Search

BackgroundFunctional abdominal pain disorders (FAPDs) are common in young people and are characterized by persistent or recurrent abdominal symptoms without apparent structural or biochemical abnormalities. FAPDs are associated with diminished quality of life, school absence, increased health care use, and comorbid anxiety and depression. Exposure-based internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) has demonstrated efficacy in alleviating abdominal symptoms and improving quality of life. However, a deeper understanding of effect mechanisms and identification of possible additional treatment targets could refine treatment. ObjectiveThis protocol paper aims to describe a study focusing on children and adolescents undergoing ICBT for FAPDs, aiming to further investigate the underlying mechanisms of effect. MethodsChildren (8-12 years), adolescents (13-17 years) with FAPDs, and their respective parents will be included for 10 weeks for ICBT. First, detailed trajectories of effect are examined through a randomized single-case design study involving 6 children and 6 adolescents (substudy 1). Following this, an open-ended explorative pilot study with 30 children and 30 adolescents explores potential illness-related cognitive biases and interoceptive accuracy before and after treatment (substudy 2). Finally, spanning across these 2 substudies, including all parents from substudies 1 and 2, we will assess parental distress and illness worries before and after treatment, and how these factors impact the treatment adherence and outcomes of the child or adolescent (substudy 3). ResultsRecruitment of participants began in June 2022 and is finalized for substudy 1 and ongoing for substudies 2 and 3. Recruitment is expected to be completed by January 2025, with final data collection during April 2025. ConclusionsThe findings have the potential to contribute to the ongoing improvement of specialized psychological treatment for FAPDs in young people. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT05237882; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05237882; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05486585; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05486585; OSF Registries osf.io/c49k7; https://osf.io/c49k7 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/58563

Little valid information is available on human milk nutrient concentrations, especially for micronutrients (MNs), and there are no valid reference values (RVs) across lactation. In this multi-center collaborative study, RVs will be established for human milk nutrients across the first 8.5 mo postpartum. Well-nourished, unsupplemented women in Bangladesh, Brazil, Denmark, and The Gambia (n = 250/site) were recruited during the third trimester of pregnancy. Milk, blood, saliva, urine, and stool samples from mothers and their infants are collected identically at 3 visits (1-3.49, 3.5-5.99, 6.0-8.49 mo postpartum). Milk analyses include macronutrients, selected vitamins, trace elements and minerals, iodine, metabolomics, amino acids, human milk oligosaccharides, and bioactive peptides. We measure milk volume; maternal and infant diets, anthropometry, and morbidity; infant development, maternal genome, and the infant and maternal microbiome. RVs will be constructed based on methods for the WHO Child Growth Standards and the Intergrowth-21st Project. This trial was registered at clinical trials.gov as NCT03254329.

Natal dispersal plays an important role in connecting individual animal behavior with ecological processes at all levels of biological organization. As urban environments are rapidly increasing in extent and intensity, understanding how urbanization influences these long distance movements is critical for predicting the persistence of species and communities. There is considerable variation in the movement responses of individuals within a species, some of which is attributed to behavioral plasticity which interacts with experience to produce interindividual differences in behavior. For natal dispersers, much of this experience occurs in the natal home range. Using data collected from VHF collared coyotes (Canis latrans) in the Chicago Metropolitan Area we explored the relationship between early life experience with urbanization and departure, transience, and settlement behavior. Additionally, we looked at how early life experience with urbanization influenced survival to adulthood and the likelihood of experiencing a vehicle related mortality. We found that coyotes with more developed habitat in their natal home range were more likely to disperse and tended to disperse farther than individuals with more natural habitat in their natal home range. Interestingly, our analysis produced mixed results for the relationship between natal habitat and habitat selection during settlement. Finally, we found no evidence that early life experience with urbanization influenced survival to adulthood or the likelihood of experiencing vehicular mortality. Our study provides evidence that early life exposure influences dispersal behavior; however, it remains unclear how these differences ultimately affect fitness.

Abstract Incubation breaks are necessary for any nesting bird but can increase the mortality risk of the nest or attending parent. How intrinsic and extrinsic variables affect nest attentiveness—the proportion of time a female is on nest during incubation— and subsequent survival of the nest remains unclear for uniparental species. We related female nest attentiveness to nest survival and tested the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic variables on nest attentiveness by female Lesser Prairie‐chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) using GPS locations of 87 females at 109 nest sites in 3 study areas in Kansas during 2013–2015. Daily nest survival increased by 39% when nest attentiveness increased from 21% to 98%. Female Lesser Prairie‐chickens were 18% less attentive as body mass increased from 600 to 920 g. Daily precipitation and temperature, controlled for days into the incubation period, had interactive effects on nest attentiveness with nest attentiveness lowest on cool, wet days and increasing as temperature increased, regardless of precipitation (41% attentiveness at 16°C and 79 mm of precipitation to 90% attentiveness at 37°C and 41 mm of precipitation). Nest attentiveness increased by 11% as the quantity of grass at the nest site increased from 5% to 78% when visual obstruction was at 1 and 2 decimeters (dm) and increased 9% as the quantity of grass at the nest site increased from 5% to 83% when visual obstruction was at its maximum (3 dm). Our findings reveal the critical importance of nest attentiveness and incubation behavior, not only in relation to demography, but within the context of changing environmental conditions. As warmer temperatures and extreme precipitation events become more common and change the growth rates of vegetation, species like the Lesser Prairie‐chicken that are ground‐nesting, rely on vegetation cover, and exhibit uniparental care could experience negative demographic consequences.

Nils Skajaa,1– 4 Lise Gehrt,3,4 Heta Nieminen,5 Ida Laake,6 Hélène Englund,7 Ute Wolff Sönksen,8 Berit Feiring,6 Christine Stabell Benn,3,4,9 Lill Trogstad,6 Arto A Palmu,5 Signe Sørup1,3 1Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark; 2National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Research Center for Vitamins and Vaccines, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; 4Bandim Health Project, Open Patient Data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital/Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark; 5Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Tampere, Finland; 6Division of Infection Control and Environmental Health, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; 7Unit for Vaccination Programmes, Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden; 8Reference Laboratory for Antimicrobial Resistance, Infection Preparedness, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; 9Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, DenmarkCorrespondence: Signe Sørup, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Olof Palmes Allé 43-45, Aarhus N, 8200, Denmark, Email SigneSorup@clin.au.dkObjective: To compare the use of antibiotics in children in four Northern European countries.Methods: We conducted a register-based study based on individual-level prescription data from national prescription registers. We identified all redeemed outpatient prescriptions for systemic antibiotics in children aged 0– 14 years from July 2006 to June 2017 in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. We computed incidence rates and incidence rate ratios of treatment episodes with any antibiotic and different antibiotic classes.Results: In 2016/2017, the rates of antibiotic treatment episodes per 1000 person-years in children aged 0– 14 years were 429, 284, 219, and 184 in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, respectively, and the rate ratios (95% confidence intervals) compared with Norway were 2.33 (2.33– 2.34), 1.54 (1.54– 1.55), and 1.19 (1.19– 1.20) in Finland, Denmark, and Sweden, respectively. The rate of antibiotic treatment episodes declined over time in all countries. The relative reductions in 2016/2017 compared with 2006/2007 were 36% in Finland, 40% in Denmark, 49% in Sweden, and 29% in Norway. Treatment episodes peaked between age 12 and 18 months. The most used antibiotic class was beta-lactamase sensitive penicillins among all children in Norway and Sweden and among children above two years in Denmark, while penicillins with extended spectrum were most used in Finland and among the youngest children in Denmark.Conclusion: In all countries, the use of antibiotics in children declined between 2006 and 2017. However, there were still considerable differences in antibiotic use between otherwise quite similar Nordic countries, with a more than 2-fold difference between the countries with the lowest and highest rates. Interventions to reduce the number of antibiotic treatment episodes in the countries with higher rates could reduce the total antibiotic use.Keywords: antibiotic use, pediatric, multi-national comparison, antimicrobial consumption, prescription patterns

Lise Gehrt,1,2 Ida Laake,3 Hélène Englund,4 Heta Nieminen,5 Christine Stabell Benn,1,2,6 Berit Feiring,3 Lill Trogstad,3 Arto A Palmu,5 Signe Sørup2,7 1Bandim Health Project, Research Unit Open, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark; 2Research Center for Vitamins and Vaccines, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Division of Infection Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; 4Unit for Vaccination Programmes, Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden; 5Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Tampere, Finland; 6Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark; 7Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, DenmarkCorrespondence: Lise Gehrt, Bandim Health Project, Research Unit Open, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark, Email lgehrt@health.sdu.dkPurpose: Comparing rates of childhood infectious disease hospitalisations across countries may uncover areas for improvement in the prevention of severe childhood infections. We compared rates of childhood infectious disease hospital contacts across Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden with the overall objective to elucidate potential differences in burden of disease and in organisational and registration practices.Methods: Using national registries, we estimated incidence rates for infectious disease hospital contacts between 2008 and 2017 among children aged 0– 14 years. We investigated the rates for different types of contacts (inpatient or outpatient including emergency room), duration of admission, and by sex.Results: During the study period, the rate of all hospital contacts per 1000 person-years was highest in Sweden (125.2) followed by Finland (87.1), Denmark (79.0), and Norway (62.1). The rates aligned for inpatient contacts with overnight stays; 19.3 (Denmark), 16.6 (Finland), 16.3 (Norway), and 13.0 (Sweden); these were highest in early infancy in all countries. A peak around 1 year of age was seen in all countries except in Sweden. The rates were higher among boys compared with girls in early childhood, after 13 years of age the rates among girls surpassed the boys.Conclusion: Large cross-country differences were observed for outpatient and short-term hospital contacts for infectious diseases, affected by differences in organisational structures and coding practices across and within countries over time. Inpatient contacts requiring overnight stays reflected more comparable levels of severe infections across countries. Childhood infectious disease morbidity was greatest among boys and before 2 years of age.Keywords: infectious disease hospitalisations, paediatric, patient registry, multinational study, Nordic countries

The automation of mining haulage vehicles has great potential in terms of safety and economy. The performance of autonomous vehicles depends largely on highly accurate vehicle state information. Deep mines are especially challenging, as satellite-based localization methods are reaching their limits. Therefore, we introduce a new navigation filter concept for the precise and robust localization of the haulage fleet that can handle temporary GNSS interruptions in deep open-pit mines. The multi-sensor navigation filter utilizes an inertial measurement unit and is aided by GNSS. We introduce a new optical speed sensor update within the tightly coupled unscented Kalman filter. The speed sensor measures the slip-free two-dimensional speed above ground. The filter was validated with an articulated dumper in a gravel pit. The new filter achieved a mean position error of 0.24 m during a test drive of 190 s with a simulated GNSS outage of 90 s.

Purpose The aim of the NONSEnse project is to investigate the non-specific effects of vaccines and immunisation programmes on the overall health of children by using information from the extensive nationwide registers on health and sociodemographic factors in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.Participants The cohort covers 9 072 420 children aged 0–17 years, born 1990–2017/2018 and living in Denmark, Finland, Norway or Sweden. All countries use a unique identification number for its permanent residents, which makes it possible to link individual-level information from different registers.Findings to date Data collection and harmonisation according to a common data model was completed in March 2022. As a prerequisite for comparing the effects of childhood vaccinations on the overall health of children across the Nordic countries, we have identified indicators measuring similar levels of infectious disease morbidity across these settings. So far, studies pertaining to non-specific effects of vaccines are limited to investigations that could be undertaken using aggregated data sets that were available before the NONSEnse cohort with individual-level information was completely set up.Future plans We are currently performing several studies of the effects on non-targeted infectious disease morbidity across the countries following vaccination against measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, human papillomavirus, rotavirus and influenza. Multiple studies are planned within the next years using different study designs to facilitate triangulation of results and enhance causal inference.Registration No clinical trials will be conducted within the NONSEnse project.

Cognitive biases toward disorder-specific stimuli are suggested as crucial to the development and maintenance of symptoms in adults with functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID). Functional abdominal pain disorders (FAPD), a subtype of FGID, are common in children and adolescents, but the influence of cognitive biases is sparsely examined. This study aimed to (1) develop a new experimental design for assessing cognitive biases toward gastrointestinal stimuli in children and adolescents (aged 8 to 17 years) and (2) derive comparative data on bias toward gastrointestinal stimuli using a healthy “normative” sample. The online experimental design–BY-GIS (Bias in Youth toward GastroIntestinal-related Stimuli)—includes a word task and a picture task. Stimuli in both tasks are related to general and gastrointestinal symptoms, and the design includes three phases: (1) encoding, (2) free recall, and (3) recognition. Data were collected between April 2022 and April 2023 from 96 healthy participants (Mage = 12.32, 47.92% female). Adolescents were significantly better at recalling words than children (p = 0.03), whereas there were no significant gender or age differences with regard to recalling pictures (p > 0.05). Across age and gender, participants performed above chance level in the recognition phases of both tasks. The results support that the design is suitable within the age span.

Abstract Background Urbanization can have profound effects on ecological interactions. For host–pathogen interactions, differences have been detected between urban and non-urban landscapes. However, host–pathogen interactions may also differ within highly heterogeneous, urbanized landscapes. Methods We investigated differences in infection risk (i.e., probability of infection) within urbanized landscapes using the coyote (Canis latrans) and mosquito-borne nematode, Dirofilaria immitis (the causative agent for canine heartworm), as a case study. We focused on a coyote population in Chicago for which extensive behavioral and heartworm infection data has been collected between 2001 and 2016. Our objectives were to: (i) determine how onset and duration of the heartworm transmission season varied over the 16-year period and across the urban–suburban gradient; and (ii) investigate how heartworm infection risk in coyotes varied over the years, across the urban–suburban gradient, by coyote characteristics (e.g., age, sex, resident status), and coyote use of the urbanized landscape (e.g., use of urban areas, mosquito habitats). Results While onset of the heartworm transmission season differed neither by year nor across the urban–suburban gradient, it was longer closer to the core of Chicago. Of the 315 coyotes sampled, 31.1% were infected with D. immitis. Older coyotes and coyotes sampled in later years (i.e., 2012–2016) were more likely to have heartworm. While coyote location in the urban–suburban gradient was not a significant predictor of infection, the proportion of urban land in coyote home ranges was. Importantly, the size and direction of this association varied by age class. For adults and pups, infection risk declined with urbanization, whereas for subadults it increased. Further, models had a higher predictive power when focusing on resident coyotes (and excluding transient coyotes). The proportion of mosquito habitat in coyote home ranges was not a significant predictor of infection. Conclusions Our findings suggest that urbanization may affect host exposure to vectors of D. immitis, that risk of infection can vary within urbanized landscapes, and that urbanization–wildlife infection associations may only be detected for animals with certain characteristics (e.g., age class and resident status). Graphical abstract

Greater Prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) historically occupied 20 states within the contiguous United States; however, due to habitat degradation and loss, they are currently found in 11 states, only four of which have a stable population. Kansas supports a relatively large abundance of Greater Prairie-chickens, where the Flint Hills ecoregion historically supported the largest population density of all ecoregions. In the past decade, the Flint Hills population has declined by 75 % to an estimated 8,334 individuals in 2021 from 34,180 individuals in 2015 due to landscape changes and intensification of grassland management practices. The Fort Riley Military Reservation in the northwest portion of the Flint Hills ecoregion is one of a few areas within the ecoregion that does not implement grazing or vast annual burning. The Greater Prairie-chicken population within Fort Riley has remained relatively stable over the past 25 years despite being constrained by surrounding landscape features and development. We analyzed multiple scales of resource selection by 46 female Greater Prairie-chickens during March-April 2019–2021 on Fort Riley to investigate why this population is doing relatively well compared to populations in surrounding areas. We tested landscape feature, vegetation, and burn mosaic variables to evaluate which variables had the greatest influence on resource selection. Landscape features had the greatest influence on resource selection. Females avoided trees within Fort Riley for both breeding season use and nest-site selection at a greater margin than any other study in Kansas. Additionally, fourth-order selection was not evident within this study system, contrary to studies within surrounding areas. Our findings join a growing body of literature that suggests containment of woody encroachment as a high priority for managers to maintain or expand prairie grouse habitat in many different environments. This containment is especially critical on Fort Riley because of its constrained environment, and further woody encroachment could lead to loss of habitat that is inescapable by the Greater Prairie-chicken population on Fort Riley. Spatially-explicit evaluations of habitat availability are increasingly important as more areas within the Greater Prairie-chicken range become constrained by urbanization, agricultural expansion, and intensive management practices.

Narrative identity – how individuals narrate their lived and remembered past – is usually assessed via independent rater coding, but new methods relying on self-report have been introduced. To test the assumption that different methods assess aspects of the same underlying construct, studies measuring similar components of narrative identity with different methods are needed. However, such studies are surprisingly rare. To begin to fill this gap, the present study compared the narrative variables, temporal coherence, causal coherence, and thematic coherence, measured via rater coding of participants' self-generated narratives of the remembered past and via subscales of the self-report measure Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire (ANIQ). The results showed that the ANIQ subscales did not correlate significantly with their corresponding rater-coded dimension, and that the ANIQ subscales were generally unrelated to the other rater-coded dimensions. Furthermore, an exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the ANIQ subscales loaded together on a factor that did not include any rater-coded variables. The findings suggest that the narrative variables share little empirical overlap when assessed via the ANIQ and rater coding of self-generated narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]