The Impact of 3-D Models versus Animations on Perceptions of Osteoporosis and Treatment Motivation: A Randomised Trial

Background

Osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disorder that disproportionately affects older women worldwide. Raising awareness regarding osteoporosis within this demographic is significant for health promotion. Initial evidence suggests that visualisations of illness and treatment can improve illness perceptions, increase treatment motivations and even promote health behaviours. We are yet to understand whether different visualisation mediums vary in their impact on perceptions and motivations.

Purpose

We investigated whether physical models or virtual animations had a greater impact on changing perceptions of osteoporosis and treatment motivation in an at-risk population of older women.

Methods

A total of 128 women aged 50 and over were randomly assigned to view a brief presentation about osteoporosis using either 3-D printed bone models or electronic tablet animations. Illness perceptions, medication beliefs and motivations were measured at baseline and post-presentation. Mixed ANOVAs were used to identify significant changes over time between groups.

Results

There were no significant interaction effects, revealing that neither medium had a greater impact on beliefs over time. Significant main effects of time revealed that from baseline to post-presentation, both mediums increased consequence beliefs, personal and treatment control, understanding of osteoporosis, motivations to take treatment if needed and medication necessity beliefs. Timeline beliefs and medication concerns decreased over time for both groups.

Conclusions

Both 3-D models and animations of osteoporosis are equally effective in changing beliefs and treatment motivation in an at-risk population. Visualisation devices are brief, cost-effective, have high acceptability and have considerable clinical applicability to promote awareness and prevention.

     

Comparative effects of scaffold pore size, pore volume, and total void volume on cranial bone healing patterns using microsphere-based scaffolds

Bony craniofacial deficits resulting from injury, disease, or birth defects remain a considerable clinical challenge. In this study, microsphere-based scaffold fabrication methods were use to study the respective effects of scaffold pore size, open pore volume, and total void volume fraction on osseous tissue infiltration and bone regeneration in a critical size rat cranial defect. To compare the healing effects of these parameters, three different scaffolds types were fabricated: solid 100 microm spheres, solid 500 microm spheres, and hollow 500 microm spheres. These constructs were implanted into surgically created rat calvarial defects. By 90-days post op, results of micro computed tomography (CT) analysis showed that all scaffolds generated similar amounts of new bone which was significantly greater than untreated controls. Interestingly, the spatial distribution of new bone within the defect area varied by scaffold group. MicroCT and histological analysis demonstrated healing restricted to the dural side in the hollow 500 microm group, whereas the solid 500 microm group demonstrated healing along the dural side and within the center of the defect. Solid 100 microm groups demonstrated healing along the dural layer, periosteal layer, and within the center of the defect. These results suggest that pore size and closed void volume may both play important roles in scaffold degradation patterns and associated bone healing.     

Risk factors contributing to symptomatic plate removal following sagittal split osteotomy

The records of 80 consecutive patients (160 plates) undergoing orthognathic surgery over a 2-year period were analysed to assess the percentage of plate removal from the mandible following sagittal split osteotomy. Factors considered in the study included age, sex, duration of operation, antibiotic prophylaxis regimen, general medical condition, smoking habits, mandibular moves, extraction of 3rd molars at time of surgery and the favourability of the mandibular splits. Infection was the sole reason for plate removal in this study. A removal rate of 15.6% was noted. Age and duration of operation were the only 2 statistically significant factors to affect plate removal whilst some of the other factors showed increased odds ratios but were not statistically significant.     

Effect of statins on Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid

BACKGROUND: Treatment with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors ("statins") has been variably associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in epidemiologic studies and reduced amyloid-beta (Abeta) deposition in animal models of AD. Putative neuroprotective effects of statins may vary in relation to their ability to penetrate into the central nervous system (CNS). METHODS: We measured levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers following 14 weeks of treatment with simvastatin (a CNS permeant statin; n=10) at 40 mg/day or pravastatin (a CNS impermeant statin; n=13) at 80 mg/day in hypercholesterolemic subjects without dementia. RESULTS: Simvastatin, but not pravastatin, reduced CSF levels of phospho-tau-181 (p-tau181) in all subjects. There were no differences in CSF levels of total tau, Abeta42, Abeta40, soluble amyloid beta protein precursor (sAbetaPP) alpha or beta, or F2-isoprostanes. CONCLUSIONS: Statins may modulate the phosphorylation of tau in humans and this effect may depend on the CNS availability of the statin. These results suggest another mechanism by which statins may act to reduce the risk of AD.     

Fluorescent ligand binding reveals heterogeneous distribution of adrenoceptors and ‘cannabinoid-like’ receptors in small arteries

Background and purpose:

Pharmacological analysis of synergism or functional antagonism between different receptors commonly assumes that interacting receptors are located in the same cells. We have now investigated the distribution of α-adrenoceptors, β-adrenoceptors and cannabinoid-like (GPR55) receptors in the mouse arteries.

Experimental approach:

Fluorescence intensity from vascular tissue incubated with fluorescent ligands (α₁-adrenoceptor ligand, BODIPY-FL-prazosin, QAPB; β-adrenoceptor ligand, TMR-{"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"CGP12177","term_id":"877152897","term_text":"CGP12177"}}CGP12177; fluorescent angiotensin II; a novel diarylpyrazole cannabinoid ligand (Tocrifluor 1117, T1117) was measured with confocal microscopy. Small mesenteric and tail arteries of wild-type and α_1B/D-adrenoceptor-KO mice were used.

Key results:

T1117, a fluorescent form of the cannabinoid CB₁ receptor antagonist AM251, was a ligand for GPR55, with low affinity for CB₁ receptors. In mesenteric arterial smooth muscle cells, α_1A-adrenoceptors were predominantly located in different cells from those with β-adrenoceptors, angiotensin receptors or cannabinoid-like (GPR55) receptors. Cells with β-adrenoceptors predominated at arterial branches. Endothelial cells expressed β-adrenoceptors, α-adrenoceptors and cannabinoid-like receptors. Only endothelial α-adrenoceptors appeared in clusters. Adventitia was a rich source of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), particularly fibroblasts and nerve tracts, where Schwann cells bound α-adrenoceptor, β-adrenoceptor and CB-receptor ligands, with a mix of separate receptor locations and co-localization.

Conclusions and implications:

Within each cell type, each GPCR had a distinctive heterogeneous distribution with limited co-localization, providing a guide to the possibilities for functional synergism, and suggesting a new paradigm for synergism in which interactions may be either between cells or involve converging intracellular signalling processes.This article is part of a themed section on Imaging in Pharmacology. To view the editorial for this themed section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476-5381.2010.00685.x     

Cumulative effects of negative life events and family stress on children’s mental health: the Bergen Child Study

Purpose

Numerous studies have documented that lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with increased mental health problems in children. One proposed pathway for this association has been differential exposure to accumulated risk factors in children of lower SES. The aim of the current study was to investigate the socioeconomic distribution of exposure to negative life events and family stress and to examine the direct and interactive association between lower SES and exposure to life events and family stress in relation with mental health problems.

Methods

Using cross-sectional data from the second wave of the Bergen Child Study (conducted in 2006), the current study investigated the association between lower SES and exposure to negative life events, family life stressors, and mental health problems in a sample of 2043 Norwegian 11–13 years and their parents. Information about mental health was self-reported by the children using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, whereas information about SES and exposure to negative life events and family stressors were provided by their parents.

Results

The findings showed that lower SES was associated with more symptoms of emotional-, conduct-, hyperactivity/inattention-, and peer problems and that exposure to life events and family stress explained some of this association (10–29% of the total effects).

Conclusions

Low SES and higher prevalence of negative life events and family stressors were associated with more symptoms of mental health problems. Overall, the effect sizes were smaller than previous investigations (f ²s?=?0.015–0.031), perhaps suggesting a buffering effect of the social safety net in place in Norway.