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BMC Public Health Sep 2023Local government authorities are well-placed to invest in evidence-based food policies that promote a population-wide shift to healthy and sustainable diets. This study...
BACKGROUND
Local government authorities are well-placed to invest in evidence-based food policies that promote a population-wide shift to healthy and sustainable diets. This study describes the contextual factors that facilitated or impeded policy-making related to healthy and sustainable diets within a 'best-performing' local government in Victoria, Australia.
METHODS
Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), data from semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in developing the City of Greater Bendigo's Food System Strategy were analysed using the seven-stage Framework Method.
RESULTS
Semi-structured interviews (n = 24) were conducted with City of Greater Bendigo employees (n = 15) and key stakeholders working for local organisations (n = 6) or at a state or national level (n = 3). Interviewees mostly held positions of leadership (n = 20) and represented diverse areas of focus from health (n = 7), food systems (n = 4) and planning and public policy (n = 3). Data analysis revealed 12 cross-cutting themes; eight facilitating factors and four impeding factors. Facilitating factors included perseverance, community engagement, supportive state policy, effective leadership, a global platform and networks, partnerships, workforce capacity and passion, and the use of scientific evidence. Impeding factors included access to secure, ongoing financial resources, prohibitive state and federal policy, COVID-related disruptions to community engagement and competing stakeholder interests. Overall, this study suggests that the City of Greater Bendigo's success in developing an evidence-based local food system policy is built upon (i) a holistic worldview that embraces systems-thinking and credible frameworks, (ii) a sustained commitment and investment throughout the inner-setting over time, and (iii) the ability to establish and nurture meaningful partnerships with community groups, neighbouring local government areas and state-level stakeholders, built upon values of reciprocity and respect.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite insufficient resourcing and prohibitive policy at higher levels of government, this 'best performing' local government in Victoria, Australia developed an evidence-based food system policy by employing highly skilled and passionate employees, embracing a holistic worldview towards planetary health and harnessing global networks. Local government authorities aspiring to develop integrated food policy should nurture a workforce culture of taking bold evidence-informed policy action, invest in mechanisms to enable long-standing partnerships with community stakeholders and be prepared to endure a 'slow-burn' approach.
Topics: Humans; Local Government; COVID-19; Victoria; Diet; Nutrition Policy
PubMed: 37697341
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16656-x -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jul 2023Alluvial rivers are conveyor belts of fluid and sediment that provide a record of upstream climate and erosion on Earth, Titan, and Mars. However, many of Earth's rivers...
Alluvial rivers are conveyor belts of fluid and sediment that provide a record of upstream climate and erosion on Earth, Titan, and Mars. However, many of Earth's rivers remain unsurveyed, Titan's rivers are not well resolved by current spacecraft data, and Mars' rivers are no longer active, hindering reconstructions of planetary surface conditions. To overcome these problems, we use dimensionless hydraulic geometry relations-scaling laws that relate river channel dimensions to flow and sediment transport rates-to calculate in-channel conditions using only remote sensing measurements of channel width and slope. On Earth, this offers a way to predict flow and sediment flux in rivers that lack field measurements and shows that the distinct dynamics of bedload-dominated, suspended load-dominated, and bedrock rivers give rise to distinct channel characteristics. On Mars, this approach not only predicts grain sizes at Gale Crater and Jezero Crater that overlap with those measured by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, it enables reconstructions of past flow conditions that are consistent with proposed long-lived hydrologic activity at both craters. On Titan, our predicted sediment fluxes to the coast of Ontario Lacus could build the lake's river delta in as little as ~1,000 y, and our scaling relationships suggest that Titan's rivers may be wider, slope more gently, and transport sediment at lower flows than rivers on Earth or Mars. Our approach provides a template for predicting channel properties remotely for alluvial rivers across Earth, along with interpreting spacecraft observations of rivers on Titan and Mars.
PubMed: 37428909
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2206837120 -
Frontiers in Immunology 2023Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were given the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their findings of nucleoside base modifications that lead to the...
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman were given the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their findings of nucleoside base modifications that lead to the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. This was a remarkable achievement, given that their initial manuscript was rejected by Nature and Science in 2005. The development of mRNA vaccines lagged for more than a decade for several reasons, including the lack of funding, the perceived risks of the technology, and the scepticism of many scientists. Furthermore, Karikó and Weissman's study appeared to be technical and difficult to understand. The COVID-19 pandemic, on the other hand, has shown the importance of mRNA vaccine technology. COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have been highly effective in preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death. The Nobel Prize for Karikó and Weissman highlights the importance of perseverance, diversity, and inclusion in translational immunology. We need to build a more inclusive scientific community, where scientists from all backgrounds are supported and their work is valued. This will result in more scientific breakthroughs and better healthcare for everyone.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19 Vaccines; Nobel Prize; Pandemics; COVID-19; Cultural Diversity
PubMed: 38022662
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1306025 -
BMC Health Services Research Aug 2023Persons in need of services from different care providers in the health and welfare system often struggle when navigating between them. Connecting and coordinating...
BACKGROUND
Persons in need of services from different care providers in the health and welfare system often struggle when navigating between them. Connecting and coordinating different health and welfare providers is a common challenge for all involved. This study presents a long-term regional empirical example from Sweden-ESTHER, which has lasted for more than two decades-to show how some of those challenges could be met. The purpose of the study was to increase the understanding of how several care providers together could succeed in improving care by transforming a concept into daily practice, thus contributing with practical implications for other health and welfare contexts.
METHODS
The study is a retrospective longitudinal case study with a qualitative mixed-methods approach. Individual interviews and focus groups were performed with staff members and persons in need of care, and document analyses were conducted. The data covers experiences from 1995 to 2020, analyzed using an open inductive thematic analysis.
RESULTS
This study shows how co-production and person-centeredness could improve care for persons with multiple care needs involving more than one care provider through a well-established Quality Improvement strategy. Perseverance from a project to a mindset was shaped by promoting systems thinking in daily work and embracing the psychology of change during multidisciplinary, boundary-spanning improvement dialogues. Important areas were Incentives, Work in practice, and Integration, expressed through trust in frontline staff, simple rules, and continuous support from senior managers. A continuous learning approach including the development of local improvement coaches and co-production of care consolidated the integration in daily work.
CONCLUSIONS
The development was facilitated by a simple question: "What is best for Esther?" This question unified people, flattened the hierarchy, and reminded all care providers why they needed to improve together. Continuously focusing on and co-producing with the person in need of care strengthened the concept. Important was engaging the people who know the most-frontline staff and persons in need of care-in combination with permissive leadership and embracing quality improvement dimensions. Those insights can be useful in other health and welfare settings wanting to improve care involving several care providers.
Topics: Humans; Retrospective Studies; Document Analysis; Education, Continuing; Focus Groups; Leadership
PubMed: 37592279
DOI: 10.1186/s12913-023-09870-1 -
European Journal of Investigation in... Sep 2023Police work demands a high level of physical fitness (PF) and psychosocial well-being (PSWB) to cope with the challenges and demands of the profession. The profession...
Police work demands a high level of physical fitness (PF) and psychosocial well-being (PSWB) to cope with the challenges and demands of the profession. The profession has historically been male-dominated, and female police officers (POs) face unique challenges and stereotypes. This study aims (i) to identify the PF and PSWB attributes that significantly distinguish the women from three different professional training courses (agents, chiefs, and officers) and (ii) to assess the significance of PF and PSWB attributes on the likelihood that women in professional training courses belonging to a special bodyguard police sub-unit. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted, involving 102 female POs (professional PO training courses, n = 94; special bodyguard police sub-unit, n = 8). PF (morphology; fitness, including endurance, strength, and flexibility tests) and PSWB (measured through scales for grit and dispositional resilience) attributes were assessed. Significant differences were observed in age, morphological (height and waist-to-hip ratio), fitness (horizontal jump and endurance tests), and PSWB (perseverance in effort and alienation) attributes among the three professional training courses. Stepwise discriminant analysis revealed that waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, relative fat mass, relative muscle mass, horizontal jump, and endurance on exertion significantly distinguished between the three groups. Complementarily, it was observed that the waist-to-hip ratio and sit-up attributes influence the probability of women from the professional training courses joining the special bodyguard police sub-unit. The study highlights that (i) female POs in different professional training courses showed distinct PF and PSWB profiles, and (ii) only two PF attributes (waist-to-hip ratio and sit-up) were predictors for the special bodyguard police sub-unit. In accordance, these findings provide valuable insights for designing training programs to support female POs in improving their PF, psychological well-being, and overall performance in the police profession.
PubMed: 37754475
DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe13090136 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Oct 2023Attentional control balances the competing drives of performance maximization and effort minimization. One way the attention system minimizes effort is through a bias to...
Attentional control balances the competing drives of performance maximization and effort minimization. One way the attention system minimizes effort is through a bias to persist in the use of attentional control strategies that have been useful in the past. In the present study, we asked whether such selection history can result in the persistence of an attentional control strategy that is counterproductive, effectively competing with a more optimal strategy. Participants first completed a training in which one color target was encountered more frequently than another, and then completed a test phase in which they could search for one of two targets on any given trial, one of which would be more optimal to search for given the distribution of color stimuli. An attentional bias for the more frequent target color was observed in the training phase and the choice of which target to report was robustly optimal in the test phase, reflecting performance maximization. Importantly, participants also exhibited a tendency to report the target rendered in the previously more frequent target color in the test phase, even when the distribution of non-target colors made it suboptimal to do so. Our findings shed light on the fundamental question of why attentional control is sometimes suboptimal, demonstrating a role for selection history in the perseveration of previously employed attentional strategies even when such strategies produce suboptimal performance.
Topics: Humans; Attention; Attentional Bias; Reaction Time; Color Perception
PubMed: 37038029
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02285-3 -
The Clinical Neuropsychologist Oct 2023Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) involve neuroanatomical circuitry that impact frontal lobe functioning, via the striatum and cerebellum,...
Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) involve neuroanatomical circuitry that impact frontal lobe functioning, via the striatum and cerebellum, respectively. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate quantitative and qualitative performance between and within these groups on measures of verbal fluency. Sixty-three PD and 53 ET patients completed neuropsychological testing. Linear regression models with robust variance estimation compared verbal fluency performance between groups related to correct responses and errors. Paired -tests investigated within group error rates. PD patients gave more correct responses for phonological (=5.3, =.01) and category fluency (=4.1, =.01) than ET patients; however, when processing speed was added as a covariate, this attenuated performance on both measures and only phonological fluency remained significant (=4.0, =.04). There were no statistical differences in error scores between groups. Error rates within groups suggested that PD patients had higher error rates in total errors and perseveration errors on phonological fluency ( = 2.6, =.00; = 1.6, =.00) and higher total errors and set-loss error rates on category switching ( = 5.1, <.001; = 4.1, <.001). ET patients had higher error rate with relation to total errors and set-loss errors on phonological fluency ( = 2.5, =.00; = 1.5, =.02) and category switching ( = 3.9, =,00; = 3.9, <.001). PD patients performed better than ET patients on phonological fluency. PD patients appear to make more perseveration errors on phonological fluency, while ET patients made more set-loss errors. Implications for frontal lobe dysfunction and clinical impact are discussed.
Topics: Humans; Parkinson Disease; Essential Tremor; Neuropsychological Tests; Processing Speed; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 36550679
DOI: 10.1080/13854046.2022.2157885 -
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2024Catatonia has been increasingly associated with mood disorders and is recognized as a specifier in the DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR. The DSM-5-TR recognizes melancholia as a...
BACKGROUND
Catatonia has been increasingly associated with mood disorders and is recognized as a specifier in the DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR. The DSM-5-TR recognizes melancholia as a specifier for depressive episodes in major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. It is characterized by severe anhedonia, lack of reactivity, excessive or delusional guilt, and significant vegetative symptoms. As the conceptualization of melancholia expanded beyond its mood components to include psychomotor disturbances, its overlap with psychomotor symptoms or catatonia becomes evident. This overlap was also described in Kahlbaum's original literature, where he describes the transition between states of melancholia, mania, and catatonia.
METHOD
Case summary of six patients with major depressive disorder or depressed phase of bipolar disorder who were admitted for severe depression, anhedonia, intense anxiety, psychomotor agitation or retardation, indecisiveness, perseveration, and vegetative symptoms such as poor sleep, appetite, and significant weight loss.
RESULTS
All patients demonstrated rapid and complete resolution of their mood and psychomotor symptoms, indecisiveness, perseveration, as well as psychosis shortly after administration of lorazepam, with recurrence of the above symptoms upon lorazepam discontinuation and resolution upon resumption, in an on-and-off manner.
CONCLUSION
The present study argues for a closer relationship between melancholia and catatonia based on our case series, historical review, overlap in phenomenology, and response to treatment. We propose provisional [Mahgoub] criteria for patients with severe depression and melancholia. The role of GABA agonists, such as lorazepam, can be explored as an option for patients with treatment-resistant depression who meet these criteria for melancholia.
LIMITATIONS
Absence of a standardized, systematic assessment tool and a small sample size.
PubMed: 38571997
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1372136 -
Astrobiology Aug 2023The Mars 2020 Flight System comprises a Cruise Stage; Aeroshell; Entry, Descent, and Landing system; Perseverance rover; and the Ingenuity helicopter. The Perseverance...
The Mars 2020 Flight System comprises a Cruise Stage; Aeroshell; Entry, Descent, and Landing system; Perseverance rover; and the Ingenuity helicopter. The Perseverance rover was successfully delivered to Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Among its science objectives, Perseverance is meant to search for rocks that are capable of preserving chemical traces of ancient life, if it existed, and to core and cache rock and regolith samples. The Perseverance rover is gathering samples for potential return to Earth as part of a Mars Sample Return campaign. Thus, controlling the presence of Earth-sourced biological contamination is important to protect the integrity of the scientific results as well as to comply with international treaty and NASA requirements governing Planetary Protection prior to launch. An unprecedented campaign of sampling and environmental monitoring occurred, which resulted in over 16,000 biological samples collected throughout spacecraft assembly. Engineering design, microbial reduction measures, monitoring, and process controls enabled the mission to limit the total spore bioburden to 3.73 × 10 spores, which provided 25.4% margin against the required limit. Furthermore, the total spore bioburden of all landed hardware was 3.86 × 10, which provided 87% margin against the required limit. This manuscript outlines the Planetary Protection implementation approach and verification methodologies applied to the Mars 2020 flight system and its surrounding environments.
Topics: Extraterrestrial Environment; Planets; Spacecraft; Earth, Planet; Mars; Space Flight
PubMed: 37405744
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0046 -
Journal of American College Health : J... Oct 2023To examine the role of grit as a mediator of the relationship between student-veteran status and not seeking mental health help. A diverse and nationally...
To examine the role of grit as a mediator of the relationship between student-veteran status and not seeking mental health help. A diverse and nationally representative sample of students (8,203 women, 4,934 men) from 18 U.S. colleges and universities included in the Understanding Student Distress and Academic Success study was used. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to assess associations between military service, grit, and help seeking. Military service was positively associated with both facets of grit: consistency of interests (CI) and perseverance of effort (PE). CI, but not PE, mediated the relationship between military service and never having sought mental health help. These results suggest that grit mediates the relationship between military service and not seeking mental health help. Interventions for student-veterans that emphasize the utility of mental health treatment may be useful to diminish the negative influence of grit on help-seeking.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Mental Health; Students; Veterans; Universities; Academic Success
PubMed: 34314660
DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2021.1953034