Are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors a Secondary Cause of Low Bone Density?

Background. Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that can significantly impact numerous aspects of health and wellness. The individual consequences of osteoporosis can be devastating, often resulting in substantial loss of independence and sometimes death. One of the few illnesses with greater disease burden than low bone mineral density (BMD) is major depressive disorder (MDD). Both depression and antidepressant use have been identified as secondary causes of osteoporosis. The objective of this paper is to review and summarize the current findings on the relationship between antidepressant use and BMD. Methods. Relevant sources were identified from the Pubmed and MEDLINE databases, citing articles from the first relevant publication to September 1st, 2010. Results. 2001 articles initially met the search criteria, and 35 studies were thoroughly reviewed for evidence of an association between SSRI use and BMD, and 8 clinical studies were detailed and summarized in this paper. Conclusions. Current findings suggest a link between mental illness and osteoporosis that is of clinical relevance. Additional longitudinal studies and further research on possible mechanisms surrounding the association between SSRI use on bone metabolism need to be conducted. Treatment algorithms need to recognize this association to ensure that vulnerable populations are screened

The Clinical User-experience Evaluation (CUE) – a novel method to understand patient's experience in a clinical trial of telemedicine

Research Objective: The use of technology-enabled interventions such as telemedicine to monitor patients from home is on the increase with chronic diseases. Telemedicine technologies are often designed ad-hoc by IT developers but how patients interact and feel about using these technologies in the rollout phase is crucial because the effectiveness of a telemedicine treatment also depends on the interaction pattern between the technology and its users (patients). While clinical trials focus on assessing the effectiveness of telemedicine other study designs are needed to investigate patients' experiences with the technologies. We developed a novel qualitative methodology - the Clinical User-Experience Evaluation (CUE) - to complement a clinical trial, using evaluation methods from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) discipline. The CUE was implemented within a telemedicine clinical trial of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) in Townsville region in Queensland in Australia, conducted by the TMML (Townsville-Mackay Medicare Locals). The telemedicine trial consisted of a tablet equipped with a built-in app, a glucometer and a sphygmomanometer. Study Design: We developed the CUE as a three-stage method. Stage 1 was a contextual inquiry that was performed in-situ at a patient's home. Patients used the tablet with the think-aloud method during this stage, during regularly scheduled times for using the technology. Stage 2 of CUE was a semi-structured qualitative inquiry to understand patients' experience and expectations including questions that arose during stage 1. Stage 3 was an online survey to verify some of our observations from the previous stages. Population Studied: Nine T2D patients (four females, five males) volunteered to participate in the CUE. They were part of the 210 participants of TMML's telemedicine clinical trial. Principal Findings: Stage 1 found that the technology did not suffice all of the needs of patients; they additionally used pen and paper. Stage 2 found patients' emotions, perceived behavior change of using the technology, reasons to use or not use the technology in future. Stage 3 tested what patients thought about seven of our observations about them. A few important ones were that - patients were divided in their opinion about –contacting nurses about technology related problems, about changing the location of the technology in their homes and that they were informed about expressing their thoughts about the technology design even though the clinical trial was about their medical improvement. However, all patients agreed that talking with a HCI researcher was additionally valuable for them. Interviews with two nurses validated that CUE acquired additional knowledge than those from the trial. Conclusions: Evaluation of telemedicine technologies can benefit through evaluation methods like CUE in addition to clinical trials. Implications for Policy or Practice: Some clinical trials are conducting a patient satisfaction survey only in the end and some additionally conduct qualitative studies. However, these are not done from a HCI perspective. The CUE uses HCI evaluation in a clinical trial understand the patients throughout the trial to find how patients feel and what matters to patients in a telemedicine technology and these findings provide guidance towards the modification of the technology or new technologies of telemedicine

Ocean Chlorophyll Studies from a U-2 Aircraft Platform

Chlorophyll gradient maps of large ocean areas were generated from U-2 ocean color scanner data obtained over test sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The delineation of oceanic features using the upward radiant intensity relies on an analysis method which presupposes that radiation backscattered from the atmosphere and ocean surface can be properly modeled using a measurement made at 778 nm. An estimation of the chlorophyll concentration was performed by properly ratioing radiances measured at 472 nm and 548 nm after removing the atmospheric effects. The correlation between the remotely sensed data and in-situ surface chlorophyll measurements was validated in two sets of data. The results show that the correlation between the in-situ measured chlorophyll and the derived quantity is a negative exponential function and the correlation coefficient was calculated to be -0.965

Introducing a learning repository using a blended professional development approach

This paper outlines the professional development program used to introduce a learning repository at Deakin University. Providing appropriate, timely and effective professional development programs to support academic and other staff is one of the objectives of the Deakin University Teaching and Learning Functional Plan 2008. Our blended program combines web-based and face-to-face training with a wide variety of resources to support staff. Issues noted in the literature relating to the introduction and use of learning repositories informed the planning and development of our program. Challenges and issues we experienced at Deakin are also outlined.<br /

Modeling of torsion stress giant magnetoimpedance in amorphous wires with negative magnetostriction

A model describing the influence of torsion stress on the giant magnetoimpedance in amorphous wires with negative magnetostriction is proposed. The wire impedance is found by means of the solution of Maxwell equations together with the Landau-Lifshitz equation, assuming a simplified spatial distribution of the magnetoelastic anisotropy induced by the torsion stress. The impedance is analyzed as a function of the external magnetic field, torsion stress and frequency. It is shown that the magnetoimpedance ratio torsion dependence has an asymmetric shape, with a sharp peak at some value of the torsion stress. The calculated field and stress dependences of the impedance are in qualitative agreement with results of the experimental study of the torsion stress giant magnetoimpedance in Co-based amorphous wires.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Constrained sintering of 8mol% Y 2O 3 stabilised zirconia films

Constrained sintering kinetics of 8 mol% Y2O3/92 mol% ZrO2 (8YSZ) films approximately 10–15 m thick screen-printed on dense YSZ substrates, and the resulting stress induced in the films, were measured in the temperature range 1100–1350 ◦C. The results are compared with those reported earlier for 3YSZ films. Both materials behave similarly, although there are differences in detail. The constrained densification rate was greatly retarded compared with the unconstrained densification rate due to the effect of the constraint on the developing anisotropic microstructure (3YSZ) and, in the case of 8YSZ, considerable grain growth. The stress generated during constrained sintering was typically a few MPa. The apparent activation energies for free sintering, constrained sintering, creep and grain growth are found to cover a wide range (135–670 kJ mol−1) despite all probably being mainly controlled by grain boundary cation diffusion

Magazines as contradictory spaces for alcohol messaging: a mixed method content and thematic analysis of UK women’s magazine representations of alcohol and its consumption

BACKGROUND Women’s magazines provide a space in which gendered norms around alcohol-related practice are (re)-produced. They act as important points of reference for women to draw upon in their own understandings of alcohol use within their identity making. Studying the alcohol-related messages women’s magazines disseminate is therefore an important line of inquiry. METHODS An analysis of textual and visual alcohol depictions, including alcohol advertising, in 70 editions of 20 printed magazines targeted at and read by women, published between August 2020 and January 2021, was conducted using quantitative content and qualitative thematic analysis. RESULTS Women’s magazines have the potential to disseminate public health messages about the physical and mental health impacts of alcohol use, alcohol’s role in gender inequalities and the risk of harm from alcohol use by men. However, they do so in ways that reproduce harmful gender norms and expectations, and overlook the structural causes of alcohol-related harms. Associations between alcohol use and violence against women were simplified, in ways that ignored the root causes, produced victim-blaming narratives and deflected responsibility from the perpetrator to the effects of alcohol. Narratives around drinking and sobriety were underpinned by concerns over appearance, which reinforced social expectations of the ideal feminine body. Health narratives were in conflict with the presence of pro-alcohol messages such as consumption suggestions and alcohol advertising, which promoted alcohol use as a normalised aspect of women’s day to day lives. CONCLUSIONS Women receive a number of mixed and contradictory messages on alcohol use through their magazine readership, which places limits on magazines as educational sources of public health messaging

Timing molecular motion and production with a synthetic transcriptional clock

The realization of artificial biochemical reaction networks with unique functionality is one of the main challenges for the development of synthetic biology. Due to the reduced number of components, biochemical circuits constructed in vitro promise to be more amenable to systematic design and quantitative assessment than circuits embedded within living organisms. To make good on that promise, effective methods for composing subsystems into larger systems are needed. Here we used an artificial biochemical oscillator based on in vitro transcription and RNA degradation reactions to drive a variety of “load” processes such as the operation of a DNA-based nanomechanical device (“DNA tweezers”) or the production of a functional RNA molecule (an aptamer for malachite green). We implemented several mechanisms for coupling the load processes to the oscillator circuit and compared them based on how much the load affected the frequency and amplitude of the core oscillator, and how much of the load was effectively driven. Based on heuristic insights and computational modeling, an “insulator circuit” was developed, which strongly reduced the detrimental influence of the load on the oscillator circuit. Understanding how to design effective insulation between biochemical subsystems will be critical for the synthesis of larger and more complex systems

Effect of cyclosporine on hepatic energy status and on fructose metabolism after portacaval shunt in dog as monitored by phosphorus‐31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in vivo

The effect of cyclosporin A on the hepatic energy status and intracellular pH of the liver and its response to a fructose challenge has been investigated using in vivo phosphorus‐31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in dogs. Three experimental groups were studied: (a) control dogs (n = 5), (b) dogs 4 days after the creation of an end‐to‐side portacaval shunt (n = 5), and (c) dogs 4 days after portacaval shunt and continuous infusion of cyclosporin A (4 mg/kg/day) by way of the left portal vein (portacaval shunt plus cyclosporin A, n = 5). The phosphorus‐31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra were obtained at 81 MHz using a Bruker BIOSPEC II 4.7‐tesla nuclear magnetic resonance system equipped with a 40‐cm horizontal bore superconducting solenoid. The phosphomonoesters (p < 0.01), inorganic phosphate and ATP levels (p < 0.05) were decreased significantly in portacaval shunt–treated and in portacaval shunt‐pluscyclosporin A–treated dogs compared with unshunted control dogs. After a fructose challenge (750 mg/kg body wt, intravenously), fructose‐1‐phosphate metabolism was reduced in portacaval shunt–treated dogs compared with either the normal or portacaval shuntplus‐cyclosporin A–treated dogs (p < 0.05). Both portacaval shunt– and portacaval shunt‐plus‐cyclosporin A–treated dogs demonstrated a reduced decline in ATP levels after fructose infusion when compared with the controls (p < 0.05). Immediately after the fructose challenge, the intracellular pH decreased from 7.30 ± 0.03 to 7.00 ± 0.05 in all animals (p < 0.01) and then gradually returned to normal over 60 min. These data, obtained in vivo using phosphorus‐31 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the liver after a portacaval shunt, suggest that: (a) the energy status of the liver is reduced in dogs with a portacaval shunt compared with that of normal controls and (b) cyclosporin A treatment ameliorates the reduction in hepatic metabolism normally observed after a fructose challenge to the liver with a portacaval shunt. (HEPATOLOGY 1991;13:780–785.) Copyright © 1991 American Association for the Study of Liver Disease

Longitudinal Study on Trace Mineral Compositions (Selenium, Zinc, Copper, Manganese) in Korean Human Preterm Milk

We measured selenium, zinc, copper and manganese concentrations in the human milk of Korean mothers who gave birth to preterm infants, and compared these measurements with the recommended daily intakes. The samples of human milk were collected postpartum at week-1, -2, -4, -6, -8, and -12, from 67 mothers who gave birth to preterm infants (< 34 weeks, or birth weight < 1.8 kg). All samples were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The concentrations of selenium were 11.8 ± 0.5, 11.4 ± 0.8, 12.7 ± 0.9, 11.4 ± 0.8, 10.8 ± 0.9, and 10.5 ± 1.3 µg/L, zinc were 7.8 ± 0.5, 9.1 ± 0.8, 7.2 ± 0.9, 8.0 ± 0.8, 7.4 ± 0.9, and 6.6 ± 1.2 mg/L, copper were 506 ± 23.6, 489 ± 29.4, 384 ± 33.6, 356 ± 32.9, 303 ± 35.0, and 301 ± 48.0 µg/L and manganese were 133 ± 4.0, 127 ± 6.0, 125 ± 6.0, 123 ± 6.0, 127 ± 6.0, and 108 ± 9.0 µg/L at week-1, -2, -4, -6, -8, and -12, respectively. The concentrations of selenium and zinc meet the daily requirements but that of copper is low and of manganese exceeds daily requirements recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Nutrition