Measuring Psychological Inflexibility of Suicidal Thoughts: The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire for Suicidal Ideation (AAQ-SI)

Cognitive Therapy and Research - Despite interest in psychological inflexibility as a marker of suicide risk, no measure of psychological inflexibility specific to SI exists. The present study...     

“T” is for “transgender”: an analysis of children’s picture books featuring transgender protagonists and narrators

ABSTRACT

This project examined 55 picture books featuring transgender, gender expansive or genderqueer protagonists or narrators published between 2008 and 2018. The purpose of the study was to determine how this genre of children’s literature supports and challenges four gender assumptions: the gender binary, gender essentialism, sex/gender congruency and gender stability. Additionally, this critical analysis explored misgendering within this genre and themes of social rejection and acceptance. Protagonists and narrators were permitted a degree of gender nonconformity, however, the majority of picture books missed opportunities for a more complete exploration of gender possibilities.     

A systematic scoping review of environmental health conditions and hygiene behaviors in homeless shelters

Background

There are well-established relationships between health and homelessness, and shelters can facilitate the transmission of diseases and contribute to their prevention. Adequate environmental health conditions and hygiene behaviors in homeless shelters are fundamental to the health of their clients, a marginalized population. We report the status of environmental health conditions and hygiene behaviors in homeless shelters and associated health outcomes; interventions to improve these conditions, behaviors, and outcomes; and obstacles to improvement.

Outcomes after neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for cT2-4N0-1 non–small cell lung cancer: A propensity-matched analysis

Objective

Comparative survival between neoadjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with cT2-4N0-1M0 non–small cell lung cancer has not been extensively studied.

Prejudice and the Plate: Effects of Weight Bias in Nutrition Judgments

As millions of people turn to social media for health information, better understanding the factors that guide health-related judgments and perceptions in this context is imperative. We report on two Web experiments (n > 400 total) examining the power of society’s widespread weight bias and related stereotypes to influence nutrition judgments in social media spaces. In Experiment 1, meals were judged as lower in nutritional quality when the person who recommended them (the source) was depicted as obese rather than of normal weight, an effect mediated by stereotypic beliefs about the source as a generally unhealthy person. Experiment 2 replicated this effect, which—notably—remained significant when controlling for objective nutritional information (calories and fat content). Results highlight spillover effects of weight bias that extend beyond person perception to color impressions of objects (here, food) that are associated with stigmatized attributes. Implications for everyday nutrition judgments and public health are considered.     

Normal sleep and circadian rhythms: neurobiologic mechanisms underlying sleep and wakefulness.

Sleep is a vital, highly organized process regulated by complex systems of neuronal networks and neurotransmitters. Sleep plays an important role in the regulation of central nervous system and body physiologic functions. Sleep architecture changes with age and is easily susceptible to external and internal disruption. Reduction or disruption of sleep can affect numerous functions varying from thermoregulation to learning and memory during the waking state.     

Development of a protein phosphatase-based assay for the detection of phosphatase inhibitors in crude whole cell and animal extracts

Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) is a serious and globally widespread phytoplankton-related seafood illness. Although DSP is rarely life-threatening, it causes incapacitating diarrhea and vomiting with no known medical treatments. In addition, phytoplankton producing DSP toxins have been identified in temperate coastal waters worldwide, and their numbers may be increasing as a result of coastal eutrophication. The toxic effects of the major DSP toxins, okadaic acid and dinophysistoxin-1 (35-methylokadaic acid), appear to originate from their inhibitory activity against a family of structurally related serine/threonine protein phosphatases (PSPases). In particular, the inhibition of essential PSPases (e.g. PP1 and PP2A) has catastrophic consequences in most eukaryotic cells. Exploiting the potent inhibitory property of the DSP toxins, we have developed an enzyme-based assay (PP2A assay) capable of detecting both okadaic acid and dinophysis- toxin-1 in nanogram amounts. The assay employs purified PP2A, which has an extremely high affinity for both DSP toxins. This provides the PP2A assay with a level of sensitivity comparable to, or surpassing, that of most monoclonal antibody probes. To evaluate the PP2A assay as a means of detecting contaminated shellfish, a series of spike recovery experiments was conducted. The findings from these studies suggest that the PP2A assay has the potential for development into a rapid and relatively simple method for detecting PSPase inhibitors in crude extracts produced from shellfish.