There is no such thing as an ex-marine: Understanding the psychological journey of combat veterans

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned national attention to the prevalence of invisible wounds in service members returning from combat. This surge in mental health care needs has resulted in a shortage of mental health care providers in both military and veteran’s hospitals (Barlas, 2007). Clinicians in the civilian sector have an opportunity to help address this shortage by taking on service members and veterans as clients; however, they need to be prepared to work with such a specialized population. The entire process of being part of the armed forces - from the decision to join, to the structure of training, to the excitement and tragedy of war - all must to be taken into consideration when preparing to work with a service member. The intent of this paper is to introduce civilian clinicians to military culture and to outline the psychological journey of combat service members. Additionally, current counseling practices and perspectives are reviewed to further assist civilian clinicians in their preparation to serve those who have served our country

Well-being profiles in adolescence:psychometric properties and latent profile analysis of the mental health continuum model – a methodological study

Abstract Background: The Adolescent Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) is a psychometrically valid tool to evaluate the domains of subjective well-being, but there is a lack of investigations which could distinguish subgroups with distinct subjective well-being profiles based on this measurement. Therefore, after testing the competing measurement models of the MHC-SF, our main aim was to identify subjective well-being profiles in a large adolescent sample. Methods: On a representative Hungarian adolescent sample (N=1572; 51% girl; mean age was 15.39, SD=2.26) confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were used to test the factor stucture of the Adolescents MHC-SF. In addition, gender invariance of the best fitting model was also tested. Latent Profile Analyses (LPA) were conducted to reveal distinct subgroups and these profiles were then compared. Results: Results support the bifactor model of MHC-SF: the general and specific well-being factors which were invariant across gender. LPA yielded four subgroups, three of them have been theoretically hypothesized in previous works (i.e. flourishing, moderate mental health, languishing), but an emotionally vulnerable subgroup also emerged. Compared to the languishing group, this new subgroup demonstrated higher scores on prosocial behaviour, but had comparable level of loneliness and internalizing symptoms. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the MHC-SF is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing overall well-being and its components. In addition, the identification of young people to be at risk for low mental health may help us to tailor mental health promotion programs to their special needs. Keywords: Well-being, Positive Mental Health, Mental Health Continuum Model, Adolescents, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling, Gender Invariance, Latent Profile Analyse

Internalizing emotions: Self-determination as an antecedent of emotional intelligence

AbstractAn extensive body of literature indicates that people differ in the extent to which they attend to, process, and regulate emotions. The present research sought to build on this knowledge by examining whether general self-determination (GSD) could account for individual variation in emotional intelligence (EI) and psychological well-being (PWB). A simple and multiple mediation model using bootstrap analyses tested these relationships in a sample of students (Study 1, N=283) and workers (Study 2, N=265). Results supported the hypothesized mediating role of EI in the relationship between GSD and PWB across both studies. When the inter-related facets of EI were considerately separately, indirect effects emerged for mood regulation/optimism and social skills across both studies as well as for utilization of emotions, albeit negatively, in Study 2. Our findings support and extend past work on the antecedents of EI and have important implications for human functioning across a variety of settings

VCAM-1/α4β1 Integrin Interaction is Crucial for Prompt Recruitment of Immune T Cells into the Brain During the Early Stage of Reactivation of Chronic Infection with \u3cem\u3eToxoplasma gondii\u3c/em\u3e to Prevent Toxoplasmic Encephalitis

Reactivation of chronic infection with Toxoplasma gondii can cause life-threatening toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromised individuals. We examined the role of VCAM-1/α4β1 integrin interaction in T cell recruitment to prevent reactivation of the infection in the brain. SCID mice were infected and treated with sulfadiazine to establish a chronic infection. VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 were the endothelial adhesion molecules detected on cerebral vessels of the infected SCID and wild-type animals. Immune T cells from infected wild-type mice were treated with anti-α4 integrin or control antibodies and transferred into infected SCID or nude mice, and the animals received the same antibody every other day. Three days later, sulfadiazine was discontinued to initiate reactivation of infection. Expression of mRNAs for CD3δ, CD4, CD8β, gamma interferon (IFN-γ), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS2) (an effector molecule to inhibit T. gondii growth) and the numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the brain were significantly less in mice treated with anti-α4 integrin antibody than in those treated with control antibody at 3 days after sulfadiazine discontinuation. At 6 days after sulfadiazine discontinuation, cerebral tachyzoite-specific SAG1 mRNA levels and numbers of inflammatory foci associated with tachyzoites were markedly greater in anti-α4 integrin antibody-treated than in control antibody-treated animals, even though IFN-γ and NOS2 mRNA levels were higher in the former than in the latter. These results indicate that VCAM-1/α4β1 integrin interaction is crucial for prompt recruitment of immune T cells and induction of IFN-γ-mediated protective immune responses during the early stage of reactivation of chronic T. gondii infection to control tachyzoite growth

Understanding public perspectives on fracking in the United States using social media big data

People’s attitudes towards hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be shaped by socio-demographics, economic development, social equity and politics, environmental impacts, and fracking-related information. Existing research typically conducts surveys and interviews to study public attitudes towards fracking among a small group of individuals in a specific geographic area, where limited samples may introduce bias. Here, we compiled geo-referenced social media big data from Twitter during 2018–2019 for the entire United States to present a more holistic picture of people’s attitudes towards fracking. We used a multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to investigate county-level relationships between the aforementioned factors and percentages of negative tweets concerning fracking. Results indicate spatial heterogeneity and varying scales of those associations. Counties with higher median household income, larger African American populations, and/or lower educational level are less likely to oppose fracking, and these associations show global stationarity in all contiguous US counties. Eastern and Central US counties with higher unemployment rates, counties east of the Great Plains with less fracking sites nearby, and Western and Gulf Coast region counties with higher health insurance enrolments are more likely to oppose fracking activities. These three variables show clear East-West geographical divides in influencing public perspective on fracking. In counties across the southern Great Plains, negative attitudes towards fracking are less often vocalized on Twitter as the share of Republican voters increases. These findings have implications for both predicting public perspectives and needed policy adjustments. The methodology can also be conveniently applied to investigate public perspectives on other controversial topics

Design and methods of the Longitudinal Eating Disorders Assessment Project research consortium for veterans

Introduction Military service members must maintain a certain body mass index and body fat percentage. Due to weight-loss pressures, some service members may resort to unhealthy behaviors that place them at risk for the development of an eating disorder (ED). Objectives To understand the scope and impact of EDs in military service members and veterans, we formed the Longitudinal Eating Disorders Assessment Project (LEAP) Consortium. LEAP aims to develop novel screening, assessment, classification, and treatment tools for veterans and military members with a focus on EDs and internalizing psychopathology. Methods We recruited two independent nationally representative samples of post-9/11 veterans who were separated from service within the past year. Study 1 was a four-wave longitudinal survey and Study 2 was a mixed-methods study that included surveys, structured-clinical interviews, and qualitative interviews. Results Recruitment samples were representative of the full population of recently separated veterans. Sample weights were created to adjust for sources of non-response bias to the baseline survey. Attrition was low relative to past studies of this population, with only (younger) age predicting attrition at 1-week follow-up. Conclusions We expect that the LEAP Consortium data will contribute to improved information about EDs in veterans, a serious and understudied problem

Population Health Solutions for Assessing Cognitive Impairment in Geriatric Patients.

In December 2017, the National Academy of Neuropsychology convened an interorganizational Summit on Population Health Solutions for Assessing Cognitive Impairment in Geriatric Patients in Denver, Colorado. The Summit brought together representatives of a broad range of stakeholders invested in the care of older adults to focus on the topic of cognitive health and aging. Summit participants specifically examined questions of who should be screened for cognitive impairment and how they should be screened in medical settings. This is important in the context of an acute illness given that the presence of cognitive impairment can have significant implications for care and for the management of concomitant diseases as well as pose a major risk factor for dementia. Participants arrived at general principles to guide future screening approaches in medical populations and identified knowledge gaps to direct future research. Key learning points of the summit included: recognizing the importance of educating patients and healthcare providers about the value of assessing current and baseline cognition;emphasizing that any screening tool must be appropriately normalized and validated in the population in which it is used to obtain accurate information, including considerations of language, cultural factors, and education; andrecognizing the great potential, with appropriate caveats, of electronic health records to augment cognitive screening and tracking of changes in cognitive health over time