Big hearts, small hands:A focus group study exploring parental food portion behaviours

© The Author(s). 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: The development of healthy food portion sizes among families is deemed critical to childhood weight management; yet little is known about the interacting factors influencing parents' portion control behaviours. This study aimed to use two synergistic theoretical models of behaviour: the COM-B model (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation - Behaviour) and Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to identify a broad spectrum of theoretically derived influences on parents' portion control behaviours including examination of affective and habitual influences often excluded from prevailing theories of behaviour change. Methods: Six focus groups exploring family weight management comprised of one with caseworkers (n = 4), four with parents of overweight children (n = 14) and one with parents of healthy weight children (n = 8). A thematic analysis was performed across the dataset where the TDF/COM-B were used as coding frameworks. Results: To achieve the target behaviour, the behavioural analysis revealed the need for eliciting change in all three COM-B domains and nine associated TDF domains. Findings suggest parents' internal processes such as their emotional responses, habits and beliefs, along with social influences from partners and grandparents, and environmental influences relating to items such as household objects, interact to influence portion size behaviours within the home environment. Conclusion: This is the first study underpinned by COM-B/TDF frameworks applied to childhood weight management and provides new targets for intervention development and the opportunity for future research to explore the mediating and moderating effects of these variables on one another.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

The effects of nationality differences and work stressors on work adjustment for foreign nurse aides

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The main purpose of this study was to discuss the nationality differences of foreign nurse aides and the effect of work stressors influencing work adjustment. And of helping them adapt to Taiwanese society, we summarized the difficulties that foreign nurse aides face in Taiwan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The subjects included 80 foreign nurse aides from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam who worked in long-term care facilities in Tao Yuan County. We recruited volunteers at the participating facilities to complete the anonymous questionnaires. The return rate of the questionnaire was 88.75%. The validated instruments of Hershenson's (1981) and Schaefer and Moos (1993) were adopted to measure work stressors and work adjustment, respectively. A forward-backward translation process was used in this study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Indonesian foreign nurse aides respect their work, and are better workers than Vietnamese and Filipino nurse aids in many respects, which shows how the nationality of the foreign nurse aides might affect work adjustment. The stress created from patient care tasks influenced the foreign nurse aides' personal relationships at work and also affected their attitude when they performed their tasks. In addition, pressure from their supervisors might have affected their work skills, work habits, personal relationships, self-concepts or work attitudes. Moreover, a heavy workload and improper scheduling might have affected the personal relationships and work attitudes of the foreign nurse aides. It was found that work stressors had a significant correlation with work adjustment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of the present study indicate that training programs are important factors for work adjustment among foreign nurse aides. Furthermore, celebration and leisure activities could be provided to release them from work stressors. More effort should be put into improving the working environment, namely providing a more supportive and enriching atmosphere. Based on these findings, we have a better understanding of how to assist foreign nurse aides in the future.</p

The use of Bayesian latent class cluster models to classify patterns of cognitive performance in healthy ageing

The main focus of this study is to illustrate the applicability of latent class analysis in the assessment of cognitive performance profiles during ageing. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to detect main cognitive dimensions (based on the neurocognitive test variables) and Bayesian latent class analysis (LCA) models (without constraints) were used to explore patterns of cognitive performance among community-dwelling older individuals. Gender, age and number of school years were explored as variables. Three cognitive dimensions were identified: general cognition (MMSE), memory (MEM) and executive (EXEC) function. Based on these, three latent classes of cognitive performance profiles (LC1 to LC3) were identified among the older adults. These classes corresponded to stronger to weaker performance patterns (LC1>LC2>LC3) across all dimensions; each latent class denoted the same hierarchy in the proportion of males, age and number of school years. Bayesian LCA provided a powerful tool to explore cognitive typologies among healthy cognitive agers.The study is integrated in the "Maintaining health in old age through homeostasis (SWITCHBOX)" collaborative project funded by the European Commission FP7 initiative (grant HEALTH-F2-2010-259772). NS and JAP are main team members of the European consortium SWITCHBOX (http://www.switchbox-online.eu/). NCS is supported by a SwitchBox post-doctoral fellowship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Evaluating Research and Impact: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research by the NIH/NIAID HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks

Evaluative bibliometrics uses advanced techniques to assess the impact of scholarly work in the context of other scientific work and usually compares the relative scientific contributions of research groups or institutions. Using publications from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) HIV/AIDS extramural clinical trials networks, we assessed the presence, performance, and impact of papers published in 2006–2008. Through this approach, we sought to expand traditional bibliometric analyses beyond citation counts to include normative comparisons across journals and fields, visualization of co-authorship across the networks, and assess the inclusion of publications in reviews and syntheses. Specifically, we examined the research output of the networks in terms of the a) presence of papers in the scientific journal hierarchy ranked on the basis of journal influence measures, b) performance of publications on traditional bibliometric measures, and c) impact of publications in comparisons with similar publications worldwide, adjusted for journals and fields. We also examined collaboration and interdisciplinarity across the initiative, through network analysis and modeling of co-authorship patterns. Finally, we explored the uptake of network produced publications in research reviews and syntheses. Overall, the results suggest the networks are producing highly recognized work, engaging in extensive interdisciplinary collaborations, and having an impact across several areas of HIV-related science. The strengths and limitations of the approach for evaluation and monitoring research initiatives are discussed

Changes in cognitive domains during three years in patients with Alzheimer's disease treated with donepezil

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective was to identify separate cognitive domains in the standard assessment tools (MMSE, ADAS-Cog) and analyze the process of decline within domains during three years in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with donepezil treatment.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>AD patients (n = 421) were recruited from a clinical multi-centre study program in Sweden. Patients were assessed every six months during three years. All patients received donepezil starting directly after study entry. After dropouts, 158 patients remained for analyses over three years. Data for the other patients were analysed until they dropped out (4 groups based on length in study).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Factor analyses of all items suggested that there were three intercorrelated factors: a General, a Memory and a Spatial factor for which we constructed corresponding domains. Overall there was a cognitive improvement at six months followed by a linear drop over time for the three domains. Some group and domain differences were identified. Patients who remained longer in the study had better initial performance and a slower deterioration rate. The early dropouts showed no improvement at six months and many dropped out due to side effects. The other groups displayed a performance improvement at six months that was less pronounced in the Memory domain. Before dropping out, deterioration accelerated, particularly in the Spatial domain.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The course of illness in the three domains was heterogeneous among the patients. We were not able to identify any clinically relevant correlates of this heterogeneity. As an aid we constructed three algorithms corresponding to the cognitive domains, which can be used to characterize patients initially, identify rapid decliners and follow the course of the disease.</p

A first assessment of the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in Cambodia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cambodia is among the 22 high-burden TB countries, and has one of the highest rates of TB in South-East Asia. This study aimed to describe the genetic diversity among clinical <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>complex (MTC) isolates collected in Cambodia and to relate these findings to genetic diversity data from neighboring countries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We characterized by 24 VNTR loci genotyping and spoligotyping 105 <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>clinical isolates collected between 2007 and 2008 in the region of Phnom-Penh, Cambodia, enriched in multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates (n = 33).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Classical spoligotyping confirmed that the East-African Indian (EAI) lineage is highly prevalent in this area (60%-68% respectively in whole sample and among non-MDR isolates). Beijing lineage is also largely represented (30% in whole sample, 21% among non-MDR isolates, OR = 4.51, CI_95%[1.77, 11.51]) whereas CAS lineage was absent. The 24 loci MIRU-VNTR typing scheme distinguished 90 patterns with only 13 multi-isolates clusters covering 28 isolates. The clustering of EAI strains could be achieved with only 8 VNTR combined with spoligotyping, which could serve as a performing, easy and cheap genotyping standard for this family. Extended spoligotyping suggested relatedness of some unclassified "T1 ancestors" or "Manu" isolates with modern strains and provided finer resolution.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The genetic diversity of MTC in Cambodia is driven by the EAI and the Beijing families. We validate the usefulness of the extended spoligotyping format in combination with 8 VNTR for EAI isolates in this region.</p

Within-Host Dynamics of Multi-Species Infections: Facilitation, Competition and Virulence

Host individuals are often infected with more than one parasite species (parasites defined broadly, to include viruses and bacteria). Yet, research in infection biology is dominated by studies on single-parasite infections. A focus on single-parasite infections is justified if the interactions among parasites are additive, however increasing evidence points to non-additive interactions being the norm. Here we review this evidence and theoretically explore the implications of non-additive interactions between co-infecting parasites. We use classic Lotka-Volterra two-species competition equations to investigate the within-host dynamical consequences of various mixes of competition and facilitation between a pair of co-infecting species. We then consider the implications of these dynamics for the virulence (damage to host) of co-infections and consequent evolution of parasite strategies of exploitation. We find that whereas one-way facilitation poses some increased virulence risk, reciprocal facilitation presents a qualitatively distinct destabilization of within-host dynamics and the greatest risk of severe disease

Simulating the midlatitude atmospheric circulation: what might we gain from high-resolution modeling of air-sea interactions?

Purpose of Review. To provide a snapshot of the current research on the oceanic forcing of the atmospheric circulation in midlatitudes and a concise update on previous review papers. Recent findings. Atmospheric models used for seasonal and longer timescales predictions are starting to resolve motions so far only studied in conjunction with weather forecasts. These phenomena have horizontal scales of ~ 10–100 km which coincide with energetic scales in the ocean circulation. Evidence has been presented that, as a result of this matching of scale, oceanic forcing of the atmosphere was enhanced in models with 10–100 km grid size, especially at upper tropospheric levels. The robustness of these results and their underlying mechanisms are however unclear. Summary. Despite indications that higher resolution atmospheric models respond more strongly to sea surface temperature anomalies, their responses are still generally weaker than those estimated empirically from observations. Coarse atmospheric models (grid size greater than 100 km) will miss important signals arising from future changes in ocean circulation unless new parameterizations are developed

A eukaryotic-type signalling system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa contributes to oxidative stress resistance, intracellular survival and virulence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The genome of <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </it>contains at least three genes encoding eukaryotic-type Ser/Thr protein kinases, one of which, <it>ppkA</it>, has been implicated in <it>P. aeruginosa </it>virulence. Together with the adjacent <it>pppA </it>phosphatase gene, they belong to the type VI secretion system (H1-T6SS) locus, which is important for bacterial pathogenesis. To determine the biological function of this protein pair, we prepared a <it>pppA-ppkA </it>double mutant and characterised its phenotype and transcriptomic profiles.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Phenotypic studies revealed that the mutant grew slower than the wild-type strain in minimal media and exhibited reduced secretion of pyoverdine. In addition, the mutant had altered sensitivity to oxidative and hyperosmotic stress conditions. Consequently, mutant cells had an impaired ability to survive in murine macrophages and an attenuated virulence in the plant model of infection. Whole-genome transcriptome analysis revealed that <it>pppA-ppkA </it>deletion affects the expression of oxidative stress-responsive genes, stationary phase σ-factor RpoS-regulated genes, and quorum-sensing regulons. The transcriptome of the <it>pppA-ppkA </it>mutant was also analysed under conditions of oxidative stress and showed an impaired response to the stress, manifested by a weaker induction of stress adaptation genes as well as the genes of the SOS regulon. In addition, expression of either RpoS-regulated genes or quorum-sensing-dependent genes was also affected. Complementation analysis confirmed that the transcription levels of the differentially expressed genes were specifically restored when the <it>pppA </it>and <it>ppkA </it>genes were expressed ectopically.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that in addition to its crucial role in controlling the activity of <it>P. aeruginosa </it>H1-T6SS at the post-translational level, the PppA-PpkA pair also affects the transcription of stress-responsive genes. Based on these data, it is likely that the reduced virulence of the mutant strain results from an impaired ability to survive in the host due to the limited response to stress conditions.</p