Attachment and social support in romantic dyads: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Taking a dyadic perspective, this systematic review examined the relationship between attachment constructs and differences in support behavior in romantic couples. METHOD: Four databases were searched including PsychINFO, Embase, OVOID MEDLINE, and AMED. Out of 2,401 unique references, 43 met the study inclusion criteria. RESULTS: The review findings offer validation for an attachment-based model of support processes in couples. Maladaptive support behaviors were more likely to occur when one or both members of a romantic dyad had an insecure attachment. Individuals with an avoidant or anxious attachment were more likely to provide poor quality support, and when receiving support, to interpret it in a negative manner. CONCLUSION: We recommend therapeutic interventions to help individuals with insecure attachments to follow more adaptive ways of support seeking, so social relationships are more able to offer a buffering effect against the development of mental health problems.

Spatial masking: Development and testing of a new tinnitus assistive technology.

Masking is widely used in the management of tinnitus, however, masking at the perceived spatial location of tinnitus has not been investigated. This article examines the development of a method for the spatial masking of tinnitus. This report consists of three studies: Study I is a proof of concept study comparing customized spatial masking to conventional bilateral masking; Study II is a prototype evaluation in which the spatial masking paradigm was compared to a bilaterally equal masker using iPods connected to hearing aids in a 4-week cross-over trial; and Study III is a 4-month crossover pilot study-using prototype hearing aid-based maskers, and in which three-dimensional (3D) masking (2 months) was compared to a Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (2 months). There was a preference for the 3D masking stimulus across all three studies. Individual changes in the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) after 2 weeks of trial (Study II) and Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) after 2 months of trial (Study III) were observed without large group differences. The spatial masking concept was piloted successfully. The qualitative and quantitative results obtained indicate directions for future clinical trials and therapy development. This study indicates that spatial masking of tinnitus is feasible, of benefit to many participants, and warrants further trials.

Small molecule-facilitated degradation of ANO1 protein: a new targeting approach for anticancer therapeutics.

ANO1, a calcium-activated chloride channel, is highly expressed and amplified in human cancers and is a critical survival factor in these cancers. The ANO1 inhibitor CaCCinh-A01 decreases proliferation of ANO1-amplified cell lines; however, the mechanism of action remains elusive. We explored the mechanism behind the inhibitory effect of CaCCinh-A01 on cell proliferation using a combined experimental and in silico approach. We show that inhibition of ANO1 function is not sufficient to diminish proliferation of ANO1-dependent cancer cells. We report that CaCCinh-A01 reduces ANO1 protein levels by facilitating endoplasmic reticulum-associated, proteasomal turnover of ANO1. Washout of CaCCinh-A01 rescued ANO1 protein levels and resumed cell proliferation. Proliferation of newly derived CaCCinh-A01-resistant cell pools was not affected by CaCCinh-A01 as compared with the parental cells. Consistently, CaCCinh-A01 failed to reduce ANO1 protein levels in these cells, whereas ANO1 currents were still inhibited by CaCCinh-A01, indicating that CaCCinh-A01 inhibits cell proliferation by reducing ANO1 protein levels. Furthermore, we employed in silico methods to elucidate novel biological functions of ANO1 inhibitors. Specifically, we derived a pharmacophore model to describe inhibitors capable of promoting ANO1 degradation and report new inhibitors of ANO1-dependent cell proliferation. In summary, our data demonstrate that inhibition of the channel activity of ANO1 is not sufficient to inhibit ANO1-dependent cell proliferation, indicating that the role of ANO1 in cancer only partially depends on its function as a channel. Our results provide an impetus for gaining a deeper understanding of ANO1 modulation in cells and introduce a new targeting approach for antitumor therapy in ANO1-amplified cancers.

Vocal brain development in infants of mothers with serious mental illness (CAPRI-Voc): study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Improving the lives of children and adolescents with parental mental illness (CAPRI) remains an urgent political and public health concern for the UK and European Union. Recurrent parental mental illness is believed to lead to fractures in the family, academic and social lives of these children, yet interventions are poorly targeted and non-specific. Part of an interdisciplinary programme of work (the CAPRI Programme; grant number: 682741), CAPRI-Voc aims to achieve two goals: first, to test the feasibility of our longitudinal imaging paradigm in mother-infant pairs where the mother has a diagnosis of severe mental illness. Second, to compare development of vocal processing in these infants with infants in the general population. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Recruitment of 100 infants of mothers with mental illness, alongside 50 infants of healthy mothers. Both cohorts of infants will undergo functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging at three time points: 9, 12 and 18 months to explore differences between cohorts in their neural responses to vocal stimuli in our language paradigm. Mothers will complete an interview and psychological questionnaires. We shall also complete an infant developmental battery and mother-child interaction play session. Data on recruitment, retention and dropout will be recorded. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: It will be made clear that fNIRS is a safe, non-invasive technology widely used in infant clinical and psychological research. We shall reassure mothers that no definitive causal link exists between maternal mental illness and language development in infants, and that individual data will only exist as part of the wider dataset. As the study includes both children and vulnerable adults, all research staff will complete National Health Service (NHS) Safeguarding level 3 training. Dissemination will be via direct feedback to stakeholders, patient and advisory groups, and through presentations at conferences, journal publications and university/NHS trust communications. The study was approved through North West-Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee (17/NW/0074) and Health Research Authority (212715).

Mimicking aphasic semantic errors in normal speech production: evidence from a novel experimental paradigm.

Semantic errors are commonly found in semantic dementia (SD) and some forms of stroke aphasia and provide insights into semantic processing and speech production. Low error rates are found in standard picture naming tasks in normal controls. In order to increase error rates and thus provide an experimental model of aphasic performance, this study utilised a novel method- tempo picture naming. Experiment 1 showed that, compared to standard deadline naming tasks, participants made more errors on the tempo picture naming tasks. Further, RTs were longer and more errors were produced to living items than non-living items a pattern seen in both semantic dementia and semantically-impaired stroke aphasic patients. Experiment 2 showed that providing the initial phoneme as a cue enhanced performance whereas providing an incorrect phonemic cue further reduced performance. These results support the contention that the tempo picture naming paradigm reduces the time allowed for controlled semantic processing causing increased error rates. This experimental procedure would, therefore, appear to mimic the performance of aphasic patients with multi-modal semantic impairment that results from poor semantic control rather than the degradation of semantic representations observed in semantic dementia [Jefferies, E. A., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2006). Semantic impairment in stoke aphasia vs. semantic dementia: A case-series comparison. Brain, 129, 2132-2147]. Further implications for theories of semantic cognition and models of speech processing are discussed.

A new multiword naming deficit: Evidence and interpretation.

This study analyses the naming performance of MP, a nonfluent aphasic speaker, and demonstrates that she has a context-sensitive naming deficit, which manifests in worse naming of a target set when multiple targets are depicted at once and a multiname utterance is prepared. Experiments 1 and 2 documented the effect in composite-picture descriptions, compared to standard naming. Experiment 3 documented it in the naming of picture lists of length 2 and 3, compared to 1; and Experiment 4 documented it in the naming of one of two pictured items, under conditions that encouraged preparation of both item names. Several alternative accounts are considered and an argument is made for a type of multiword naming deficit that has not been described before. The deficit involves interference at the lexeme stage of retrieval, arising when multiple lemmas are co-activated during the preparation of a multiword utterance.

The application of errorless learning to aphasic disorders: A review of theory and practice.

Recently, there has been great interest in errorless learning as a new intervention technique. This may be because there are data from both basic neuroscience and clinical application that suggest it is superior to more traditional trial and error methods. In the contemporary literature the most prominent investigations of errorless learning are those designed for rehabilitation of memory impairments. These studies include numerous demonstrations of effective amelioration of word finding difficulties using errorless intervention. The aphasic literature contains no examples of purely errorless learning methods, however, some studies have successfully treated anomia using error reducing techniques. This suggests that errorless learning could be advantageous for treating aphasic disorders, in particular anomia. To explore this idea, we discuss previous research and review two current theories of errorless learning. We provide our own framework for thinking about errorless and errorful learning. In addition, a review of the anomia treatment literature (from 1985 to the present) is presented and conclusions drawn on the methods of treating the word finding difficulties of patients with aphasia.