A reply to Gallagher, O'Donnell, Minescu, & Muldoon's commentary on 'The effects of identification with a support group on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis'

We wish to thank Gallagher and his colleagues for their kind words and insightful comments regarding our recent paper on the effects of identification with a support group on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis. We too agree that this is an important area of research that is worthy of much future study. Below we provide a brief discussion of each of the three comments that Gallagher and colleagues made about our paper

Electroencephalographic changes in sleep during acute and subacute phases after sports-related concussion

PURPOSE : Little is known about sleep after a concussion, a form of mild traumatic brain injury. Given the importance of sleep for both maintaining brain health and recovery from injury, we sought to examine sleep acutely and subacutely after concussion. METHODS : Athletes who experienced a sports-related concussion were invited to participate. Participants underwent overnight sleep studies within 7 days of the concussion (acute phase), and again eight-weeks after the concussion (subacute phase). Changes in sleep from both the acute and subacute phases were compared to population normative values. Additionally, changes in sleep from acute to subacute phase were analysed. RESULTS : When compared to normative data, the acute and subacute phases of concussion showed longer total sleep time (p < 0.005) and fewer arousals (p < 0.005). The acute phase showed longer rapid eye movement sleep latency (p = 0.014). The subacute phase showed greater total sleep spent in Stage N3% (p = 0.046), increased sleep efficiency (p < 0.001), shorter sleep onset latency (p = 0.013), and reduced wake after sleep onset (p = 0.013). Compared to the acute phase, the subacute phase experienced improved sleep efficiency (p = 0.003), reduced wake after sleep onset (p = 0.02), and reduced latencies for both stage N3 sleep (p = 0.014) and rapid eye movement sleep (p = 0.006). CONCLUSION : This study indicated sleep during both the acute and subacute phases of SRC was characterised by longer and less disrupted sleep, along with improvements in sleep from the acute to subacute phases of SRC.The Flinders Foundation (South Australia).https://www.dovepress.com/nature-and-science-of-sleep-journalam2024Sports MedicineSDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

The effects of identification with a support group on the mental health of people with multiple sclerosis

Objective: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is associated with various psychological problems, including depression and anxiety. Whilst MS support groups are intended to improve mental health, this goal is not always achieved. Taking a social identity approach, we hypothesise that it is the level of subjective identification with a support group (rather than simply support group membership per se) that positively affects the mental health of people with MS. Methods: 152 individuals with MS were recruited via UK MS support groups and completed a questionnaire. This included measures of support group identification, depression, anxiety and satisfaction with life, as well as control variables (education level and age). Results: Analyses revealed that, as hypothesised, support group identification was significantly linked to depression, anxiety and satisfaction with life. Moreover, group identification explained a significant amount of variance in addition to that explained by education and age on each health outcome. Repeating the analysis to compare each of the three main sub-types of MS revealed these effects to be present for individuals with Relapsing-Remitting (RR) and Primary Progressive (PP) MS, but not for those with Secondary Progressive (SP) MS. Conclusions: We suggest that identifying highly with an MS support group has important positive outcomes for MS patients’ mental health. This has implications for practicing clinicians: people with MS (particularly RRMS and PPMS) should be encouraged to engage with support groups, but more must be done to ensure they subjectively identify with these groups, rather than merely attend them

Evaluating the impact of patient and carer involvement in suicide and self‐harm research: A mixed‐methods, longitudinal study protocol

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2019-04-30, rev-recd 2019-10-16, accepted 2019-10-25, pub-electronic 2019-12-05, pub-print 2021-05Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedFunder: National Institute for Health Research; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100009250; Grant(s): PSTRC‐2016‐003Abstract: Background: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is becoming more commonplace in mental health research. There are strong moral and ethical arguments for good quality PPI. Few studies have documented and evaluated PPI in self‐harm and suicide research. Inconsistent reporting of PPI makes it difficult to discern practices that deliver quality, effective and meaningful involvement. It is important to understand and address emotional support needs of PPI members contributing to sensitive topics such as suicide and self‐harm. Therefore, this study will examine the effect of PPI on self‐harm and suicide research and explore patients', carers' and researchers' experiences and views in relation to the quality of PPI practice and provision of appropriate support for PPI members. Methods: This protocol outlines the longitudinal, mixed methodological approach that will be taken. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected via baseline and repeated questionnaires, document review and semi‐structured interviews. Both PPI members and researchers will be invited to participate in this study. The two‐year data collection period will enable evaluation of PPI throughout the entire research cycle. An integrated approach will be taken to data analysis, using inductive thematic analysis and descriptive and repeated measures analyses, to address specified study aims. Dissemination: Findings from this study will inform practical guidance to support self‐harm and suicide researchers in effectively involving people with experiential knowledge in their research. Analyses will offer insight into the effect of PPI throughout the research process and assess changes in PPI members' and researchers' experiences of involvement across a two‐year period

Cold Nuclear Matter Effects on J/psi Yields as a Function of Rapidity and Nuclear Geometry in Deuteron-Gold Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

We present measurements of J/psi yields in d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV recorded by the PHENIX experiment and compare with yields in p+p collisions at the same energy per nucleon-nucleon collision. The measurements cover a large kinematic range in J/psi rapidity (-2.2 < y < 2.4) with high statistical precision and are compared with two theoretical models: one with nuclear shadowing combined with final state breakup and one with coherent gluon saturation effects. To remove model dependent systematic uncertainties we also compare the data to a simple geometric model. We find that calculations where the nuclear modification is linear or exponential in the density weighted longitudinal thickness are difficult to reconcile with the forward rapidity data.Comment: 449 authors from 66 institutions, 6 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Energy dependence of pi-zero production in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 22.4, 62.4, and 200 GeV

Neutral pion transverse momentum (pT) spectra at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.35) were measured in Cu+Cu collisions at \sqrt s_NN = 22.4, 62.4, and 200 GeV. Relative to pi -zero yields in p+p collisions scaled by the number of inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions (Ncoll) at the respective energies, the pi-zero yields for pT \ge 2 GeV/c in central Cu+Cu collisions at 62.4 and 200 GeV are suppressed, whereas an enhancement is observed at 22.4 GeV. A comparison with a jet quenching model suggests that final state parton energy loss dominates in central Cu+Cu collisions at 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV, while the enhancement at 22.4 GeV is consistent with nuclear modifications in the initial state alone.Comment: 431 authors from 63 institutions, 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm