Mechanical support

BACKGROUND: Online forums are widely used for mental health peer support. However, evidence of their safety and effectiveness is mixed. Further research focused on articulating the contexts in which positive and negative impacts emerge from forum use is required to inform innovations in implementation. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop a realist program theory to explain the impacts of online mental health peer support forums on users. METHODS: We conducted a realist synthesis of literature published between 2019 and 2023 and 18 stakeholder interviews with forum staff...

Based on the cognitive-ecological approach and on logical-functional principles, in 12 studies (11 preregistered), we examine the novel hypotheses that psychological distance and construal level (CL) are associated in people's minds with stimulus speed: the psychologically distant/abstract is slow, and the psychologically close/concrete is fast. The findings support our expectations. Study Set I examined the association between psychological distance and speed. Findings show that psychological distance is implicitly and explicitly associated with speed (Study 1), that psychological distance is seen as compatible with slow and proximity with fast (Study 2), that stimulus psychological distance affects its perceived speed (Study 3), and that stimulus speed affects its psychological distance (Study 4)...

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents are at elevated risk for depression. This risk is especially pronounced among adolescents whose home environment is unsupportive or nonaffirming, as these adolescents may face familial rejection due to their identity. Therefore, it is critical to better understand the mechanisms underlying this risk by probing temporally sensitive associations between negative mood and time spent in potentially hostile home environments. The current study included adolescents ( N = 141; 43% SGM; 13-18 years old), oversampled for depression history, who completed clinical interviews assessing lifetime psychiatric history and depression severity as well as self-report measures of social support...

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Narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas is the key to achieving common prosperity in China. On the basis of analyzing the mechanism of climate change's impact on urban-rural income gap, this article empirically analyzes the impact of climate change on urban-rural income gap using provincial-level panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020. Research indicates that climate change significantly impacts the urban-rural income gap at the 1% significance level, implying that climate change exacerbates the urban-rural income gap...

IMPORTANCE: To explore the correlation between cortisol levels during first admission day and clinical outcomes. OBJECTIVES: Although most patients exhibit a surge in cortisol levels in response to stress, some suffer from critical illness-related corticosteroid insufficiency (CIRCI). Literature remains inconclusive as to which of these patients are at greater risk of poor outcomes. DESIGN: A retrospective study. SETTING: A surgical ICU (SICU) in a tertiary medical center...

Early-life adversities, whether prenatal or postnatal exposure, have been linked to adverse mental health outcomes later in life increasing the risk of several psychiatric disorders. Research on its neurobiological consequences demonstrated an association between exposure to adversities and persistent alterations in the structure, function, and connectivity of the brain. Consistent evidence supports the idea that regulation of gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms are involved in embedding the impact of early-life experiences in the genome and mediate between social environments and later behavioral phenotypes...

Background: Palliative extubation (PE) is the cessation of mechanical ventilation (MV) during terminal illness. Although PE is widely practiced in many countries, it remains illegal in others. Attitudes toward PE of patients at the highest risk for MV were scarcely explored before. Objective: To assess the attitudes of patients with advanced chronic illnesses (ACI) toward PE and other end-of-life decisions in a country where PE is illegal. Design: A prospective observational study using questionnaire-based interviews...

OBJECTIVES: This study focuses on analyzing the impact of innovative human resource management practices (IHRMP) on knowledge worker burnout, and how organizational support and employee effort help explain this relationship in the context of the business services sector. To explore the problem, investigated whether IHRMP have a significant negative impact on employee burnout, and organizational support and employee effort mediate the negative impact of IHRMP on employee burnout. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A survey was conducted, collected using the computer assisted web interview method on 1000 knowledge workers employed at business services sector (BSS) organizations in Poland...

DISCLAIMER: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. PURPOSE: The formation, implementation, outcomes, and impact on retention of a health system-based pharmacy technician training program are described...

Barium molybdate nanoparticles exhibiting up-conversion luminescence were synthesized via the solvothermal method. Analysis revealed a prominent signal corresponding to the (112) plane in the XRD pattern, indicating the tetragonal structure of the synthesized nanoparticles. Raman spectroscopy detected the symmetric stretching frequencies of MoO4 . When excited at 980 nm, the nanoparticles emitted a green spectrum with peaks at 532 and 553 nm. The luminescence intensity varied with the excitation light source, supporting the mechanism involving energy transfer from Yb-doped Er ions via the two-photon effect of the up-conversion phosphor...

OBJECTIVE: Bradykinesia and rigidity are considered closely related motor signs in Parkinson disease (PD), but recent neurophysiological findings suggest distinct pathophysiological mechanisms. This study aims to examine and compare longitudinal changes in bradykinesia and rigidity in PD patients treated with bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS). METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, the clinical progression of appendicular and axial bradykinesia and rigidity was assessed up to 15 years after STN-DBS in the best treatment conditions (ON medication and ON stimulation)...

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by mutations in the DMD gene, resulting in the loss of dystrophin, a large cytosolic protein that links the cytoskeleton to extracellular matrix receptors in skeletal muscle. Aside from progressive muscle damage, many patients with DMD also have neurological deficits of unknown etiology. To investigate potential mechanisms for DMD neurological deficits, we assessed postnatal oligodendrogenesis and myelination in the Dmdmdx mouse model. In the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ) stem cell niche, we found that oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) production was deficient, with reduced OPC densities and proliferation, despite a normal stem cell niche organization...

Using finite element analysis on the astragali of five macropodine kangaroos (extant and extinct hoppers) and three sthenurine kangaroos (extinct proposed bipedal striders) we investigate how the stresses experienced by the ankle in similarly sized kangaroos of different hypothesized/known locomotor strategy compare under different simulation scenarios, intended to represent the moment of midstance at different gaits. These tests showed a clear difference between the performance of sthenurines and macropodines with the former group experiencing lower stress in simulated bipedal strides in all species compared with hopping simulations, supporting the hypothesis that sthenurines may have utilized this gait...

Underactive bladder (UAB) is essentially an inability of the bladder to properly empty. UAB symptoms, when they co-occur with posterior fornix syndrome (PFS) symptoms (urge, frequency, nocturia, chronic pelvic pain), can be cured/improved, surgically by uterosacral ligament (USL) repair, non-surgically, by devices which give mechanical support of the USLs or strengthening pelvic muscle and ligaments with squatting-based exercises. The pathogenic pathway from weak USLs to UAB (and PFS) is that, when the muscles which externally open the posterior wall of the urethra contract against lax USLs, their contractile force weakens, and they cannot open the urethra adequately...

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is defined as chronic pelvic pain plus a bladder symptom, usually urge. Evidence is offered to show IC/BPS forms part of the posterior fornix syndrome (PFS), which was defined in 1993 as: chronic pelvic pain (CPP), urge, frequency, nocturia, abnormal emptying, post-void residual urine, caused by uterosacral ligament (USL) laxity and cured or improved by USL repair. The IC/BPS definition implies that the urge and pain of IC/BPS is from a single (as yet unknown) pathogenic origin...

Bladder control is not from the bladder itself but from muscles and ligaments outside of it. Bladder control is binary, either closed or open. Control is exerted cortically, directly and via a peripheral pelvic mechanism comprising three reflex pelvic muscles which contract (variously) against pubourethral ligaments (PULs) anteriorly and uterosacral ligaments (USLs) posteriorly. Directed efferent impulses from the cortex close the urethra, open it, and stretch the vagina in opposite directions to prevent urothelial impulses inappropriately activating micturition (urge incontinence)...

Simulated operations (SOs) are a direct application of the Integral Theory (IT) mantras, "structure and function are related" and "restore the structure and you will improve the function". SOs performed in a clinic setting, are the most effective way possible to test the validity of the IT predictions: stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and urge are mainly caused by laxity in the vagina or its supporting ligaments. The SUI prediction of the IT is validated if a hemostat applied vaginally in the position of the midurethra to mechanically support the pubourethral ligament (PUL) immediately stops urine loss on coughing...

The Integral Theory Paradigm (ITP) has a 25-year track record of successfully treating bladder/bowel/pain symptoms caused by laxity in specific ligaments, even when the prolapse is minimal. The ITP-based treatment involves ligament support and can be nonsurgical or daycare surgical. An accurate diagnostic protocol is required. The Integral Theory Diagnostic system is performed in an outpatient setting. It a step-by-step "how to" resource for clinicians who wish to learn a practical anatomical diagnostic method which can quickly and accurately identify a ligament cause for bladder/bowel/pain symptoms, and therefore, potentially cure them...

The remit of this review is confined to the experimental scientific works and surgeries based on the Integral Theory Paradigm (ITP). Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a major societal problem which is said to occur in up to 20% of women. The pathogenesis of CPP of "unknown origin" is said to be unknown and CPP is said to be incurable. According to the ITP, however, CPP is said to be mainly caused by the inability of loose or weak uterosacral ligaments (USLs) to mechanically support visceral nerve plexuses (VPs), T11-L2 and S2-4...