoms suggests that the affective go/no-go task is not a promising candidate for future neuroimaging studies of adolescent depression

Touchscreen task efficiency and learnability in an electronic medical record at the point-of-care.

The objective of this study was to determine the relative efficiency of novices compared to a prediction of skilled use when performing tasks using the touchscreen interface of an EMR developed in Malawi. We observed novice users performing touchscreen tasks and recorded timestamp data from their performances. Using a predictive human performance modeling tool, the authors predicted the skilled task performance time for each task. Efficiency and rates of error were evaluated with respect to user interface design. Nineteen participants performed 31 EMR tasks seven times for a total of 4,123 observed performances. We analyzed twelve representative tasks leaving 1,596 performances featuring six user interface designs. Mean novice performance time was significantly slower than mean predicted skilled performance time (p<0.001). However, novices performed faster than the predicted skilled level in 208 (13%) of successful task performances. These findings suggest the user interface design supports a primary design goal of the EMR--to allow novice users to perform tasks efficiently and effectively

African rainforests: past, present and future

In recent decades, there has been a surge of interest in tropical forests, as there is increased appreciation of the rich biodiversity they host and the many roles they play in the functioning of the Earth system at local, regional and global scales. Of the world’s major tropical forest regions, most research and policy attention has focused on the Amazon region, the world’s largest tropical forest bloc, and to a lesser extent on South East Asia, the third largest tropical forest region. By contrast, the world’s second largest tropical forest region, the tropical forests of Central and West Africa (termed the Guineo-Congolian region) have been relatively neglected. This has been for a number of reasons, including challenging and fragmented politics, civil conflicts and logistical as well as infrastructure challenges. Nevertheless, there is an extensive amount of research activity in the African rainforest zone that has rarely been compiled in a single interdisciplinary volume. This review paper synthesizes the insights emerging from the theme issue on ‘African rainforests: past, present and future’ of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

The past, present and future of Africa's rainforests

The Africanwet tropics contain the second largest area of tropical rainforest in the world (second only toAmazonia), accounting for roughly 30% of global rainforest cover, the lush green heart of an otherwise generally dry continent. These rainforests have global significance and value as reservoirs of biodiversity, as stores and sinks of atmospheric carbon, as regulators of flow of mighty rivers, as sources of moisture to the atmosphere and engines of the global atmospheric circulation, as a key component of the Earth system and its biogeochemical cycles, and as providers of resources and ecosystem services to local communities and the region’s nations. They also have a unique and particular history of changes in climate and human pressure, and face a range of contemporary pressures. Over the twenty-first century, the African rainforest realmhas the potential to witness massive change, both through an expansion of deforestation, hunting and logging, and through the effects of global climate change. This Theme Issue presents a multidisciplinary perspective on the nature and ecology of the African rainforest biome, and examines the current pressures and future threats to this biome. Compared with the other major rainforest regions, Amazonia and Southeast Asia, the African rainforest realm remains understudied, and in particular there have been very few attempts at interdisciplinary synthesis. This Theme Issue is an attempt to address this deficit, and explores what we know about the African rainforests and the threats they face, and what we need to know is this century of rapid change. In some ways, this can be viewed as a complement to similar Theme Issues of this journal focused on the rainforests of Amazonia [1,2] and Southeast Asia [3].JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

“I see it everywhere...” young people’s exposure to sexual content in social media: a qualitative study of Australian adolescents’ social media use

Background: Surveys suggest over 40% of young people 13-16 years have seen some form of sexual content online in the past 12 months. There is little research exploring the pathways through which exposure occurs or descriptions of such content. While there is much public concern regarding exposure to sexual content, Australian students receive little or no education on mitigating the impact of sexual content online. Methods: We conducted focus groups with high school students in an aim to discover young people’s experience of exposure to sexual content in social media. In this paper we describe these pathways to sexual content exposure, the nature of the sexual content young people are exposed to and their views about this exposure. Results: Focus groups found that exposure to sexual content through social media occurred through networks of ‘friends’ or followers, or paid-for advertising. Content ranged from subtle messages/photos to explicit pornographic pictures/videos. Young people described much of their exposure was unwanted. Conclusions: Exposure to sexual content, no matter the scope and intensity, is almost unavoidable among young people who use social media. Utilising this information to educate young people on mitigating the impact of sexual content, rather than trying to prevent young people from viewing it, could be a more effective approach

Regeneración de las células ciliadas auditivas: Un tratamiento potencial para los problemas de oído en el horizonte

Hearing requires good health of the hair cells to ensure that the sound is detected and processed correctly. They degenerate and die due to age or exposition to high intensity sound, among other causes, and usually they do not regenerate. Some research results about possible regeneration of cochlear hair cells that suggest the possibility of treatment for hearing impairment due to this disease are presented in this paper..La audición requiere de la buena salud de las células ciliadas (vello) para garantizar que el sonido se detecte y procese correctamente. Éstas se degeneran y mueren con la edad o por la exposición a sonido intenso, entre otras causas, y normalmente no se regeneran. Se presentan algunos resultados de la investigación sobre la posible regeneración de las células ciliadas cocleares que sugieren que existe la posibilidad de un tratamiento para la discapacidad auditiva debida a esta enfermedad

Supramolecular aggregation in dithia-arsoles: chlorides, cations and N-centred paddlewheels

The benzo-fused dithia-chloro-arsole derivative C6H4S2AsCl (1) is found to crystallise in the triclinic space group P[1 with combining macron] with 17 molecules in the asymmetric unit whereas the tolyl derivative, MeC6H3S2AsCl (2) is polymorphic with the α-phase crystallising in the monoclinic space group P21/c with a single molecule in the asymmetric unit and the β-phase adopting a triclinic structure with two molecules in the asymmetric unit. Reaction of these dithia-chloro-arsole derivatives with LiN(SiMe3)2 in a 3 : 1 mole ratio afforded the unique paddlewheel structure (MeC6H4S2As)3N (4)

Interactive Voice Response-An Innovative Approach to Post-Stroke Depression Self-Management Support

Automated interactive voice response (IVR) call systems can provide systematic monitoring and self-management support to depressed patients, but it is unknown if stroke patients are able and willing to engage in IVR interactions. We sought to assess the feasibility and acceptability of IVR as an adjunct to post-stroke depression follow-up care. The CarePartner program is a mobile health program designed to optimize depression self-management, facilitate social support from a caregiver, and strengthen connections between stroke survivors and primary care providers (PCPs). Ischemic stroke patients and an informal caregiver, if available, were recruited during the patient's acute stroke hospitalization or follow-up appointment. The CarePartner program was activated in patients with depressive symptoms during their stroke hospitalization or follow-up. The 3-month intervention consisted of weekly IVR calls monitoring both depressive symptoms and medication adherence along with tailored suggestions for depressive symptom self-management. After each completed IVR call, informal caregivers were automatically updated, and, if needed, the subject's PCP was notified. Of the 56 stroke patients who enrolled, depressive symptoms were identified in 13 (23 %) subjects. Subjects completed 74 % of the weekly IVR assessments. A total of six subjects did not complete the outcome assessment, including two non-study-related deaths. PCPs were notified five times, including two times for suicidal ideation and three times for medication non-adherence. Stroke patients with depressive symptoms were able to engage in an IVR call system. Future studies are needed to explore the efficacy of an IVR approach for post-stroke self-management and monitoring of stroke-related outcomes