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The role of loneliness in the bereavement experience has been reported as substantial, with the death of a close person leaving a considerable void in the life of the bereaved. Yet, there is lack of agreement about its precise role and, notably, whether loneliness should be included as a core symptom for diagnosis of grief complications. The ongoing threat of heightened social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic underlines the need to understand the impact of loneliness, and to accurately chart its prevalence, intensity, duration, and associated difficulties in the context of bereavement. Assessment issues are central to this endeavor. In this article, we review the scientific literature to examine how loneliness after bereavement has been operationalized and measured. Sixty-three articles analyzing 51 independent datasets were reviewed. Results show major disparities: approximately half of the projects assessed loneliness by means of one of two validated scales (spanning different versions); the remainder included only single- or few-item measures. Diverse instructions, content and answer categories were used. While one size does not fit all, awareness of assessment options and dis/advantages may aid selection of the most appropriate measure, to suit the goals of a particular study and the specific groups under investigation. Our conclusion is that, in selecting a loneliness measure, health care professionals should come to their own well-informed decision, aided by the information provided in our review.

Het fasedenken over rouw, zoals dat door Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in 1969 in een model is vastgelegd, is helaas uitgegroeid tot een wetmatigheid. Dat heeft schadelijke gevolgen. We moeten het fasedenken dus laten vallen. Dat het overlijden van een dierbare intens verdriet tot gevolg heeft en een forse weerslag heeft op het welzijn en de gezondheid van nabestaanden, is genoegzaam bekend. Met het oog op het bieden van de juiste hulp, is het dan ook van belang een helder beeld te hebben hoe nabestaanden op een goede manier omgaan met het verlies, hun verdriet en het leven dat verder gaat. Met dat in het achterhoofd, heeft wetenschappelijk onderzoek zich bijvoorbeeld toegelegd op het onderscheiden van functionele en niet-functionele manieren waarop nabestaanden het hoofd bieden aan het verlies. Juist ook omdat dit veranderbare zaken zijn in de context van hulpverlening bij rouw. We weten bijvoorbeeld dat traumatische omstandigheden van overlijden een risicofactor zijn, maar aan die situatie is niets te veranderen, terwijl manieren van omgaan met stress dat wel zijn. Disfunctionele gedachten (zoals ‘mijn leven is voorbij nu mijn man er niet meer is’) bijvoorbeeld, kunnen binnen een therapeutische context uitgedaagd worden in een poging die te vervangen door minder desastreuze en vaak ook realistischer cognities. Het feit van het verlies verandert daarmee niet, maar een deel van de impact die het heeft, kan daarmee worden weggenomen.

The envelope of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) consists of a liquid-ordered membrane enriched in raft lipids and containing the viral glycoproteins. Previous studies demonstrated that changes in viral membrane lipid composition affecting membrane structure or curvature can impair infectivity. Here, we describe novel antiviral compounds that were identified by screening compound libraries based on raft lipid-like scaffolds. Three distinct molecular structures were chosen for mode-of-action studies, a sterol derivative (J391B), a sphingosine derivative (J582C) and a long aliphatic chain derivative (IBS70). All three target the viral membrane and inhibit virus infectivity at the stage of fusion without perturbing virus stability or affecting virion-associated envelope glycoproteins. Their effect did not depend on the expressed envelope glycoproteins or a specific entry route, being equally strong in HIV pseudotypes carrying VSV-G or MLV-Env glycoproteins. Labeling with laurdan, a reporter of membrane order, revealed different membrane structure alterations upon compound treatment of HIV-1, which correlated with loss of infectivity. J582C and IBS70 decreased membrane order in distinctive ways, whereas J391B increased membrane order. The compounds' effects on membrane order were reproduced in liposomes generated from extracted HIV lipids and thus independent both of virion proteins and of membrane leaflet asymmetry. Remarkably, increase of membrane order by J391B required phosphatidylserine, a lipid enriched in the HIV envelope. Counterintuitively, mixtures of two compounds with opposite effects on membrane order, J582C and J391B, did not neutralize each other but synergistically inhibited HIV infection. Thus, altering membrane order, which can occur by different mechanisms, constitutes a novel antiviral mode of action that may be of general relevance for enveloped viruses and difficult to overcome by resistance development.

Manatees live in shallow, frequently turbid waters. The sensory means by which they navigate in these conditions are unknown. Poor visual acuity, lack of echo- location, and modest chemosensation suggest that other modalities play an important role. Rich innervation of sen- sory hairs that cover the entire body and enlarged soma- tosensory areas of the brain suggest that tactile senses are good candidates. Previous tests of detection of underwater vibratory stimuli indicated that they use passive movement of the hairs to detect particle displacements in the vicinity of a micron or less for frequencies from 10 to 150 Hz. In the current study, hydrodynamic stimuli were created by a sinusoidally oscillating sphere that generated a dipole field at frequencies from 5 to 150 Hz. Go/no-go tests of manatee postcranial mechanoreception of hydrodynamic stimuli indicated excellent sensitivity but about an order of magnitude less than the facial region. When the vibrissae were trimmed, detection thresholds were elevated, suggest- ing that the vibrissae were an important means by which detection occurred. Manatees were also highly accurate in two-choice directional discrimination: greater than 90% correct at all frequencies tested. We hypothesize that mana- tees utilize vibrissae as a three-dimensional array to detect and localize low-frequency hydrodynamic stimuli

There is lack of clarity in the scientific literature concerning the adaptive functions of continuing versus relinquishing bonds to deceased persons. It remains unclear what type of bonds or underlying processes are related to (mal)adaptive bereavement outcomes. Furthermore, empirical research has rarely been theoretically-driven. Thus, the purpose of this article is to outline a theoretical model for predicting the (mal)adaptiveness of continuing-relinquishing bonds. Attachment theory provides a generic framework for understanding patterns of individual differences in the impact of continuing bonds. Within this framework, using bereavement-specific models compatible with attachment theory, (1) ways of coping with the bond to the deceased can be linked to outcome (using the Dual Process Model, Stroebe & Schut, 1999), and (2) related cognitions about the deceased person proposed (drawing on Mental Representations Theory, Boerner & Heckhausen, 2003). This integrative model can be used to systematically examine the relationship between continuing bonds and bereavement adaptation.

The authors reflect on the advancements in the integration of caregiving and bereavement research. They state that they observe increasing evidence of continuity in caregiving and bereavement investigation and integration. They find that the Caregiver Health Effects Study and Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health Study (REACH) have helped caregivers understand the burden of caregiving related to bereavement outcome.

There is lack of clarity in the scientific literature concerning the adaptive functions of continuing versus relinquishing bonds to deceased persons. It remains unclear what type of bonds or underlying processes are related to (mal)adaptive bereavement outcomes. Furthermore, empirical research has rarely been theoretically-driven. Thus, the purpose of this article is to outline a theoretical model for predicting the (mal)adaptiveness of continuing-relinquishing bonds. Attachment theory provides a generic framework for understanding patterns of individual differences in the impact of continuing bonds. Within this framework, using bereavement-specific models compatible with attachment theory, (1) ways of coping with the bond to the deceased can be linked to outcome (using the Dual Process Model, Stroebe & Schut, 1999), and (2) related cognitions about the deceased person proposed (drawing on Mental Representations Theory, Boerner & Heckhausen, 2003). This integrative model can be used to systematically examine the relationship between continuing bonds and bereavement adaptation.