Post-Disaster Mental Distress Relief: Health Promotion and Knowledge Exchange in Partnership with a Refugee Diaspora Community

After the 2004 Asian tsunami, a group of concerned scientists, physicians, and community service providers united to form a Local Distress Relief Network (LDRN) to provide information, referral, and care to affected members of the large Sri Lankan Tamil community in Toronto. The LDRN organized a workshop that brought together community-based organizations and international and local experts in mental health and disaster response to review existing knowledge on disaster response and to share community knowledge and experience. This article summarizes the development of the network, the workshop proceedings and joint recommendations for community based, culturally appropriate mental distress relief.Après le tsunami survenu en Asie en 2004, un groupe concerné de scientifiques, médecins, et fournisseurs de services communautaires se sont unis pour former un réseau local de soulagement de la détresse (Local Distress Relief Network - LDRN) dans le but de fournir des renseignements, de référer, et de prodiguer des soins aux membres affectés de l’importante communauté tamoule sri lankais à Toronto. Le LDRN a organisé un atelier de travail qui a rassemblé des organisations communautaires ainsi que des experts internationaux et locaux dans le domaine de la santé mentale et d’intervention en cas de désastres pour passer en revue les connaissances existantes en matière de réponses aux désastres et partager le savoir et l’expérience de la communauté. Cet article résume le développement du réseau, les délibérations de l’atelier de travail et les recommandations communes pour le soulagement de la détresse mentale adapté à la communauté et culturellement approprié

Indirect effects of social support and hope on quality of life via emotional distress among stroke survivors: A three-wave structural equation model

ObjectivesStroke survivors are prone to functional impairments and reduced quality of life (QoL). This study examined the mediating role of social support and hope in the relationships between functional impairment, emotional distress, and QoL.MethodsA total of 188 stroke survivors in Hong Kong completed assessments on functional impairment, social support, and hope at baseline, with follow-up measurements of emotional distress at 2 months and QoL at 8 months. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to analyze the direct and indirect effects of functional impairment on emotional distress and QoL via the mediating factors of social support and hope.ResultsThe partial cascading model provided an adequate fit to the data. Functional impairment had significant negative direct effects on hope and physical QoL and social support had significant positive direct effects on hope and physical QoL. Social support had a significant positive indirect effect on physical QoL via hope and perceived stress and on psychosocial QoL via hope and depression. Functional impairment and hope had a significant negative interaction effect on perceived stress.ConclusionThe findings support a mediating role for hope in the relationship between social support and QoL in stroke survivors. The protective effect of hope on perceived stress was stronger among patients with greater functional impairment

Surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse in Hong Kong: Validation of an analytical tool

© 2015, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Press. All rights reserved. Objective: To validate a locally developed chromatography-based method to monitor emerging drugs of abuse whilst performing regular drug testing in abusers. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Eleven regional hospitals, seven social service units, and a tertiary level clinical toxicology laboratory in Hong Kong. Participants: A total of 972 drug abusers and high-risk individuals were recruited from acute, rehabilitation, and high-risk settings between 1 November 2011 and 31 July 2013. A subset of the participants was of South Asian ethnicity. In total, 2000 urine or hair specimens were collected. Main outcome measures: Proof of concept that surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse can be performed whilst conducting routine drug of abuse testing in patients. Results: The method was successfully applied to 2000 samples with three emerging drugs of abuse detected in five samples: PMMA (paramethoxymethamphetamine), TFMPP [1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine], and methcathinone. The method also detected conventional drugs of abuse, with codeine, methadone, heroin, methamphetamine, and ketamine being the most frequently detected drugs. Other findings included the observation that South Asians had significantly higher rates of using opiates such as heroin, methadone, and codeine; and that ketamine and cocaine had significantly higher detection rates in acute subjects compared with the rehabilitation population. Conclusions: This locally developed analytical method is a valid tool for simultaneous surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse and routine drug monitoring of patients at minimal additional cost and effort. Continued, proactive surveillance and early identification of emerging drugs will facilitate prompt clinical, social, and legislative management.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Disturbed oscillatory brain dynamics in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>White matter hyperintensities (WMH) can lead to dementia but the underlying physiological mechanisms are unclear. We compared relative oscillatory power from electroencephalographic studies (EEGs) of 17 patients with subcortical ischemic vascular dementia, based on extensive white matter hyperintensities (SIVD-WMH) with 17 controls to investigate physiological changes underlying this diagnosis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Differences between the groups were large, with a decrease of relative power of fast activity in patients (alpha power 0.25 ± 0.12 versus 0.38 ± 0.13, p = 0.01; beta power 0.08 ± 0.04 versus 0.19 ± 0.07; p<0.001) and an increase in relative powers of slow activity in patients (theta power 0.32 ± 0.11 versus 0.14 ± 0.09; p<0.001 and delta power 0.31 ± 0.14 versus 0.23 ± 0.09; p<0.05). Lower relative beta power was related to worse cognitive performance in a linear regression analysis (standardized beta = 0.67, p<0.01).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This pattern of disturbance in oscillatory brain activity indicate loss of connections between neurons, providing a first step in the understanding of cognitive dysfunction in SIVD-WMH.</p

Progressive Neurodegeneration or Endogenous Compensation in an Animal Model of Parkinson's Disease Produced by Decreasing Doses of Alpha-Synuclein

The pathological hallmarks of Parkinson's disease (PD) are degeneration of dopamine (DA) neurons of the substantia nigra (SN) and the presence of alpha-synuclein (α-syn)-rich Lewy bodies in DA cells that remain. To model these aspects of the disease, we previously showed that high titer (5.1×10exp12 gp/ml) AAV1/2 driven expression of A53T α-syn in the SN of rats caused nigrostriatal pathology including a loss of DA neurons, but also with toxicity in the GFP control group. In the current study, we evaluate the effects of two lower titers by dilution of the vector (1∶3 [1.7×10exp12] and 1∶10 [5.1×10exp11]) to define a concentration that produced pathology specific for α-syn. In GFP and empty vector groups there were no behavioural or post-mortem changes at 3 or 6 weeks post-administration at either vector dose. Dilution of the AAV1/2 A53T α-syn (1∶3) produced significant paw use asymmetry, reductions in striatal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and increases in DA turnover at 3 weeks in the absence of overt pathology. By 6 weeks greater evidence of pathology was observed and included, reductions in SN DA neurons, striatal DA, TH and DA-transporter, along with a sustained behavioural deficit. In contrast, the 1∶10 AAV1/2 A53T α-syn treated animals showed normalization between 3 and 6 weeks in paw use asymmetry, reductions in striatal TH, and increased DA turnover. Progression of dopaminergic deficits using the 1∶3 titer of AAV1/2 A53Tα-syn provides a platform for evaluating treatments directed at preventing and/or reversing synucleinopathy. Use of the 1∶10 titer of AAV1/2 A53T α-syn provides an opportunity to study mechanisms of endogenous compensation. Furthermore, these data highlight the need to characterize the titer of vector being utilized, when using AAV to express pathogenic proteins and model disease process, to avoid producing non-specific effects

Proteome-wide identification of poly(ADP-ribose) binding proteins and poly(ADP-ribose)-associated protein complexes

Poly(ADP-ribose) (pADPr) is a polymer assembled from the enzymatic polymerization of the ADP-ribosyl moiety of NAD by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs). The dynamic turnover of pADPr within the cell is essential for a number of cellular processes including progression through the cell cycle, DNA repair and the maintenance of genomic integrity, and apoptosis. In spite of the considerable advances in the knowledge of the physiological conditions modulated by poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation reactions, and notwithstanding the fact that pADPr can play a role of mediator in a wide spectrum of biological processes, few pADPr binding proteins have been identified so far. In this study, refined in silico prediction of pADPr binding proteins and large-scale mass spectrometry-based proteome analysis of pADPr binding proteins were used to establish a comprehensive repertoire of pADPr-associated proteins. Visualization and modeling of these pADPr-associated proteins in networks not only reflect the widespread involvement of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation in several pathways but also identify protein targets that could shed new light on the regulatory functions of pADPr in normal physiological conditions as well as after exposure to genotoxic stimuli

Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST): A Technology Roadmap for the Next Decade

The Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) is a set of mission concepts for the next generation of UVOIR space observatory with a primary aperture diameter in the 8-m to 16-m range that will allow us to perform some of the most challenging observations to answer some of our most compelling questions, including "Is there life elsewhere in the Galaxy?" We have identified two different telescope architectures, but with similar optical designs, that span the range in viable technologies. The architectures are a telescope with a monolithic primary mirror and two variations of a telescope with a large segmented primary mirror. This approach provides us with several pathways to realizing the mission, which will be narrowed to one as our technology development progresses. The concepts invoke heritage from HST and JWST design, but also take significant departures from these designs to minimize complexity, mass, or both. Our report provides details on the mission concepts, shows the extraordinary scientific progress they would enable, and describes the most important technology development items. These are the mirrors, the detectors, and the high-contrast imaging technologies, whether internal to the observatory, or using an external occulter. Experience with JWST has shown that determined competitors, motivated by the development contracts and flight opportunities of the new observatory, are capable of achieving huge advances in technical and operational performance while keeping construction costs on the same scale as prior great observatories.Comment: 22 pages, RFI submitted to Astro2010 Decadal Committe