Study of Harris lines at the Prat de la Riba necropolis--third to fifth century AD

Harris lines (HL) are considered a nutritional or pathological stress factor in the study of past populations. This study attempts to contribute to the knowledge of the causal agents for HL in terms of assessing the health state of the population of Tarragona in the Roman period. The presence of HL has been analyzed in 614 long bones (214 humeri, 150 femurs and 250 tibias) from 243 skeletons. No HL have been observed in humeri. The frequencies of HL in femurs are higher than 27% and in tibias more than 48%. Although no significant differences in the presence of HL is found among age categories, it seems that the causal agents of these marks acted on individuals from the age of 5, an age from which the long bones of the lower extremities are more prone to producing HL. The hardened living conditions in the Dark Age of the Roman period in Spain between the third to fifth centuries A.D. may be the cause of the high prevalence of HL in this population.     

Guilt, fear, stigma and knowledge gaps: ethical issues in public health communication interventions

Public health communication campaigns have been credited with helping raise awareness of risk from chronic illness and new infectious diseases and with helping promote the adoption of recommended treatment regimens. Yet many aspects of public health communication interventions have escaped the scrutiny of ethical discussions. With the transference of successful commercial marketing communication tactics to the realm of public health, consideration of ethical issues becomes an essential component in the development and application of public health strategies. Ethical issues in public health communication are explored as they relate to eight topics: 'targeting' and 'tailoring' public health messages to particular population segments; obtaining the equivalence of informed consent; the use of persuasive communication tactics; messages on responsibility and culpability; messages that apply to harm reduction; and three types of unintended adverse effects associated with public health communication activities that may label and stigmatise, expand social gaps, and promote health as a value. We suggest that an ethical analysis should be applied to each phase of the public health communication process in order to identify ethical dilemmas that may appear subtle, yet reflect important concerns regarding potential effects of public health communication interventions on individuals and society as a whole.     

The Mental Health Consequences of the Recession: Economic Hardship and Employment of People with Mental Health Problems in 27 European Countries

Objectives

A period of economic recession may be particularly difficult for people with mental health problems as they may be at higher risk of losing their jobs, and more competitive labour markets can also make it more difficult to find a new job. This study assesses unemployment rates among individuals with mental health problems before and during the current economic recession.

Methods

Using individual and aggregate level data collected from 27 EU countries in the Eurobarometer surveys of 2006 and 2010, we examined changes in unemployment rates over this period among individuals with and without mental health problems.

Results

Following the onset of the recession, the gap in unemployment rates between individuals with and without mental health problems significantly widened (odds ratio: 1.12, 95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.34). This disparity became even greater for males, and individuals with low levels of education. Individuals with mental health problems living in countries with higher levels of stigmatizing attitudes regarding dangerousness of people with mental illness were more vulnerable to unemployment in 2010, but not 2006. Greater agreement that people with mental health problems have themselves to blame, was associated with lower likelihood of unemployment for individuals with and without mental health problems.

Conclusion

These findings study suggest that times of economic hardship may intensify social exclusion of people with mental health problems, especially males and individuals with lower education. Interventions to combat economic exclusion and to promote social participation of individuals with mental health problems are even more important during times of economic crisis, and these efforts should target support to the most vulnerable groups.     

Patterns of variation in leucocyte counts of female tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor: repeatability over time and relationships with condition and costs of reproduction

The heterophil to lymphocyte (HL) ratio in the peripheral blood is increasingly being recognized as a reliable indicator of stress in birds. In this study we examined whether HL ratio, as well as the proportion of heterophils and lymphocytes, varied systematically with sampling time, date, age, climate conditions or with measures of maternal investment in female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) over three breeding seasons. We found that HL ratios showed significant annual variation, which appeared to be driven by annual changes in the proportion of heterophils. HL ratios were higher among those females laying larger clutches, suggesting a potential cost of reproduction. Variation in body condition also appeared to affect stress levels of females, as decreases in body condition were associated with elevated HL ratios. Among females that we sampled over multiple breeding seasons, we were unable to detect significant repeatability for both HL ratios and proportion of heterophils, although proportion of lymphocytes showed low but significant repeatability within individuals. We therefore suggest that caution should be exercised in using these measures for illustrating the inherent quality or health of individuals over time frames beyond the current breeding attempt, or as predictors of future reproductive potential.     

Plasma biomarkers for detecting Hodgkin's lymphoma in HIV patients

The lifespan of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has increased as a result of effective antiretroviral therapy, and the incidences of the AIDS-defining cancers, non-Hodgkin''s lymphoma and Kaposi sarcoma, have declined. Even so, HIV-infected individuals are now at greater risk of other cancers, including Hodgkin''s lymphoma (HL). To identify candidate biomarkers for the early detection of HL, we undertook an accurate mass and elution time tag proteomics analysis of individual plasma samples from either HIV-infected patients without HL (controls; n = 14) and from HIV-infected patient samples with HL (n = 22). This analysis identified 60 proteins that were statistically (p<0.05) altered and at least 1.5-fold different between the two groups. At least three of these proteins have previously been reported to be altered in the blood of HL patients that were not known to be HIV positive, suggesting that these markers may be broadly useful for detecting HL. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software identified “inflammatory response” and “cancer” as the top two biological functions associated with these proteins. Overall, this study validated three plasma proteins as candidate biomarkers for detecting HL, and identified 57 novel candidate biomarkers that remain to be validated. The relationship of these novel candidate biomarkers with cancer and inflammation suggests that they are truly associated with HL and therefore may be useful for the early detection of this cancer in susceptible populations.     

Speech-language profiles in the context of cognitive and adaptive functioning in SATB2-associated syndrome

SATB2-associated syndrome (SAS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by heterozygous pathogenic variants in the SATB2 gene, and is typically characterized by intellectual disability and severely impaired communication skills. The goal of this study was to contribute to the understanding of speech and language impairments in SAS, in the context of general developmental skills and cognitive and adaptive functioning. We performed detailed oral motor, speech and language profiling in combination with neuropsychological assessments in 23 individuals with a molecularly confirmed SAS diagnosis: 11 primarily verbal individuals and 12 primarily nonverbal individuals, independent of their ages. All individuals had severe receptive language delays. For all verbal individuals, we were able to define underlying speech conditions. While childhood apraxia of speech was most prevalent, oral motor problems appeared frequent as well and were more present in the nonverbal group than in the verbal group. For seven individuals, age-appropriate Wechsler indices could be derived, showing that the level of intellectual functioning of these individuals varied from moderate–mild ID to mild ID-borderline intellectual functioning. Assessments of adaptive functioning with the Vineland Screener showed relatively high scores on the domain “daily functioning” and relatively low scores on the domain “communication” in most individuals. Altogether, this study provides a detailed delineation of oral motor, speech and language skills and neuropsychological functioning in individuals with SAS, and can provide families and caregivers with information to guide diagnosis, management and treatment approaches.     

Stress, illness, and illness behavior.

This paper examines adaptation as a transactive process involving the skills and capacities of individuals and their supporting groups on the one hand, and the types of challenges they face on the other. Many difficulties in understanding stress processes in illness result from the confusion between illness and illness behavior. It is argued that the medical record is as much a history of the individual's behavior and social selection processes as it is a reflection of levels of physical health. Various examples are discussed, illustrating how medical records can be misleading in research examining the relationship between stress and illness, and how influences attributed to stress may be the result of illness behavior. The paper concludes by examining alternative conceptual models for studying the relationships between life challenges, illness behavior and illness.     

IUBMB updates Ph.D. standards

The Education Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB, but IUBMB since 1991) published its report on "Standards for the Ph.D. Degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology" in 1989. Developments since then have led to the disappearance of the traditional demarcations between many of the biological disciplines, while information technology and bioinformatics have revolutionized the analysis, storage, and communication of scientific data. To meet these challenges, that report has now been revised through a broad interdisciplinary and international consultation. This has led to the recent publication, on behalf of the same Committee, of "Standards for the PhD Degree in the Molecular Biosciences". Like its predecessor this revised report not only defines in behavioural terms the qualities and skills expected of doctoral graduates by the international community of molecular bioscientists but also offers useful suggestions and advice as to how those skills can be developed and maximized. In addition, it discusses various topics related to doctoral education.     

Potential impacts of COVID-19 on reproductive health: Scientific findings and social dimension

COVID-19 virus is classified as a respiratory disease that can be mainly transmitted via respiratory droplets, however, there are recently published reports suggested its ability to transmit via sexual intercourse, assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments, pregnancy, and nursing. Although SARS‐CoV‐2 mainly attacks respiratory systems, manifestations of multiple organs have been detected. A significant concern was raised about whether COVID‐19 may affect female and male reproductive functions. These findings imposed more restrictions on social relationships between individuals even if inside the family, adding more physiologic load. In this context, there is a crucial need to identify the biological and behavioral reproductive risk factors associated with COVID­19 disease. Questions regarding the potential risks of sexual transmission during intercourse and/or application of ART, vertical transmission (throughout pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding), the health of pregnant and postpartum women, and fetal or postnatal health problems of neonates/children remain largely unanswered. The contribution of individuals to different social and economic activities depends on the maintenance of good quality life and health. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic raised on the end of December 2019 has drastically affected different aspects of human wellbeing. The pandemic not only affected the health of individuals, but also negatively affected mental health and social interaction. This review illustrates: a) scientific findings related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the reproductive process, considering gender, hormonal balance, gonad functions, pregnancy, and ART, b) the sociosexual dimension of COVID-19 disease and precautions that should be taken to avoid infection via sexual transmission or vertical transmission, which may alleviate the fear associated with continuing normal social relationships and economic activities.     

Variation in selection pressure acting on body size by age and sex in a reverse sexual size dimorphic raptor

Body size strongly influences fitness, with larger individuals benefiting in terms of both greater productivity and survivorship; for reverse sexual size dimorphic (RSD) species, this relationship may be more complex. We examined the selection pressures acting on body size in male and female Merlins Falco columbarius to assess whether larger or smaller individuals of this RSD species were favoured in terms of survival and breeding performance. For males and females there were clear links between body size and survival but the exact relationship varied by sex. Among males, birds that survived each year class were larger than those that died and yearlings were on average smaller than older birds, but there were no measurable differences among adult males (age 2+). Among females, larger individuals aged 1 and 2 years were more likely to survive, but this size‐based pattern was not apparent in older age classes. Size early in life predicted the lifespan in male Merlins but not as strongly as for females and not for the largest individuals. Reproductive performance based on brood size was not associated with body size in either males or females, but there was a weak positive relationship between female body size and lifetime reproductive success. Selection appears to favour larger males and females but there is no indication that the population is evolving towards bigger individuals, perhaps in part due to selection against the largest birds. Increased survival may allow larger and higher quality individuals to occupy higher quality territories as they age and thereby to accrue greater lifetime reproductive success in the process.     

Job share a consultant post.

Job sharing offers advantages to both employer and employee but it is still uncommon in medicine. Based on the experiences of two psychiatrists sharing a consultant post this article describes some of the problems in obtaining a job share. The most difficult part can be getting an interview, and once a post has been obtained the terms and conditions of service may have to be modified to suit job sharing. Getting on well with your job sharing partner and good communication will not only help overcome the obstacles but ensure that the sharing is successful.     

Communication systems in healthcare

The care of patients now almost inevitably seems to involve many different individuals, all needing to share patient information and discuss their management. As a consequence there is increasing interest in, and use of, information and communication technologies to support health services. Yet, while there is significant discussion of, and investment in, information technologies, communication systems receive much less attention and the clinical adoption of even simpler services like voice-mail or electronic mail is still not commonplace in many health services. There remain enormous gaps in our broad understanding of the role of communication services in health care delivery. Laboratory medicine is perhaps even more poorly studied than many other areas, such as the interface between primary care and hospital services. Given this lack of specific information about laboratory communication services, this paper will step back and generally review the components of a communication system, including the basic concepts of a communication channel, service, device and interaction mode. The review will then try and summarise some of what is known about specific communication problems that arise across health services in the main, including the community and hospital service delivery.     

Improving communication skill training in patient centered medical practice for enhancing rational use of laboratory tests: The core of bioinformation for leveraging stakeholder engagement in regulatory science

Requests for laboratory tests are among the most relevant additional tools used by physicians as part of patient''s health problemsolving. However, the overestimation of complementary investigation may be linked to less reflective medical practice as a consequence of a poor physician-patient communication, and may impair patient-centered care. This scenario is likely to result from reduced consultation time, and a clinical model focused on the disease. We propose a new medical intervention program that specifically targets improving the patient-centered communication of laboratory tests results, the core of bioinformation in health care. Expectations are that medical students training in communication skills significantly improve physicians-patient relationship, reduce inappropriate use of laboratorial tests, and raise stakeholder engagement.     

Experience with adults shapes multisensory representation of social familiarity in the brain of a songbird

Social animals learn to perceive their social environment, and their social skills and preferences are thought to emerge from greater exposure to and hence familiarity with some social signals rather than others. Familiarity appears to be tightly linked to multisensory integration. The ability to differentiate and categorize familiar and unfamiliar individuals and to build a multisensory representation of known individuals emerges from successive social interactions, in particular with adult, experienced models. In different species, adults have been shown to shape the social behavior of young by promoting selective attention to multisensory cues. The question of what representation of known conspecifics adult-deprived animals may build therefore arises. Here we show that starlings raised with no experience with adults fail to develop a multisensory representation of familiar and unfamiliar starlings. Electrophysiological recordings of neuronal activity throughout the primary auditory area of these birds, while they were exposed to audio-only or audiovisual familiar and unfamiliar cues, showed that visual stimuli did, as in wild-caught starlings, modulate auditory responses but that, unlike what was observed in wild-caught birds, this modulation was not influenced by familiarity. Thus, adult-deprived starlings seem to fail to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals. This suggests that adults may shape multisensory representation of known individuals in the brain, possibly by focusing the young's attention on relevant, multisensory cues. Multisensory stimulation by experienced, adult models may thus be ubiquitously important for the development of social skills (and of the neural properties underlying such skills) in a variety of species.     

Interpersonal Similarity between Body Movements in Face-To-Face Communication in Daily Life

Individuals are embedded in social networks in which they communicate with others in their daily lives. Because smooth face-to-face communication is the key to maintaining these networks, measuring the smoothness of such communication is an important issue. One indicator of smoothness is the similarity of the body movements of the two individuals concerned. A typical example noted in experimental environments is the interpersonal synchronization of body movements such as nods and gestures during smooth face-to-face communication. It should therefore be possible to estimate quantitatively the smoothness of face-to-face communication in social networks through measurement of the synchronization of body movements. However, this is difficult because social networks, which differ from disciplined experimental environments, are open environments for the face-to-face communication between two individuals. In such open environments, their body movements become complicated by various external factors and may follow unstable and nonuniform patterns. Nevertheless, we consider there to be some interaction during face-to-face communication that leads to the interpersonal synchronization of body movements, which can be seen through the interpersonal similarity of body movements. The present study aims to clarify such interaction in terms of body movements during daily face-to-face communication in real organizations of more than 100 people. We analyzed data on the frequency of body movement for each individual during face-to-face communication, as measured by a wearable sensor, and evaluated the degree of interpersonal similarity of body movements between two individuals as their frequency difference. Furthermore, we generated uncorrelated data by resampling the data gathered and compared these two data sets statistically to distinguish the effects of actual face-to-face communication from those of the activities accompanying the communication. Our results confirm an interpersonal similarity of body movements between two individuals in face-to-face communication, for all the organizations studied, and suggest that some body interaction is behind this similarity.     

The challenge of challenge: Can problem solving opportunities enhance animal welfare?

Cognitive mechanisms are an important part of the organization of the behavior systems of animals. In the wild, animals regularly face problems that they must overcome in order to survive and thrive. Solving such problems often requires animals to process, store, retrieve, and act upon information from the environment—in other words, to use their cognitive skills. For example, animals may have to use navigational, tool-making or cooperative social skills in order to procure their food. However, many enrichment programs for captive animals do not include the integration of these types of cognitive challenges. Thus, foraging enrichments typically are designed to facilitate the physical expression of feeding behaviors such as food-searching and food consumption, but not to facilitate complex problem solving behaviors related to food acquisition. Challenging animals by presenting them with problems is almost certainly a source of frustration and stress. However, we suggest here that this is an important, and even necessary, feature of an enrichment program, as long as animals also possess the skills and resources to effectively solve the problems with which they are presented. We discuss this with reference to theories about the emotional consequences of coping with challenge, the association between lack of challenge and the development of abnormal behavior, and the benefits of stress (arousal) in facilitating learning and memory of relevant skills. Much remains to be done to provide empirical support for these theories. However, they do point the way to a practical approach to improving animal welfare—to design enrichments to facilitate the cognitive mechanisms which underlie the performance of complex behaviors that cannot be performed due to the restrictions inherent to the captive environment.     

Graph-based impact analysis as a framework for incorporating practitioner knowledge in dairy herd health management

Production diseases in dairy cows are multifactorial, which means they emerge from complex interactions between many different farm variables. Variables with a large impact on production diseases can be identified for groups of farms using statistical models, but these methods cannot be used to identify highly influential variables in individual farms. This, however, is necessary for herd health planning, because farm conditions and associated health problems vary largely between farms. The aim of this study was to rank variables according to their anticipated effect on production diseases on the farm level by applying a graph-based impact analysis on 192 European organic dairy farms. Direct impacts between 13 pre-defined variables were estimated for each farm during a round-table discussion attended by practitioners, that is farmer, veterinarian and herd advisor. Indirect impacts were elaborated through graph analysis taking into account impact strengths. Across farms, factors supposedly exerting the most influence on production diseases were ‘feeding’, ‘hygiene’ and ‘treatment’ (direct impacts), as well as ‘knowledge and skills’ and ‘herd health monitoring’ (indirect impacts). Factors strongly influenced by production diseases were ‘milk performance’, ‘financial resources’ and ‘labour capacity’ (directly and indirectly). Ranking of variables on the farm level revealed considerable differences between farms in terms of their most influential and most influenced farm factors. Consequently, very different strategies may be required to reduce production diseases in these farms. The method is based on perceptions and estimations and thus prone to errors. From our point of view, however, this weakness is clearly outweighed by the ability to assess and to analyse farm-specific relationships and thus to complement general knowledge with contextual knowledge. Therefore, we conclude that graph-based impact analysis represents a promising decision support tool for herd health planning. The next steps include testing the method using more specific and problem-oriented variables as well as evaluating its effectiveness.     

Know thine enemy: fighting fish gather information from observing conspecific interactions

Many of the signals that animals use to communicate transmit relatively large distances and therefore encompass several potential signallers and receivers. This observation challenges the common characterization of animal communication systems as consisting of one signaller and one receiver. Furthermore, it suggests that the evolution of communication behaviour must be considered as occurring in the context of communication networks rather than dyads. Although considerations of selection pressures acting upon signallers in the context of communication networks have rarely been expressed in such terms, it has been noted that many signals exchanged during aggressive interactions will transmit far further than required for information transfer between the individuals directly involved, suggesting that these signals have been designed to be received by other, more distant, individuals. Here we consider the potential for receivers in communication networks to gather information, one aspect of which has been termed eavesdropping. We show that male Betta splendens monitor aggressive interactions between neighbouring conspecifics and use the information on relative fighting ability in subsequent aggressive interactions with the males they have observed.     

False alarms, real challenges--one university's communication response to the 2001 anthrax crisis

Considerable research exists on how government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels communicated during the fall 2001 anthrax attacks. However, there is little research on how other institutions handled this crisis, in terms of their response to potential anthrax contamination (aka "white powder scares") and their approach to disseminating important health and safety information. In this article, we investigate a major university's communication response to the anthrax crisis. First, we describe its communication experiences relating to a large white powder scare that occurred in October 2001. Second, we describe the university's broader communication efforts in terms of several important elements of risk communication research, including influence of source attributes, key messages, preferred channels, responses to information requests, and organizational influences. This study underlines that an institution does not have to be directly affected by a crisis to find itself on the communication "front lines." Moreover, other institutions may find it useful to learn from the experiences of this university, so that they may communicate more effectively during future crises.