A multi-method assessment of interoception among sexual trauma survivors.

It is well established that many female sexual trauma survivors experience dissociation, particularly disconnection from the body, in the aftermath of sexual trauma. This study aims to address the open question of how sexual trauma is associated with awareness of inner body sensations (i.e., interoception). Given the important role that interoception has in emotion regulation, a process with which survivors often struggle, it is important to understand the associations between interoception and PTSD symptoms among survivors. Through multi-methods, we assessed associations between interoception, dissociation, and PTSD symptoms among 200 female sexual trauma survivors. We assessed two components of interoception: interoceptive accuracy (IAc: accurately perceiving internal body sensations; via heartbeat perception task) and interoceptive sensibility (IS: self-report perception of sensitivity to interoceptive sensations). We hypothesized that IAc and IS would be positively correlated with PTSD, with interactions between IAc/dissociation and IS/dissociation qualifying those main effects, weakening them for survivors with higher dissociation. Results showed an opposite pattern than was predicted: although IAc did explain significant PTSD variance, as IAc increased, PTSD decreased. Although IAc did explain significant variance in PTSD symptoms, interestingly, IS did not. Consistent with extant literature, dissociation predicted significant variance in PTSD. These correlational results suggest that the ability to more accurately perceive inner body sensations is related to lower PTSD symptoms. Findings provide a foundation for future research that can assess if interventions (such as yoga or exercise) that target increasing interoceptive accuracy lead to decreases in PTSD symptoms. We discuss further clinical implications, limitations and future directions.

Salmonella contamination in a network of 10 pig farms interconnected within the same cooperative.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether pig farms interconnected within the same cooperative share similar Salmonella contamination patterns. SETTING: Ten finishing pig farms within a 100 km radius of a common slaughterhouse were selected. Their inclusion was based on their association to the same cooperative and the sharing of common resources: piglets, feed, swine transporters, slaughterhouse, technicians and veterinarians. PROCEDURE: Each farm was visited three times over a 10-month period. Pig faeces, the barn front door handle, the feed pipeline, mobile objects (shovel, balance and pig board), the landing stage, the concrete slab of the feed bins, the tire tracks left on the pathways by the animal feed truck, the pig delivery truck and the carcase knacker truck and the mudguards and cabin carpets of the veterinarian and technician vehicles on their arrival at the farm were all analysed for the presence of Salmonella. RESULTS: All farms were not equally contaminated with Salmonella. Whereas some farms yielded up to 12 Salmonella isolates, other farms were Salmonella free. Some locations, most notably the landing stage, were more contaminated than others. Salmonella contamination was dynamic in time. Some contaminations seen on farms, on specific locations on the first visit, had disappeared on the second and third visits, but new contaminations were detected on different locations. CONCLUSIONS: Contamination with Salmonella was not disseminated through the network of the 10 pig farms interconnected within the same cooperative but was rather most often restricted in time to specific locations on specific farms.

Overlooked sources of Salmonella contamination in the pig production network: Slaughterhouse yard pathways and mudguards and carpets from transport trucks.

This report describes various Salmonella serovars which were found on often overlooked locations in a pig farm/slaughterhouse interface. These include slaughterhouse yard pathways and mudguards and carpets of transport trucks arriving at and departing from production sites.

Sources négligées de contamination par Salmonella dans un réseau de production de porcs: les voies de circulation de l'abattoir et les garde-boues et les tapis de cabine des camions de transport. Nous montrons ici que Salmonella, l'agent causal de la salmonellose, peut être trouvé sur des sites très inhabituels et négligés dans l'interface ferme porcine/abattoir: les voies de circulation de la cour d'abattoir, et les garde-boues et tapis des camions de transport qui arrivent et partent vers les sites de production.(Traduit par les auteurs).

When parents won't vaccinate their children: a qualitative investigation of australian primary care providers' experiences.

BACKGROUND: Increasingly, the experiences and perceptions of parents who decline vaccination are the subject of investigation. However, the experiences of clinicians who encounter these parents in the course of their work has received little academic attention to date. This study aimed to understand the challenges faced and strategies used when general practitioners and immunising nurses encounter parents who choose not to vaccinate their children. METHODS: Primary care providers were recruited from regions identified through the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) as having higher than national average rates of registered objection to childhood vaccination. Interviews began with an exploration of provider experiences with parents who accept, are hesitant towards, and who decline vaccination. Participants were asked specifically about how they addressed any difficulties they encountered in their interactions. Thematic analysis focused on encounters with parents - challenges and strategies. RESULTS: Twenty-six general practitioners (GPs), community and practice nurses (PNs) were interviewed across two regions in NSW, Australia. Providers' sense of professional identity as health advocates and experts became conflicted in their encounters with vaccine objecting parents. Providers were dissatisfied when such consultations resulted in a 'therapeutic roadblock' whereby provider-parent communication came to a standstill. There were mixed views about being asked to sign forms exempting parents from vaccinating their children. These ranged from a belief that completing the forms rewarded parents for non-conformity to seeing it as a positive opportunity for engagement. Three common strategies were employed by providers to navigate through these challenges; 1) to explore and inform, 2) to mobilise clinical rapport and 3) to adopt a general principle to first do no harm to the therapeutic relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Many healthcare providers find consultations with vaccine objecting parents challenging and some, particularly more experienced providers, employ successful strategies to address this. Primary care providers, especially those more junior, could benefit from additional communication guidance to better the outcome and increase the efficiency of their interactions with such parents.

Genome-wide analysis of p63 binding sites identifies AP-2 factors as co-regulators of epidermal differentiation.

The p63 transcription factor (TP63) is critical in development, growth and differentiation of stratifying epithelia. This is highlighted by the severity of congenital abnormalities caused by TP63 mutations in humans, the dramatic phenotypes in knockout mice and de-regulation of TP63 expression in neoplasia altering the tumour suppressive roles of the TP53 family. In order to define the normal role played by TP63 and provide the basis for better understanding how this network is perturbed in disease, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-seq) to identify >7500 high-confidence TP63-binding regions across the entire genome, in primary human neonatal foreskin keratinocytes (HFKs). Using integrative strategies, we demonstrate that only a subset of these sites are bound by TP53 in response to DNA damage. We identify a role for TP63 in transcriptional regulation of multiple genes genetically linked to cleft palate and identify AP-2alpha (TFAP2A) as a co-regulator of a subset of these genes. We further demonstrate that AP-2gamma (TFAP2C) can bind a subset of these regions and that acute depletion of either TFAP2A or TFAP2C alone is sufficient to reduce terminal differentiation of organotypic epidermal skin equivalents, indicating overlapping physiological functions with TP63.

Determinants of body fat in infants of women with gestational diabetes mellitus differ with fetal sex.

OBJECTIVE: Neonatal adiposity is a well-recognized complication of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study aimed to identify factors influencing adiposity in male and female infants of women treated for GDM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a prospective study of 84 women with GDM. Daily blood glucose levels (BGLs) were retrieved from glucose meters, and overall mean fasting and mean 2-h postprandial BGLs were calculated for each woman. Infant body composition was measured at birth, and regression analysis was used to identify significant predictors of infant body fat separately in male and female infants. RESULTS: Maternal fasting BGL was the major predictor of adiposity in male infants but had little relationship to adiposity in female infants. In male infants, percent fat was increased by 0.44% for each 0.1 mmol/L increase in mean maternal fasting BGL. Maternal BMI was the primary predictor in female infants but had little effect in males. In female infants, percent fat was increased by 0.11% for each 1 kg/m(2) increase in maternal prepregnancy BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Fetal sex may influence the impact that treatment strategies for GDM have on infant adiposity.