Gratitude Uniquely Predicts Lower Depression in Chronic Illness Populations: A Longitudinal Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Arthritis

Objective: Although gratitude has been identified as a key clinically relevant trait for improving well-being, it is understudied within medical populations. The current study addressed this gap and extended previous and limited cross-sectional research by examining the longitudinal associations of gratitude to depression in two chronic illness samples, arthritis and IBD. Methods: Two chronic illness samples, arthritis (N = 423) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD; N = 427), completed online surveys at Time 1 (T1). 163 people with arthritis and 144 people with IBD completed the six-month follow-up survey (T2). Depression, gratitude, illness cognitions, perceived stress, social support, and disease-related variables were assessed at T1 and T2. Results: At T2, 57.2 percent of the arthritis sample and 53.4 percent of the IBD sample met the cut off scores for significant depression. T1 gratitude was negatively associated with depressive symptoms at T1 and T2 in both samples (r’s from -.43 to -.50). Regression analyses revealed that T1 gratitude remained a significant and unique predictor of lower T2 depression after controlling for T1 depression, relevant demographic variables, illness cognitions, changes in illness-relevant variables, and another positive psychological construct, thriving, in both samples. Conclusion: As the first investigation of the longitudinal associations of gratitude to psychological well-being in the context of chronic illness, the current study provides important evidence for the relevance of gratitude for health-related clinical populations. Further intervention-based research is warranted to more fully understand the potential benefits of gratitude for adjustment to chronic illness

Solving the Linda multiple rd problem using the copy-collect primitive

AbstractLinda is a mature co-ordination language that has been in use for several years. However, as a result of recent work on the model we have found a simple class of operation that is widely used in many different algorithms which the Linda model is unable to express in a viable fashion. An example algorithm which uses this operation is the composition of two binary relations. By examining how to implement this in parallel using Linda we demonstrate that the approaches possible using the current Linda primitives are unsatisfactory. This paper demonstrates how this “multiple rd problem” can be overcome by the addition of a primitive to the Linda model, copy-collect. This builds on previous work on another primitive called collect (Butcher et al., 1994). The parallel composition of two binary relations using the copy-collect primitive can be achieved with maximal parallelism

A simulation of the NiO/Ag interface with point defects

The NiO/Ag interface has been modelled using established simulation techniques, which have been modified to include the image interactions between the oxide ions and the induced charge in the metal. The energies of point defects near the interface were calculated and it was found that the surface rumpling was such that defects with a negative net charge were favoured. This will result in a space charge layer with excess cation vacancies which will cancel the interfacial potential. A low energy interface was modelled in which the cation sub-lattice of the second oxide plane was saturated with vacancies and Ni3+. ions. Such a structure may be responsible for the observed excess of oxygen near the NiO/Ni interface, and also for the low wetting angles of metals on NiO, compared with MgO

Comparing Clinician-Assessed and Patient-Reported Performance Status for Predicting Morbidity and Mortality in Patients With Advanced Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy

PURPOSE: Performance status (PS) is assessed during cancer treatment to determine clinical trial eligibility, appropriateness for treatment, and need for supportive care. There is rising interest for patients to report this information directly. We determined whether clinician- and patient-reported PS were equally associated with mortality and service utilization in patients with cancer. METHODS: A secondary analysis was conducted using data from an radiotherapy plus chemotherapy in which 441 patients with advanced cancer and clinicians reported PS using the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group scale. Simple kappa statistics measured agreement between clinician-reported performance status (cPS) and patient-reported performance status (pPS). Associations of cPS and pPS with emergency department (ED) and hospital visits and overall survival were evaluated via Cox regression, competing risk regression, and Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: cPS and pPS correlated weakly (kappa = 0.27). Both pPS and cPS were associated with survival, ED visits, and hospitalizations, but only cPS remained associated after adjustment (survival: HR, 1.75; P < .0001). The first available cPS predicted mortality more strongly than the first available pPS (HR for death, comparing PS ≥ 1 v 0: 2.05 for cPS and 1.41 for pPS). When pPS questionnaires were repeated over time and averaged, associations with outcomes were stronger as measured by AIC model fit. Both pPS and cPS were associated with EQ-5D subcomponents (eg, 75%-77% with no usual activity deficits for PS 0, v 42%-51% for PS ≥ 1). CONCLUSION: Both clinician-reported PS and patient-reported PS provide useful information and can be considered for clinical trials and routine care

A hybrid process combining ion exchange resin and bipolar membrane electrodialysis for reverse osmosis remineralization

A new reverse osmosis (RO) permeate remineralization process combining ion exchange resin and bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) was developed. Its feasibility for hardness ions recovery and RO permeate remineralization was investigated. The effect of several operation conditions on the efficiency of the combined remineralization process was studied. Highly efficient cation exchange resin loading was achieved at a low flow rate and low feed solution concentration. The recovered calcium purity and yield considerably improved under gradient elution methods in comparison with commonly applied conventional isocratic elution methods using the same eluent quantity. The purity of the produced acid and base using BMED dropped noticeably with increasing feed NaCl concentration, presumably related to decreased permselectivity of the ion-exchange membranes. The drop in the purity of the calcium recovered when eluting the cation exchange resin with BMED-produced HCl in comparison with commercially available acid at 50 % yield was shown not to affect the remineralization process, where a dilution factor could be applied. This study confirmed the technical feasibility of the developed process for RO permeate remineralization. However, its application can be limited by the water source characteristics, the energy-intensive bipolar membrane process, and applied operational conditions, where more investigation is still needed.</p

Disease-specific, neurosphere-derived cells as models for brain disorders

There is a pressing need for patient-derived cell models of brain diseases that are relevant and robust enough to produce the large quantities of cells required for molecular and functional analyses. We describe here a new cell model based on patient-derived cells from the human olfactory mucosa, the organ of smell, which regenerates throughout life from neural stem cells. Olfactory mucosa biopsies were obtained from healthy controls and patients with either schizophrenia, a neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder, or Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disease. Biopsies were dissociated and grown as neurospheres in defined medium. Neurosphere-derived cell lines were grown in serum-containing medium as adherent monolayers and stored frozen. By comparing 42 patient and control cell lines we demonstrated significant disease-specific alterations in gene expression, protein expression and cell function, including dysregulated neurodevelopmental pathways in schizophrenia and dysregulated mitochondrial function, oxidative stress and xenobiotic metabolism in Parkinson's disease. The study has identified new candidate genes and cell pathways for future investigation. Fibroblasts from schizophrenia patients did not show these differences. Olfactory neurosphere-derived cells have many advantages over embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells as models for brain diseases. They do not require genetic reprogramming and they can be obtained from adults with complex genetic diseases. They will be useful for understanding disease aetiology, for diagnostics and for drug discovery

The EBV-encoded oncoprotein, LMP1, induces an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) via Its CTAR1 domain through integrin-mediated ERK-MAPK signalling

The Epstein⁻Barr virus (EBV)-encoded latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) oncogene can induce profound effects on epithelial growth and differentiation including many of the features of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). To better characterise these effects, we used the well-defined Madin Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cell model and found that LMP1 expression in these cells induces EMT as defined by characteristic morphological changes accompanied by loss of E-cadherin, desmosomal cadherin and tight junction protein expression. The induction of the EMT phenotype required a functional CTAR1 domain of LMP1 and studies using pharmacological inhibitors revealed contributions from signalling pathways commonly induced by integrin⁻ligand interactions: extracellular signal-regulated kinases/mitogen-activated protein kinases (ERK-MAPK), PI3-Kinase and tyrosine kinases, but not transforming growth factor beta (TGF&beta;). More detailed analysis implicated the CTAR1-mediated induction of Slug and Twist in LMP1-induced EMT. A key role for &beta;1 integrin signalling in LMP1-mediated ERK-MAPK and focal adhesion kianse (FAK) phosphorylation was observed, and &beta;1 integrin activation was found to enhance LMP1-induced cell viability and survival. These findings support an important role for LMP1 in disease pathogenesis through transcriptional reprogramming that enhances tumour cell survival and leads to a more invasive, metastatic phenotype

The interactive role of income (material position) and income rank (psychosocial position) in psychological distress : a 9-year longitudinal study of 30,000 UK parents

Purpose Parents face an increased risk of psychological distress compared with adults without children, and families with children also have lower average household incomes. Past research suggests that absolute income (material position) and income status (psychosocial position) influence psychological distress, but their combined effects on changes in psychological distress have not been examined. Whether absolute income interacts with income status to influence psychological distress are also key questions. Methods We used fixed-effects panel models to examine longitudinal associations between psychological distress (measured on the Kessler scale) and absolute income, distance from the regional mean income, and regional income rank (a proxy for status) using data from 29,107 parents included in the UK Millennium Cohort Study (2003–2012). Results Psychological distress was determined by an interaction between absolute income and income rank: higher absolute income was associated with lower psychological distress across the income spectrum, while the benefits of higher income rank were evident only in the highest income parents. Parents’ psychological distress was, therefore, determined by a combination of income-related material and psychosocial factors. Conclusions Both material and psychosocial factors contribute to well-being. Higher absolute incomes were associated with lower psychological distress across the income spectrum, demonstrating the importance of material factors. Conversely, income status was associated with psychological distress only at higher absolute incomes, suggesting that psychosocial factors are more relevant to distress in more advantaged, higher income parents. Clinical interventions could, therefore, consider both the material and psychosocial impacts of income on psychological distress