The influence of prior training on GPs’ attitudes to sickness absence certification post-fit note.

AimTo investigate the attitudes to health and work of general practitioners (GPs) with training in occupational medicine (OM) compared with non-OM trained GPs, since the introduction of the fit note.BackgroundChanges to the UK sickness certification system since 2010 and the introduction of the fit note required GPs to change their focus to what patients can do, rather than what they cannot do in relation to work. In an effort to reduce the UK sickness absence burden, GPs completion of the fit note should help to keep people in work, or assist patients to return to work as quickly as possible after a period of absence.MethodsQuestionnaire data were collected via the 7th National General Practitioner Worklife Survey.FindingsResults indicate that responses from GPs who had undertaken training in OM, and GPs having received some form of work and health training in the 12-month period before the study were associated with significantly more positive attitudes to patients’ returning to work and to the fit note. This study reveals evidence of a difference between trained and non-trained GPs in their attitude to the fit note, and to work and health generally. Further work investigating the effect of specific training in OM on the management and recognition of ill-health by GPs is recommended.</jats:sec

Social Media and Sexual Behavior Among Adolescents: Is there a link?

Background: Adolescent sexual risk taking and its consequences remain a global public health concern. Empirical evidence on the impact that social media has on sexual health behaviors among youth is sparse. Objective: The study aimed to examine the relationship between social media and the change in sexual risk over time and whether parental monitoring moderates this relationship. Methods: This study comprised a sample of 555 Latino youth aged 13-19 years from Maryland, United States completing baseline and follow-up surveys. Mixed-effects linear regression was used to examine the relationship between social media and the change in sexual risk over time and whether parental monitoring moderated the relationship. Results: Sexual risk behaviors significantly increased between baseline (T1) and follow up (T2) (mean=0.432 vs mean=0.734, P\u3c.001). Youth sending more than 100 text messages per day had significantly higher sexual risk scores (beta=1.008, P\u3c.001) but significantly larger declines in sexual risk scores for higher levels of parental monitoring (beta=−.237, P=.009). Conclusions: Although adolescents exchange SMS at high rates, parental monitoring remains vital to parent-child relationships and can moderate SMS frequency and sexual risk behaviors, despite parental influence diminishing and peer pressure and social influences increasing during adolescence

An Experimental Juvenile Probation Program: Effects on Parent and Peer Relationships

In an effort to provide a wider range of services to youth and their families than is traditionally available in routine probation, the South Oxnard Challenge Project (SOCP) employed a team approach to service delivery of an intensive probation program. The researchers interviewed juveniles who were randomly assigned to either the SOCP experimental condition or the control condition of a routine probation program. The intensive probation program, among other goals, focused on improving parent-child relationships and teaching youth how to choose better peers. At 1 year post random assignment, experimental and control youth were not significantly different on key family or peer relationship measures. Level of program intensity, implementation issues, and other problems inherent in doing this type of research are provided as possible explanations for the lack of differences. These null findings are examined in light of the recent movement toward parental involvement legislation

An Experimental Juvenile Probation Program: Effects on Parent and Peer Relationships

In an effort to provide a wider range of services to youth and their families than is traditionally available in routine probation, the South Oxnard Challenge Project (SOCP) employed a team approach to service delivery of an intensive probation program. The researchers interviewed juveniles who were randomly assigned to either the SOCP experimental condition or the control condition of a routine probation program. The intensive probation program, among other goals, focused on improving parent-child relationships and teaching youth how to choose better peers. At 1 year post random assignment, experimental and control youth were not significantly different on key family or peer relationship measures. Level of program intensity, implementation issues, and other problems inherent in doing this type of research are provided as possible explanations for the lack of differences. These null findings are examined in light of the recent movement toward parental involvement legislation

A gap-free genome assembly of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and detection of translocations induced by CRISPR-mediated mutagenesis

Genomic assemblies of the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have provided important resources for researchers. However, assembly errors, large gaps, and unplaced scaffolds as well as strain-specific variants currently impede many types of analysis. By combining PacBio HiFi and Oxford Nanopore long-read technologies, we generated a de novo genome assembly for strain CC-5816, derived from crosses of strains CC-125 and CC-124. Multiple methods of evaluating genome completeness and base-pair error rate suggest that the final telomere-to-telomere assembly is highly accurate. The CC-5816 assembly enabled previously difficult analyses that include characterization of the 17 centromeres, rDNA arrays on three chromosomes, and 56 insertions of organellar DNA into the nuclear genome. Using Nanopore sequencing, we identified sites of cytosine (CpG) methylation, which are enriched at centromeres. We analyzed CRISPR-Cas9 insertional mutants in the PF23 gene. Two of the three alleles produced progeny that displayed patterns of meiotic inviability that suggested the presence of a chromosomal aberration. Mapping Nanopore reads from pf23-2 and pf23-3 onto the CC-5816 genome showed that these two strains each carry a translocation that was initiated at the PF23 gene locus on chromosome 11 and joined with chromosomes 5 or 3, respectively. The translocations were verified by demonstrating linkage between loci on the two translocated chromosomes in meiotic progeny. The three pf23 alleles display the expected short-cilia phenotype, and immunoblotting showed that pf23-2 lacks the PF23 protein. Our CC-5816 genome assembly will undoubtedly provide an important tool for the Chlamydomonas research community

You\u27re So Gay! : Do Different Forms of Bullying Matter for Adolescent Males?

This study examined effects of adolescent males\u27 perceptions of being bullied because of verbal taunts related to gender nonconformity (i.e., They say I\u27m gay ). Participants included 251 ninth- (n = 77), tenth- (n = 96), and eleventh- (n = 78) grade students in a private, all-male college preparatory school. Participants were divided into two groups based on whether they were bullied by being called gay. Out of the 251 participants, 121 (48%) reported having been bullied and 127 (50%) stated that they had not been bullied during the past year (2% did not report). Of the 121 participants who had been bullied, 32 (26%) reported that they had been bullied because others called them gay (Group 1) and 89 (74%) reported that they had been bullied for other reasons, exclusive of being called gay (Group 2). Consistent with predictions, the boys who were bullied because they were called gay experienced greater psychological distress, greater verbal and physical bullying, and more negative perceptions of their school experiences than boys who were bullied for other reasons. Implications for school-based intervention services for bullying are discussed

Associations of dietary intake on biological markers of inflammation in children and adolescents: A systematic review

Background: In children and adolescents, chronic low-grade inflammation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of co- and multi-morbid conditions to mental health disorders. Diet quality is a potential mechanism of action that can exacerbate or ameliorate low-grade inflammation; however, the exact way dietary intake can regulate the immune response in children and adolescents is still to be fully understood. Methods: Studies that measured dietary intake (patterns of diet, indices, food groups, nutrients) and any inflammatory biomarkers in children and adolescents aged 2 to19 years and published until November 2020 were included in this systematic review, and were selected in line with PRISMA guidelines through the following databases: Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, Global Health, Medline COMPLETE andWeb of Science-Core Collection. A total of 53 articles were identified. Results: Results show that adequate adherence to healthful dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet, or food groups such as vegetables and fruit, or macro/micro nutrients such as fibre or vitamin C and E, are associated with decreased levels of pro-inflammatory biomarkers, mainly c-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), whereas adherence to aWestern dietary pattern, as well as intake of food groups such as added sugars, macro-nutrients such as saturated fatty acids or ultra-processed foods, is associated with higher levels of the same pro-inflammatory biomarkers. Conclusions: This is the first systematic review examining dietary intake and biological markers of inflammation in both children and adolescents. A good quality diet, high in vegetable and fruit intake, wholegrains, fibre and healthy fats ameliorates low-grade inflammation, and therefore represents a promising therapeutic approach, as well as an important element for disease prevention in both children and adolescents.A.B. and C.M.P. are funded by the UK Medical Research Council (grants MR/L014815/1, MR/J002739/1and MR/N029488/1), the European Commission Horizon 2020 (grant SC1-BHC-01- 2019) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London; they have also received research funding from Johnson and Johnson for research on depression and inflammation, but this paper is independent from this funding. In addition, C.M.P. is funded by the Wellcome Trust strategy award to the Neuroimmunology of Mood Disorders and Alzheimer’s Disease (NIMA) Consortium (104025), which is also funded by Janssen, GlaxoSmithKline, Lundbeck and Pfizer, but, again, this paper is independent from this funding

A Longitudinal Study of the Effect of Genistein on Bone in Two Different Murine Models of Diminished Estrogen-Producing Capacity

This experiment was designed to assess the capacity of dietary genistein (GEN), to attenuate bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) and ovary-intact VCD-treated mice. Pretreatment of mice with 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) gradually and selectively destroys ovarian follicles whilst leaving ovarian androgen-producing cells largely intact. VCD induces a perimenopause-like condition prior to the onset of reproductive acyclicity. Sixteen-week-old C57BL/6J mice were randomized to five treatment groups: sham(SHM), OVX, SHM + VCD, OVX + GEN, and SHM + VCD + GEN. In vivo, blood samples were drawn for hormone and isoflavone analyses, estrous cycles were monitored, and X-ray imaging was performed to assess changes in bone parameters. Following sacrifice, ovaries were assessed histologically, bone microarchitecture was evaluated via microcomputed tomography, and bone mechanical properties were measured. Some effects of GEN were observed in OVX mice, but GEN effects were not able to be evaluated in VCD-treated mice due to the subtle diminution of bone during the 4 months of this experiment

Professional Seminar: Valuing a One-Credit Course Through the Lens of Doctoral Students

Professional seminar for doctoral students at a Research I University is a 1-credit course, 2 below the conventional courses. However, the course content covers at least 3 years’ worth of experiences, knowledge, and processes compressed into a single school year. The course typically extends over 16 weeks and 24 actual contact hours with 1 professor to 7 students on average. Assignments expose students to professional jobs in academia, resources available on campus, grant writing procedures, and facilitate the trajectory and purpose of the doctoral process. The purpose of this study is to investigate doctoral students’ narratives on the value they hold for seminar. Findings indicate an overarching theme of value among 5 categories: opportunities, cohort, departmental support, overcoming obstacles, and vested interest