Perceived need for mental health care and barriers to care in the Netherlands and Australia

This study of Australian and Dutch people with anxiety or depressive disorder aims to examine people's perceived needs and barriers to care, and to identify possible similarities and differences. Data from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being and the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety were combined into one data set. The Perceived Need for Care Questionnaire was taken in both studies. Logistic regression analyses were performed to check if similarities or differences between Australia and the Netherlands could be observed. In both countries, a large proportion had unfulfilled needs and self-reliance was the most frequently named barrier to receive care. People from the Australian sample (N = 372) were more likely to perceive a need for medication (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.3-2.5), counselling (OR 1.4; 95% CI 1.0-2.0) and practical support (OR 1.8; 95% CI 1.2-2.7), and people's overall needs in Australia were more often fully met compared with those of the Dutch sample (N = 610). Australians were more often pessimistic about the helpfulness of medication (OR 3.8; 95% CI 1.4-10.7) and skills training (OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.1-8.2) and reported more often financial barriers for not having received (enough) information (OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.1-5.5) or counselling (OR 5.9; 95% CI 2.9-11.9). In both countries, the vast majority of mental health care needs are not fulfilled. Solutions could be found in improving professionals' skills or better collaboration. Possible explanations for the found differences in perceived need and barriers to care are discussed; these illustrate the value of examining perceived need across nations and suggest substantial commonalities of experience across the two countries

Cysteinyl-tRNA Deacylation Can Be Uncoupled from Protein Synthesis

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are critical components of protein translation, providing ribosomes with aminoacyl-tRNAs. In return, ribosomes release uncharged tRNAs as ARS substrates. Here, we show that tRNA deacylation can be uncoupled from protein synthesis in an amino acid specific manner. While tRNAs coupled to radiolabeled Met, Leu Lys, or Ser are stable in cells following translation inhibition with arsenite, radiolabeled Cys is released from tRNA at a high rate. We discuss possible translation independent functions for tRNACys

The same ELA class II risk factors confer equine insect bite hypersensitivity in two distinct populations

Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a chronic allergic dermatitis common in horses. Affected horses mainly react against antigens present in the saliva from the biting midges, Culicoides ssp, and occasionally black flies, Simulium ssp. Because of this insect dependency, the disease is clearly seasonal and prevalence varies between geographical locations. For two distinct horse breeds, we genotyped four microsatellite markers positioned within the MHC class II region and sequenced the highly polymorphic exons two from DRA and DRB3, respectively. Initially, 94 IBH-affected and 93 unaffected Swedish born Icelandic horses were tested for genetic association. These horses had previously been genotyped on the Illumina Equine SNP50 BeadChip, which made it possible to ensure that our study did not suffer from the effects of stratification. The second population consisted of 106 unaffected and 80 IBH-affected Exmoor ponies. We show that variants in the MHC class II region are associated with disease susceptibility (praw = 2.34 × 10−5), with the same allele (COR112:274) associated in two separate populations. In addition, we combined microsatellite and sequencing data in order to investigate the pattern of homozygosity and show that homozygosity across the entire MHC class II region is associated with a higher risk of developing IBH (p = 0.0013). To our knowledge this is the first time in any atopic dermatitis suffering species, including man, where the same risk allele has been identified in two distinct populations

Measurement of D-s(+) and D-s(*+) production in B meson decays and from continuum e(+)e(-) annihilation at √s=10.6 GeV

This is the pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the links below. Copyright @ 2002 APSNew measurements of Ds+ and Ds*+ meson production rates from B decays and from qq̅ continuum events near the Υ(4S) resonance are presented. Using 20.8 fb-1 of data on the Υ(4S) resonance and 2.6 fb-1 off-resonance, we find the inclusive branching fractions B(B⃗Ds+X)=(10.93±0.19±0.58±2.73)% and B(B⃗Ds*+X)=(7.9±0.8±0.7±2.0)%, where the first error is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the Ds+→φπ+ branching fraction uncertainty. The production cross sections σ(e+e-→Ds+X)×B(Ds+→φπ+)=7.55±0.20±0.34pb and σ(e+e-→Ds*±X)×B(Ds+→φπ+)=5.8±0.7±0.5pb are measured at center-of-mass energies about 40 MeV below the Υ(4S) mass. The branching fractions ΣB(B⃗Ds(*)+D(*))=(5.07±0.14±0.30±1.27)% and ΣB(B⃗Ds*+D(*))=(4.1±0.2±0.4±1.0)% are determined from the Ds(*)+ momentum spectra. The mass difference m(Ds+)-m(D+)=98.4±0.1±0.3MeV/c2 is also measured.This work was supported by DOE and NSF (USA), NSERC (Canada), IHEP (China), CEA and CNRS-IN2P3 (France), BMBF (Germany), INFN (Italy), NFR (Norway), MIST (Russia), and PPARC (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Swiss NSF, A. P. Sloan Foundation, Research Corporation, and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

A Search for Dark Higgs Bosons

Recent astrophysical and terrestrial experiments have motivated the proposal of a dark sector with GeV-scale gauge boson force carriers and new Higgs bosons. We present a search for a dark Higgs boson using 516 fb-1 of data collected with the BABAR detector. We do not observe a significant signal and we set 90% confidence level upper limits on the product of the Standard Model-dark sector mixing angle and the dark sector coupling constant.Comment: 7 pages, 5 postscript figures, published version with improved plots for b/w printin

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Voltage-Gated Ion Channel Dysfunction Precedes Cardiomyopathy Development in the Dystrophic Heart

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, is associated with severe cardiac complications including cardiomyopathy and cardiac arrhythmias. Recent research suggests that impaired voltage-gated ion channels in dystrophic cardiomyocytes accompany cardiac pathology. It is, however, unknown if the ion channel defects are primary effects of dystrophic gene mutations, or secondary effects of the developing cardiac pathology.To address this question, we first investigated sodium channel impairments in cardiomyocytes derived from dystrophic neonatal mice prior to cardiomyopahty development, by using the whole cell patch clamp technique. Besides the most common model for DMD, the dystrophin-deficient mdx mouse, we also used mice additionally carrying an utrophin mutation. In neonatal cardiomyocytes, dystrophin-deficiency generated a 25% reduction in sodium current density. In addition, extra utrophin-deficiency significantly altered sodium channel gating parameters. Moreover, also calcium channel inactivation was considerably reduced in dystrophic neonatal cardiomyocytes, suggesting that ion channel abnormalities are universal primary effects of dystrophic gene mutations. To assess developmental changes, we also studied sodium channel impairments in cardiomyocytes derived from dystrophic adult mice, and compared them with the respective abnormalities in dystrophic neonatal cells. Here, we found a much stronger sodium current reduction in adult cardiomyocytes. The described sodium channel impairments slowed the upstroke of the action potential in adult cardiomyocytes, and only in dystrophic adult mice, the QRS interval of the electrocardiogram was prolonged.Ion channel impairments precede pathology development in the dystrophic heart, and may thus be considered potential cardiomyopathy triggers

A systematic review of the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers for prevention of illness-related absenteeism in elementary school children

BACKGROUND: Absenteeism due to communicable illness is a major problem encountered by North American elementary school children. Although handwashing is a proven infection control measure, barriers exist in the school environment, which hinder compliance to this routine. Currently, alternative hand hygiene techniques are being considered, and one such technique is the use of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer interventions in the elementary school setting. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biological Abstract, CINAHL, HealthSTAR and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched for both randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Absenteeism due to communicable illness was the primary outcome variable. RESULTS: Six eligible studies, two of which were randomized, were identified (5 published studies, 1 published abstract). The quality of reporting was low. Due to a large amount of heterogeneity and low quality of reporting, no pooled estimates were calculated. There was a significant difference reported in favor of the intervention in all 5 published studies. CONCLUSIONS: The available evidence for the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer in the school environment is of low quality. The results suggest that the strength of the benefit should be interpreted with caution. Given the potential to reduce student absenteeism, teacher absenteeism, school operating costs, healthcare costs and parental absenteeism, a well-designed and analyzed trial is needed to optimize this hand hygiene technique

Grasping isoluminant stimuli

We used a virtual reality setup to let participants grasp discs, which differed in luminance, chromaticity and size. Current theories on perception and action propose a division of labor in the brain into a color proficient perception pathway and a less color-capable action pathway. In this study, we addressed the question whether isoluminant stimuli, which provide only a chromatic but no luminance contrast for action planning, are harder to grasp than stimuli providing luminance contrast or both kinds of contrast. Although we found that grasps of isoluminant stimuli had a slightly steeper slope relating the maximum grip aperture to disc size, all other measures of grip quality were unaffected. Overall, our results do not support the view that isoluminance of stimulus and background impedes the planning of a grasping movement

Does Lack of Multinutrient Supplementation During Early Pregnancy Increase Vulnerability to Alcohol-Related Preterm or Small-for-Gestational-Age Births?

The objective of this study was to assess whether women who do not take multinutrient supplements during early pregnancy are more susceptible to the effects of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption on preterm birth and small-for-gestational-age birth (SGA) compared to women who do take multinutrients. This analysis included 800 singleton live births to mothers from a cohort of pregnant women recruited for a population-based cohort study conducted in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Northern California. Participants were recruited in their first trimester of pregnancy and information about their alcohol use and supplement intake during pregnancy was collected. Preterm birth (n = 53, 7%) was defined as a delivery prior to 37 completed weeks of gestation and SGA birth (n = 124, 16%) was defined as birth weight less than the 10th percentile for the infant’s gestational age and sex compared to US singleton live births. A twofold increase in the odds of SGA birth attributed to low-to-moderate alcohol intake was found among multinutrient supplement non-users (95% CI: 1.1, 5.3). Yet, among multinutrient supplement users, there was no increased risk of an SGA birth for women who drank low-to-moderately compared to women who abstained (aOR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.6, 1.6). Similar results emerged for preterm birth. Our findings provide marginal evidence that multinutrient supplementation during early pregnancy may modify the risk of SGA births and preterm birth associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy and may have important implications for pregnant women and women of child-bearing age. However, future research needs to be conducted