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Anxiety disorders are a significant cause of disability globally, yet only one in ten sufferers receives adequate quality treatment. Exposure-based therapies are effective in reducing symptoms associated with a number of anxiety disorders. However, few therapists use exposure techniques to treat these conditions, even when they are adequately trained in them, often because of concerns about provoking distress, drop out, logistical barriers, and other concerns. Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) can address many of these concerns, and a large body of research decisively shows that VRET is as efficacious for treating these conditions as in vivo exposures. Yet, use of VRET remains low. In this article, we discuss several factors we believe are contributing to low VRET adoption among therapists and raise potential solutions to address them. We consider steps that VR experience developers and researchers might take, such as leading studies of VRET's real-world effectiveness and treatment optimization trials and continuing to improve the fit of platforms with clinicians' workflows. We also discuss steps to address therapist reservations using aligned implementation strategies, as well as barriers for clinics, and the roles that professional organizations and payers could have in improving care by encouraging adoption of VRET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive carnivores are threatening the indigenous fauna of Aotearoa, but impacts vary with time, space and species. Conservation strategies require knowledge of predator-prey dynamics specific to different ecosystems and allowing for long-term guild shifts. To build this knowledge, we model the survivorship of the kea, a long-lived, ground-nesting parrot with an expansive species-range, using a dataset spanning two decades (1998–2021) and spanning several forest-dominated South Island montane ecosystems. Kea survivorship was lower in eastern ecosystems compared to western ones, depressed during carnivore irruptions, and elevated after predator control. Kea of all ages and both sexes fell prey to stoats and feral cats whilst foraging and roosting, not whilst nesting. Stoat depredation happened in all ecosystems, whereas feral cats featured more in eastern ones. Annual survivorship was high in most contexts (adults > 90%, juveniles > 70%), but a peak in stoat and feral cat predation in eastern ecosystems during 2020–2021 reduced adult survival to <60%. This predation peak followed a rodent population crash, the primary prey of carnivores in eastern beech forests. We conclude that predator impacts on kea are concentrated into post-mast years. Recommendations for management are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] parental inbred lines IA100RPS (Reg. no. PL‐319, PI 698107) and IA101RPS (Reg. no. PL‐320, PI 698108) were developed by the Iowa State University sorghum breeding program in Boone, IA, and released in 2019. These restorer inbred lines were generated to provide the forage and biofuel industry with improved germplasm capable of producing photoperiod‐sensitive hybrids with high biomass yield adapted to northern latitudes. IA100RPS and IA101RPS were developed using the pedigree breeding method from the cross of P89008 and RTx2910. IA100RPS is a purple plant with red grain, ∼2.4 m tall, that flowers on average 70 d after planting. IA101RPS is a tan plant with red grain, ∼2.1 m tall, that flowers on average 72 d after planting. From 2015 to 2018, both lines were evaluated in testcross combinations with a set of public A‐lines in multiple locations in the state of Iowa. Hybrids generated with IA100RPS and IA101RPS had significantly higher biomass yield than those derived from RTx2910 and RTx2909, with superior lodging resistance and higher dry matter content. This germplasm adapted to northern latitudes represents novel inbred lines with good general combining ability for the production of photoperiod‐sensitive forage or biofuel hybrids and could be used as parental sources for the development of improved sorghum lines with adaptation to the midwestern United States. Core Ideas: Novel restorer lines were developed to produce photoperiod‐sensitive biomass hybrids.Pollinator parents are adapted to northern latitudes.Inbred lines in hybrid combination produce biomass yield superior to those of Tx2910 and Tx2909.IA100RPS‐ and IA101RPS‐derived hybrids are valuable for forage use and biofuel industry.IA100RPS and IA101RPS have good general combining ability with diverse public A‐lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief report examines the evidence for moderators of psychosocial treatment for youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Understanding treatment moderators can help clinicians select the most appropriate intervention for a particular patient and consequently increase the likelihood of initial response. A systematic search of the literature was conducted to identify randomized trials and meta-analyses reporting on moderators of psychosocial treatment for pediatric OCD. All studies included a comparison of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to active or control conditions. Few studies have evaluated moderators of psychosocial treatment for youth with OCD, and among those studies, few variables have demonstrated a differential effect on treatment response. Moderator analyses require large samples to garner the statistical power necessary to adequately evaluate differential responding in subgroups, and unfortunately, most reports of moderators in this review are post-hoc investigations of datasets from trials with relatively small sample sizes. Given the overwhelming number of CBT treatment variants and potential moderators, it would be impossible to conduct all the necessary head-to-head trials with sufficient sample sizes to develop helpful clinical guidelines. The best option for advancing the moderator literature is to utilize advanced statistical approaches for pooling existing data sets. Recommendations for leveraging emerging techniques in individual participant data meta-analysis (IPD-MA) are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few studies have investigated the patterns of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom change in prolonged exposure (PE) therapy. In this study, we aimed to understand the patterns of PTSD symptom change in both PE and present-centered therapy (PCT). Methods: Participants were active duty military personnel (N = 326, 89.3% male, 61.2% white, 32.5 years old) randomized to spaced-PE (S-PE; 10 sessions over 8 weeks), PCT (10 sessions over 8 weeks), or massed-PE (M-PE; 10 sessions over 2 weeks). Using latent profile analysis, we determined the optimal number of PTSD symptom change classes over time and analyzed whether baseline and follow-up variables were associated with class membership. Results: Five classes, namely rapid responder (7–17%), steep linear responder (14–22%), gradual responder (30–34%), non-responder (27–33%), and symptom exacerbation (7–13%) classes, characterized each treatment. No baseline clinical characteristics predicted class membership for S-PE and M-PE; in PCT, more negative baseline trauma cognitions predicted membership in the non-responder v. gradual responder class. Class membership was robustly associated with PTSD, trauma cognitions, and depression up to 6 months after treatment for both S-PE and M-PE but not for PCT. Conclusions: Distinct profiles of treatment response emerged that were similar across interventions. By and large, no baseline variables predicted responder class. Responder status was a strong predictor of future symptom severity for PE, whereas response to PCT was not as strongly associated with future symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]