Connected for life: How social connectedness can help prevent suicide in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Enhancing social support and connectedness can reduce suicide risk, yet few studies have examined this effect in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults. We assessed suicidal ideation and behavior, thwarted belongingness, social support, enculturation, historical trauma, and traumatic life events in 709 AI/AN adults at high risk of suicide from five AI/AN communities. Suicidal ideation was associated with thwarted belongingness and protected against by social support and engaging in AI/AN ceremonies. Among those who made lifetime suicide attempts, traumatic life events, symptoms of depression/anxiety due to historical trauma, and thwarted belongingness were linked to more attempts. More engagement in cultural practices was associated with fewer suicide attempts. Higher levels of social support were associated with more suicide attempts, an observation potentially attributable to the cross-sectional nature of the study. Interventions should focus on protective factors and context-specific interventions emphasizing community history, values, and strengths.

The burden and impact of recurrent abdominal pain - exploring the understanding and perception of children and their parents.

Background: Recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) is a common complaint for children and can result in a significantly lower quality of life due to the extent it can interfere with normal life. RAP can also significantly impact the quality of life of parents. This study sought to qualitatively explore parents' and children's understanding and perceptions of the burden and impact of RAP. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of parent/child dyads or families (N = 5) engaging with a psychology service. Findings: The findings of the inductive thematic analysis revealed four emergent themes common to both parents and children: (1) Perception, understanding and identification of RAP, (2) Contributing factors, (3) Coping mechanisms/pain management strategies, and (4) Impact and burden of RAP. Conclusions: These findings have important clinical implications regarding the identification and management of RAP and may also contribute to improving communication between clinicians, parents and children by providing insight from multiple perspectives into how RAP is experienced.

A Multivariate Logistical Model for Identifying the Compressive Sensitivity of Single Rat Tactile Receptors as Nanobiosensors.

Tactile sensation is a complex manifestation of mechanical stimuli applied to the skin. At the most fundamental level of the somatosensory system is the cutaneous mechanoreceptor. The objective here was to establish a framework for modeling afferent mechanoreceptor behavior as a nanoscale biosensor under dynamic compressive loads using multivariate regression techniques. A multivariate logistical model was chosen because the system contains continuous input variables and a singular binary-output variable corresponding to the nerve action potential. Subsequently, this method was used to quantify the sensitivity of ten rapidly adapting afferents from rat hairy skin due to the stimulus metrics of compressive stress, strain, their respective time derivatives, and interactions. In vitro experiments involving compressive stimulation of isolated afferents using pseudorandom and nonrepeating noise sequences were completed. An analysis of the data was performed using multivariate logistical regression producing odds ratios (ORs) as a metric associated with mechanotransduction. It was determined that cutaneous mechanoreceptors are preferentially sensitive to stress (mean OR(max) = 26.10), stress rate (mean OR(max) = 15.03), strain (mean OR(max) = 12.01), and strain rate (mean OR(max) = 7.29) typically occurring within 7.3 ms of the nerve response. As a novel approach to receptor characterization, this analytical framework was validated for the multiple-input, binary-output neural system.