Efficacy and acceptability of a pilot dietary intervention focusing on self-compassion, goal-setting and self-monitoring.

OBJECTIVE:Overweight and obesity are universal health challenges. Recent evidence emphasises the potential benefits of addressing psychological factors associated with obesity in dietary programmes. This pilot study investigated the efficacy and acceptability of a combined online and face-to-face dietary intervention that used self-compassion, goal-setting and self-monitoring to improve dietary behaviour, as well as psychological factors associated with dietary behaviour. DESIGN:Embedded mixed methods including a 4-week before-after trial and a one-on-one interview. Quantitative outcomes of the study were the levels of self-compassion; eating pathology; depression, anxiety and stress; and dietary intake. Qualitative outcomes were participants' perceptions about the acceptability of the intervention. SETTING:UNSW Kensington campus. PARTICIPANTS:Fourteen participants with overweight and obesity aged between 18 and 55 years old. RESULTS:Results showed that the intervention significantly improved self-compassion and some aspects of dietary intake (e.g. decrease in energy intake) at Week Four compared with Week Zero. Some aspects of eating pathology also significantly decreased (e.g. Eating Concern). However, changes in self-compassion over the 4 weeks did not significantly predict Week Four study outcomes, except for level of stress. Most participants found self-compassion, goal-setting and self-monitoring to be essential for dietary behaviour change. However, participants also indicated that an online programme needed to be efficient, simple and interactive. CONCLUSIONS:In conclusion, the current study provides preliminary but promising findings of an effective and acceptable combined online and face-to-face intervention that used self-compassion, goal-setting and self-monitoring to improve dietary habits. However, the results need to be examined in future long-term randomised controlled trials

A COMPARISON OF HANFORD AND SAVANNAH RIVER SITE HIGH-LEVEL WASTES

This study is a simple comparison of high-level waste from plutonium production stored in tanks at the Hanford and Savannah River sites. Savannah River principally used the PUREX process for plutonium separation. Hanford used the PUREX, Bismuth Phosphate, and REDOX processes, and reprocessed many wastes for recovery of uranium and fission products. Thus, Hanford has 55 distinct waste types, only 17 of which could be at Savannah River. While Hanford and Savannah River wastes both have high concentrations of sodium nitrate, caustic, iron, and aluminum, Hanford wastes have higher concentrations of several key constituents. The factors by which average concentrations are higher in Hanford salt waste than in Savannah River waste are 67 for {sup 241}Am, 4 for aluminum, 18 for chromium, 10 for fluoride, 8 for phosphate, 6 for potassium, and 2 for sulfate. The factors by which average concentrations are higher in Hanford sludges than in Savannah River sludges are 3 for chromium, 19 for fluoride, 67 for phosphate, and 6 for zirconium. Waste composition differences must be considered before a waste processing method is selected: A method may be applicable to one site but not to the other

Hard X-ray lags in active galactic nuclei: Testing the distant reverberation hypothesis with NGC 6814

We present an X-ray spectral and temporal analysis of the variable active galaxy NGC 6814, observed with Suzaku during November 2011. Remarkably, the X-ray spectrum shows no evidence for the soft excess commonly observed amongst other active galaxies, despite its relatively low level of obscuration, and is dominated across the whole Suzaku bandpass by the intrinsic powerlaw-like continuum. Despite this, we clearly detect the presence of a low frequency hard lag of ~1600s between the 0.5-2.0 and 2.0-5.0 keV energy bands at greater than 6-sigma significance, similar to those reported in the literature for a variety of other AGN. At these energies, any additional emission from e.g. a very weak, undetected soft excess, or from distant reflection must contribute less than 3% of the observed countrates (at 90% confidence). Given the lack of any significant continuum emission component other than the powerlaw, we can rule out models that invoke distant reprocessing for the observed lag behavior, which must instead be associated with this continuum emission. These results are fully consistent with a propagating fluctuation origin for the low frequency hard lags, and with the interpretation of the high frequency soft lags - a common feature seen in the highest quality AGN data with strong soft excesses - as reverberation from the inner accretion disk

The influence of the atmospheric boundary layer on nocturnal layers of noctuids and other moths migrating over southern Britain

Insects migrating at high altitude over southern Britain have been continuously monitored by automatically-operating, vertical-looking radars over a period of several years. During some occasions in the summer months, the migrants were observed to form well-defined layer concentrations, typically at heights of 200-400 m, in the stable night-time atmosphere. Under these conditions, insects are likely to have control over their vertical movements and are selecting flight heights which are favourable for long-range migration. We therefore investigated the factors influencing the formation of these insect layers by comparing radar measurements of the vertical distribution of insect density with meteorological profiles generated by the UK Met. Office’s Unified Model (UM). Radar-derived measurements of mass and displacement speed, along with data from Rothamsted Insect Survey light traps provided information on the identity of the migrants. We present here three case studies where noctuid and pyralid moths contributed substantially to the observed layers. The major meteorological factors influencing the layer concentrations appeared to be: (a) the altitude of the warmest air, (b) heights corresponding to temperature preferences or thresholds for sustained migration and (c), on nights when air temperatures are relatively high, wind-speed maxima associated with the nocturnal jet. Back-trajectories indicated that layer duration may have been determined by the distance to the coast. Overall, the unique combination of meteorological data from the UM and insect data from entomological radar described here show considerable promise for systematic studies of high-altitude insect layering

Does publication bias inflate the apparent efficacy of psychological treatment for major depressive disorder? A systematic review and meta-analysis of US national institutes of health-funded trials

Background The efficacy of antidepressant medication has been shown empirically to be overestimated due to publication bias, but this has only been inferred statistically with regard to psychological treatment for depression. We assessed directly the extent of study publication bias in trials examining the efficacy of psychological treatment for depression. Methods and Findings We identified US National Institutes of Health grants awarded to fund randomized clinical trials comparing psychological treatment to control conditions or other treatments in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder for the period 1972–2008, and we determined whether those grants led to publications. For studies that were not published, data were requested from investigators and included in the meta-analyses. Thirteen (23.6%) of the 55 funded grants that began trials did not result in publications, and two others never started. Among comparisons to control conditions, adding unpublished studies (Hedges’ g = 0.20; CI95% -0.11~0.51; k = 6) to published studies (g = 0.52; 0.37~0.68; k = 20) reduced the psychotherapy effect size point estimate (g = 0.39; 0.08~0.70) by 25%. Moreover, these findings may overestimate the "true" effect of psychological treatment for depression as outcome reporting bias could not be examined quantitatively. Conclusion The efficacy of psychological interventions for depression has been overestimated in the published literature, just as it has been for pharmacotherapy. Both are efficacious but not to the extent that the published literature would suggest. Funding agencies and journals should archive both original protocols and raw data from treatment trials to allow the detection and correction of outcome reporting bias. Clinicians, guidelines developers, and decision makers should be aware that the published literature overestimates the effects of the predominant treatments for depression

Silica burial enhanced by iron limitation in oceanic upwelling margins

In large swaths of the ocean, primary production by diatoms may be limited by the availability of silica, which in turn limits the biological uptake of carbon dioxide. The burial of biogenic silica in the form of opal is the main sink of marine silicon. Opal burial occurs in equal parts in iron-limited open-ocean provinces and upwelling margins, especially the eastern Pacific upwelling zone. However, it is unclear why opal burial is so efficient in this margin. Here we measure fluxes of biogenic material, concentrations of diatom-bound iron and silicon isotope ratios using sediment traps and a sediment core from the Gulf of California upwelling margin. In the sediment trap material, we find that periods of intense upwelling are associated with transient iron limitation that results in a high export of silica relative to organic carbon. A similar correlation between enhanced silica burial and iron limitation is evident in the sediment core, which spans the past 26,000 years. A global compilation also indicates that hotspots of silicon burial in the ocean are all characterized by high silica to organic carbon export ratios, a diagnostic trait for diatoms growing under iron stress. We therefore propose that prevailing conditions of silica limitation in the ocean are largely caused by iron deficiency imposing an indirect constraint on oceanic carbon uptake

Psychometric Properties of an Assessment for Mental Health Recovery Programs

The concept of recovery can be operationalized from either the point of view of the consumer, or from the perspective of the agency providing services. The Milestones of Recovery Scale (MORS) was created to capture aspects of recovery from the agency perspective. Evidence establishing the psychometric properties of the MORS was obtained in three efforts: Inter-rater reliability using staff at The Village, a multi-service organization serving the homeless mentally ill in Long Beach, California; inter-rater reliability was also obtained from Vinfen Corporation, a large provider of housing services to mentally ill persons in Boston, Massachusetts. A test–retest reliability study was conducted using staff rating of clients at The Village, and evidence for validity was obtained using the Level of Care Utilization System (LOCUS) as a validity measure. The intra-class correlation coefficient for the inter-rater reliability study was r = .85 (CI .81, .89) for The Village and r = .86 (CI .80, .90) for Vinfen Corporation; test–retest reliability was r = .85 (CI .81, .87); and validity coefficients for the LOCUS were at or above r = .49 for all subscales except one. There is sufficient evidence for the reliability and validity of the MORS

Accreting Black Holes

This chapter provides a general overview of the theory and observations of black holes in the Universe and on their interpretation. We briefly review the black hole classes, accretion disk models, spectral state classification, the AGN classification, and the leading techniques for measuring black hole spins. We also introduce quasi-periodic oscillations, the shadow of black holes, and the observations and the theoretical models of jets.Comment: 41 pages, 18 figures. To appear in "Tutorial Guide to X-ray and Gamma-ray Astronomy: Data Reduction and Analysis" (Ed. C. Bambi, Springer Singapore, 2020). v3: fixed some typos and updated some parts. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1711.1025

Combinations of β-lactam or aminoglycoside antibiotics with plectasin are synergistic against methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Bacterial infections remain the leading killer worldwide which is worsened by the continuous emergence of antibiotic resistance. In particular, methicillin-sensitive (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are prevalent and the latter can be difficult to treat. The traditional strategy of novel therapeutic drug development inevitably leads to emergence of resistant strains, rendering the new drugs ineffective. Therefore, rejuvenating the therapeutic potentials of existing antibiotics offers an attractive novel strategy. Plectasin, a defensin antimicrobial peptide, potentiates the activities of other antibiotics such as β-lactams, aminoglycosides and glycopeptides against MSSA and MRSA. We performed in vitro and in vivo investigations to test against genetically diverse clinical isolates of MSSA (n = 101) and MRSA (n = 115). Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined by the broth microdilution method. The effects of combining plectasin with β-lactams, aminoglycosides and glycopeptides were examined using the chequerboard method and time kill curves. A murine neutropenic thigh model and a murine peritoneal infection model were used to test the effect of combination in vivo. Determined by factional inhibitory concentration index (FICI), plectasin in combination with aminoglycosides (gentamicin, neomycin or amikacin) displayed synergistic effects in 76-78% of MSSA and MRSA. A similar synergistic response was observed when plectasin was combined with β-lactams (penicillin, amoxicillin or flucloxacillin) in 87-89% of MSSA and MRSA. Interestingly, no such interaction was observed when plectasin was paired with vancomycin. Time kill analysis also demonstrated significant synergistic activities when plectasin was combined with amoxicillin, gentamicin or neomycin. In the murine models, plectasin at doses as low as 8 mg/kg augmented the activities of amoxicillin and gentamicin in successful treatment of MSSA and MRSA infections. We demonstrated that plectasin strongly rejuvenates the therapeutic potencies of existing antibiotics in vitro and in vivo. This is a novel strategy that can have major clinical implications in our fight against bacterial infections

The Function and Organization of Lateral Prefrontal Cortex: A Test of Competing Hypotheses

The present experiment tested three hypotheses regarding the function and organization of lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). The first account (the information cascade hypothesis) suggests that the anterior-posterior organization of lateral PFC is based on the timing with which cue stimuli reduce uncertainty in the action selection process. The second account (the levels-of-abstraction hypothesis) suggests that the anterior-posterior organization of lateral PFC is based on the degree of abstraction of the task goals. The current study began by investigating these two hypotheses, and identified several areas of lateral PFC that were predicted to be active by both the information cascade and levels-of-abstraction accounts. However, the pattern of activation across experimental conditions was inconsistent with both theoretical accounts. Specifically, an anterior area of mid-dorsolateral PFC exhibited sensitivity to experimental conditions that, according to both accounts, should have selectively engaged only posterior areas of PFC. We therefore investigated a third possible account (the adaptive context maintenance hypothesis) that postulates that both posterior and anterior regions of PFC are reliably engaged in task conditions requiring active maintenance of contextual information, with the temporal dynamics of activity in these regions flexibly tracking the duration of maintenance demands. Activity patterns in lateral PFC were consistent with this third hypothesis: regions across lateral PFC exhibited transient activation when contextual information had to be updated and maintained in a trial-by-trial manner, but sustained activation when contextual information had to be maintained over a series of trials. These findings prompt a reconceptualization of current views regarding the anterior-posterior organization of lateral PFC, but do support other findings regarding the active maintenance role of lateral PFC in sequential working memory paradigms