The Spruce Gall Aphid \u3cem\u3eAdelges cooleyi\u3c/em\u3e (Gill) in Utah.

This paper is the result of research started on the Campus of the Utah State Agricultural College in the Spring of 1928. It is the intention of the writer to give the economic importance of the insect in the state, kind and extent of damage life history and control as far as it has been found

Investigating the impact of repetitive and variable low-intensity exercise on mania-relevant symptoms following approach motivation induction

Background: Exercise is recommended as a non-pharmacological intervention for individuals with a bipolar disorder diagnosis (BDD). Although physical activity can be beneficial for reducing depressive symptoms, there is preliminary evidence that high-intensity exercise can exacerbate (hypo)mania-related symptoms. Risks associated with other forms of exercise remain unknown. Method: To investigate the potential risks and benefits of low-intensity exercise, non-clinical participants were asked to either copy repetitive movements (n = 20), copy variable movements (n = 20) or watch variable movements (n = 21), following approach motivation induction. Hypomania-like symptoms, positive affect and approach motivation were measured pre-, during and post-task. Trait behavioural activation system (BAS) sensitivity was measured as a moderating factor. Results: There were no group differences in symptom change over time. BAS sensitivity did not moderate this relationship. Limitations: A predominantly student population with low average trait BAS sensitivity was studied. The reliability and validity of the approach motivation induction, mania measure and physical activity task are uncertain. Conclusions: It is unclear whether different types of low-intensity exercise are of risk or benefit for individuals prone to (hypo)mania. This area requires further investigation

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe overall objective of this project is to develop methods that can help us to understand the movement of drugs and carriers along their routes inside solid tumors. The origins and current paradigm of targeted drug delivery offer a lot of promising strategies. However, the carriers often struggle with challenges in optimizing their own characteristics against that of the tumor's. Ultimately, they struggle with translation into the clinical setting. It is apparent that solid tumors pose a unique challenge in drug delivery. Many drug carrier characteristics are designed to take advantage of the pathophysiology of the tumor environment. However, this passive delivery and accumulation is constrained to partial distribution within the tumor. Many uncertainties remain regarding how nanoparticles enter and travel through the tumor environment. The barriers to intratumoral distribution are still currently being probed. The research herein identified transport barriers using human fibroid tumors known to have impaired drug transport. After perfusing human uteri containing fibroids with stains, probe distribution was found to correlate with features of the pathophysiology such as blood vessel characteristics, tissue and collagen density, interstitial fluid pressure, and solid stress. Methods, including custom MATLAB code, were developed to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution of two uniquely fluorescent nanoparticle doses in xenograft mice. It shows how three-dimensional distance measurements of nanoparticles from nearest blood vessels are more precise than two-dimensional measurements. Colocalization analysis on the fluorescent signals showed the two different doses (administered hours apart from each other) did not accumulate in the same locations with the tumor. Furthermore, intravital imaging showed that some vessels of the tumor would only provide access to the first dose of nanoparticles. Future work suggests further analysis of multidose interdependence and implementing these methods to screen strategies in the literature of modifying drug carriers and the tumor environment to improve intratumoral distribution of cancer drugs. The more understanding we have of the solid tumor environment and its barriers, the better we can navigate treatments to reach the tumor

Asymmetry and activity-related change in selected bones of the human male skeleton.

Statistical analyses of measurements were used to evaluate congenital asymmetry and activity-related change in 100 pairs of humeri and 112 pairs of femora. Bone pairs in samples from the Nary Rose and an earlier medieval site in Norwich were subdivided into age categories and their archaeological groups for analysis. Internal bone dimensions were determined from radiographs and compared with those of a modern group of divers. Muscle insertions were ranked and femoral morphological traits were recorded. Differences were tested at the p<0.05 level of confidence. Congenital asymmetry was accepted from earlier work for maximum length of the humerus. Asymmetries decreased with age in the humerus and to a lesser extent in the femur. The humerus was shown to have significant right-sided dominance while the femur was more symmetric. Accepted methods of measuring femoral torsion were demonstrated to be inadequate. Femoral morphological traits were shown to be affected by environment. Significant results obtained from new measurements may be attributable to patterns of activity In the Nary Rose sample. These individuals were significantly taller and larger than those of the Norwich sample. Selection, diet and activity are discussed as possible explanations for these increases. Statistical comparison of compatible groups may reveal patterns of activity, if the occupations in the groups are known

Epidemiology of multimorbidity and polypharmacy in ageing: a complementary analysis of mental and brain health in three datasets

Multimorbidity, the co-existence of two or more chronic conditions, is common and increasing in prevalence. It is associated with poor outcomes for patients and increased costs for healthcare providers, so is attracting attention both from policymakers and researchers. The use of multiple simultaneous medications (polypharmacy) frequently co-occurs with multimorbidity. Multimorbidity including physical and mental illnesses has been recognised as important and under-studied. It not only poses challenges for patient management but also provides opportunities for interventions which could prevent overall clinical decline. This thesis separates physical and mental illnesses to explore associations between multimorbidity and polypharmacy with mental health outcomes and brain health biomarkers in ageing cohorts. Although there are standard published definitions of multimorbidity, understanding the concept is difficult due to the numerous ways to measure it. This thesis opens with a systematic review of multimorbidity indices. Among 5 560 unique titles identified in a literature search, 35 full-text papers were relevant, and are described and evaluated in detail. Data analysis took place in three datasets focused on ageing, with complementary designs. These are the PREVENT Dementia and European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD) study cohorts, and routinely collected data from the National Health Service (NHS) Scotland’s Information Services Division (ISD). In PREVENT Dementia, participants aged 40-59 years are deeply phenotyped, allowing exploration of the epidemiological associations between increasing chronic conditions and medication use with various clinical and biological outcomes. These include self-reported depression, cognitive test results and markers of neurodegeneration on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). From regression analysis of 210 participants’ data, each additional condition was associated with increased odds of self-reported depression (adjusted OR=1.41, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.80) and anxiety disorder (OR=1.71, 95% CI 1.35 to 2.21). Increasing medication use was associated with self-reported depression (adjusted OR per additional medication=1.36, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.73) but not anxiety disorder (OR=1.24, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.53). There were no meaningful associations between multimorbidity or polypharmacy with MRI or cognitive test outcomes. The EPAD cohort permitted a more focused approach in people aged over 50 years, specifically examining associations between increasing chronic conditions and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid-β. In 447 participants, each additional comorbid condition carried a decreased likelihood of amyloid positivity (multiply-adjusted OR=0.82, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.97). This informs the debate that amyloid may not play a part in the pathway between multimorbidity and the development of dementia. Analyses of NHS data used routinely collected information on prescriptions, psychiatric hospital admissions and death certificate diagnoses from 1.23 million people aged over 50 years in Scotland. Adjusted hazard ratios for each additional drug were 1.03 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.04) for death with any psychiatric cause and 1.04 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.05) for admission to psychiatric hospital over 8.5 years of followup. In this and the analyses in PREVENT Dementia, the use of antidepressant or psychotropic medication attenuated the associations. The importance of patient and public involvement in research is also discussed, including perspectives on this work from a Lay Contributor. This thesis explores the measurement of multimorbidity in detail and provides further evidence that physical multimorbidity and polypharmacy are associated with poor mental health. However, the links with biological markers of brain disease such as MRI findings and amyloid are less convincing. This leads to a discussion of possible mechanisms, clinical implications, and proposed future work

Cognitive Dispersion Predicts Grip Strength Trajectories in Men but not Women in a Sample of the Oldest Old Without Dementia

Background and Objectives: Grip strength is a reliable marker of biological vitality and it typically demonstrates an expected decline in older adults. According to the common-cause hypothesis there is also a significant association between cognitive and physical function in older adults. Some specific cognitive functions have been shown to be associated with grip strength trajectories with most research solely focused on cut-off points or mean cognitive performance. In the present study we examine whether a measure of cognitive dispersion might be more informative. We therefore used an index that quantifies dispersion in cognitive scores across multiple cognitive tests, shown to be associated with detrimental outcomes in older adults. Research Design and Methods: Using repeated grip strength measures from men and women aged 80 and older, free of dementia in the OCTO-Twin study, we estimated ageing-related grip strength trajectories. We examined the association of cognitive dispersion and mean cognitive function with grip strength level and ageing-related rate of change, accounting for known risk factors. Results: Cognitive dispersion was associated with grip strength trajectories in men and the association varied by mean cognitive performance, whereas we found no association in women. Discussion and Implications: Our results provide evidence of a sex-specific vitality association between cognitive dispersion and ageing-related trajectories of grip strength. Our results support the call for integration of sex and gender in health promotion and intervention research

Breaking down barriers:promoting journals beyond the page with open access journal clubs

In 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the British Journal of Psychiatry ( BJPsych) established a series of free online teaching sessions called BJPsych Journal Clubs. Their educational purpose is two-fold: (a) to provide junior psychiatrists with a friendly but large-scale platform to evaluate and critically appraise recent articles published in the BJPsych and (b) to present new research findings in an open and accessible manner. In this paper, we discuss our framework, the challenges we encountered, how the original model is evolving based on feedback from trainees, and tips for success when delivering international online journal clubs. </p