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Obesity remains a serious relevant public health concern throughout the world despite related countermeasures being well understood (i.e. mainly physical activity and an adjusted diet). Among different nutritional approaches, there is a growing interest in ketogenic diets (KD) to manipulate body mass (BM) and to enhance fat mass loss. KD reduce the daily amount of carbohydrate intake drastically. This results in increased fatty acid utilisation, leading to an increase in blood ketone bodies (acetoacetate, 3-β-hydroxybutyrate and acetone) and therefore metabolic ketosis. For many years, nutritional intervention studies have focused on reducing dietary fat with little or conflicting positive results over the long term. Moreover, current nutritional guidelines for athletes propose carbohydrate-based diets to augment muscular adaptations. This review discusses the physiological basis of KD and their effects on BM reduction and body composition improvements in sedentary individuals combined with different types of exercise (resistance training or endurance training) in individuals with obesity and athletes. Ultimately, we discuss the strengths and the weaknesses of these nutritional interventions together with precautionary measures that should be observed in both individuals with obesity and athletic populations. A literature search from 1921 to April 2021 using Medline, Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Sportdiscus Databases was used to identify relevant studies. In summary, based on the current evidence, KD are an efficient method to reduce BM and body fat in both individuals with obesity and athletes. However, these positive impacts are mainly because of the appetite suppressive effects of KD, which can decrease daily energy intake. Therefore, KD do not have any superior benefits to non-KD in BM and body fat loss in individuals with obesity and athletic populations in an isoenergetic situation. In sedentary individuals with obesity, it seems that fat-free mass (FFM) changes appear to be as great, if not greater, than decreases following a low-fat diet. In terms of lean mass, it seems that following a KD can cause FFM loss in resistance-trained individuals. In contrast, the FFM-preserving effects of KD are more efficient in endurance-trained compared with resistance-trained individuals.
Engagement with members is an important issue for the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) and an area for ongoing development. This is an issue that extends to Psychiatry trainees and the Psychiatric Trainees’ Committee (PTC) has adopted increasing engagement as one of its key aims. Divisional representatives in different areas of the UK had noted that trainees had limited knowledge of the PTC or its roles and projects both within the College and local areas. To improve this it was decided to pilot a project that established a social media platform for trainees to improve communication between the PTC, it's representatives and trainees. It was decided that Workplace (a professional version of Facebook) would be used. This had already been established in the Severn Deanery.
Method
Northern Ireland (NI) and the East of England (EoE) deaneries were selected as pilot areas for the project. Preparation for the project included collaboration with trainees from the Severn deanery and meeting with the RCPsych Digital team. A scoping questionnaire was circulated to trainees in each deanery.
Following this, two closed groups were initiated on Workplace in August 2019 for Northern Ireland and East of England trainees.
Result
Results from the survey sent prior to the social media pages being established indicated there was appetite among trainees for the project. The pages were established in July 2019. The pilot project was promoted by representatives.
In the initial phases, approximately 40% of trainees signed up. Information regarding college and local events, committee meeting updates and training opportunities was disseminated on the platform. There was evidence of early use by trainees outside of the representative group.
This however was not sustained and gradually use of the platform reduced over the pilot period, both in postings and membership. A further questionnaire circulated in July 2020 highlighted trainees’ concerns relating to the platform, including concerns around data protection and a high number of notifications associated with the Workplace medium. The ultimate impact on engagement was also felt to be minimal.
Conclusion
Following feedback and increasing usage costs by Workplace, it was decided not to continue with a nationwide role out of the project. COVID-19 has seen the successful use of platforms such as Microsoft Teams and these may be considered in the future, given their integration with existing trust systems.
The triarchic model was advanced as an integrative, trait-based framework for investigating psychopathy using different assessment methods and across developmental periods. Recent research has shown that the triarchic traits of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition can be operationalized effectively in youth, but longitudinal research is needed to realize the model's potential to advance developmental understanding of psychopathy. We report on the creation and validation of scale measures of the triarchic traits using questionnaire items available in the University of Southern California Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior (RFAB) project, a large-scale longitudinal study of the development of antisocial behavior that includes measures from multiple modalities (self-report, informant rating, clinical-diagnostic, task-behavioral, physiological). Using a construct-rating and psychometric refinement approach, we developed triarchic scales that showed acceptable reliability, expected intercorrelations, and good temporal stability. The scales showed theory-consistent relations with external criteria including measures of psychopathy, internalizing/externalizing psychopathology, antisocial behavior, and substance use. Findings demonstrate the viability of measuring triarchic traits in the RFAB sample, extend the known nomological network of these traits into the developmental realm, and provide a foundation for follow-up studies examining the etiology of psychopathic traits and their relations with multimodal measures of cognitive-affective function and proneness to clinical problems.
In response to the 2013–2016 Ebola virus disease outbreak, the US government designated certain healthcare institutions as Ebola treatment centers (ETCs) to better prepare for future emerging infectious disease outbreaks. This study investigated ETC experiences and critical care policies for patients with viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF).
Design:
A 58-item questionnaire elicited information on policies for 9 critical care interventions, factors that limited care provision, and innovations developed to deliver care.
Setting and participants:
The questionnaire was sent to 82 ETCs.
Methods:
We analyzed ordinal and categorical data pertaining to the ETC characteristics and descriptive data about their policies and perceived challenges. Statistical analyses assessed whether ETCs with experience caring for VHF patients were more likely to have critical care policies than those that did not.
Results:
Of the 27 ETCs who responded, 17 (63%) were included. Among them, 8 (47%) reported experience caring for persons under investigation or confirmed cases of VHF. Most felt ready to provide intubation, chest compressions, and renal replacement therapy to these patients. The factors most cited for limiting care were staff safety and clinical futility. Innovations developed to better provide care included increased simulation training and alternative technologies for procedures and communication.
Conclusions:
There were broad similarities in critical care policies and limitations among institutions. There were several interventions, namely ECMO and cricothyrotomy, which few institutions felt ready to provide. Future studies could identify obstacles to providing these interventions and explore policy changes after increased experience with novel infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.
Conventional airway management, including intubation and the various modes of lung ventilation, is usually successful. When it fails (cannot intubate, cannot ventilate/oxygenate) it is a life-threatening emergency and will lead to hypoxic brain damage in a few minutes, followed by death, if not resolved. The common final pathway for securing the airway and oxygenation is an emergency front of neck airway (eFONA). Immediate action with a clear plan, appropriate equipment and skills is essential. The ability to efficiently perform an eFONA is a fundamental requirement for any practitioner engaged in advanced airway management. Many techniques are described and it is a difficult area to study, so the evidence of superiority of one technique over others is hard to establish. Preparation, in terms of equipment availability, procedural practice, team familiarity and prompt transitioning through the algorithm when other techniques fail, is important for patient safety. These human factors aspects of eFONA management are at least as important as the procedural technique chosen. This chapter considers the risk factors for airway failure and management of the cannot intubate, cannot oxygenate situation and eFONA procedure in adults and children.
More than 90% of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) experience behavioral and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), such as agitation. However, little is known regarding the specific burden of agitation for Alzheimer’s patients.
Design:
A global systematic literature review was conducted in MEDLINE and Embase for studies of clinical, humanistic, and economic burden of agitation in AD/dementia published from 2006–2016. References of identified papers and related literature reviews were examined. Studies meeting predetermined inclusion criteria for burden of agitation/NPS were summarized.
Results:
Eighty papers met the inclusion criteria for burden of agitation in dementia. Wide ranges of agitation prevalence were reported, but few papers provided information on incidence. The association of agitation with AD severity was presented in multiple studies; a few suggested positive association of agitation with mortality.
Conclusions:
High prevalence of agitation is consistent with earlier reports, but several gaps in understanding of agitation in AD need further exploration.
The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) provides Disinhibition, Boldness, and Meanness scales for assessing the three trait domains of the triarchic model. Here we examined the genetic and environmental etiology of these three domains, including evaluation of potential sex differences.
Methods
A total of 1016 men and women ages 19–20 years were drawn from the University of Southern California Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior twin study.
Results
Scores for the three TriPM scales were correlated to differing degrees, with the strongest phenotypic correlation between Disinhibition and Meanness. No sex differences were found in the genetic and environmental influences underlying these three domains, suggesting that the same genes and life experiences contribute to these traits in young men and women. For TriPM Disinhibition and Boldness, genetic factors explained about half or less of the variance, with the rest of the variance being explained by non-shared environmental factors. For TriPM Meanness, on the other hand, genetic, shared environmental, and non-shared environmental factors accounted for the variance. The phenotypic correlation between Disinhibition and Meanness was explained in part by common genes (26%), with the remainder attributable about equally to common shared (39%), and non-shared environmental influences (35%).
Conclusions
These findings contribute to our understanding of psychopathic personality traits by demonstrating the importance of heritable factors for disinhibition and boldness facets of psychopathy, and the importance of shared environmental influences for the meanness facet.
The vision for dementia-friendly communities is challenged by limited public awareness and stigma about dementia. The study aim was to elicit stakeholder priorities for the message content of an education program to improve dementia awareness among youth; specifically, what do children need to know about dementia?
Methods:
A qualitative inquiry using interviews and focus groups was used. Purposive sampling achieved maximum variation in dementia experience and participant characteristics. Focus groups with Scouts in the community aged 9–12 years old (n = 22) used innovative techniques to explore children's attitudes towards people with dementia. Participants with personal experience of dementia were five people with early-stage dementia; 12 adult primary carers; four non-primary carers; and six grandchildren of a person with dementia. They were asked what is important for children to understand about dementia and what attitudes they may like an education program to confer. Content analysis was performed using NVivo10.
Results:
Strong themes to emerge were that children need to know the whole truth about dementia; that individuals with dementia are “still people,” that it is “not the fault” of the person with dementia; and that dementia is different and typically unpredictable for everyone. Discussions also indicated a need to educate children about ways to relate to a person with dementia, and to appreciate “positives” within a relationship.
Conclusions:
Children are our future citizens. Developing an education program for children with this message content may be fundamental to de-stigmatizing dementia and laying the foundation to dementia-friendly communities.
Whether monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins differ from each other in a variety of phenotypes is important for genetic twin modeling and for inferences made from twin studies in general. We analyzed whether there were differences in individual, maternal and paternal education between MZ and DZ twins in a large pooled dataset. Information was gathered on individual education for 218,362 adult twins from 27 twin cohorts (53% females; 39% MZ twins), and on maternal and paternal education for 147,315 and 143,056 twins respectively, from 28 twin cohorts (52% females; 38% MZ twins). Together, we had information on individual or parental education from 42 twin cohorts representing 19 countries. The original education classifications were transformed to education years and analyzed using linear regression models. Overall, MZ males had 0.26 (95% CI [0.21, 0.31]) years and MZ females 0.17 (95% CI [0.12, 0.21]) years longer education than DZ twins. The zygosity difference became smaller in more recent birth cohorts for both males and females. Parental education was somewhat longer for fathers of DZ twins in cohorts born in 1990–1999 (0.16 years, 95% CI [0.08, 0.25]) and 2000 or later (0.11 years, 95% CI [0.00, 0.22]), compared with fathers of MZ twins. The results show that the years of both individual and parental education are largely similar in MZ and DZ twins. We suggest that the socio-economic differences between MZ and DZ twins are so small that inferences based upon genetic modeling of twin data are not affected.
Households with pets are considered a high-risk population, presenting many challenges to response and recovery efforts. Research indicates that households with pets are less likely to evacuate during disasters, and pets left behind pose a health risk to relief workers and the general public. This pilot study explores a brief education intervention targeting households with pets as a method of increasing general household preparedness, with the purpose of facilitating evacuation and protective behaviors in this population.
Methods
A convenience sample of households with pets was recruited to participate in a one-group pre- and post-survey design evaluating the impact of a brief education intervention on increasing pet-specific and general household preparedness levels.
Results
Results suggest that the sample population was below national estimates in basic household preparedness before the intervention. Post-survey results indicate an increase in completion of some preparedness tasks after the intervention. There was a statistically significant increase in overall pet preparedness at the P=0.10 level; however, that difference did not translate into general household preparedness.
Conclusion
The findings from this study are consistent with those from previous literature suggesting that persons often place the needs of their pets above their own; however, the use of a brief education intervention may be successful in increasing pet-specific preparedness levels, which may be useful in successful evacuation and pet well-being. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:441–445)
The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) promotes and supports translational research collaboration between clinicians, communities, and investigators across the five-state Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI) region. The ITHS has developed a collaborative regional clinical research network, the Northwest Participant & Clinical Interactions Network (NW PCI), involving 12 diverse clinical health systems and academic institutions.
Methods
This descriptive article details NW PCI’s development, infrastructure and governance, tools, characteristics, and initial outcomes.
Results
Regional NW PCI sites are conducting largely industry-sponsored studies; they are interested in including more grant-funded research. Regional NW PCI sites had over 1,240 open studies involving over 6700 patients in 2016. NW PCI trials are largely industry-sponsored; NW PCI sites are interested in including more grant-funded research. In its first three years, the NW PCI Coordinating Center facilitated regional sites’ participation in 34 new grant and contract applications across diverse topics.
Conclusion
The NW PCI model supports the goals of the developing CTSA Trial Innovation Network by increasing access to cutting-edge research across the Northwestern U.S., by supporting investigators seeking diverse populations, including those with rare diseases, for their research studies, and by providing settings to test implementation and dissemination of effective interventions.
A trend toward greater body size in dizygotic (DZ) than in monozygotic (MZ) twins has been suggested by some but not all studies, and this difference may also vary by age. We analyzed zygosity differences in mean values and variances of height and body mass index (BMI) among male and female twins from infancy to old age. Data were derived from an international database of 54 twin cohorts participating in the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins), and included 842,951 height and BMI measurements from twins aged 1 to 102 years. The results showed that DZ twins were consistently taller than MZ twins, with differences of up to 2.0 cm in childhood and adolescence and up to 0.9 cm in adulthood. Similarly, a greater mean BMI of up to 0.3 kg/m2 in childhood and adolescence and up to 0.2 kg/m2 in adulthood was observed in DZ twins, although the pattern was less consistent. DZ twins presented up to 1.7% greater height and 1.9% greater BMI than MZ twins; these percentage differences were largest in middle and late childhood and decreased with age in both sexes. The variance of height was similar in MZ and DZ twins at most ages. In contrast, the variance of BMI was significantly higher in DZ than in MZ twins, particularly in childhood. In conclusion, DZ twins were generally taller and had greater BMI than MZ twins, but the differences decreased with age in both sexes.
For over 100 years, the genetics of human anthropometric traits has attracted scientific interest. In particular, height and body mass index (BMI, calculated as kg/m2) have been under intensive genetic research. However, it is still largely unknown whether and how heritability estimates vary between human populations. Opportunities to address this question have increased recently because of the establishment of many new twin cohorts and the increasing accumulation of data in established twin cohorts. We started a new research project to analyze systematically (1) the variation of heritability estimates of height, BMI and their trajectories over the life course between birth cohorts, ethnicities and countries, and (2) to study the effects of birth-related factors, education and smoking on these anthropometric traits and whether these effects vary between twin cohorts. We identified 67 twin projects, including both monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, using various sources. We asked for individual level data on height and weight including repeated measurements, birth related traits, background variables, education and smoking. By the end of 2014, 48 projects participated. Together, we have 893,458 height and weight measures (52% females) from 434,723 twin individuals, including 201,192 complete twin pairs (40% monozygotic, 40% same-sex dizygotic and 20% opposite-sex dizygotic) representing 22 countries. This project demonstrates that large-scale international twin studies are feasible and can promote the use of existing data for novel research purposes.
The genetic and environmental etiology of individual differences was examined in initial level and change in psychopathic personality from ages 9 to 18 years. A piecewise growth curve model, in which the first change score (G1) influenced all ages (9–10, 11–13, 14–15, and 16–18 years) and the second change score (G2) only influenced ages 14–15 and 16–18 years, fit the data better did than the standard single slope model, suggesting a turning point from childhood to adolescence. The results indicated that variations in levels and both change scores were mainly due to genetic (A) and nonshared environmental (E) influences (i.e., AE structure for G0, G1, and G2). No sex differences were found except on the mean values of level and change scores. Based on caregiver ratings, about 81% of variance in G0, 89% of variance in G1, and 94% of variance in G2 were explained by genetic factors, whereas for youth self-reports, these three proportions were 94%, 71%, and 66%, respectively. The larger contribution of genetic variance and covariance in caregiver ratings than in youth self-reports may suggest that caregivers considered the changes in their children to be more similar as compared to how the children viewed themselves.
The genetic architecture of the association between psychopathic traits and reduced skin conductance responses (SCRs) is poorly understood. By using 752 twins aged 9–10 years, this study investigated the heritability of two SCR measures (anticipatory SCRs to impending aversive stimuli and unconditioned SCRs to the aversive stimuli themselves) in a countdown task. The study also investigated the genetic and environmental sources of the covariance between these SCR measures and two psychopathic personality traits: impulsive/disinhibited (reflecting impulsive–antisocial tendencies) and manipulative/deceitful (reflecting the affective–interpersonal features). For anticipatory SCRs, 27%, 14%, and 59% of the variation was due to genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental effects, respectively, while the percentages for unconditioned SCRs were 44%, 2%, and 54%. The manipulative/deceitful (not impulsive/disinhibited) traits were negatively associated with both anticipatory SCRs (r = –.14, p < .05) and unconditioned SCRs (r = –.17, p < .05) in males only, with the former association significantly accounted for by genetic influences (rg = –.72). Reduced anticipatory SCRs represent a candidate endophenotype for the affective–interpersonal facets of psychopathic traits in males.
In North America, terrestrial records of biodiversity and climate change that span Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 are rare. Where found, they provide insight into how the coupling of the ocean–atmosphere system is manifested in biotic and environmental records and how the biosphere responds to climate change. In 2010–2011, construction at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado (USA) revealed a nearly continuous, lacustrine/wetland sedimentary sequence that preserved evidence of past plant communities between ~140 and 55 ka, including all of MIS 5. At an elevation of 2705 m, the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site also contained thousands of well-preserved bones of late Pleistocene megafauna, including mastodons, mammoths, ground sloths, horses, camels, deer, bison, black bear, coyotes, and bighorn sheep. In addition, the site contained more than 26,000 bones from at least 30 species of small animals including salamanders, otters, muskrats, minks, rabbits, beavers, frogs, lizards, snakes, fish, and birds. The combination of macro- and micro-vertebrates, invertebrates, terrestrial and aquatic plant macrofossils, a detailed pollen record, and a robust, directly dated stratigraphic framework shows that high-elevation ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado are climatically sensitive and varied dramatically throughout MIS 5.
Ninety plant macrofossil taxa from the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site near Snowmass Village, Colorado, record environmental changes at high elevation (2705 m asl) in the Rocky Mountains during the Last Interglacial Period. Present-day vegetation is aspen forest (Populus tremuloides) intermixed with species of higher (Picea, Abies) and lower (Artemisia, Quercus) elevations. Stratigraphic units 4–13 contain montane forest taxa found near the site today and several species that today generally live at lower elevations within (Abies concolor, Lycopus americanus) and outside Colorado (Najas flexilis). These data suggest near-modern climatic conditions, with slightly warmer summer and winter temperatures. This montane forest period was succeeded by a shorter treeless interval (Unit 14) representing colder and/or drier conditions. In units 15–16, conifer trees reoccur but deciduous and herb taxa are lacking, suggesting a return to warmer conditions, although cooler than during the earlier forest period. Comparison of these inferred paleoclimatic changes with the site's geochronologic framework indicates that the lower interval of sustained warmth correlates with late MIS 6–early 5b (~138–94 ka), the cold interval with MIS 5b (~94–87 ka), and the uppermost cool assemblages with MIS 5a (~87–77 ka).
This study aims to assess the validity of maternal recall for several perinatal variables 8–10 years after pregnancy in a twin sample. Retrospective information was collected 8–10 years after the delivery event in a cohort of mothers from the University of Southern California Twin Study (N = 611) and compared with medical records for validity analysis. Recall of most variables showed substantial to perfect agreement (κ = 0.60–1.00), with notable exceptions for specific medical problems during pregnancy (κ ≤ 0.40) and substance use when mothers provided continuous data (e.g., number of cigarettes per day; r ≤ 0.24). With the exception of delivery method, neonatal intensive care unit admission, birth weight, neonatal information, and post-delivery complications were also recalled with low accuracy. For mothers of twins, maternal recall is generally a valid measure for perinatal variables 10 years after pregnancy. However, caution should be taken regarding variables such as substance use, medical problems, birth length, and post-delivery complications.