The Engagement Pathway: A Conceptual Framework of Engagement-Related Terms in Weight Management

Engagement denotes the extent to which, and how, individuals participate in weight management (WM) services. Effective WM services should generate meaningful outcomes and promote high participant engagement; however, research is predominantly focused on the former. Given that engagement is a poorly understood phenomenon, and that engagement-related concepts are often used synonymously (e.g., dropout and attrition), the engagement pathway is hereby introduced. This pathway defines key concepts (e.g., recruitment, adherence, attrition) and their relationships in the enrolment, intervention, and maintenance stages of treatment. The pathway will help researchers and practitioners better understand engagement-related concepts whilst encouraging greater conceptual consistency between studies

Subanesthetic ketamine treatment promotes abnormal interactions between neural subsystems and alters the properties of functional brain networks

Acute treatment with subanesthetic ketamine, a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is widely utilized as a translational model for schizophrenia. However, how acute NMDA receptor blockade impacts on brain functioning at a systems level, to elicit translationally relevant symptomatology and behavioral deficits, has not yet been determined. Here, for the first time, we apply established and recently validated topological measures from network science to brain imaging data gained from ketamine-treated mice to elucidate how acute NMDA receptor blockade impacts on the properties of functional brain networks. We show that the effects of acute ketamine treatment on the global properties of these networks are divergent from those widely reported in schizophrenia. Where acute NMDA receptor blockade promotes hyperconnectivity in functional brain networks, pronounced dysconnectivity is found in schizophrenia. We also show that acute ketamine treatment increases the connectivity and importance of prefrontal and thalamic brain regions in brain networks, a finding also divergent to alterations seen in schizophrenia. In addition, we characterize how ketamine impacts on bipartite functional interactions between neural subsystems. A key feature includes the enhancement of prefrontal cortex (PFC)-neuromodulatory subsystem connectivity in ketamine-treated animals, a finding consistent with the known effects of ketamine on PFC neurotransmitter levels. Overall, our data suggest that, at a systems level, acute ketamine-induced alterations in brain network connectivity do not parallel those seen in chronic schizophrenia. Hence, the mechanisms through which acute ketamine treatment induces translationally relevant symptomatology may differ from those in chronic schizophrenia. Future effort should therefore be dedicated to resolve the conflicting observations between this putative translational model and schizophrenia

Health and Pleasure in Consumers' Dietary Food Choices: Individual Differences in the Brain's Value System

Taking into account how people value the healthiness and tastiness of food at both the behavioral and brain levels may help to better understand and address overweight and obesity-related issues. Here, we investigate whether brain activity in those areas involved in self-control may increase significantly when individuals with a high body-mass index (BMI) focus their attention on the taste rather than on the health benefits related to healthy food choices. Under such conditions, BMI is positively correlated with both the neural responses to healthy food choices in those brain areas associated with gustation (insula), reward value (orbitofrontal cortex), and self-control (inferior frontal gyrus), and with the percent of healthy food choices. By contrast, when attention is directed towards health benefits, BMI is negatively correlated with neural activity in gustatory and reward-related brain areas (insula, inferior frontal operculum). Taken together, these findings suggest that those individuals with a high BMI do not necessarily have reduced capacities for self-control but that they may be facilitated by external cues that direct their attention toward the tastiness of healthy food. Thus, promoting the taste of healthy food in communication campaigns and/or food packaging may lead to more successful self-control and healthy food behaviors for consumers with a higher BMI, an issue which needs to be further researched

Feasibility of an incentive scheme to promote active travel to school: a pilot cluster randomised trial

Abstract Background In Great Britain, 19% of trips to primary school within 1 mile, and 62% within 1–2 miles, are by car. Active travel to school (ATS) offers a potential source of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). This study tested the feasibility of an intervention to promote ATS in 9–10 year olds and associated trial procedures. Methods A parallel cluster randomised pilot trial was conducted over 9 weeks in two schools from a low-income area in northeast England. Measures included daily parental ATS reports (optionally by SMS) and child ATS reports, as well as accelerometry (ActiGraph GT3X+). At baseline, all children were asked to wear the accelerometer for the same week; in the post-randomisation phase, small subsamples were monitored each week. In the 2 weeks when a child wore the accelerometer, parents also reported the start and finish times of the journey to school. The intervention consisted of a lottery-based incentive scheme; every ATS day reported by the parent, whether by paper or SMS, corresponded to one ticket entered into a weekly £5 voucher draw. Before each draw session, the researcher prepared the tickets and placed them into an opaque bag, from which one was randomly picked by the teacher at the draw session. Results Four schools replied positively (3.3%, N = 123) and 29 participants were recruited in the two schools selected (33.0%, N = 88). Participant retention was 93.1%. Most materials were returned on time: accelerometers (81.9%), parental reports (82.1%) and child reports (97.9%). Draw sessions lasted on average 15.9 min (IQR 10–20) and overall session attendance was 94.5%. Parent-child report agreement regarding ATS was moderate (k = 0.53, CI 95% 0.45; 0.60). Differences in minutes of accelerometer-assessed MVPA between parent-reported ATS and non-ATS trips were assessed during two timeframes: during the journey to school based on the times reported by the parent (U = 390.5, p < 0.05, 2.46 (n = 99) vs 0.76 (n = 13)) and in the hour before classes (U = 665.5, p < 0.05, 4.99 (n = 104) vs 2.55 (n = 19)). Differences in MVPA minutes between child-reported ATS and non-ATS trips were also significant for each of the timeframes considered (U = 596.5, p < 0.05, 2.40 (n = 128) vs 0.81 (n = 15) and U = 955.0, p < 0.05, 4.99 (n = 146) vs 2.59 (n = 20), respectively). Conclusions Data suggest the feasibility of an ATS incentive scheme and of most trial procedures. School recruitment stood out as requiring further piloting. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02282631 . Registered 5th September 2014

3D diffractive imaging of nanoparticle ensembles using an X-ray laser

We report the 3D structure determination of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by X-ray single particle imaging (SPI). Around 10 million diffraction patterns from gold nanoparticles were measured in less than 100 hours of beam time, more than 100 times the amount of data in any single prior SPI experiment, using the new capabilities of the European X-ray free electron laser which allow measurements of 1500 frames per second. A classification and structural sorting method was developed to disentangle the heterogeneity of the particles and to obtain a resolution of better than 3 nm. With these new experimental and analytical developments, we have entered a new era for the SPI method and the path towards close-to-atomic resolution imaging of biomolecules is apparent

Ectopic PDX-1 Expression Directly Reprograms Human Keratinocytes along Pancreatic Insulin-Producing Cells Fate

BACKGROUND: Cellular differentiation and lineage commitment have previously been considered irreversible processes. However, recent studies have indicated that differentiated adult cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency and, in some cases, directly into alternate committed lineages. However, although pluripotent cells can be induced in numerous somatic cell sources, it was thought that inducing alternate committed lineages is primarily only possible in cells of developmentally related tissues. Here, we challenge this view and analyze whether direct adult cell reprogramming to alternate committed lineages can cross the boundaries of distinct developmental germ layers. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We ectopically expressed non-integrating pancreatic differentiation factors in ectoderm-derived human keratinocytes to determine whether these factors could directly induce endoderm-derived pancreatic lineage and β-cell-like function. We found that PDX-1 and to a lesser extent other pancreatic transcription factors, could rapidly and specifically activate pancreatic lineage and β-cell-like functional characteristics in ectoderm-derived human keratinocytes. Human keratinocytes transdifferentiated along the β cell lineage produced processed and secreted insulin in response to elevated glucose concentrations. Using irreversible lineage tracing for KRT-5 promoter activity, we present supporting evidence that insulin-positive cells induced by ectopic PDX-1 expression are generated in ectoderm derived keratinocytes. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings constitute the first demonstration of human ectoderm cells to endoderm derived pancreatic cells transdifferentiation. The study represents a proof of concept which suggests that transcription factors induced reprogramming is wider and more general developmental process than initially considered. These results expanded the arsenal of adult cells that can be used as a cell source for generating functional endocrine pancreatic cells. Directly reprogramming somatic cells into alternate desired tissues has important implications in developing patient-specific, regenerative medicine approaches

Perceived Discrimination and Health Outcomes Among Asian Indians in the United States

Background: Perceived interpersonal discrimination while seeking healthcare services is associated with poor physical and mental health. Yet, there is a paucity of research among Asian Americans or its subgroups. This study examined the correlates of reported interpersonal discrimination when seeking health care among a large sample of Asian Indians, the 3rd largest Asian American subgroup in the US, and identify predictors of adverse self-rated physical health, a well-accepted measure of overall health status. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Participants comprised of 1824 Asian Indian adults in six states with higher concentration of Asian Indians. Results: Mean age and years lived in the US was 45.7 ± 12.8 and 16.6 ± 11.1 years respectively. The majority of the respondents was male, immigrants, college graduates, and had access to care. Perceived interpersonal discrimination when seeking health care was reported by a relatively small proportion of the population (7.2 %). However, Asian Indians who reported poor self-rated health were approximately twice as likely to perceived discrimination when seeking care as compared to those in good or excellent health status (OR 1.88; 95 % CI 1.12–3. 14). Poor self-rated health was associated with perceived health care discrimination after controlling for all of the respondent characteristics (OR 1.93; 95 % CI: 1.17–3.19). In addition, Asian Indians who lived for more than 10 years in the U.S. (OR 3.28; 95 % CI: 1.73–6.22) and had chronic illnesses (OR 1.39; 95 % CI: 1.17–1.64) (p \u3c 0.05) were more likely to perceive discrimination when seeking health care. However, older Asian Indians, over the age of 55 years, were less likely to perceive discrimination than those aged 18–34 years Indian American. Conclusion: Results offers initial support for the hypothesis that Asian Indians experience interpersonal discrimination when seeking health care services and that these experiences may be related to poor self-rated health status

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of attention processes in presumed obligate carriers of schizophrenia: preliminary findings

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Presumed obligate carriers (POCs) are the first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia who, although do not exhibit the disorder, are in direct lineage of it. Thus, this subpopulation of first-degree relatives could provide very important information with regard to the investigation of endophenotypes for schizophrenia that could clarify the often contradictory findings in schizophrenia high-risk populations. To date, despite the extant literature on schizophrenia endophenotypes, we are only aware of one other study that examined the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive abnormalities in this group. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a more homogeneous group of relatives, such as POCs, have neural abnormalities that may be related to schizophrenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to collect blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) response data in six POCs and eight unrelated healthy controls while performing under conditions of sustained, selective and divided attention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The POCs indicated alterations in a widely distributed network of regions involved in attention processes, such as the prefrontal and temporal (including the parahippocampal gyrus) cortices, in addition to the anterior cingulate gyrus. More specifically, a general reduction in BOLD response was found in these areas compared to the healthy participants during attention processes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These preliminary findings of decreased activity in POCs indicate that this more homogeneous population of unaffected relatives share similar neural abnormalities with people with schizophrenia, suggesting that reduced BOLD activity in the attention network may be an intermediate marker for schizophrenia.</p

Telling lies:The irrepressible truth?

Telling a lie takes longer than telling the truth but precisely why remains uncertain. We investigated two processes suggested to increase response times, namely the decision to lie and the construction of a lie response. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were directed or chose whether to lie or tell the truth. A colored square was presented and participants had to name either the true color of the square or lie about it by claiming it was a different color. In both experiments we found that there was a greater difference between lying and telling the truth when participants were directed to lie compared to when they chose to lie. In Experiments 3 and 4, we compared response times when participants had only one possible lie option to a choice of two or three possible options. There was a greater lying latency effect when questions involved more than one possible lie response. Experiment 5 examined response choice mechanisms through the manipulation of lie plausibility. Overall, results demonstrate several distinct mechanisms that contribute to additional processing requirements when individuals tell a lie