Targeting Phage Therapy 2023: Where are we today and what's next?

Meeting Announcement

MITOCHONDRIA-MICROBIOTA TASK FORCE

 

IMAGE: THE 6TH WORLD CONGRESS ON TARGETING PHAGE THERAPY 2023 WILL BE HELD ON JUNE 1-2, IN PARIS, FRANCE. view more 

CREDIT: CREDITS TO TARGETING PHAGE THERAPY CONFERENCE

The 6th World Congress on Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 has returned to present all aspects related to phages and phage therapy on June 1-2 in Paris, France.

It will highlight the recent innovations and clinical applications of phages, validation and limitations. Paris Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 will also cover how phage will transform the medicine of tomorrow.

International phage therapy and infectious disease experts will cover the following points:

• Phage Therapy: Recent Advances & Challenges
• Bacteriophage Characterization & Isolation
• Co-Evolutionary Mechanisms of Bacteria and Phages
• Bacteriophages & Microbiota: On the Way to a Medical Revolution?
• Bacteriophage Prophylactic & Therapeutic Applications
• Phages, Radiotherapy & Wound Healing

 

Bacteriophages & Microbiota: On the Way to a Medical Revolution?

In collaboration with the International Society of Microbiota (ISM), a session will be dedicated to how phage will modulate the quality and quantity of microbiota. We will also discuss how to select the adequate phage to target microbiota dysbiosis in disease.

Session Details.

 

Paris Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 Speakers

Targeting Phage Therapy 2023 will gather a group of academic and industrial professionals worldwide to discuss their most recent research and data.

Academic Speakers:

Domenico Frezza, University of Roma Tor Vergata, Italy Phage Therapy: Vision and Gaps

Martha Clokie, University of Leicester, United Kingdom Phage Therapy & Its Applications: Where We Are Now and What’s Next?

William Summers, Yale University, USA  The History of Phage Therapy

Tristan Ferry, Hospices Civils de Lyon, France The Use of Bacteriophage Therapy for Complex Bacterial Infections: the PHAGEinLYON Experience

Anna Pistocchi, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy Investigating the Therapeutic Potential of Phages as Antibacterials and Immunomodulators in a Zebrafish Model of Cystic Fibrosis

Rodrigo Ibarra Chavez, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Phage-inducible Chromosomal Islands Promote Genetic Variability by Blocking Phage Reproduction

Lilian Musila, U.S. Army Medical Research Directorate, Kenya Potential of Therapeutic Phages to Combat MDR ESKAPE Pathogens in Developing Nations

Jean-Paul Pirnay, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Belgium Bacteriophages: It’s a medicine, Jim, but not as we know it

Aleksandra Petrovic Fabijan, Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Australia Therapeutic Monitoring of Phage Therapy

Noemi Poerio, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy A Novel Combined Host- and Pathogen-Directed Therapeutic Approach to Fight Infections by MDR- Klebsiella pneumoniae

Ryszard Międzybrodzki, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy PAS, Poland Phages in the Medical Research Activity in Poland

Anders S. Nilsson, Stockholm University, Sweden Novel Computer Program for Modelling Bacteriophage Infection Kinetics

Farzaneh Moghtader, Istinye University, Turkey Combined Therapies for Severely Infected Wounds: Multifunctional Bio-hybrids Composed of Gelatine Microspheres Carrying Bacteriophages and/or bFGF and their Aggregates with Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Willem-Jan Metsemakers, KU Leuven, Belgium The Use of Bacteriophage Therapy for Difficult-to-Treat Musculoskeletal Infections: the PHAGEFORCE Experience

Mzia Kutateladze, Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Georgia Phage Therapy: History in the Soviet Unions and Potential Treatment of Human Infections

Industrials:

Alexander Sulakvelidze, President and CEO of Intralytix, Inc., USA Modern Approaches for Optimizing Therapeutic Phage Preparations

Jessica Sacher, cofounder of Phage Directory, Australia Scaling Phage Therapy, Starting with Phage Australia

David Jernigan, PhagenCorp, LLC, USA Inducing Native Phages From the Human Virome to Address Targeted Infections

Pranav Johri, Founder of Vitalis Phage Therapy, India From Patient to Advocate – Introducing Phage Therapy to India

 

Present Your Innovations: 10 Minutes to Convince

During the Paris Targeting Phage Therapy 2023, a session will be dedicated to the latest innovations in the field of phages and phage therapy.

If you are academics, industrialists or representatives of startups, the scientific committee of Phage Therapy 2023 invites you to present your latest innovation in 10 minutes.

More information.

Tracks for abstract submission.

Abstract Submission Details.

 

Institutional Partners

This meeting is organized under the endorsement of the International Society of Microbiota (ISM).

 

Contact Us

In case you needed any further information on the registration, program, or abstract submission please visit our website.

You can also directly contact the organizing committee via email: contact@tid-site.com.

Find more information on our social media: LinkedIn and Facebook. 

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PHAGES

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BIOPHAGES

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=PHAGE

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BACTERIOPHAGE

Do mood fluctuations impact confidence in decision-making?

Findings in this area can contribute to a better understanding of affective states disorder

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BIAL FOUNDATION

Study assessed for the first time whether daily fluctuations in mood and related variables (such as stress or sleep) are coupled to fluctuations in metacognitive states (such as confidence or response vigor) and concluded that in the healthy adult population, fluctuations of mood do not interfere with confidence in decision-making.

In the famous book “Descartes' Error” (2008), the Portuguese neuroscientist António Damásio analyzes emotions and their fundamental role in human rational behavior, confirming a long-standing interconnection between emotions and cognition. In this sense, if it is true that emotions and mood alternate episodes are part of human nature, there are still few studies on how these mood fluctuations interact with metacognition and, particularly, with confidence in decision-making.

Considering this state of the art, researchers María da Fonseca, Giovanni Maffei, Rubén Moreno-Bote and Alexandre Hyafil from the University of Pompeu Fabra (Spain), Koa Health B.V. (Spain), Center de Recerca Matemàtica (Spain) and University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) started a longitudinal study based on two online experiments to assess whether implicit confidence markers can be related to mood states in healthy adults.

In the article “Mood and implicit confidence independently fluctuate at different time scales”, published in October 2022 in Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, the researchers explain that they used a sample of 50 participants, mainly among students from University of Pompeu Fabra, to track subjects' moods and decision-making over a period of 10 consecutive days in everyday life settings.

The results showed that there is no significant correlation between daily fluctuations of mood and session-confidence markers, that is, mood and associated variables, such as sleep quality, food enjoyment and stress level, are not consistently coupled with implicit confidence markers. However, mood-related states and confidence level have been found to fluctuate at different time scales, with mood-related states displaying faster fluctuations (over one day or half-a-day) than confidence level (two-and-a-half-days).

Rubén Moreno Bote, supported by the BIAL Foundation, finds it surprising to see that “spontaneous fluctuations in mood and confidence were not coupled, as expected in the original hypothesis of this study, but evolved on different time scales”. For the researcher from the University of Pompeu Fabra, “findings in this area are important as they could contribute to a better understanding of affective states disorders.”

Learn more about the project “The neuronal basis of biases” here.

 

 

---

JOURNAL

Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience

DOI

10.3758/s13415-022-01038-4 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Mood and implicit confidence independently fluctuate at different time scales

Postoperative restrictive opioid protocols, changes in opioid prescribing, chronic use

JAMA Oncology

Peer-Reviewed Publication

JAMA NETWORK

Implementation of a restrictive opioid prescription protocol specifying an opioid supply of three or fewer days was feasible and no compromises in patient recovery were detected in this study of 4,000 surgical patients in a large tertiary cancer center. The change led to a significant reduction in opioids dispensed postoperatively and was associated with significantly decreased conversion to chronic opioid use in postsurgical patients. 

Authors: Emese Zsiros, M.D., Ph.D., of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, is the corresponding author. 

(doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.6278)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

 time https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/10.1001/jamaoncol.2022.6278?guestAccessKey=a621554c-d2a3-4f1a-88cf-1e17713d89f6&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=010523

---

JOURNAL

JAMA Oncology

Study shows peer messaging tool can be successfully implemented in the nursing workforce

Peer-Reviewed Publication

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

 

IMAGE: CINDY BALDWIN, MS, RN, CPHRM, SENIOR ASSOCIATE FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF PEDIATRICS AND SCHOOL OF NURSING AT THE VANDERBILT CENTER FOR PATIENT AND PROFESSIONAL ADVOCACY view more 

CREDIT: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

A tool developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to address disrespectful workplace behaviors through trained peer-to-peer messaging can be successfully implemented in the nursing workforce with the appropriate support, according to a new study published in the January 2023 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.

 

The first author of the article, “Implementation of Peer Messengers to Deliver Feedback: An Observational Study to Promote Professionalism in Nursing,” is Cindy Baldwin, MS, RN, CPHRM, senior associate for the Department of Pediatrics and School of Nursing at the Vanderbilt Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy.

 

Prior research shows that unprofessional behaviors in health care settings lead to unhappy, less motivated workers and poorer outcomes for patients and families, Baldwin said. She and other researchers evaluated the feasibility of implementing for staff nurses the Co-Worker Observation System (CORS), a tool developed at VUMC in 2013. Prior to the study, CORS had been implemented for doctors and advanced practice providers at Vanderbilt, but not for staff nurses, Baldwin said. 

 

“We thought this was a unique opportunity to be able to give nurses an opportunity to self-regulate, as shared governance models highly support this concept,” Baldwin said. “Creating a vision for respect and inclusion for all team members aligns with organizations’ values and the nursing code of ethics.”

 

Researchers implemented CORS for staff nurses at VUMC and two other academic medical centers — Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (including USC Verdugo Hills Hospital and Norris Cancer Center) and University of Iowa Health Care — using a project bundle with 10 essential implementation elements.

 

CORS promotes addressing professional behavior in the moment, but if that doesn’t happen, co-workers can use an electronic documentation system to document the observation. In the study, those reports were screened through natural language processing software, coded by trained CORS coders using the Martinez taxonomy, then referred to a trained nurse messenger who is carefully selected to be a peer, based on role and tenure.  The nurse messenger shares the observation with the nurse that offended the person who reported the incident. The name of the reporter is withheld.

 

The study considered 590 reports from the three sites from Sept. 1, 2019 to Aug. 31, 2021. Most reports included more than one unprofessional behavior — a total of 1,367 unprofessional behaviors were recorded, then mapped to existing categories in the CORS system. Most unprofessional behaviors — 48.8% — were related to issues in clear and respectful communication. Another 33.3% were related to performing duties/tasks that are part of a role. A total of 6.8% were related to appropriate medical care; 5.9% to professional integrity; and 5.2% a report of concern or possibly egregious.

 

Baldwin also noted that 92% of all nurses in the study’s database never received a CORS report about their behavior. 

 

Baldwin said the beauty of the peer-reporting system is it allows a trained peer messenger to resolve the issue with the nurse that trigged the report, and the incident is not reported to nursing leadership or human resources unless required by policy or law or requiring investigation. Most peer reports are delivered at face value, without investigation, realizing that there are two sides to every story.

 

CORS data collected over 10 years show that most people listen to peer criticism and self-correct. She noted that much unprofessional behavior is not rooted in the workplace, but rather outside life stressors.

 

“We want to make sure that people hear or understand how they’re being perceived, whether it’s a one-time thing or it’s a pattern, without immediately going to progressive discipline.”

 

Baldwin cautioned that simply implementing a peer-to-peer reporting system isn’t enough; messengers must be trained, and the correct reporting infrastructure and leadership support must be in place. The study found that nurses would deliver CORS messages to their peers with the correct training. 

 

Other VUMC authors of the paper are Alice Krumm, DNP, RN, CNOR; Heather Davidson, PhD; Lynn Webb, PhD; Thomas Doub, PhD; and William Cooper, MD, MPH.

 

“The findings of this study really highlight the fact that professionals will respond if we approach them in respectful, nonjudgmental ways,” said Cooper, who leads the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy.

 

Cooper expressed appreciation for VUMC nursing leadership for supporting the innovative project, which has already drawn interest from health systems around the country. “This work continues a longstanding partnership between our center and Vanderbilt’s nursing leadership in identifying innovative ways to promote professionalism,” he said.

 

Executive Chief Nursing Officer Marilyn Dubree, MSN, RN, NE-BC, FAAN, noted that VUMC recently received its fourth Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, in part because of its commitment to shared governance. 

 

“Every nurse at Vanderbilt has a voice, and CORS is an innovative peer-reporting model that strengthens that voice,” she said. “I am excited about the possibilities as we expand the use of this tool to further empower our nurses.”

 

 

 

 

---

JOURNAL

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety

DOI

10.1016/j.jcjq.2022.10.001 

ARTICLE TITLE

Implementation of Peer Messengers to Deliver Feedback: An Observational Study to Promote Professionalism in Nursing

How evolution works

UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG

With its powerful digging shovels, the European mole can burrow through the soil with ease. The same applies to the Australian marsupial mole. Although the two animal species live far apart, they have developed similar organs in the course of evolution - in their case, extremities ideally adapted for digging in the soil.

Science speaks of "convergent evolution" in such cases, when animal, but also plant species independently develop features that have the same shape and function. There are many examples of this: Fish, for example, have fins, as do whales, although they are mammals. Birds and bats have wings, and when it comes to using poisonous substances to defend themselves against attackers, many creatures, from jellyfish to scorpions to insects, have all evolved the same instrument: the venomous sting.

Identical characteristics despite lack of relationship

It is clear that scientists around the world are interested in finding out which changes in the genetic material of the respective species are responsible for the fact that identical characteristics have evolved in them, even though there is no relationship between them.

The search for this is proving difficult: "Such traits - we speak of phenotypes - are of course always encoded in genome sequences," says plant physiologist Dr. Kenji Fukushima of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg. Mutations - changes in the genetic material - can be the triggers for the development of new traits.

However, genetic changes rarely lead to phenotypic evolution because the underlying mutations are largely random and neutral. Thus, a tremendous amount of mutations accumulate over the extreme time scale at which evolutionary processes occur, making the detection of phenotypically important changes extremely difficult.

Novel metric of molecular evolution.

Now, Fukushima and his colleague David D. Pollock of the University of Colorado (USA) have succeeded in developing a method that achieves significantly better results than previously used methods in the search for the genetic basis of phenotypic traits. They present their approach in the current issue of the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

"We have developed a novel metric of molecular evolution that can accurately represent the rate of convergent evolution in protein-coding DNA sequences," says Fukushima, describing the main result of the now-published work. This new method, he says, can reveal which genetic changes are associated with the phenotypes of organisms on an evolutionary time scale of hundreds of millions of years. It thus offers the possibility of expanding our understanding of how changes in DNA lead to phenotypic innovations that give rise to a great diversity of species.

Tremendous treasure trove of data as a basis

A key development in the life sciences forms the basis of Fukushima's and Pollock's work: the fact that in recent years more and more genome sequences of many living organisms across the diversity of species have been decoded and thus made accessible for analysis. "This has made it possible to study the interrelationships of genotypes and phenotypes on a large scale at a macroevolutionary level," Fukushima says.

However, because many molecular changes are nearly neutral and do not affect any traits, there is often a risk of "false-positive convergence" when interpreting the data - that is, the result predicts a correlation between a mutation and a particular trait that does not actually exist. In addition, methodological biases could also be responsible for such false-positive convergences.

Correlations over millions of years

"To overcome this problem, we expanded the framework and developed a new metric that measures the error-adjusted convergence rate of protein evolution," Fukushima explains. This, he says, makes it possible to distinguish natural selection from genetic noise and phylogenetic errors in simulations and real-world examples. Enhanced with a heuristic algorithm, the approach enables bidirectional searches for genotype-phenotype associations, even in lineages that have diverged over hundreds of millions of years, he says.

The two scientists analyzed more than 20 million branch combinations in vertebrate genes to examine how well the metric they developed works. In a next step, they plan to apply this method to carnivorous plants. The goal is to decipher the genetic basis that is partly responsible for these plants' ability to attract, capture and digest prey.

---

JOURNAL

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-022-01932-7 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Detecting macroevolutionary genotype– phenotype associations using error- corrected rates of protein convergence

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Jan-2023

Treatment for combat-related PTSD advances with method shown to be fast, effective

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT SAN ANTONIO

 For the embargoed manuscript, email mediarelations@jamanetwork.org 

SAN ANTONIO (January 5, 2023) – Study findings out today in JAMA Network Open show an important step forward in treating the psychological injuries of war.

Researchers report that treatment for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which affects hundreds of thousands of U.S. military personnel and veterans, can be both fast and effective for a majority of patients. Their study showed clinically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms in more than 60 percent of patients and long-term remission of the diagnosis in more than 50 percent after three weeks of outpatient Prolonged Exposure therapy. Study participants similarly showed significant improvements in related disability and daily functioning.

Results were comparable whether patients received traditional Prolonged Exposure, also called PE, condensed into three weeks of daily treatment or an intensive outpatient format including several enhancements to address specific challenges of PTSD in war fighters.

The research team, led by Alan Peterson, PhD, of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), conducted the randomized clinical trial with 234 military personnel and veterans recruited from four locations in South and Central Texas. The effort was part of the work of the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD (CAP), a national network jointly funded by the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Peterson, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UT Health San Antonio and director of the CAP and the STRONG STAR Consortium, said the findings advance the group’s previous research and significantly improve upon earlier outcomes.

Improving outcomes for our war fighters

“We’re excited to see a more than 10-point increase in PTSD remission rates compared to a previous PE study we conducted, when we initiated the first ever clinical trials evaluating PTSD treatments in active-duty military populations,” said Dr. Peterson.

That first study tested the standard PE protocol, with 10 sessions of 90 minutes each over the course of eight weeks, as well as a massed format, with daily 90-minute sessions over two weeks. The two delivery formats proved equally effective in reducing symptoms and leading to a loss of diagnosis, with remission rates under 50 percent initially after treatment, and treatment gains maintained by about 40 percent of patients six months later. The massed format had much lower dropout rates.

“Those initial results were encouraging, indicating that PE is effective for combat-related PTSD,” said Dr. Peterson. “But with much lower success rates than in civilians treated with this therapy, we wanted to make and test treatment adaptations potentially to address unique aspects of combat-related PTSD and improve outcomes,” he said. That is what the current study did.

Design and rationale of the current study

Prolonged Exposure includes patients’ repeated retelling of their trauma stories along with homework assignments to engage in activities patients otherwise avoid because they trigger traumatic memories or anxious feelings. The goal is to help patients process thoughts about their trauma, calm the anxiety the memories provoke, and regain control of their lives.

It was thought that, in the original study – particularly with the massed format – patients may not have had adequate time to complete homework assignments and may also have faced a number of distractions. So, for both arms of the current study, patients took leave from work or other daily responsibilities to devote themselves full-time to treatment and recovery.

Also with the current study, treatment time in both arms was expanded from two weeks to three, with the consideration that combat-related PTSD is more difficult to treat, and patients may need additional time to process traumatic memories.

The comparison arm, called Massed-PE, had these treatment delivery changes only. The other arm, called Intensive Outpatient or IOP-PE, had several additional enhancements that researchers hypothesized would improve treatment outcomes with combat-related PTSD.

Dr. Peterson explained one example. “Oftentimes, a civilian trauma involves a one-time traumatic event, such as an accident, or a repeated trauma of a certain type, such as abuse,” he said. “In the course of one or more combat deployments, service members may experience hundreds of traumatic events involving different types of traumas. They also may have experienced other types of trauma outside the combat environment. And so we wanted to adapt the traditional PE protocol, in which a patient focuses only on one primary trauma during treatment, and allow patients in this study to work with therapists on their three top traumas.”

He said the treatment involved starting with the least distressing of those three traumas to gain confidence in the therapy, then working up to the most distressing trauma. Some of the other modifications included team-based treatment, with more than one clinician supporting a patient’s care; clinic-based completion of homework assignments to decrease avoidance; brief therapist feedback sessions during the day for added support and increased opportunities for processing; involvement of a family member or friend during educational sessions to help improve social support; and post-treatment booster sessions to help maintain treatment gains.

Findings, implications and next steps

Outcomes differed from researchers’ expectations in that both arms showed similar levels of reductions in PTSD symptoms and related disability, as well as similar increases in PTSD remission rates and improved psychosocial functioning over time. With some measures, Massed-PE led to greater improvements initially that decreased by the six-month follow-up. IOP-PE patients were more likely to maintain their improvements six months after treatment.

Since long-term outcomes did not differ significantly, researchers say the additional investment of resources needed for the IOP-PE format may not be warranted, but the overall study findings are highly positive.

“With about two thirds of participants reporting clinically meaningful symptom improvement and more than half losing their PTSD diagnosis, this study provides important new evidence that combat-related PTSD can be effectively treated – in as little as three weeks,” said Dr. Peterson.

He and his colleagues stated that, while condensed treatments may not be feasible for everyone, “results show that compressed formats adapted to the military context resulted in significant, meaningful and lasting improvements in PTSD, disability and functional impairments for most participants.”

They say this makes condensed treatments an important option for U.S. service members and veterans after two decades of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. These treatments also could gain attention now as the war in Ukraine has raised international concerns about the risk of PTSD in military personnel and civilians.

Moving forward, the study team notes that their findings show room for continued improvement in treating combat-related PTSD. They add that the compressed treatment formats evaluated in this study are well suited for the evaluation of new, alternative modes of therapy combining cognitive-behavioral treatments with medications and medical devices. “We have those types of studies already underway,” said Dr. Peterson.

Collaboration on this important study was extensive, involving study team members from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, South Texas Veterans Health Care System, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Brooke Army Medical Center at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, C.R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Duke University, Boston University, the VA’s National Center for PTSD, and VA Health Care Systems in Boston, Mass.; Durham, N.C.; and Menlo Park, Calif.

# # #

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), a primary driver for San Antonio’s $44.1 billion health care and biosciences sector, is the largest research institution in South Texas with an annual research portfolio of $360 million. Driving substantial economic impact with its six professional schools, a diverse workforce of 7,900, an annual operating budget of $1.08 billion and clinical practices that provide 2.6 million patient visits each year, UT Health San Antonio plans to add more than 1,500 higher-wage jobs over the next five years to serve San Antonio, Bexar County and South Texas. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit UTHealthSA.org.

Stay connected with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

---

JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.49422 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Massed vs intensive outpatient prolonged exposure for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Jan-2023

Do the negative ways that others treat us contribute to later self-harm?

Peer rejection and adolescent self-harm investigated in a new study in Biological Psychiatry

Peer-Reviewed Publication

ELSEVIER

 

IMAGE: THE INTERACTION EFFECT OF AMYGDALA REACTIVITY AND PEER ACCEPTANCE/REJECTION ON NONSUICIDAL SELF-INJURY (NSSI) ENGAGEMENT AT 1-YEAR FOLLOW-UP. view more 

CREDIT: BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY

Philadelphia, January 5, 2023 – Engaging in self-harming behaviors without the intention to die, or nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), increases dramatically in the transition from childhood to adolescence and continues to grow throughout the teenage years. Although engagement in NSSI is often associated with emotional reactivity and may occur in response to distressing social experiences, some youth are more likely than others to carry out self-injury. How both emotional and social-environmental vulnerabilities may interact within individuals to increase developmental risk for self-harm remains unknown.

Now, a new longitudinal study in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, examines the neural-based correlates and other risk factors for self-injurious behaviors such as NSSI, an understanding of which could help bolster kids’ resilience against NSSI behaviors.

“Adolescent self-harm is a very complicated behavior with many contributing factors. We do not yet have strong objective predictors for self-harm,” said John Krystal, MD, editor of Biological Psychiatry.

NSSI behaviors include cutting or carving skin, inserting objects under nails or skin, burning skin, scraping or picking skin to the point of drawing blood, and hitting self on purpose.

For the study, researchers at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led by Olivia H. Pollak, MA, examined adolescents' reactivity in a brain area called the amygdala, which has been associated with emotional reactivity and sensitivity to the social environment, including reward and punishment. The 125 participants performed a task in which they anticipated and sought to avoid peer punishment (a scowling face) and anticipated and sought to gain social reward (a smiling face) while undergoing brain imaging. Participants completed a questionnaire the year of the scan and again one year later to determine past NSSI behavior. The teens also classified their peers (from a class roster) as those they liked most and least – an established assessment of social preference, capturing real-world experiences of peer acceptance and rejection.

The researchers found that greater amygdala reactivity during anticipation of social punishment predicted greater NSSI engagement one year later among adolescents with lower peer-nominated social preference. This finding suggests that adolescents who are both more sensitive to the prospect of social punishment and who experience greater social adversity in their real-world peer network may be at heightened risk for future NSSI.

Dr. Krystal said of the findings, "This study points out that a strong brain reaction to social punishment may be a marker, perhaps even a contributor, to maladaptive responses to social stress; in this case self-harm following peer rejection.”

First author Olivia H. Pollak added, “Clinically, our findings suggest that teaching emotion regulation skills and increasing prosocial peer interactions may help protect against engagement in self-injurious behaviors in adolescence.”

 

---

JOURNAL

Biological Psychiatry

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.09.030 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Neural Reactivity to Social Punishment Predicts Future Engagement in Nonsuicidal Self-injury Among Peer-Rejected Adolescents

 COMMODITY FETISHISM

Meaningful but unused products hinder sustainability

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

ITHACA, N.Y. - Custom sneakers, vintage dishware, a limited-edition car – each is an example of a product owners may regard as special and irreplaceable, fostering strong feelings of attachment.

From a sustainability standpoint, designers have long believed that attachment was a good thing: If people keep products they care about longer, they’ll consume less and send less waste to landfills.

New Cornell University research provides a more nuanced understanding, showing that product attachment can also unintentionally encourage less sustainable behavior. To prevent damage or loss, people may limit use of their most prized possessions – preserving shoes in a box, dishes as decorations or a car in storage – and buy additional, less meaningful goods for practical daily purposes.

“The goal has been to get people to hold on to products longer, which was seen as inherently more sustainable,” said Michael Kowalski, a doctoral researcher in the field of human-centered design with a background as an industrial product designer. “But that’s not always the case if people aren’t actually using these things.”

Kowalski is the lead author of “I Love It, I’ll Never Use It: Exploring Factors of Product Attachment and Their Effects on Sustainable Product Usage Behaviors,” published Dec. 31, 2022, in the International Journal of Design. Co-author Jay Yoon, assistant professor in the Department of Human Centered Design in the College of Human Ecology, and director of the Meta Design and Technology Lab, is the adviser to the research.

The research seeks to inform designers about the multiple factors driving product attachment and which could be tapped to encourage a product’s active use for as long as possible – consistent with sustainability goals – and avoid continued redundant consumption.

That’s important because Americans, on average, now throw out seven times more durable goods (meant to last at least three years) than they did in 1960, according to the research. Meanwhile, the average new U.S. home, the main location where these increasing numbers of products are used, stored or thrown away, has grown by 1,000 square feet over the past 40 years.

“Perceived irreplaceability as a factor of attachment has been designers’ gold standard, but it turns out addressing it does not guarantee a product’s impact is going to be sustainable, if people are so attached to it that they don’t dare to use it, instead storing it away,” Yoon said. “We need to give more attention to other factors in this relationship.”

Kowalski began to explore those factors after designing and building a wooden dining table for a family member. As referenced in the research article’s title, her seemingly paradoxical response upon receiving the completed piece was, “I love it, I’ll never use it.”

Seeking to better understand that outcome, Kowalski interviewed individuals of varying demographics in their homes about the products they felt attached to and why, and which of those items they actually used or didn’t use. The more than 100 objects discussed included a dresser admired for its craftsmanship, bowls that had belonged to grandparents, and a stuffed animal invested with childhood memories.

Two cars illustrated how attachment could inspire either active or passive product use. One owner adored a car – nicknamed Stella – that was reliable and capable in extreme weather, providing the joy of adventure-filled driving experiences. Another similarly loved a special-edition convertible that they stored in a garage and drove rarely, using other cars for daily transportation.

Kowalski and Yoon identified seven key factors influencing product attachment, including aesthetic qualities, durability, performance and the memories and emotions invoked. Through an online survey of more than 220 participants, they further analyzed how those factors differently affect attachment and long-term usage.

Perceptions of irreplaceability, they determined, did the most to foster product attachment, yet also led to less sustainable behaviors. Products that were durable, resistant to obsolescence and pleasing got more use, while those associated with meaningful memories and sentimental emotions got less.

The researchers said the findings highlight opportunities for designers to prioritize products that people both want to keep and engage with – because they are well made, enjoyable and age gracefully. On the other hand, products valued as unique and irreplaceable may inadvertently promote less sustainable consumption. That means designs emphasizing limited releases, personalization and beautiful-but-scarce materials should be considered with caution.

“Creating a sense that something is one-of-a-kind increases attachment but decreases actual use of a product,” Kowalski said. “Designers need to be mindful of consumers’ psychological and emotional experience in addition to their practical needs to promote sustainable consumption in the long run.”

The research was supported by National Science Foundation and the Department of Human Centered Design.

---

JOURNAL

International Journal of Design

ARTICLE TITLE

I Love It, I’ll Never Use It: Exploring Factors of Product Attachment and Their Effects on Sustainable Product Usage Behaviors

URI researcher-led study opens oceans of possibilities

Newly developed macromolecular model of phytoplankton could have implications for climate research

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

KINGSTON, R.I. – January 5, 2023 – Since 1934, the Redfield ratio – the recurring ratio of 106:16:1 of carbon to nitrogen to phosphorus (C:N:P) in phytoplankton and the pathways by which these elements are circulated throughout all parts of the Earth – has been a cornerstone of oceanography. While differences in C:N:P ratios exist and have been observed across ocean biomes, to date there has not been an established way to quantify or predict that variation. However, a new study from a University of Rhode Island professor could help to fill in the blanks for scientists studying and trying to understand these variances.

The study, published in Nature Geoscience and written by Keisuke Inomura, assistant professor of oceanography in URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography, with a team from the University of Washington, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University, could also have meaningful implications for climate research.

Essential to aquatic ecosystems the world over, phytoplankton provide food for almost all sea life; they also perform photosynthesis – taking in sunlight, water and carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen and carbon. In addition to generating half of the oxygen in our atmosphere, phytoplankton also impact carbon export and storage in the deep ocean, which, in turn, can affect the composition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon export is substantially influenced by C:N:P ratios because the ratio indicates how much carbon is produced in relation to available nutrients (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus). 

In examining C:N:P ratios, studies have shown that while C:N remains relatively stable, the ratio of N:P or C:P can vary significantly depending on latitude – with higher ratios in the subtropics and lower ratios in high latitudes such as the Artic or Southern Oceans. What hasn’t been known is why. To answer that question, the team incorporated a macromolecular model of phytoplankton into a global general circulation and biogeochemical model – essentially introducing the molecular composition within phytoplankton into a computational model that also takes into account ocean circulation and the nutrient cycle.

“We analyzed existing data on small and large phytoplankton, looking at their makeup – proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, DNA, RNA, etc. – and the relationship of these macromolecules to one another, how they take in light and nutrients and use that to replicate or grow,” said Inomura. The relationship between quantities of substances taking part in a reaction or forming a compound is known as stoichometry. “By resolving how much of each exist in phytoplankton within a new model, and incorporating that into an ocean framework – we are able to predict or simulate and analyze how the ratio of C:N:P will vary throughout the ocean and why.” 

Findings show that while there is relatively small variation in the ratio of C:N primarily driven by common physiological adjustment strategies across all phytoplankton, the greater variation in N:P is mainly impacted by what plankton exist – large or small.

The new model adds an unprecedented level of detail previously unavailable on the macromolecular allocation of phytoplankton and how it acclimates to changing environmental conditions based on empirical data. The model can be used to predict and interpret macromolecular distributions in phytoplankton in the ocean, providing a framework for predicting biological and ecological responses to climate change.

“It’s always academically interesting to answer a big research question,” said Inomura. “And, of course, models get more fun and much more useful when they are based on empirical data. But what we’ve done by including this level of detail in our model is to help connect the dots for researchers by providing a real-life-based prediction of the elemental ratio everywhere in the ocean – including places researchers are not able to get to.”

Inomura believes this work could lead to a next generation climate model. The additional level of detail found in the macromolecular model can be instrumental in predicting future changes to the ocean’s C:N:P ratio and the implication of those changes on the atmospheric composition of carbon dioxide and temperature.

“There is still a lot we don’t know about climate change. The biology aspect in current climate models is one area that has provided uncertainty,” said Inomura. “It’s our hope that this model will help to better pin that part down.”

---

JOURNAL

Nature Geoscience

DOI

10.1038/s41561-022-01066-2 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Global patterns in marine organic matter stoichiometry driven by phytoplankton ecophysiology

A study of whether China’s Young Thousand Talents program has been successful – and why

Peer-Reviewed Publication

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)

In a systematic evaluation of China’s Young Thousand Talents (YTT) program, which was established in 2010, researchers find that China has been successful in recruiting and nurturing high-caliber Chinese scientists who received training abroad. Many of these individuals outperform overseas peers in publications and access to funding, the study shows, largely due to access to larger research teams and better research funding in China. Not only do the findings demonstrate the program’s relative success, but they also hold policy implications for the increasing number of governments pursuing means to tap expatriates for domestic knowledge production and talent development. China is a top sender of international students to United States and European Union science and engineering programs. The YTT program was created to recruit and nurture the productivity of high-caliber, early-career, expatriate scientists who return to China after receiving Ph.Ds. abroad. Although there has been a great deal of international attention on the YTT, some associated with the launch of the U.S.’s controversial China Initiative and federal investigations into academic researchers with ties to China, there has been little evidence-based research on the success, impact, and policy implications of the program itself. Dongbo Shi and colleagues evaluated the YTT program’s first 4 cohorts of scholars and compared their research productivity to that of their peers that remained overseas. Shi et al. found that China’s YTT program successfully attracted high-caliber – but not top-caliber – scientists. However, those young scientists that did return outperformed others in publications across journal-quality tiers – particularly in last-authored publications. The authors suggest that this is due to YTT scholars’ greater access to larger research teams and better research funding in China. The authors say the dearth of such resources in the U.S. and E.U. “may not only expedite expatriates’ return decisions but also motivate young U.S.- and E.U.-born scientists to seek international research opportunities.” They say their findings underscore the need for policy adjustments to allocate more support for young scientists.

---

JOURNAL

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.abq1218 

ARTICLE TITLE

Has China's Young Thousand Talents program been successful in recruiting and nurturing top-caliber scientists?

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Jan-2023