'We just need to find space for them to practice so that we can help to make a stronger society': Perceived barriers and facilitators to employing health psychologists in UK public health and clinical health settings.

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, health psychology has received significant attention within the health sector, due to its application to understanding influences on health and well-being and translation of health psychology into interventions to support behaviour change. The number of health psychologists in public health and healthcare settings is growing but remains limited, and is it unclear why. This study aimed to explore the views of potential and current employers of health psychologists, to elucidate barriers and facilitators of employing health psychologists in healthcare settings. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were carried out to explore the experiences of working with and/or employing health psychologists. Opportunities and barriers were explored for increasing access to health psychology expertise in the NHS and public health. Interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Fifteen participants took part in interviews. Participants were mid-senior-level professionals working in varied healthcare settings and/or academic institutions. The majority had experience of health psychology/working with health psychologists, whilst others had limited experience but an interest in employing health psychologists. Three key themes were identified: (1) the organizational fit of health psychologists, (2) perception of competition for roles and (3) ideas for changing hearts, minds and processes. CONCLUSION: Barriers exist to employing health psychologists in healthcare settings. These barriers include misunderstandings of the role of health psychologists and the need to preserve other disciplines due to perceived competition. Recommendations for change included showcasing the benefits and skills of health psychologists and having transparent conversations with employees and multi-disciplinary colleagues about roles.

Evaluating interventions against Salmonella in broiler chickens: applying synthesis research in support of quantitative exposure assessment.

A scoping study and systematic review-meta-analyses (SR-MAs) were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions for Salmonella in broiler chicken, from grow-out farm to secondary processing. The resulting information was used to inform a quantitative exposure assessment (QEA) comparing various control options within the context of broiler chicken production in Ontario, Canada. Multiple scenarios, including use of two separate on-farm interventions (CF3 competitive exclusion culture and a 2% lactose water additive), a package of processing interventions (a sodium hydroxide scald water disinfectant, a chlorinated post-evisceration spray, a trisodium phosphate pre-chill spray and chlorinated immersion chilling) a package consisting of these farm and processing interventions and a hypothetical scenario (reductions in between-flock prevalence and post-transport concentration), were simulated and compared to a baseline scenario. The package of on-farm and processing interventions was the most effective in achieving relative reductions (compared to baseline with no interventions) in the concentration and prevalence of Salmonella by the end of chilling ranging from 89·94% to 99·87% and 43·88% to 87·78%, respectively. Contaminated carcasses entering defeathering, reductions in concentration due to scalding and post-evisceration washing, and the potential for cross-contamination during chilling had the largest influence on the model outcomes under the current assumptions. Scoping study provided a transparent process for mapping out and selecting promising interventions, while SR-MA was useful for generating more precise and robust intervention effect estimates for QEA. Realization of the full potential of these methods was hampered by low methodological soundness and reporting of primary research in this area.

Corrosion threshold data of metallic materials in various operating environment of offshore wind turbine parts (tower, foundation, and nacelle/gearbox).

This paper outlines corrosion thresholds for different environmental conditions of metallic materials commonly used in the tower, foundation, and nacelle/gearbox of an offshore wind turbine. These threshold values were derived from laboratory corrosion testing employing electrochemical analysis techniques, using the media/solvents that are representative to the operating environment of those wind turbine parts, such as seawater, grease, oils/lubricants, or their combination, at room temperature and at 328K. These values can provide an indication when general/local corrosion or protective film/surface damages have occurred. They can thus be utilised for detecting and monitoring corrosion at certain locations in the wind turbine structure. The presented data have been verified and validated to ensure their repeatability and reliability by means of numerous laboratory tests in accordance to the relevant engineering test standards and an extensive literature/published data review.

Forebrain circuitry involved in effort-related choice: Injections of the GABAA agonist muscimol into ventral pallidum alter response allocation in food-seeking behavior.

Organisms often make effort-related choices based upon assessments of motivational value and work requirements. Nucleus accumbens dopamine is a critical component of the brain circuitry regulating work output in reinforcement-seeking behavior. Rats with accumbens dopamine depletions reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and instead they select a less-effortful type of food-seeking behavior. The ventral pallidum is a brain area that receives substantial GABAergic input from nucleus accumbens. It was hypothesized that stimulation of GABA(A) receptors in the ventral pallidum would result in behavioral effects that resemble those produced by interference with accumbens dopamine transmission. The present studies employed a concurrent choice lever pressing/chow intake procedure; with this task, interference with accumbens dopamine transmission shifts choice behavior such that lever pressing for food is decreased but chow intake is increased. In the present experiments, infusions of the GABA(A) agonist muscimol (5.0-10.0 ng) into the ventral pallidum decreased lever pressing for preferred food, but increased consumption of the less preferred chow. In contrast, ventral pallidal infusions of muscimol (10.0 ng) had no significant effect on preference for the palatable food in free-feeding choice tests. Furthermore, injections of muscimol into a control site dorsal to the ventral pallidum produced no significant effects on lever pressing and chow intake. These data indicate that stimulation of GABA receptors in ventral pallidum produces behavioral effects similar to those produced by accumbens dopamine depletions. Ventral pallidum appears to be a component of the brain circuitry regulating response allocation and effort-related choice behavior, and may act to convey information from nucleus accumbens to other parts of this circuitry. This research may have implications for understanding the brain mechanisms involved in energy-related psychiatric dysfunctions such as psychomotor retardation in depression, anergia, and apathy.

Effort-related functions of nucleus accumbens dopamine and associated forebrain circuits.

BACKGROUND: Over the last several years, it has become apparent that there are critical problems with the hypothesis that brain dopamine (DA) systems, particularly in the nucleus accumbens, directly mediate the rewarding or primary motivational characteristics of natural stimuli such as food. Hypotheses related to DA function are undergoing a substantial restructuring, such that the classic emphasis on hedonia and primary reward is giving way to diverse lines of research that focus on aspects of instrumental learning, reward prediction, incentive motivation, and behavioral activation. OBJECTIVE: The present review discusses dopaminergic involvement in behavioral activation and, in particular, emphasizes the effort-related functions of nucleus accumbens DA and associated forebrain circuitry. RESULTS: The effects of accumbens DA depletions on food-seeking behavior are critically dependent upon the work requirements of the task. Lever pressing schedules that have minimal work requirements are largely unaffected by accumbens DA depletions, whereas reinforcement schedules that have high work (e.g., ratio) requirements are substantially impaired by accumbens DA depletions. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related decision making. Rats with accumbens DA depletions reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and instead, these rats select a less-effortful type of food-seeking behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Along with prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, nucleus accumbens is a component of the brain circuitry regulating effort-related functions. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as energy-related disorders such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue, or anergia in depression.

Stimulation by low phosphorus and low calcium diets of duodenal absorption of phosphate in betamethasone-treated chicks.

Although the inhibitory effect of glucocorticoids on the intestinal absorption of calcium is well recognized, their effect on the absorption of phosphate is less well documented. We studied the effect of the oral administration of betamethasone (BM; 25 micrograms/kg per day) on the duodenal absorption of phosphate in chicks fed normal calcium, normal phosphorus (NCaNP), normal calcium, low phosphorus (NCaLP) or low calcium, normal phosphorus (LCaNP) diets using the ligated loop technique in vivo. The daily oral administration of BM for 8 days significantly reduced the absorption of phosphate in chicks fed the NCaNP diet (21% decrease) but had less effect in chicks fed the NCaLP (14% decrease) or LCaNP (9% decrease) diets in which birds the absorption of phosphate was significantly raised (49 and 87% respectively). In one group of chicks, BM was administered for 9 days before the birds were transferred to the NCaLP or LCaNP diets. Adaptation was again unaffected by the treatment. Thirty-four per cent of the absorbed phosphate was retained in the duodenal tissue. Treatment with BM reduced the amount retained but this may have been caused by the lower weight of the duodenal segment in these chicks as BM administration markedly reduced growth rate. We have concluded that the duodenal absorption of phosphate in the chick can be inhibited by treatment with BM, although this may be secondary to the reduced rate of growth, but the increase in the absorption of phosphate caused by feeding NCaLP or LCaNP diets was unaffected by the steroid.

An investigation of the clinical use of the house-tree-person projective drawings in the psychological evaluation of child sexual abuse.

Identification and evaluation of child sexual abuse is an integral task for clinicians. To aid these processes, it is necessary to have reliable and valid psychological measures. This is an investigation of the clinical validity and use of the House-Tree-Person (HTP) projective drawing, a widely used diagnostic tool, in the assessment of child sexual abuse. HTP drawings were collected archivally from a sample of sexually abused children (n = 47) and a nonabused comparison sample (n = 82). The two samples were grossly matched for gender, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status. The protocols were scored using a quantitative scoring system. The data were analyzed using a discriminant function analysis. Group membership could not be predicted based on a total HTP score.

How much do they want to know? Communicating with dying patients.

Many healthcare professionals either feel too inhibited to talk about death to a dying patient or consider that it will undermine wellbeing. Experienced nurses can help prepare and support staff when communicating with dying people. Patients may indicate that they wish to talk about their prognosis and treatment, and nurses must be able to detect verbal and non-verbal cues. Nurses can enhance the multi-disciplinary team by providing access to accurate and up-to-date information about patients; they can also act as patients' advocate.

On course for an enhanced career? An assessment of the diploma in nursing.

The Diploma in Nursing is designed to improve nursing practice and enhance job promotion, but is this true in practice? A research project asked nurses who had completed the diploma whether they and their practice had benefited from the course.

Phase transitions, phase coexistence, and piezoelectric switching behavior in highly strained BiFeO(3) films.

Highly strained BiFeO3 films transition into a true tetragonal state at 430 °C but remain polar to much higher temperatures (∼800 °C). Piezoelectric switching is only possible up to 300 °C, i.e., at temperatures for which strain stabilizes the stripe-like coexistence of multiple polymorphs.

Nucleus accumbens and effort-related functions: behavioral and neural markers of the interactions between adenosine A2A and dopamine D2 receptors.

Nucleus accumbens dopamine (DA) is a critical component of the brain circuitry regulating work output in reinforcement-seeking behavior and effort-related choice behavior. Moreover, there is evidence of an interaction between DA D(2) and adenosine A(2A) receptor function. Systemic administration of adenosine A(2A) antagonists reverses the effects of D(2) antagonists on tasks that assess effort related choice. The present experiments were conducted to determine if nucleus accumbens is a brain locus at which adenosine A(2A) and DA D(2) antagonists interact to regulate effort-related choice behavior. A concurrent fixed ratio 5 (FR5)/chow feeding procedure was used; with this procedure, rats can choose between completing an FR5 lever-pressing requirement for a preferred food (i.e., high carbohydrate operant pellets) or approaching and consuming a freely available food (i.e., standard rodent chow). Rats trained with this procedure spend most of their time pressing the lever for the preferred food, and eat very little of the concurrently available chow. Intracranial injections of the selective DA D(2) receptor antagonist eticlopride (1.0, 2.0, 4.0 microg) into nucleus accumbens core, but not a dorsal control site, suppressed FR5 lever-pressing and increased consumption of freely available chow. Either systemic or intra-accumbens injections of the adenosine A(2A) receptor antagonist MSX-3 reversed these effects of eticlopride on effort-related choice. Intra-accumbens injections of eticlopride also increased local expression of c-Fos immunoreactivity, and this effect was attenuated by co-administration of MSX-3. Adenosine and DA systems interact to regulate instrumental behavior and effort-related processes, and nucleus accumbens is an important locus for this interaction. These findings may have implications for the treatment of psychiatric symptoms such as psychomotor slowing, anergia and fatigue.

Magnesium absorption from the digestive tract of sheep.

Factors affecting absorption of Mg from the ovine rumen have been studied using either a pouch constructed from part of the dorsal rumen or by an isolated washed rumen technique in vivo. Net absorption of Mg against the prevailing electrochemical gradient was observed. An increase in the K/Na ratio within the rumen led to an increase in the potential difference across the rumen wall, blood positive, and to a decrease in the net efflux of Mg from the rumen. This decrease was due to an increase in Mg influx into the rumen. The addition of ammonium chloride (30 mmol/l) to the rumen contents also led to a reduction in net Mg absorption but to no significant change in potential difference. The effects of high K/Na ratio and high ammonium ion concentration within the rumen were additive in causing decreases in net effluxes of both Mg and Na. An inverse relationship was demonstrated between the Ca concentration in the rumen and the net absorption rate of Mg. It was concluded that the efflux of Mg across the rumen wall depends at least in part on a functional system for Na transport.