Investigating the Relationship Between Psychosocial Safety Climate and Mental Illness Stigma Among Emergency Medical Service Clinicians.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and mental illness stigma among emergency medical service (EMS) clinicians. Despite the presence of mental health services at many EMS agencies, workers often do not seek treatment due to mental illness stigma. To facilitate treatment receipt and maintain a healthy workforce, we must understand factors contributing to stigma. Psychosocial safety climate refers to the degree to which workers perceive that their organization fosters a work environment focused on the protection of psychological health and safety. Despite its relevance, the relationship between PSC and mental illness stigma has yet to be examined. METHODS: Participants were recruited from EMS agencies in the Northeastern U.S. Census Region. We used an observational research design and multiple linear regression to investigate the relationship between overall levels of PSC using the Psychosocial Climate Scale (PSC-12) and mental illness stigma using the Endorsed and Anticipated Stigma Inventory - Workplace Stigma Subscale. We also examined separate facets of PSC to determine if one was more related to stigma. Using established guidelines and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, we compared workers rating their agencies as having high-risk (≤37 points) or low-risk PSC levels (≥41 points). RESULTS: The sample was n = 124 EMS clinicians (Mage = 29.6, SDage = 9.2, 53.2% male). Most were White (88.7%) with some college/college degree (79.8%). After adjusting for age, gender, race, education, and mental health treatment receipt, clinicians reporting that their workplaces were less focused on psychosocial safety and health (i.e., lower overall levels of PSC) also reported elevated levels of stigma (b = -0.27, SE = 0.05, 95% CI = -0.37, -0.17, p < .001). Exploratory analyses indicated that no PSC facet was more related to stigma than another. Clinicians reporting high-risk levels displayed stigma levels that were 38% higher compared to clinicians reporting low-risk PSC levels. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial safety climate is an important and modifiable intervention target linked to mental illness stigma in EMS clinicians. Organizational policies, practices, and procedures that convey that mental health is valued and should be protected may reduce stigma and facilitate treatment receipt among this high-risk population.

Improved Limit on Tensor Currents in the Weak Interaction from

The electroweak interaction in the standard model is described by a pure vector-axial-vector structure, though any Lorentz-invariant component could contribute. In this Letter, we present the most precise measurement of tensor currents in the low-energy regime by examining the ß-ν[over ¯] correlation of trapped ^{8}Li ions with the Beta-decay Paul Trap. We find a_{ßν}=-0.3325±0.0013_{stat}±0.0019_{syst} at 1σ for the case of coupling to right-handed neutrinos (C_{T}=-C_{T}^{'}), which is consistent with the standard model prediction.

Multilevel analysis of sleep quality and anger in emergency medical service workers.

OBJECTIVE: Poor sleep quality characterizes the emergency medical service (EMS) profession. Anger is particularly affected by sleep disturbance and may be related to sleep quality at both between- and within-person levels, yet this has never been examined. The current study performed a multilevel analysis of the relationship between sleep quality and anger among EMS workers. DESIGN: Ecological momentary assessment PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-nine EMS workers employed at an emergency medical service provider in Central New York. MEASUREMENTS: Participants completed 8 daily assessments that inquired about sleep quality and anger. RESULTS: EMS workers who typically experienced poorer sleep quality reported greater anger levels; for instance, workers who routinely experienced poor sleep quality reported anger levels that were 18%-35% higher compared to workers receiving fair sleep quality. Regardless of their typical sleep quality, days when workers experienced poorer sleep than usual was characterized by higher levels of anger: on a day when a worker experienced poorer sleep quality than usual for them, their anger levels were 5% higher on that day regardless of their typical sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: EMS workers regularly experiencing poor sleep quality experience more anger. However, even workers who typically have better sleep quality experience anger elevations following poor sleep. These findings suggest that interventions targeting both between- and within-person factors impacting sleep may be important for addressing sleep quality's influence on anger in the EMS profession.

Dynamic psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with mental health in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel.

BACKGROUND: EMS personnel have a heightened risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression relative to other occupational populations necessitating a greater understanding of the risk and protective factors that operate each day in relation to this risk. This study examined dynamic psychosocial factors and their relationship with daily mental health symptoms among EMS workers. The psychosocial factors examined consisted of occupational stressors, sleep disturbance, social conflict, meaning made from the day's challenges, recovery activities, social support, and perceived prosocial impact. METHOD: Seventy-nine EMS workers recruited from an emergency medical service provider in Central New York completed a daily assessment for 8 days asking questions about occupational stressors encountered, sleep efficiency, social conflicts, meaning made from the day's challenges, recovery activities engaged in, social support received, and perceived prosocial impact. RESULTS: Daily occupational stressors were associated with elevated daily PTSD symptom severity (b = 0.13, SE = 0.06, p = .023). Social conflicts were associated with greater depression symptom severity (b = 0.75, SE = 0.14, p < .001); the meaning made from day's stressors (b = -0.17, SE = 0.05, p = .002) and the recovery activities engaged in (b = -0.30, SE = 0.07, p < .001) were associated with lower daily depression symptom severity. LIMITATIONS: A relatively modest sample size and small sampling window may constrain the generalizations made from this study. CONCLUSIONS: Occupational stressors and social conflicts are key risk factors related to the daily expression of PTSD and depression symptom severity in EMS workers. The meaning made from the day's challenges and the recovery activities engaged in may protect against depression. These results reveal several dynamic psychosocial factors that aid in understanding features of the work day that contribute to the mental health burden observed among EMS personnel.

Responding to personalised social norms feedback from a web-based alcohol reduction intervention for students: Analysis of think-aloud verbal protocols.

OBJECTIVES: Web-based interventions enable organisations to deliver personalised individually tailored brief feedback to individuals without the need of a third party. Web-based interventions are effective in reducing alcohol consumption among university students. There is a paucity of evidence to indicate those who access web-based personalised feedback interventions respond in a way consistent with hypothesised active ingredients. This research uses the think-aloud technique to explore how students respond to instant web-based personalised normative feedback. METHODS: Between-subjects experimental design employing qualitative methods. Twenty-one UK university students generated think-aloud transcripts while completing a web-based intervention (Unitcheck). This was followed by a semi-structured interview. One coding frame was developed to classify all utterances. RESULTS: Narrative synthesis revealed five meta-themes: active thinking about alcohol use; comparisons with others; beliefs and knowledge about alcohol consumption; inter-relationship between personal codes and context; and engagement with Unitcheck. CONCLUSIONS: Students willingly engaged with the online assessment and personalised feedback. Students consciously engaged with the intervention and this engagement prompted students to actively consider their own behaviour, knowledge, perceptions, and to reflect on future behaviour. The ability of web-based personalised feedback interventions to effect change in individual's behaviours is likely related to their ability to encourage cognitive engagement and active processing of the information provided.

Measurements of fusion reactions of low-intensity radioactive carbon beams on 12C and their implications for the understanding of X-ray bursts.

The interaction between neutron-rich nuclei plays an important role for understanding the reaction mechanism of the fusion process as well as for the energy production through pycnonuclear reactions in the crust of neutron stars. We have performed the first measurements of the total fusion cross sections in the systems (10,14,15)C+(12)C using a new active target-detector system. In the energy region accessible with existing radioactive beams, a good agreement between the experimental and theoretical cross sections is observed. This gives confidence in our ability to calculate fusion cross sections for systems which are outside the range of today's radioactive beam facilities.

Direct measurement of the (23)Na(α,p)(26)Mg reaction cross section at energies relevant for the production of galactic (26)Al.

The 1809-keV γ ray from the decay of (26)Al(g) is an important target for γ-ray astronomy. In the convective C/Ne burning shell of massive presupernova stars, the (23)Na(α,p)(26)Mg reaction directly influences the production of (26)Al. We have performed a direct measurement of the (23)Na(α,p)(26)Mg reaction cross section at the appropriate astrophysically important energies. The stellar rate calculated in the present work is larger than the recommended rate by nearly a factor of 40 and could strongly affect the production of (26)Al in massive stars.

Non-song vocalizations of pygmy blue whales in Geographe Bay, Western Australia.

Non-song vocalizations of migrating pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) in Western Australia are described. Simultaneous land-based visual observations and underwater acoustic recordings detected 27 groups in Geographe Bay, WA over 2011 to 2012. Six different vocalizations were recorded that were not repeated in a pattern or in association with song, and thus were identified as non-song vocalizations. Five of these were not previously described for this population. Their acoustic characteristics and context are presented. Given that 56% of groups vocalized, 86% of which produced non-song vocalizations and 14% song units, the inclusion of non-song vocalizations in passive-acoustic monitoring is proposed.

Democratic decay of 6Be exposed by correlations.

The interaction of an E/A=70-MeV (7)Be beam with a Be target was used to populate levels in (6)Be following neutron knockout reactions. The three-body decay of the ground and first excited states into the α+p+p exit channel were detected in the High Resolution Array. Precise three-body correlations extracted from the experimental data allowed us to obtain insight into the mechanism of the three-body democratic decay. The correlation data are in good agreement with a three-cluster-model calculation and thus validate this theoretical approach over a broad energy range.

RETRACTED: A shorter 146Sm half-life measured and implications for 146Sm-142Nd chronology in the solar system.

The extinct p-process nuclide (146)Sm serves as an astrophysical and geochemical chronometer through measurements of isotopic anomalies of its α-decay daughter (142)Nd. Based on analyses of (146)Sm/(147)Sm α-activity and atom ratios, we determined the half-life of (146)Sm to be 68 ± 7 (1σ) million years, which is shorter than the currently used value of 103 ± 5 million years. This half-life value implies a higher initial (146)Sm abundance in the early solar system, ((146)Sm/(144)Sm)(0) = 0.0094 ± 0.0005 (2σ), than previously estimated. Terrestrial, lunar, and martian planetary silicate mantle differentiation events dated with (146)Sm-(142)Nd converge to a shorter time span and in general to earlier times, due to the combined effect of the new (146)Sm half-life and ((146)Sm/(144)Sm)(0) values.

Fusion reactions with the one-neutron halo nucleus (15)C.

The structure of (15)C, with an s(1/2) neutron weakly bound to a closed-neutron shell nucleus (14)C, makes it a prime candidate for a one-neutron halo nucleus. We have for the first time studied the cross section for the fusion-fission reaction (15)C+(232)Th at energies in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier and compared it to the yield of the neighboring (14)C+(232)Th system measured in the same experiment. At sub-barrier energies, an enhancement of the fusion yield by factors of 2-5 was observed for (15)C, while the cross sections for (14)C match the trends measured for (12,13)C.

Bone-anchored hearing aids in children and young adults: the Freeman Hospital experience.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the utilisation of bone-anchored hearing aids and Softband, as well as the effects on quality of life, amongst the paediatric and young adult population of Freeman Hospital, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. METHOD: Retrospective, anonymised, cross-sectional survey using the Glasgow Benefit Inventory and Listening Situation Questionnaire (parent version), administered at least three months following the start of bone-anchored hearing aid or Softband use. RESULTS: One hundred and nine patients were included, of whom syndromic children made up a significant proportion (22 of 109). Patients using bone-anchored hearing aids obtained significant educational and social benefit from their aids. The mean Listening Situation Questionnaire difficulty score was 17 (15 patients), which is below the trigger score of 22+ at which further reassessment and rehabilitation is required. 87% (of 15 patients) did not require further intervention. The overall mean GBI score for the 22 patients (syndromic and non-syndromic) was +29. CONCLUSION: The use of bone-anchored hearing aids and Softband results in significant improvements in quality of life for children and young adults with hearing impairment. There is significant under-utilisation of bone-anchored hearing aids in children with skull and congenital abnormalities, and we would advocate bone-anchored hearing aid implantation for these patients.

First experiment with HELIOS: the structure of 13B.

A first experiment is reported that makes use of a new kind of spectrometer uniquely suited to the study of reactions with radioactive beams in inverse kinematics, the helical orbit spectrometer, HELIOS. The properties of some low-lying states in the neutron-rich N=8 nucleus 13B were studied with good resolution. From the measured angular distributions of the (d,p) reaction and the relative spectroscopic factors, spin and configuration assignments of the first- and third-excited states of this nucleus can be constrained.

¹5C(d,p)¹6C reaction and exotic behavior in ¹6C.

We have studied the ¹5C(d,p)¹6C reaction in inverse kinematics using the Helical Orbit Spectrometer at Argonne National Laboratory. Prior studies of electromagnetic-transition rates in ¹6C suggested an exotic decoupling of the valence neutrons from the core in that nucleus. Neutron-adding spectroscopic factors give a different probe of the wave functions of the relevant states in ¹6C. Shell-model calculations reproduce both the present transfer data and the previously measured transition rates, suggesting that ¹6C may be described without invoking very exotic phenomena.

Long-term clinical results of autologous infusion of mobilized adult bone marrow derived CD34+ cells in patients with chronic liver disease.

Evidence is growing in support of the role of stem cells as an attractive alternative in treatment of liver diseases. Recently, we have demonstrated the feasibility and safety of infusing CD34(+) adult stem cells; this was performed on five patients with chronic liver disease. Here, we present the results of long-term follow-up of these patients. Between 1 x 10(6) and 2 x 10(8) CD34(+) cells were isolated and injected into the portal vein or hepatic artery. The patients were monitored for side effects, toxicity and changes in clinical, haematological and biochemical parameters; they were followed up for 12-18 months. All patients tolerated the treatment protocol well without any complications or side effects related to the procedure, also there were no side effects noted on long-term follow-up. Four patients showed an initial improvement in serum bilirubin level, which was maintained for up to 6 months. There was marginal increase in serum bilirubin in three of the patients at 12 months, while the fourth patient's serum bilirubin increased only at 18 months post-infusion. Computed tomography scan and serum alpha-foetoprotein monitoring showed absence of focal lesions. The study indicated that the stem cell product used was safe in the short and over long term, by absence of tumour formation. The investigation also illustrated that the beneficial effect seemed to last for around 12 months. This trial shows that stem cell therapy may have potential as a possible future therapeutic protocol in liver regeneration.

Approaches to biosecurity in bovine embryo transfer programs.

Although transfer of bovine embryos is much less likely to result in transmission of pathogens than transport of postnatal cattle, the epidemiologic risk associated with bovine embryo transfer merits examination. Much research has validated the efficacy of internationally approved processing protocols to render bovine in vivo-derived embryos free of specified pathogens. The purpose of this review is to summarize current sanitary recommendations for bovine embryo transfer, while emphasizing recent research to develop and validate novel approaches to biosecurity. Continued research will enable the development and validation of novel embryo treatments and culture reagents to minimize requirements for testing of embryo or oocyte donors, and testing of embryo recipients.

Subcellular distribution of p210(BCR-ABL) in CML cell lines and primary CD34+ CML cells.

We analysed the subcellular distribution of p210(BCR-ABL) protein using a junction-specific anti-BCR-ABL monoclonal antibody and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Our studies have shown that p210(BCR-ABL) is arranged in discrete foci in the cytoplasm of cell lines and primary CD34(+) cells but not mononuclear cells suggesting the foci may be a feature of immature chronic myeloid leukaemia cells. We have devised a strategy to score the foci and found the mean number of foci varies between the cell types. The number of foci per cell is directly related to the level of p210(BCR-ABL) expression. CLSM was also used to analyse the distribution and colocalization of CT10 regulator-like (CRKL) p210(BCR-ABL). CRKL-p210(BCR-ABL) foci were completely or partially associated, touching or separate in different regions of the same cell. We also analysed the distribution of phosphorylated CRKL (pCRKL) with p210(BCR-ABL) and unexpectedly found only a small proportion of pCRKL in complex with p210(BCR-ABL). The foci distribution and high levels of uncomplexed p210(BCR-ABL), pCRKL and CRKL protein suggested the possibility of a dynamic equilibrium. Imatinib promoted nuclear transport of p210(BCR-ABL)-positive foci. It also disrupted complex formation between p210(BCR-ABL) and casitas B-cell lymphoma and CRKL but not between p210(BCR-ABL) and GRB2. Our observations of the CRKL and p210(BCR-ABL) complex may be important for understanding the function of CRKL.