Will the Farm to Fork strategy be effective in changing food consumption behavior? : A health psychology perspective

Food production accounts for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions; the Farm to Fork strategy aims to make food systems more sustainable and healthier to curb the rising global surface temperature. It includes several actions targeting consumer behavior, including increasing the availability of sustainable and healthy products and mandatory nutritional labeling. The actions address relevant psychological mechanisms; however, the outlined actions are vague and based on only a small number of behavioral determinants that may limit effectiveness. The implementation may furthermore benefit from concepts of implementation science to increase acceptability and feasibility to reach its ambitious goals

The mediating role of pain catastrophizing in the relationship between presurgical anxiety and acute postsurgical pain after hysterectomy

The aim of this study was to examine the joint role of demographic, clinical, and psychological variables 30 as predictors of acute postsurgical pain in women undergoing hysterectomy due to benign disorders. A 31 consecutive sample of 203 women was assessed 24 hours before (T1) and 48 hours after (T2) surgery. 32 Baseline pain and predictors were assessed at T1 and postsurgical pain and analgesic consumption at 33 T2. Several factors distinguished women who had no or mild pain after surgery from those who had mod- 34 erate to severe pain, with the latter being younger, having more presurgical pain, and showing a less 35 favorable psychological profile. Younger age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.90, P < .001), presurgical pain 36 (OR = 2.50, P <.05), pain due to other causes (OR = 4.39, P = .001), and pain catastrophizing (OR = 3.37, 37 P = .001) emerged as the main predictors of pain severity at T2 in multivariate logistic regression. This 38 was confirmed in hierarchical linear regression (b = 0.187, P < .05; b = 0.146, P < .05; b = 0.136, P < .05; 39 b = 0.245, P < .01, respectively). Presurgical anxiety also predicted pain intensity at T2. Findings revealed 40 an integrative heuristic model that accounts for the joint influence of demographic, clinical, and psycho- 41 logical factors on postsurgical pain intensity and severity. In further mediation analysis, pain catastro- 42 phizing emerged as a full mediator between presurgical anxiety and postsurgical pain intensity. The 43 potential clinical implications for understanding, evaluating, and intervening in postsurgical pain are 44 discussed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Falko Sniehotta, PhD, and Justin Presseau, PhD, for suggestions. The authors also thank all of the women who agreed to participate in this study

A feasibility study with process evaluation of a preschool intervention to improve child and family lifestyle behaviours

Background - Around a fifth of children starting school in England are now overweight/obese. There is a paucity of interventions with the aim of obesity prevention in preschool-age children in the UK. Previous research has demonstrated some positive results in changing specific health behaviours, however, positive trends in overall obesity rates are lacking. Preschool settings may provide valuable opportunities to access children and their families not only for promoting healthy lifestyles, but also to develop and evaluate behaviour-change interventions. Methods - This paper presents a cluster randomised feasibility study of a theory based behaviour-change preschool practitioner-led intervention tested in four preschool centres in the North East of England. The primary outcome measures were to test the acceptability and feasibility of the data collection measures and intervention. Secondary measures were collected and reported for extra information. At baseline and post intervention, children’s anthropometric, dietary and physical activity measures as well as family ‘active’ time data were collected. The preschool practitioner-led intervention included family intervention tasks such as ‘family goal-setting activities’ and ‘cooking challenges’. Preschool activities included increasing physical activity and providing activities with the potential to change behaviour with increased knowledge of and acceptance of healthy eating. The process evaluation was an on-going monthly process and was collected in multiple forms such as questionnaires, photographs and verbal feedback. Results - ‘Gatekeeper’ permission and lower-hierarchal adherence were initially a problem for recruitment and methods acceptance. However, at intervention end the preschool teachers and parents stated they found most intervention methods and activities acceptable, and some positive changes in family health behaviours were reported. However, the preschool centres appeared to have difficulties with enforcing everyday school healthy eating policies. Conclusions - The findings from the current study may have implications for nursery practitioners, nursery settings, Local Educational Authorities and policy makers, and contributes to the body of literature. However, further work with preschool practitioners is required to determine how personal attitudes and school policy application can be supported to implement successfully such an intervention

FGF-2, TGF&#946;-1, PDGF-A and respective receptors expression in pleomorphic adenoma myoepithelial cells: an in vivo and in vitro study

Myoepithelial cells have an important role in salivary gland tumor development, contributing to a low grade of aggressiveness of these tumors. Normal myoepithelial cells are known by their suppressor function presenting increased expression of extracellular matrix genes and protease inhibitors. The importance of stromal cells and growth factors during tumor initiation and progression has been highlighted by recent literature. Many tumors result from the alteration of paracrine growth factors pathways. Growth factors mediate a wide variety of biological processes such as development, tissue repair and tumorigenesis, and also contribute to cellular proliferation and transformation in neoplastic cells. OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the expression of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), transforming growth factor &#946;-1 (TGF&#946;-1), platelet-derived growth factor-A (PDGF-A) and their respective receptors (FGFR-1, FGFR-2, TGF&#946;R-II and PDGFR-&#945;) in myoepithelial cells from pleomorphic adenomas (PA) by in vivo and in vitro experiments. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Serial sections were obtained from paraffin-embedded PA samples obtained from the school's files. Myoepithelial cells were obtained from explants of PA tumors provided by surgery from different donors. Immunohistochemistry, cell culture and immunofluorescence assays were used to evaluate growth factor expression. RESULTS: The present findings demonstrated that myoepithelial cells from PA were mainly positive to FGF-2 and FGFR-1 by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. PDGF-A and PDGFR-&#945; had moderate expression by immunohistochemistry and presented punctated deposits throughout cytoplasm of myoepithelial cells. FGFR-2, TGF&#946;-1 and TGF&#946;R-II were negative in all samples. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggested that FGF-2 compared to the other studied growth factors has an important role in PA benign myoepithelial cells, probably contributing to proliferation of these cells through the FGFR-1

The role of pain catastrophizing in the provision of rescue analgesia by healthcare providers following major joint arthroplasty

After surgery, patient reports or health care professional evaluations of heightened acute pain intensity should lead to extra analgesia provision, which is designated by rescue analgesia (RA). Whether RA is administered or not, it is not directly dependent on the patient but rather on clinical decisions, which should be based on pain management guidelines. There is a general lack of studies focusing on pain-related decision-making regarding RA provision. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine which pre and post-surgical factors, beyond acute post-surgical pain intensity, might influence clinical decisions on RA administration after major joint arthroplasties (MJA). METHODS: A consecutive sample of 110 patients undergoing MJA was fully assessed 24 hours before (T1) and 48 hours after (T2) surgery. Before surgery, baseline demographic, clinical, and psychological variables were evaluated and after surgery the main outcome was RA provision, with acute post-surgical pain intensity being also registered. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective observational cohort study. SETTING: Central hospital in northern Portugal. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis revealed that RA provision, after MJA, is influenced by a patient-related psychological factor, pain catastrophizing (OR = 1.143; 95% CI 1.044 - 1.253, P = 0.004), above and beyond acute post-surgical pain intensity. Additionally, the type of arthroplasty (OR = 2.806; 95% CI 1.002 - 7.857, P = 0.050) also affected RA provision. Other patient-related factors such as gender, previous pain states, pre-surgical optimism, and post-surgical anxiety did not reveal any predictive role in RA administration. LIMITATIONS: This is a single-site study, only confined to MJA patients. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study shed light on the importance of psychological factors in determining RA provision following MJA. This encourages further reflection on acute post-surgical pain management by health care providers, namely by raising clinicians' awareness about the factors that influence patient-provider interactions, as well as their impact on decision-making regarding RA provision. A global assessment of patients, wherein psychological variables are taken into account, is warranted in order to improve the quality of surgical pain management. Finally, these findings provide support for the design of acute post-surgical pain management interventions directed at clinicians, in order to augment professionals' awareness about the potential influence of patient-related psychological factors on RA decisions

Relations Between Autonomous Motivation and Leisure-Time Physical Activity Participation: The Mediating Role of Self-Regulation Techniques

Peer reviewe

Persistent pain after total knee or hip arthroplasty : differential study of prevalence, nature, and impact

This study compares the incidence, nature, and impact of persistent post-surgical pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA) and investigates differences between these procedures, with the focus on potential presurgical and post-surgical issues that could be related to the distinct persistent post-surgical pain outcomes between these two groups. A consecutive sample of 92 patients was assessed prospectively 24 hours before, 48 hours, and 4-6 months after surgery. The data show that TKA patients had a higher likelihood of developing persistent post-surgical pain, of reporting higher pain levels, and of using more neuropathic descriptors when classifying their pain. In addition, TKA patients more often reported interference from pain on functional domains, including general activity, walking ability, and normal work. Demographic factors, like gender and age, along with presurgical clinical factors like disease onset, existence of medical comorbidities, and other pain problems, may have contributed to these differences, whereas baseline psychologic factors and functionality levels did not seem to exert an influence. Heightened acute post-surgical pain experience among TKA patients could also be related to distinct outcomes for persistent post-surgical pain. Future prospective studies should therefore collect TKA and THA samples wherein patients are homogeneous for demographic and presurgical clinical issues. Overall, these findings contribute to a small but growing body of literature documenting persistent post-surgical pain after major arthroplasty, conducted in different countries and across different health care settings.This work was supported by a project grant (PTDC/SAU-NEU/108557/2008) from the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology, COMPETE (Thematic Operational Programme for Competitive Factors), and FEDER (European Fund for Regional Development). We also thank the patients who agreed to participate in this study