Power poses – where do we stand?

<p>Dynamic results for Scenario 2.</p

PALEOMAGNETIC ANALYSIS OF THE FLYNN CREEK AND WELLS CREEK IMPACT STRUCTURES, TENNESSEE, U.S.A.

The Flynn Creek impact structure consists of a 3.8-km circular feature that contains deformed Ordovician through Devonian limestones and dolomites. The age of this structure is stratigraphically constrained by the Ordovician Knox Group and the overlying undeformed late Devonian through Mississippian Chattanooga Shale. Paleomagnetic samples were collected from deformed Flynn Creek Breccia, a fallback breccia from the inside of the structure. Stepwise thermal demagnetization and alternating field demagnetization of tilted limestone samples reveals a characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) with southeasterly declinations and moderate down inclinations, with maximum unblocking temperatures of 440°C—the ChRM resides in magnetite. The calculated pole position is 36.7°N, 131.3°E (dp = 5.8°, dm = 11.5°) which lies on the late Carboniferous to early Permian portion of the apparent polar wander path (APWP) for North America. The Wells Creek impact structure consists of a 12-km circular feature that contains deformed Ordovician through Mississippian limestones and dolomites. The age of this structure is stratigraphically constrained by the Ordovician Knox Group and the overlaying undeformed Cretaceous Tuscaloosa Gravel (200Ma +/- 100Ma). Paleomagnetic samples were collected from deformed Fort Payne Limestone and Warsaw Limestone, fallback breccias from the southern rim of the structure. Stepwise thermal demagnetization and alternating field demagnetization of tilted limestone samples reveals a ChRM with southeasterly declinations and moderate down inclinations (declination = 152°, inclination = 18.5°, k = 105.7, and a95 = 6.5), with maximum unblocking temperatures of 440°C—the ChRM resides in magnetite. The pole lies at 37.1°N, 127.9°E (dp = 3.5°, dm = 6.8°) which lies on the late Carboniferous to early Permian portion of the apparent polar wander path (APWP) for North America. The ChRM that resides in both of these structures was imparted from the same origin and is the result of a regional remagnetization event associated with the Alleghenian Orogeny. The age of the Flynn Creek impact structure was not further constrained through paleomagnetic tests; although the Wells Creek impact structure now has an upper constraint at the late Carboniferous to early Permian. The ChRM is interpreted as a chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) imparted by the influx of heated orogenic brines into these structures and is carried in secondary magnetite formed by alteration of pyrite. Although there are other possible mechanisms for remagnetization, the lack of deep burial and evidence of alteration in petrographic study indicate that this magnetization was the result of hydrothermal fluid activity

Determinants of the diurnal course of salivary alpha-amylase

Objective: Previous data from our group and others have shown that salivary alpha-amylase activity increases in response to stress. It has been suggested that salivary alpha-amylase may be a marker for adrenergic activity. Less is known about other determinants of salivary alpha-amylase activation. The objective of the current study was to describe the diurnal pattern of salivary amylase and its determinants.Methods: Saliva samples were collected immediately after waking-up, 30 and 60 min later, and each full hour between 0900 and 2000 h by 76 healthy volunteers (44 women, 32 men). Compliance was controlled by electronic monitors. In order to control factors which might influence the diurnal profile of salivary alpha-amylase (such as momentary stress, mood, food, or body activity), at each sampling time point the subjects filled out a diary examining the activities they had carried out during the previous hour.Results: Salivary alpha-amylase activity shows a distinct diurnal profile pattern with a pronounced decrease within 60 min after awakening and a steady increase of activity during the course of the day. Mixed models showed a relative independence of diurnal salivary alpha-amylase from momentary stress and other factors, but significant associations with chronic stress and mood.Conclusions: Our results suggest that diurnal profiles of salivary alpha-amylase are relatively robust against momentary influences and therefore may prove useful in the assessment of sympathetic nervous system activity. The findings underscore the need to control for time of day in studies using salivary alpha-amylase as a dependent variable

Primary-school-based art therapy: exploratory study of changes in children’s social, emotional and mental health

AIM: This exploratory mixed methods study aimed to inform future research by investigating if teachers and children from one primary school perceived any changes in children’s social, emotional and mental health difficulties following art therapy and if so, what the children perceived as helpful about the sessions. METHODS: The study included 45 children and 10 class teachers within one UK primary school. The researchers analysed routine questionnaires from teachers and a children's evaluation interviews, triangulating these with data from a teacher focus group. RESULTS: The findings show significant and medium effect sizes for positive teacher-rated changes in children’s overall stress, conduct, hyperactivity, and procsocial behaviour and a large effect on perceived impact of children’s difficulties on their lives. Teacher-rated emotional distress and peer problems showed small changes that did not reach statistical significance. The positive changes were corroborated by the teachers' and children's qualitative reports. Aspects of art therapy which children found particularly helpful were; making and thinking about art; expressing, thinking and learning about thoughts and feelings; and sessions being fun. CONCLUSION: The study highlighted perceived positive changes and no negative changes in children’s SEMH difficulties. However, future research is necessary to examine clinical effectiveness. Plain-language summary In this article we describe a research study which aimed to explore if teachers and children perceived any changes to children’s social, emotional or mental health difficulties after the children attended art therapy within their primary school. We were also interested in learning from the children if they thought anything in particular had been helpful about their art therapy sessions in order to inform future research and the development of this particular approach to art therapy. The art therapists asked the class teachers to fill out a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires at the beginning and end of art therapy. The class teachers also attended a focus group so we could learn more about their general observations of the children before and after attending art therapy. The art therapists also interviewed the children to learn if they perceived any changes since coming to art therapy and if so, what in particular they thought had helped bring about these changes. We found that statistical analysis of the questionnaire scores mostly agreed with what the teachers and children said and that there was generally some positive change to the social, emotional and mental health difficulties the children had been experiencing. The teachers also let us know that some of the children still had residual problems. The children emphasised that making and thinking about art along with expressing, thinking and learning about thoughts and feelings had been particularly helpful. It was also important to the children that the sessions were fun. In conclusion, the teachers and children in this primary school perceived art therapy as helpful to the children and that it merits further research in order to develop the approach used by the art therapists and to see if it is effective in larger research studies including more children, schools and art therapists

Neurobiology Youth Follow-up Study: protocol to establish a longitudinal and prospective research database using multimodal assessments for current and past mental health treatment-seeking young people within an early intervention service

Introduction Approximately 75% of major mental illness occurs before the age of 25 years. Despite this, our capacity to provide effective, early and personalised interventions is limited by insufficient evidence for characterising early-stage, and less specific, presentations of major mental disorders in youth populations. This article describes the protocol for setting up a large-scale database that will collect longitudinal, prospective data that incorporate clinical, social and occupational function, neuropsychological, circadian, metabolic, family history and genetic metrics. By collecting data in a research-purposed, standardised manner, the ‘Neurobiology Youth Follow-up Study’ should improve identification, characterisation and profiling of youth attending mental healthcare, to better inform diagnosis and treatment at critical time points. The overall goal is enhanced long-term clinical and functional outcomes.Methods and analysis This longitudinal clinical cohort study will invite participation from youth (12–30 years) who seek help for mental health-related issues at an early intervention service (headspace Camperdown) and linked services. Participants will be prospectively tracked over 3 years with a series of standardised multimodal assessments at baseline, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. Evaluations will include: (1) clinician-administered and self-report assessments determining clinical stage, pathophysiological pathways to illness, diagnosis, symptomatology, social and occupational function; (2) neuropsychological profile; (3) sleep–wake patterns and circadian rhythms; (4) metabolic markers and (5) genetics. These data will be used to: (1) model the impact of demographic, phenomenological and treatment variables, on clinical and functional outcomes; (2) map neurobiological profiles and changes onto a transdiagnostic clinical stage and pathophysiological mechanisms framework.Ethics and dissemination This study protocol has been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Sydney Local Health District (2020/ETH01272, protocol V.1.3, 14 October 2020). Research findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and presentations at scientific conferences and to user and advocacy groups. Participant data will be de-identified

Evaluation of linkage of bipolar affective disorder to chromosome 18 in a sample of 57 German families

Previously reported linkage of bipolar affective disorder to DNA markers on chromosome 18 was reexamined in a large sample of German bipolar families. Twenty-three short tandem repeat markers were investigated in 57 families containing 103 individuals with bipolar I disorder (BPI), 26 with bipolar II disorder (BPII), nine with schizoaffective disorder of the bipolar type (SA/BP), and 38 individuals with recurrent unipolar depression (UPR). Evidence for linkage was tested with parametric and non-parametric methods under two definitions of the affected phenotype. Analysis of all 57 families revealed no robust evidence for linkage. Following previous reports we performed separate analyses after subdividing the families with respect to the sex of the transmitting parent. Fourteen families were classified as paternal and 12 families as maternal. In 31 families the parental lineage of transmission of the disease could not be determined ('either' families). Evidence for linkage was obtained for chromosomal region 18p11.2 in the paternal families and for 18q22-23 in the 'either' families. The findings on 18p11.2 and 18q22-23 support prior evidence for susceptibility loci in these regions. The parent-of-origin effect on 18p11.2 is confirmed in our sample. The delineation of characteristics of 'either' families requires further study