A Playful Approach to the Five Ways to Wellbeing

In 2008, the New Economics Foundation (NEF) was commissioned to develop a set of evidence-based actions that would improve personal wellbeing and consequently, demonstrate 'real economic wellbeing' (Aked et al, 2008). Acknowledging the importance of personal, social, cultural, environmental, and economic determinants of health, the NEF replicated the ideals of the 5-a-Day campaign using advice from the World Health Organization to promote the need to eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day, due to the significant health benefits this brings (NHS, 2022).Consequently, the NEF developed a new and creative approach to health promotion and developed the Five Ways to Wellbeing (Aked et al, 2008), which encourage us to Connect…   Be active… Take notice… Keep learning… Give. These five simple steps can be followed every day to enhance mental health and wellbeing (Mind, 2023).&nbsp

The Evolution of Hospital Play in the UK and Repercussions for Japan: A Socio-historical Perspective

All children need the time, place, and opportunity for play, regardless of who they are or where they live. This fundamental need is embodied in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This paper addresses the interpretation of the child’s right to play in the case of children who are sick or in need of hospital or community healthcare. Over the course of the past 150 years, the care of sick children has evolved to the point where play is recognized as a key element of pediatric provision in many nations of the world; the ‘hospital play’ profession has grown from its tentative introduction in the UK in the 1950s to become part of a worldwide movement for the child’s right to play. Written in collaboration with Japan Hospital Play Association, which marks fifteen years of hospital play in Japan, this paper celebrates the importance of understanding the history of the past in order to make meaning of the history of the now

Denial of Uniquely Human Characteristics for Voluntarily Childfree Individuals: Does Violating Social Norms Lead to Dehumanization?

poster abstractNationally representative data consistently show that an increasing number of individuals are choosing not to have children (Time, 2013). Despite this trend, people who opt out of parenthood experience negativity (Berdahl & Moon, 2013). A recent study furthermore revealed that this negativity was driven by moral outrage (AshburnNardo, in press). Research on dehumanization includes moral sensibility as a characteristic of being human (Haslam, 2006). If those who forgo parenthood elicit moral outrage, it is possible that they are also seen as being less than human. The present research investigates the potential for dehumanization to occur in the form of denying uniquely human characteristics to voluntarily childfree individuals. In a between-subjects experiment, N participants were randomly assigned to evaluate a male vs. female married target who had chosen to have 0 vs. 2 children. They were then asked to rate the likelihood that the target was capable of experiencing uniquely human emotions (e.g., admiration, despair), as well as the likelihood that essential human traits (e.g., warm, irresponsible) and characteristics (e.g., rational, culturally refined) described the target. Statistical analyses are currently underway and are expected to reveal that, relative to targets who have children, targets that chose not to have children will be rated significantly less likely to experience uniquely human secondary emotions, to have complex cognitions and to have uniquely human traits. Target gender will be explored as a potential moderator of these effects. Historically, dehumanization has led to dangerous outcomes for targets. The present findings could suggest that a significant and growing portion of the population could be subject to discrimination in social and workplace situations

In vivo construction of recombinant molecules within the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line using short regions of terminal homology

Homologous recombination provides a means for the in vivo construction of recombinant DNA molecules that may be problematic to assemble in vitro. We have investigated the efficiency of recombination within the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line as a function of the length of homology between recombining molecules. Our findings indicate that recombination can occur between molecules that share only 10 bp of terminal homology, and that 25 bp is sufficient to mediate relatively high levels of recombination. Recombination occurs with lower efficiency when the location of the homologous segment is subterminal or internal. As in yeast, recombination can also be mediated by either single- or double-stranded bridging oligonucleotides. We find that ligation between cohesive ends is highly efficient and does not require that the ends be phosphorylated; furthermore, precise intermolecular ligation between injected molecules that have blunt ends can also occur within the germ line

Respiratory tract infection and risk of bleeding in oral anticoagulant users: self-controlled case series

Objective To estimate the association between untreated, community acquired, respiratory tract infections and bleeding in oral anticoagulant users. Design Self-controlled case series. Setting General practices in England contributing data to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD. Participants 1208 adult users of warfarin or direct oral anticoagulants with a general practice or hospital admission record of a bleeding event between January 2010 and December 2019, and a general practice record of a consultation for a community acquired respiratory tract infection for which immediate antibiotics were not prescribed (that is, untreated). Main outcome measures Relative incidence of major bleeding and clinically relevant non-major bleeding in the 0-14 days after an untreated respiratory tract infection, compared to unexposed time periods. Results Of 1208 study participants, 58% (n=701) were male, median age at time of first bleed was 79 years (interquartile range 72-85), with a median observation period of 2.4 years (interquartile range 1.3-3.8). 292 major bleeds occurred during unexposed time periods and 41 in the 0-14 days after consultation for a respiratory tract infection. 1003 clinically relevant non-major bleeds occurred during unexposed time periods and 81 in the 0-14 days after consultation for a respiratory tract infection. After adjustment for age, season, and calendar year, the relative incidence of major bleeding (incidence rate ratio 2.68, 95% confidence interval 1.83 to 3.93) and clinically relevant non-major bleeding (2.32, 1.82 to 2.94) increased in the 0-14 days after an untreated respiratory tract infection. Findings were robust to several sensitivity analyses and did not differ by sex or type of oral anticoagulant. Conclusions This study observed a greater than twofold increase in the risk of bleeding during the 0-14 days after an untreated respiratory tract infection. These findings have potential implications for how patients and clinicians manage oral anticoagulant use during an acute intercurrent illness and warrant further investigation into the potential risks and how they might be mitigated

Application of Focal Conflict Theory to Psychoeducational Groups: Implications for Process, Content, and Leadership

Group psychoeducation is a common group type used for a range of purposes. The literature presents balancing content and process as a challenge for psychoeducational group leaders. While the significance of group psychoeducation is supported, practitioners are given little direction for addressing process in these groups. Focal Conflict Theory (FCT) is a model for conceptualizing and intervening in group process that has been applied to therapy and work groups. This article presents the challenges of psychoeducational groups, describes FCT, and discusses its application to psychoeducational groups using case examples. Implications for leaders of psychoeducation groups are discussed

Temporal trends (2000–2011) and influences on fishery-independent catch rates for loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) at an important coastal foraging region in the southeastern United States

Seasonal trawling was conducted randomly in coastal (depths of 4.6–17 m) waters from St. Augustine, Florida, (29.9°N) to Winyah Bay, South Carolina (33.1°N), during 2000–03, 2008–09, and 2011 to assess annual trends in the relative abundance of sea turtles. A total of 1262 loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) were captured in 23% (951) of 4207 sampling events. Capture rates (overall and among prevalent 5-cm size classes) were analyzed through the use of a generalized linear model with log link function for the 4097 events that had complete observations for all 25 model parameters. Final models explained 6.6% (70.1–75.0 cm minimum straight-line carapace length [SCLmin]) to 14.9% (75.1–80.0 cm SCLmin) of deviance in the data set. Sampling year, geographic subregion, and distance from shore were retained as significant terms in all final models, and these terms collectively accounted for 6.2% of overall model deviance (range: 4.5–11.7% of variance among 5-cm size classes). We retained 18 parameters only in a subset of final models: 4 as exclusively significant terms, 5 as a mixture of significant or nonsignificant terms, and 9 as exclusively nonsignificant terms. Four parameters also were dropped completely from all final models. The generalized linear model proved appropriate for monitoring trends for this data set that was laden with zero values for catches and was compiled for a globally protected species. Because we could not account for much model deviance, metrics other than those examined in our study may better explain catch variability and, once elucidated, their inclusion in the generalized linear model should improve model fits

Aberrant brain responses to emotionally valent words is normalised after cognitive behavioural therapy in female depressed adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Depression in adolescence is debilitating with high recurrence in adulthood, yet its pathophysiological mechanism remains enigmatic. To examine the interaction between emotion, cognition and treatment, functional brain responses to sad and happy distractors in an affective go/no-go task were explored before and after Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in depressed female adolescents, and healthy participants. METHODS: Eighty-two Depressed and 24 healthy female adolescents, aged 12-17 years, performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) affective go/no-go task at baseline. Participants were instructed to withhold their responses upon seeing happy or sad words. Among these participants, 13 patients had CBT over approximately 30 weeks. These participants and 20 matched controls then repeated the task. RESULTS: At baseline, increased activation in response to happy relative to neutral distractors was observed in the orbitofrontal cortex in depressed patients which was normalised after CBT. No significant group differences were found behaviourally or in brain activation in response to sad distractors. Improvements in symptoms (mean: 9.31, 95% CI: 5.35-13.27) were related at trend-level to activation changes in orbitofrontal cortex. LIMITATIONS: In the follow-up section, a limited number of post-CBT patients were recruited. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first fMRI study addressing the effect of CBT in adolescent depression. Although a bias toward negative information is widely accepted as a hallmark of depression, aberrant brain hyperactivity to positive distractors was found and normalised after CBT. Research, assessment and treatment focused on positive stimuli could be a future consideration. Moreover, a pathophysiological mechanism distinct from adult depression may be suggested and awaits further exploration.The study was funded by the Medial Research Council (grant: G0802226). The IMPACT clinical trial was funded by the NHS Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme, Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Trust, and the Cambridge and Peterborough Mental Health Trust. Additional support was provided by the jointly funded Medical Research Council/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2015.09.00