How to measure mood in nutrition research

© 2014 The Authors. Mood is widely assessed in nutrition research, usually with rating scales. A core assumption is that positive mood reinforces ingestion, so it is important to measure mood well. Four relevant theoretical issues are reviewed: (i) the distinction between protracted and transient mood; (ii) the distinction between mood and emotion; (iii) the phenomenology of mood as an unstable tint to consciousness rather than a distinct state of consciousness; (iv) moods can be caused by social and cognitive processes as well as physiological ones. Consequently, mood is difficult to measure and mood rating is easily influenced by non-nutritive aspects of feeding, the psychological, social and physical environment where feeding occurs, and the nature of the rating system employed. Some of the difficulties are illustrated by reviewing experiments looking at the impact of food on mood. The mood-rating systems in common use in nutrition research are then reviewed, the requirements of a better mood-rating system are described, and guidelines are provided for a considered choice of mood-rating system including that assessment should: have two main dimensions; be brief; balance simplicity and comprehensiveness; be easy to use repeatedly. Also mood should be assessed only under conditions where cognitive biases have been considered and controlled

Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies

The challenges associated with climate change will require governments, citizens, and firms to work collaboratively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a task that requires information on companies' emissions levels, risks, and reduction opportunities. This paper explores the conditions under which firms participate in this endeavor. Building on theories of how social activists inspire changes in organizational norms, beliefs, and practices, we hypothesize that shareholder actions and regulatory threats are likely to prime firms to adopt practices consistent with the aims of a broader social movement. We find empirical evidence of direct and spillover effects. In the domain of private politics, shareholder resolutions filed against it and others in its industry increase a firm's propensity to engage in practices consistent with the aims of the related social movement. Similarly, in the realm of public politics, threats of state regulations targeted at a firm's industry as well as regulations targeted at other industries increase the likelihood that the firm will engage in such practices. These findings extend existing theory by showing that both activist groups and government actors can spur changes in organizational practices, and that challenges mounted against a single firm and an industry can inspire both firm and field-level changes.social movements theory; institutional change theory; private politics; activist shareholder resolutions; climate change; environmental sustainability

Some Results On Normal Homogeneous Ideals

In this article we investigate when a homogeneous ideal in a graded ring is normal, that is, when all positive powers of the ideal are integrally closed. We are particularly interested in homogeneous ideals in an N-graded ring generated by all homogeneous elements of degree at least m and monomial ideals in a polynomial ring over a field. For ideals of the first trype we generalize a recent result of S. Faridi. We prove that a monomial ideal in a polynomial ring in n indeterminates over a field is normal if and only if the first n-1 positive powers of the ideal are integrally closed. We then specialize to the case of ideals obtained by taking integral closures of m-primary ideals generated by powers of the variables. We obtain classes of normal monomial ideals and arithmetic critera for deciding when the monomial ideal is not normal.Comment: 19 page

Food choice by people with intellectual disabilities at day centres: A qualitative study

People with intellectual disabilities experience a range of health inequalities. It is important to investigate possible contributory factors that may lead to these inequalities. This qualitative study identified some difficulties for healthy eating in day centres. (1) Service users and their family carers were aware of healthy food choices but framed these as diets for weight loss rather than as everyday eating. (2) Paid carers and managers regarded the principle of service user autonomy and choice as paramount, which meant that they felt limited in their capacity to influence food choices, which they attributed to the home environment. (3) Carers used food as a treat, a reward and for social bonding with service users. (4) Service users’ food choices modelled other service users’ and carers’ choices at the time. It is suggested that healthy eating should be made more of a priority in day care, with a view to promoting exemplarily behaviour that might influence food choice at home

Knowledge Creation Processes in Foundation Degree Partnership Working

This thesis seeks to develop an understanding of knowledge creation processes in partnership working, conditions which foster these, and their impact on longer-term sustainability. The partnership, between a university in Greater Manchester and the Strategic Health Authority, was established in 2002 to train a new role of healthcare worker through the delivery a foundation degree in health and social care. At that time foundation degrees were new, and the 'Assistant Practitioner' role was being introduced to bridge the gap between staff at registered professional level and those at support worker level. The role is intended as generic and patient-centred in crossing traditional professional boundaries, and so presents challenges in creating, sharing and embedding knowledge, which accords well with the concept of knowledge management. The study explores Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) model of Knowledge Management, and Engestrom's (1997,2001) Activity Theory, in relation to how these constructs may provide insight into the knowledge processes in partnership working. 'Partnership' is a contested concept which is debated in the context of the policy drivers underpinning the development. The enquiry has employed a case study approach within an interpretive paradigm with data gathered through semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Thematic analysis of the interview data identifies and explores themes in knowledge creation and partnership working which raise questions of power dynamics. These questions are not fully addressed by the knowledge creation models, and so the relationship between power, knowledge and discourse is further considered through a Foucauldian discourse analysis approach to the focus group. The conclusions support the value of the knowledge creation models for developing insights into how partnership working supports innovation and may sustain it. The discourse analysis reveals the pervasiveness of power relationships, reflects on their impact on knowledge creation, and considers the consequences for longer-term sustainability of the partnership

Interview with Zeva Schub

Length: 67 minutes Oral history interview of Zeva Schub by Lynette Marie Rei

Raf-1 kinase inhibitor protein modulation of the cellular response to chemotherapeutic drugs and PDE5 inhibitors

RKIP was initially discovered as an endogenous inhibitor of the ERK and NF-κB pathways,and was also shown to prolong the activation of GPCRs via inhibition of the GRK2 protein. Now increasing evidence has linked RKIP to a metastases suppressing and chemo-sensitising role in cancer cells.The chemo-sensitising effect of RKIP was investigated in a colon carcinoma cell line using a variety of chemotherapeutic agents from conventional agents to newer targeted therapies. Initial results suggested that role of RKIP in the modulation of chemotherapeutic drug response was at the level of apoptosis; there did not appear to be great observable effects in the cell proliferative response and the cell cycle distribution of the colon carcinoma cells after treatment with selected agents. Apoptosis modulation by RKIP occurred after treatment with doxorubicin, FasL, paclitaxel and TRAIL. TRAIL-treated colon carcinoma cells displayed increased cell death as the levels of RKIP within the cell were increased. In contrast, doxorubicin, FasL and paclitaxel-treated cells displayed a scaffold-like response as the levels of RKIP were increased in the cell; with WT RKIP-expressing cells being more sensitive to doxorubicin, FasL and paclitaxel-induced apoptosis than low or high RKIP-expressing colon carcinoma cells. There was no modulation of 5-FU, cisplatin and etoposide-induced apoptosis by RKIP. Indeed, these three agents did not appear to induce cell death in this colon carcinoma cell line. RKIP modulation of chemo-sensitivity has never been shown before in a colon carcinoma cell line and this is the first time that doxorubicin and FasL-induced apoptosis has been shown to be modulated by RKIP. Further, it is shown here, for the first time, that the modulation of chemotherapy-induced apoptosis by RKIP can change depending upon the cytotoxic drug employed as treatment. TRAIL and FasL, both members of the TNF super-family, were selected for further analysis due to the distinctive cell death responses observed as a consequence of the levels of RKIP within the cell. WT RKIP cells were sensitive to FasL treatment, and high RKIP cells were most sensitive to TRAIL administration. Increased sensitivity of high RKIP-expressing colon cells to TRAIL treatment appeared to involve up-regulation of the DR5 receptor; down-regulation of the anti-apoptotic molecule Bcl-xl; pIKK which activates the NF-κB pathway; and TRAF2 which has been shown to activate the NF-κB pathway. Whether RKIP directly interacts with these molecules is unknown however RKIP has been shown to bind upstream activators of the NF-κB pathway and another TRAF subtype TRAF6. YY1 expression was evident in the TRAIL-treated cells but the expression was unchanged as the levels of RKIP within the cell were altered. The FasL-treated cells also displayed decreased pIKK levels as the levels of RKIP were increased; it is possible that NF-κB was behaving as both pro- and anti-apoptotic within this cell line. Thus RKIP inhibition of the NF-κB pathway may have prevented FasL-induced apoptosis in the high RKIP-expressing colon carcinoma cells. The expression of TRAF6, which has been shown to bind RKIP, displayed a scaffold-like response with WT RKIP-expressing cells having the highest TRAF6 expression. This was also the case for the transcriptional regulator YY1, thus it is possible that both YY1 and TRAF6 were behaving in a pro-apoptotic-like manner in the WT RKIP-expressing cells. TRAF2 was also evident in the FasL-administered cells but the expression did not change regardless of the levels of RKIP within the cell. Overall, it appears that differential expression of TRAF adaptor proteins is responsible for the contrasting responses of TRAIL and FasL-treated cells with low, WT and high RKIP expression. Utilisation of particular TRAF adaptors or TRAF combinations by the TRAIL and Fas receptors may also account for the pro- and anti-apoptotic roles of the NF-κB pathway, and the recruitment or down-regulation of other proteins dependent upon the cell stimulus. How RKIP affects these proteins requires further investigation, however these results are exciting and novel, and strengthen evidence surrounding the role of RKIP in chemosensitivity. On another note, RKIP has been shown to bind the PDE5 inhibitor PF-3717842, therefore investigation of the effects of the PDE5 inhibitors sildenafil citrate and vardenafil citrate on RKIP inhibition of the ERK pathway in a colon carcinoma cell line were examined. The effects of the PDE5 inhibitors were compared to the cell migration inhibitor locostatin that has been shown to bind and inhibit RKIP, and prevent the RKIP-Raf-1 interaction. With TPA and EGF stimulation, locostatin appeared to act in a manner consistent with its known function as an RKIP inhibitor. The PDE5 inhibitors sildenafil citrate and vardenafil citrate displayed a similar trend to that of locostatin, although their effects on the ERK pathway were not as potent. It is possible that after EGF stimulation, the strong activation of B-Raf was over-shadowing the subtle effects of the drug treatments. Under growth conditions, the RKIP inhibitor locostatin did not appear to behave as an inhibitor of RKIP nor did the PDE5 inhibitors sildenafil citrate and vardenafil citrate. It is possible that the strong activation of various growth and proliferative cascades was impinging upon the ERK pathway, were overshadowing the drug effects, or resulting in off-target (RKIP-unrelated) effects of the drugs. In summary, the role of RKIP within the cell is becoming an increasingly exciting avenue of research and is consistently yielding new and interesting roles and interactions within the cell. Understanding and elucidating the roles of this intriguing protein within the cell will not only strengthen our knowledge of signal transduction regulation and modulation, but may also provide a new source of targeted therapy and means of manipulation in the treatment of cancer and chemotherapeutic drug resistance

Traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder symptom reporting and attentional bias: unravelling the misidentification of post-traumatic stress disorder in people with a traumatic brain injury

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can occur following a traumatic event that has led to moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) even when there is little or no memory for the event. The incidence of PTSD is higher when diagnosed by self-report questionnaires compared to structured clinical interview. Previous studies suggest PTSD can be misdiagnosed in a significant proportion of cases and the incidence is in fact low. To explore this issue further there is a need to not only understand whether there are differences between cases that do and do not fulfill symptom criteria for PTSD, but also whether some cases have ‘partial PTSD’; that is to say they have PTSD symptoms but do not fulfill the DSM-IV symptom criteria exactly. Aims: The study aims to establish whether an attentional bias to trauma related words exists in people with TBI who report PTSD symptoms and to investigate the relationship between physiological arousal and attentional bias in people with a TBI reporting PTSD symptoms. Method: Forty-one participants with severe-extremely severe TBI were recruited from the community and completed measures of cognitive functioning. Attentional bias was measured using a Stroop task in which trauma, negative, neutral and positive words were administered randomly. Physiological reactivity (heart rate) was recorded and PTSD ‘caseness’ was established using a self-report questionnaire and a clinician-administered structured interview. Results: No significant relationship between PTSD symptom severities and attentional bias to trauma stimuli was apparent. Those with ‘PTSD’ demonstrated significantly slower reaction times to negative words however; this bias was associated with self-report of depression rather than PTSD symptomatology. Heart rate decreased throughout the interview and was not associated with PTSD symptom severities. Conclusions: Greater PTSD symptom reporting was not associated with an attentional bias to trauma words. Heart rate decreased over the course of the interview, independent of PTSD severity and diagnosis. This suggests that ‘partial’ PTSD was not present, and instead those who reported PTSD symptoms were curious about the gap in memory caused by amnesia without the associated fear response

Doodle Families Manual

This Manual has been designed to support the delivery of the Doodle Families Programme. As well asproviding all the programme content, it details the "how and why" of the sessions, links the practice withtheory, outlines the steps necessary to complete each session and offers background information, tips andsupport to Facilitators in the delivery of the programme. Doodle Families is a Family Literacy Programme, designed to be delivered in two components – one forparents/guardians and the other is for children. Parents' sessions can be delivered during the school day andthe children's sessions are delivered after school