Dissemination of Family-Centered Prevention for Military and Veteran Families: Adaptations and Adoption within Community and Military Systems of Care

In response to the needs of military families confronting the challenges of prolonged war, we developed Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS), a multi-session intervention for families facing multiple deployments and combat stress injuries adapted from existing evidence-based family prevention interventions (Lester et al. in Mil Med 176(1): 19–25, 2011). In an implementation of this intervention contracted by the US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), FOCUS teams were deployed to military bases in the United States and the Pacific Rim to deliver a suite of family-centered preventive services based on the FOCUS model (Beardslee et al. in Prev Sci 12(4): 339–348, 2011). Given the number of families affected by wartime service and the changing circumstances they faced in active duty and veteran settings, it rapidly became evident that adaptations of this approach for families in other contexts were needed. We identified the core elements of FOCUS that are essential across all adaptations: (1) Family Psychological Health Check-in; (2) family-specific psychoeducation; (3) family narrative timeline; and (4) family-level resilience skills (e.g., problem solving). In this report, we describe the iterative process of adapting the intervention for different groups of families: wounded, ill, and injured warriors, families with young children, couples, and parents. We also describe the process of adopting this intervention for use in different ecological contexts to serve National Guard, Reserve and veterans, and utilization of technology-enhanced platforms to reach geographically dispersed families. We highlight the lessons learned when faced with the need to rapidly deploy interventions, adapt them to the changing, growing needs of families under real-world circumstances, and conduct rigorous evaluation procedures when long-term, randomized trial designs are not feasible to meet an emergent public health need.     

Is Social Justice Relative When It Comes to Oral Health? The Realities of a Complex Health Issue

For decades pastoral theology has emphasized care for the whole person and, more recently, this focus has been expanded to include caring for the physical health of parishioners. However, an overlooked area of general fitness has been the importance of oral health. Dental caries and periodontal disease are among the most common chronic diseases that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations. Despite significant progress in preventing and managing these oral diseases, there is a large segment of the population that have not experienced the same gains. This paper seeks to begin to fill this gap by identifying key epidemiological, professional and ethical issues related to social justice and oral health. Disparities of oral disease and access to oral health care in the United States will be addressed by examining questions and issues related to social justice. Critical problems are identified, including inadequate financial resources, a disjointed infrastructure of care, separation from the general medical care system, and poor understanding of important oral health determinants. Furthermore, if oral health is integral to one’s overall health and general well-being, then the concept of a basic human right should be entertained. Faith-based groups could provide a link for bridging this disparity gap in oral health among their parishioners through active listening, advocacy and targeted educational programs.     

Using Dual Tasks to Test Immediate Transfer of Training Between Naturalistic Movements: A Proof-of-Principle Study

Theories of motor learning predict that training a movement reduces the amount of attention needed for its performance (i.e., more automatic). If training one movement transfers, then the amount of attention needed for performing a second movement should also be reduced, as measured under dual task conditions. The authors’ purpose was to test whether dual task paradigms are feasible for detecting transfer of training between two naturalistic movements. Immediately following motor training, subjects improved performance of a second untrained movement under single and dual task conditions. Subjects with no training did not. Improved performance in the untrained movement was likely due to transfer, and suggests that dual tasks may be feasible for detecting transfer between naturalistic actions.     

Individual differences in positivity offset and negativity bias: Gender-specific associations with two serotonin receptor genes

Individual differences in the evaluation of affective stimuli, such as the positivity offset and negativity bias may have a biological basis. We tested whether two SNPs (HTR2A; 102T>C and HTR1A; 1019C>G) related to serotonin receptor function, a biological pathway associated with affective regulation, were differentially related to positivity offset and negativity bias for males and females. Participants were 109 cigarette smokers who rated a series of affective stimuli to assess reactions to positive and negative pictures. Gender × genotype interactions were found for both SNPs. Males with the 102T allele showed a greater positivity offset than males with the 102C allele. For females, in contrast, the 1019C allele was associated with a greater positivity offset than the 1019G allele, whereas the 102T allele was associated with a greater negativity bias than the 102C allele. Identifying how gender differences may moderate the effect of serotonin receptor genes on affective information processing may provide insight into their role in guiding behavior and regulating affect.     

Multimodal Rehabilitation: A Mind-Body Family-Based Intervention for Children and Adolescents Impaired by Medically Unexplained Symptoms. Part 2: Case Studies and Outcomes

In Part 2, we describe three cases implementing our mind-body, family-based, multimodal rehabilitation approach for treating children and adolescents presenting with medically unexplained symptoms. For each child and family, treatment interventions were selected and implemented, simultaneously or sequentially. In a cohort of 100 consecutively referred children, 56 suffered from, and were treated for, significant physical or chronic school absenteeism. Thirty-five of these children (63%) recovered fully, 10 (18%) had a relapsing course, 7 (12.5%) had chronic symptoms, and 4 (7%) were lost to follow-up. These outcomes suggest that mind-body multimodal rehabilitation is a successful, cost-effective model of treatment.     

Teaching College in the Time of COVID-19: Gender and Race Differences in Faculty Emotional Labor

Sex Roles - The COVID-19 pandemic placed new teaching demands upon faculty that may have exacerbated existing race and gender disparities in the amount of emotional labor they perform. The present...     

Inhibitory neurotransmission and olfactory memory in honeybees

In insects, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate mediate fast inhibitory neurotransmission through ligand-gated chloride channel receptors. Both GABA and glutamate have been identified in the olfactory circuit of the honeybee. Here we investigated the role of inhibitory transmission mediated by GABA and glutamate-gated chloride channels (GluCls) in olfactory learning and memory in honeybees. We combined olfactory conditioning with injection of ivermectin, an agonist of GluCl receptors. We also injected a blocker of glutamate transporters (L-trans-PDC) or a GABA analog (TACA). We measured acquisition and retention 1, 24 and 48 h after the last acquisition trial. A low dose of ivermectin (0.01 ng/bee) impaired long-term olfactory memory (48 h) while a higher dose (0.05 ng/bee) had no effect. Double injections of ivermectin and L-trans-PDC or TACA had different effects on memory retention, depending on the doses and agents combined. When the low dose of ivermectin was injected after Ringer, long-term memory was again impaired (48 h). Such an effect was rescued by injection of both TACA and L-trans-PDC. A combination of the higher dose of ivermectin and TACA decreased retention at 48 h. We interpret these results as reflecting the involvement of both GluCl and GABA receptors in the impairment of olfactory long-term memory induced by ivermectin. These results illustrate the diversity of inhibitory transmission and its implication in long-term olfactory memory in honeybees.     

Auditory warnings, signal-referent relations, and natural indicators: re-thinking theory and application

In auditory warning design the idea of the strength of the association between sound and referent has been pivotal. Research has proceeded via constructing classification systems of signal-referent associations and then testing predictions about ease of learning of different levels of signal-referent relation strength across and within different types of auditory signal (viz., speech, abstract sounds, and auditory icons). However, progress is hampered by terminological confusions and by neglect of the cognitive contribution (viz., learning) of the person or user. Drawing upon semiotics and cognitive psychology, the authors highlight the indexical (as opposed to iconic) nature of so-called auditory icons, and the authors identify the cogniser as an indispensable element in the tripartite nature of signification. Classifications that neglect this third element, defining signal-referent relation strength only dyadically, yield results confounded by learning; classifications that correctly include the triadic relation yield research predictions that are redundant. These limitations of the standard method of constructing and testing classification systems suggest that auditory warning design must take the cognitive contribution of the user into account at an earlier stage in the design process.