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Aim Demands for mental health services in post‐secondary institutions are increasing. This paper describes key features of a response to these needs: ACCESS Open Minds University of Alberta (ACCESS OM UA) is focused on improving mental health services for first‐year students, as youth transition to university and adulthood. Methods The core transformation activities at ACCESS OM UA are described, including early case identification, rapid access, appropriate and timely connections to follow‐up care and engagement of students and families/carers. In addition, we depict local experiences of transforming existing services around these objectives. Results The ACCESS OM UA Network has brought together staff with diverse backgrounds in order to address the unique needs of students. Together with the addition of ACCESS Clinicians these elements represent a systematic effort to support not just mental health, but the student as a whole. Key learnings include the importance of community mapping to developing networks and partnerships, and engaging stakeholders from design through to implementation for transformation to be sustainable. Conclusions Service transformation grounded in principles of community‐based research allows for incorporation of local knowledge, expertise and opportunities. This approach requires ample time to consult, develop rapport between staff and stakeholders across diverse units and develop processes in keeping with local opportunities and constraints. Ongoing efforts will continue to monitor changing student needs and to evaluate and adapt the transformations outlined in this paper to reflect those needs.

Microgravity was used in an attempt to define the crystal structure of the polyQ repeat of huntingtin alone or bound to MW1, an anti-polyQ Fab. While huntingtin was not crystallized in the experiments, analysis of microgravity-grown and Earth-grown MW1 Fab crystals showed that, on average, microgravity-grown crystals of MW1 Fab showed an increase in size and an improvement in resolution and mosaicity when compared with Earth-grown crystals in one space group, in agreement with data published for other proteins, although the highest overall resolution X-ray data in our experiments were obtained from a crystal grown on Earth., Huntington’s disease is one of nine neurodegenerative diseases caused by a polyglutamine (polyQ)-repeat expansion. An anti-polyQ antigen-binding fragment, MW1 Fab, was crystallized both on Earth and on the International Space Station, a microgravity environment where convection is limited. Once the crystals returned to Earth, the number, size and morphology of all crystals were recorded, and X-ray data were collected from representative crystals. The results generally agreed with previous microgravity crystallization studies. On average, microgravity-grown crystals were 20% larger than control crystals grown on Earth, and microgravity-grown crystals had a slightly improved mosaicity (decreased by 0.03°) and diffraction resolution (decreased by 0.2 Å) compared with control crystals grown on Earth. However, the highest resolution and lowest mosaicity crystals were formed on Earth, and the highest-quality crystal overall was formed on Earth after return from microgravity.

The Social risk hypothesis contends that mild to moderate depression has evolved to promote belonging in small communities by making members sensitive to signs of rejection and motivated to restore their social value (Allen & Badcock, 2003). Using self-report data from 397 working adults, structural equation modeling examined the relationships between secure attachment, social comparison, defeat, depression, submissive behaviors, interpersonal sensitivity, and self-esteem. The analysis provided empirical support for an evolved adaptive mechanism functioning in mild to moderate depression. However, the moderating impact of social investment potential as an internal gauge measuring one's ratio of social value and social burden was only partially supported. Overall, the results of this study support the adaptive nature of mild to moderate depression as a mechanism that evolved to help sustain crucial restorative relationships and to prevent dangerous social risks.

This study examined the roles of hassles, avoidant and problem-focused coping, and perceived social support as mediating the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress in a sample of university professors. Hassles and avoidant coping both partially mediated a strong association between maladaptive perfectionism and psychological distress. These results are discussed in terms of the need to better understand how coping styles and social support are associated with the negative impact of perfectionism on the lives of university professors. The implications of these findings for counseling practice are also explored.

Objective: To survey Alberta psychiatrists on their prescribing of psychostimulants to adults. Method: A questionnaire was mailed to all 245 registered psychiatrists in Alberta. The respondents were requested to anonymously report, for the previous year, the number of adult patients to whom they prescribed pemoline, methylphenidate, amphetamines, or other psychostimulants for the treatment of adult attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, unipolar depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, and other disorders. Results: The response rate was 93.9%; 88.7% treated adults. Of these, 46.6% prescribed psychostimulants to 1238 patients. The greatest proportion of prescriptions of psychostimulants was for adult ADHD, depression, and narcolepsy. Conclusions: Psychostimulants are more widely prescribed by psychiatrists than indicated in earlier studies and in recommendations for treatment.

[1] A sediment core collected in the mesohaline portion of Chesapeake Bay was found to contain periods of increased delivery of refractory black carbon (BC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The BC was most likely produced by biomass combustion during four centennial-scale dry periods as indicated by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), beginning in the late Medieval Warm Period of 1100 CE. In contrast, wetter periods were associated with increased non-BC organic matter influx into the bay, likely due to greater runoff and associated nutrient delivery. In addition, an overall increase in both BC and non-BC organic matter deposition during the past millennium may reflect a shift in climate regime. The finding that carbon sequestration in the coastal zone responds to climate fluctuations at both centennial and millennial scales through fire occurrence and nutrient delivery has implications for past and future climate predictions. Drought-induced fires may lead, on longer timescales, to greater carbon sequestration and, therefore, represent a negative climate feedback.

Black carbon (BC), the product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass (called elemental carbon (EC) in atmospheric sciences), was quantified in 12 different materials by 17 laboratories from different disciplines, using seven different methods. The materials were divided into three classes: (1) potentially interfering materials, (2) laboratory-produced BC-rich materials, and (3) BC-containing environmental matrices (from soil, water, sediment, and atmosphere). This is the first comprehensive intercomparison of this type (multimethod, multilab, and multisample), focusing mainly on methods used for soil and sediment BC studies. Results for the potentially interfering materials (which by definition contained no fire-derived organic carbon) highlighted situations where individual methods may overestimate BC concentrations. Results for the BC-rich materials (one soot and two chars) showed that some of the methods identified most of the carbon in all three materials as BC, whereas other methods identified only soot carbon as BC. The different methods also gave widely different BC contents for the environmental matrices. However, these variations could be understood in the light of the findings for the other two groups of materials, i.e., that some methods incorrectly identify non-BC carbon as BC, and that the detection efficiency of each technique varies across the BC continuum. We found that atmospheric BC quantification methods are not ideal for soil and sediment studies as in their methodology these incorporate the definition of BC as light-absorbing material irrespective of its origin, leading to biases when applied to terrestrial and sedimentary materials. This study shows that any attempt to merge data generated via different methods must consider the different, operationally defined analytical windows of the BC continuum detected by each technique, as well as the limitations and potential biases of each technique. A major goal of this ring trial was to provide a basis on which to choose between the different BC quantification methods in soil and sediment studies. In this paper we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each method. In future studies, we strongly recommend the evaluation of all methods analyzing for BC in soils and sediments against the set of BC reference materials analyzed here.

Bathing creates some of the highest levels of discomfort in the lives of individuals diagnosed with dementia. The present study measured the frequency of 14 agitated behaviors during bathing in 15 elderly residents with dementia residing in a continuing care center. Each resident was observed for four sessions of two different bathing methods, the conventional tub bath and a modification of the bed bath, known as the Thermal bath. The summed frequencies of all agitated behaviors was significantly less for the Thermal bath than the tub bath. This overall effect was greater in men than women and in one particular behavior, shivering. The results suggest that for individuals with dementia the Thermal bath offers a viable alternative to the conventional tub method. Further research may clarify other parameters, such as cost effectiveness and long-term effects of the use of non-rinse cleansers for elderly individuals.