Search

Visible disruptions of appropriate food distribution for end consumers during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted calls for an urgent, renewed look at how the U.S. agri-food system is impacted by and responds to pandemics, natural disasters, and human-made crises. Previous studies suggest the COVID-19 pandemic yielded uneven impacts across agri-food supply chain segments and regions. For a rigorously comparable assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on agri-food businesses, a survey was administered from February to April 2021 to five segments of the agri-food supply chain in three study regions (California, Florida, and the two-state region of Minnesota-Wisconsin). Results (N = 870) measuring the self-reported changes in quarterly business revenue in 2020 compared to businesses' typical experience pre-COVID-19 suggest significant differences across supply chain segments and regions. In the Minnesota-Wisconsin region, restaurants took the largest hit and the upstream supply chains were relatively unaffected. In California, however, the negative impacts were felt throughout the supply chain. Two factors likely contributed to regional differences: (1) regional disparities in pandemic evolution and governance and (2) structural differences in regional agri-food systems. Regionalized and localized planning and the development of best-practices will be necessary for the U.S. agri-food system to enhance preparedness for and resilience to future pandemics, natural disasters, and human-made crises.

911 calls reporting the mysterious disappearance of a child may contain information critical to law enforcement. If this information is untruthful, valuable resources can be misdirected and precious time may be lost. Therefore, the current study examined verbal cues of veracity and deception in 911 calls placed by caregivers of missing children. Specifically, the current study compared differences between a sample of caregivers who falsely reported a child missing to conceal their role in the child's homicide and truthful caregivers who reported a child missing and had no knowledge of the child's whereabouts at the time of the call. Results show promise and consistency with previously proposed indicators of veracity and deception. Specifically, a greater number of self-handicapping statements were made by deceptive individuals, whereas truthtellers were more likely to spontaneously self-correct. Practical implications are discussed.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the structural connectivity of key brainstem nuclei with limbic cortical regions is essential to the development of therapeutic neuromodulation for depression, chronic pain, addiction, anxiety and movement disorders. Several brainstem nuclei have been identified as the primary central nervous system (CNS) source of important monoaminergic ascending fibers including the noradrenergic locus coeruleus, serotonergic dorsal raphe nucleus, and dopaminergic ventral tegmental area. However, due to practical challenges to their study, there is limited data regarding their in vivo anatomic connectivity in humans. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the structural connectivity of the following brainstem nuclei with limbic cortical areas: locus coeruleus, ventral tegmental area, periaqueductal grey, dorsal raphe nucleus, and nucleus tractus solitarius. Additionally, to develop a group average atlas of these limbic brainstem structures to facilitate future analyses. METHODS: Each nucleus was manually masked from 197 Human Connectome Project (HCP) structural MRI images using FSL software. Probabilistic tractography was performed using FSLs FMRIB Diffusion Toolbox. Connectivity with limbic cortical regions was calculated and compared between brainstem nuclei. Results were aggregated to produce a freely available MNI structural atlas of limbic brainstem structures. RESULTS: A general trend was observed for a high probability of connectivity to the amygdala, hippocampus and DLPFC with relatively lower connectivity to the orbitofrontal cortex, NAc, hippocampus and insula. The locus coeruleus and nucleus tractus solitarius demonstrated significantly greater connectivity to the DLPFC than amygdala while the periaqueductal grey, dorsal raphe nucleus, and ventral tegmental area did not demonstrate a significant difference between these two structures. CONCLUSION: Monoaminergic and other modulatory nuclei in the brainstem project widely to cortical limbic regions. We describe the structural connectivity across the several key brainstem nuclei theorized to influence emotion, reward, and cognitive functions. An increased understanding of the anatomic basis of the brainstems role in emotion and other reward-related processing will support targeted neuromodulatary therapies aimed at alleviating the symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders.

INTRODUCTION: Performance-based assessments of social skills have detected impairments in people with severe mental illness and are correlated with functional outcomes in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The most common of these assessments, the Social Skills Performance Assessment (SSPA), has two communication scenarios and items measuring both social competence and appropriateness. As real-world competence and appropriateness appear to have different correlates, we hypothesized that SSPA Items measuring competence and appropriateness would be distinct and have different correlations with other outcomes. METHODS: We aggregated data from 557 people with schizophrenia, 106 with bipolar disorder, and 378 well controls from 4 separate research studies. All participants were assessed with both SSPA scenarios and other performance based and clinician-rated measures. A single expert rated the SSPA interactions for competence and appropriateness while blind to participant diagnoses. RESULTS: Participants with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia performed more poorly on every item of the SSPA than healthy controls. Items measuring social competence and appropriateness in communication were intercorrelated across scenarios, as were elements of socially competent communication, although the items measuring competence did not correlate substantially with appropriateness. Items assessing social competence, but not social appropriateness, correlated with better cognitive and functional performance and residential and financial independence. DISCUSSION: Social competence and social appropriateness were distinct elements of performance-based social skills with potential differences in their functional correlates. As both social competence and appropriateness impact functional outcomes, improvement in the measurement and treatment of appropriate communication seems to be an important goal.

While it is well-known that faculty-student interaction is key to student success, few institutions have directly leveraged faculty in supporting academic persistence. Many myths about persistence proliferate, and faculty can unwittingly hinder persistence by implementing the wrong kinds of practices. Faculty are most empowered to support student persistence when they understand and care about this issue. They are also better equipped to help when they have a good, current command of the body of knowledge relating to persistence. To address this, we created a blended faculty development program to engage faculty in the scholarship of academic persistence, addressing myths and misconceptions about persistence, and expanding understanding of what it is like to be a first-year student at our university. The Persistence Scholars Program engaged a total of 32 faculty over two semesters, beginning with pre-readings and an in-person daylong workshop followed by an eight or ten-week course. The curriculum was built around a central text, Completing College by Vincent Tinto, and selected empirical and germane articles. Participants engaged in online discussions and two experiential projects, including one that asked them to complete an activity that would enhance their understanding of first-year students' experiences. Assessments of this program focused on participant ratings of target competencies (e.g., the ability to identify and dispel myths about why students persist), perception of usefulness of different specific assignments and materials, and suggestions for how the program can be refined for future cohorts.

OBJECTIVES: Disability is common in bipolar disorder (BD) and predicted by persistent sadness. We used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine daily activities in people with BD and schizophrenia. We classified activities as productive, unproductive, or passive recreation, relating them to momentary sadness, location, and social context. METHODS: 71 people with BD and 102 people with schizophrenia were sampled 3 times/day for 30 days with an EMA survey. Each survey asked where they were, with whom, what they were doing, and if they were sad. RESULTS: People with BD were home more than 50% of the time. There were no differences in prevalence of activity types across diagnoses. People with BD were less likely to report only one activity since the prior survey, but the most surveys still reported only one. For both groups, sadness and being home and alone since the last survey was associated with less productive activity and more passive recreation. CONCLUSIONS: Participants with BD and schizophrenia manifested high levels of unproductive and passive activities, predicted by momentary sadness. These activity patterns are consistent with descriptions of avolition and they minimally differentiated people with BD and schizophrenia. Previous reports of negative symptoms in BD may have been identifying these behaviors.

Objective: The development and deployment of technology-based assessments of clinical symptoms are increasing. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine clinical symptoms and relates these sampling results to structured clinical ratings. Methods: Three times a day for 30 days, participants with bipolar disorder (n=71; BPI) or schizophrenia (n=102; SCZ) completed surveys assessing five psychosis-related and five mood symptoms, in addition to reporting their location and who they were with at the time of survey completion. Participants also completed Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) interviews with trained raters. Mixed-model repeated-measures (MMRM) analyses examined diagnostic effects and the convergence between clinical ratings and EMA sampling. Results: In total, 12,406 EMA samples were collected, with 80-percent adherence to prompts. EMA-reported psychotic symptoms manifested substantial convergence with equivalent endpoint PANSS items. Patients with SCZ had more severe PANSS and EMA psychotic symptoms. There were no changes in symptom severity scores as a function of the number of previous assessments. Conclusions: EMA surveyed clinical symptoms converged substantially with commonly used clinical rating scales in a large sample, with high adherence. This suggested that remote assessment of clinical symptoms is valid and practical and was not associated with alterations in symptoms as a function of reassessment, with additional benefits of in the moment sampling, such as eliminating recall bias and the need for informant reports.

Restorative justice (RJ) practices have expanded significantly with the aim of improving school safety. Despite RJ's potential for transformative change, the factors driving these changes have rarely been the focus of rigorous scientific investigation. This qualitative study applies a system change framework to examine how organizational system structures (i.e., resources, beliefs, policies, decision-making, and power) affect RJ implementation. This study leverages an experimental design to understand how enhancing staff capacity to implement RJ programming can promote system change. Findings highlight the influence of material resources, social relationships, beliefs about teaching and discipline, and decision-making by principals on the implementation of RJ practices. Findings also underscore the importance of developing RJ staff capacity to create a resource-rich environment that promotes implementation and drives system changes.

BackgroundIntensive treatment programmes (ITPs) have shown promise for reducing PTSD and depression symptoms. It is still unknown whether treatment gains are maintained following completion.ObjectiveThis study examined whether veterans were able to maintain treatment gains for up to 12 months after an ITP for PTSD and whether reductions in negative posttrauma cognitions predicted treatment gain maintenance.Methods209 veterans (62.7% male, mean age = 40.86 years) completed a 3-week, CPT-based ITP for PTSD. Participants' PTSD (PCL-5) and depression (PHQ-9) symptoms were assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up timepoints.ResultsDespite small symptom increases from post-treatment to 3-month follow-up, significant and clinically meaningful reductions in PTSD and depression symptoms were reported from intake to 12 months follow-up (averaging >18 points on the PCL-5 and >6 points on the PHQ-9; d = 1.28, and d = 1.18, respectively). Greater reductions in negative posttrauma cognitions during treatment were associated with lower PTSD (p

Rapid advances in the quality and accessibility of immersive virtual reality (IVR) have brought about intense interest in applications of the technology within higher education, including STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) teaching and learning. However, evidence is mixed on the effectiveness of IVR for STEM teaching and learning, and there are currently few models of how best to incorporate these activities into typical STEM courses. We created a sequence of IVR activities for teaching concepts in organic chemistry and carried out an experimental investigation on the impacts of these on student performance, with special focus on student characteristics including first-generation college student status, gender, and ethnicity. Two sections of Organic Chemistry were compared; in one randomly assigned section, students had the option of completing these IVR activities, and in the other, they did not. Results showed a trend towards improved course grades and final exam scores in the section offered IVR activities, particularly for first-generation college students. These findings suggest that IVR can be a practical and effective way to reinforce learning and student success in realistic university STEM settings, especially for certain demographic subgroups.

This study explores the protective effects of family cohesion and school belongingness against the negative consequences of bullying. 481 immigrant and nonimmigrant US middle-school students (M[subscript age] = 13.28(0.87), 49% female; 36% ethnic minority) self-reported their experiences being bullied, school belongingness, family cohesion, and socioemotional well-being measured as externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors. First- or second-generation immigrant youth (n = 72) came from 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. Family cohesion served as a protective factor for both immigrant and nonimmigrant youth, but for different outcomes of bullying experiences. For immigrant youth who experienced more bullying, having a more cohesive family was associated with decreased levels of internalizing problems. Additionally, stronger school belongingness and especially family cohesion related to more prosocial behaviors among more frequently bullied immigrant youth. Nonimmigrant youth who experienced bullying, however, reported fewer externalizing problems when they had stronger family cohesion and especially school belongingness. The findings highlight the importance of considering the interacting systems in which immigrant youth are embedded and suggest that family cohesion as a protective factor may work differently for immigrant than for nonimmigrant youth experiencing bias-based bullying.

Misconceptions and insufficient knowledge related to attention and multitasking can negatively influence academic performance. As part of an educational intervention titled "Attention Matters!" designed to address these issues, 298 college students completed an online module that included the Counterproductive Beliefs Survey (CBS) both before and after module completion. The CBS assessed self-perceptions of multitasking ability and agreement with common fallacies involving memory and attention. Analysis of survey results revealed a significant gender difference, with males having higher CBS scores, corresponding to higher levels of self-perceived multitasking ability and with higher agreement with misconceptions about memory and attention. This gender difference was especially evident in the survey items relating to memory. Correcting counterproductive beliefs may help strengthen study habits and the ability to manage distraction during learning.