An examination of mental health policy implementation efforts and the intermediaries that support them in New Zealand, Canada and Sweden: a comparative case study.

Introduction: The implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices across systems is a complex, multifaceted endeavor, often requiring the mobilization of multiple organizations from a range of contexts. In order to facilitate this process, policy makers, innovation developers and service deliverers are increasingly calling upon intermediaries to support implementation, yet relatively little is known about precisely how they contribute to implementation. This study examines the role of intermediaries supporting the implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices in the mental health and addictions systems of New Zealand, Ontario, Canada and Sweden.

COVID-19-related stressors exacerbate food insecurity and depressive symptoms among graduate students receiving campus basic needs services: Cross-sectional findings from seven California public universities.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity and depression were growing public health concerns among graduate students. Yet, little is known about how COVID-19-related stressors exacerbated these health outcomes among graduate students. To address this research gap, this study examined two types of COVID-19-related stressors, anticipated concerns about remote learning and challenges interfering with academic and research responsibilities, in relation to food insecurity and depressive symptoms among public university graduate students.

Bernice Lott (1930-2022).

This article memorializes Bernice Lott (1930-2022), professor emerita of psychology and women's studies at the University of Rhode Island and the first dean of the school's University College, a trailblazing social psychologist who redefined how we understand gender, ethnicity, and social class; a fierce feminist social justice pioneer and activist; and an extraordinary mentor and colleague. Highlights of Lott's career and professional contributions are noted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding the implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices from a policy perspective: a critical interpretive synthesis.

Background: The fields of implementation science and knowledge translation have evolved somewhat independently from the field of policy implementation research, despite calls for better integration. As a result, implementation theory and empirical work do not often reflect the implementation experience from a policy lens nor benefit from the scholarship in all three fields. This means policymakers, researchers, and practitioners may find it challenging to draw from theory that adequately reflects their implementation efforts.

Psychology's contributions to understanding and alleviating poverty and economic inequality: Introduction to the special section.

In the United States and around the world, economic inequality is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Psychological research is crucial to illuminating and interrupting the damaging consequences of economic hardship and disparities, understanding interpersonal and institutional responses to poverty and economic inequality, and developing effective poverty alleviation programs and policies. The articles in this special section explore psychology's contributions to understanding and alleviating poverty and economic inequality, focusing on mitigating the effects of economic hardship on children and youth, how employment and work-related dynamics contribute to economic inequality, and psychology's presence in federal policymaking.

Understanding the supports needed for policy implementation: a comparative analysis of the placement of intermediaries across three mental health systems.

Background: Intermediaries are organisations or programmes that work between policy-makers and service providers to facilitate effective implementation of evidence-informed policies, programmes and practices. A number of intermediaries now exist in well-established mental health systems; however, research on them, and how they may be optimised to support implementation is lacking. This research seeks to understand the puzzling variation in the system placement of intermediaries supporting policy implementation in the mental health systems of Canada (Ontario), New Zealand and Scotland.

A Fresh Approach to Reform? A Policy Analysis of the Development and Implementation of Ontario's Mental Health and Addictions Strategy.

Background: Open Minds, Healthy Minds, Ontario's Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy commits to the transformation of mental health and addictions services for all Ontarians.

Objective: We analyzed the formulation and implementation of this Strategy to address the question: What are the prospects for transformative change in Ontario's current approach to mental health and addictions?

Methods: Qualitative policy analysis using interpretive description of key documents of the policy process, drawing on policy network and horizontal governance theory.

Results: Three features set this policy process apart from previous reform efforts: (1) expansion of the state pluralist network to those outside of health, (2) extension of the policy network approach into the Strategy's implementation stage and (3) the combined presence of political and policy leadership.

Social class and policy preferences: implications for economic inequality and interclass relations.

Record-setting levels of income and wealth inequality are deepening social class divisions. The adoption of strong progressive redistributive policies is crucial to reducing class inequities, yet many barriers to doing so exist. This review examines class-based policy preferences, focusing on the effects of economic self-interest, system justification, and classist, racist, and sexist stereotypes on policy support.

Repurposing a novel parathyroid hormone analogue to treat hypoparathyroidism.

Background And Purpose: Human parathyroid hormone (PTH) is critical for maintaining physiological calcium homeostasis and plays an important role in the formation and maintenance of the bone. Full-length PTH and a truncated peptide form are approved for treatment of hypoparathyroidism and osteoporosis respectively. Our initial goal was to develop an improved PTH therapy for osteoporosis, but clinical development was halted.

Elevated levels of Interleukin (IL)-33 induce bone pathology but absence of IL-33 does not negatively impact normal bone homeostasis.

Interleukin (IL)-33 is a member of the IL-1 family. IL-33 effects are mediated through its receptor, ST2 and IL-1RAcP, and its signaling induces the production of a number of pro-inflammatory mediators, including TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6, and IFN-γ. There are conflicting reports on the role of IL-33 in bone homeostasis, with some demonstrating a bone protective role for IL-33 whilst others show that IL-33 induces inflammatory arthritis with concurrent bone destruction.

2-Chloro-4-[[(1R,2R)-2-hydroxy-2-methyl-cyclopentyl]amino]-3-methyl-benzonitrile: A Transdermal Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM) for Muscle Atrophy.

A transdermal SARM has a potential to have therapeutic benefit through anabolic activity in muscle while sparing undesired effects of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and liver-mediated decrease in HDL-C. 2-Chloro-4-[(2-hydroxy-2-methyl-cyclopentyl)amino]-3-methyl-benzonitrile 6 showed the desired muscle and prostate effects in a preclinical ORX rat model. Compound 6 had minimal effect on HDL-C levels in cynomolgus monkeys and showed human cadaver skin permeability, thus making it an effective tool for proof-of-concept studies in a clinical setting.

Molecular targets of androgen signaling that characterize skeletal muscle recovery and regeneration.

The high regenerative capacity of adult skeletal muscle relies on a self-renewing depot of adult stem cells, termed muscle satellite cells (MSCs). Androgens, known mediators of overall body composition and specifically skeletal muscle mass, have been shown to regulate MSCs. The possible overlapping function of androgen regulation of muscle growth and MSC activation has not been carefully investigated with regards to muscle regeneration.

Factors influencing service use among homeless youths with co-occurring disorders.

Objective: Given high rates of co-occurring mental and substance use disorders among homeless youths and poorly understood facilitators of and barriers to service use, this study explored factors influencing service use among homeless youths with co-occurring disorders.

Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 23 youths age 18 to 26 with co-occurring disorders. Group discussion was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and transcripts were examined with thematic content analysis.

Prevention of substance use in children/adolescents with mental disorders: a systematic review.

Objective: WE CONDUCTED A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW TO ANSWER THE QUESTION: Among youth ≤18 years of age with a mental disorder, does substance use prevention compared to no prevention result in reduced rates of substance use/abuse/disorder (SUD)? The review was requested by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care through the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Evidence on Tap program.

Methods: A four-step search process was used: Search 1 and 2: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated a SUD prevention intervention in individuals with a mental disorder who were: 1) ≤18 years; or, 2) any age. Search 3: Observational studies of an intervention to prevent SUD in those with mental disorder.

Intersections of ethnicity and social class in provider advice regarding reproductive health.

Objectives: We examined how ethnicity and social class influence women's perceptions of reproductive health care. Of primary interest was assessing whether health care providers are perceived as advising low-income women, particularly women of color, to limit their childbearing and to what extent they feel they are discouraged by providers from having future children.

Methods: Ethnically diverse, low-income (n=193) and middle-class women (n=146) completed a questionnaire about their pregnancy-related health care experiences.

The hypolipidemic natural product guggulsterone is a promiscuous steroid receptor ligand.

Guggulsterone (GS) is the active substance in guggulipid, an extract of the guggul tree, Commiphora mukul, used to treat a variety of disorders in humans, including dyslipidemia, obesity, and inflammation. The activity of GS has been suggested to be mediated by antagonism of the receptor for bile acids, the farnesoid X receptor (FXR). Here, we demonstrate that both stereoisomers of the plant sterol, (E)- and (Z)-GS, bind to the steroid receptors at a much higher affinity than to FXR.

From the front lines of welfare reform: an analysis of social worker and welfare recipient attitudes.

Social workers and welfare recipients operate within the same institutional framework and share a working and/or lived knowledge of poverty, but they occupy different social and economic positions. To gain a better understanding of intergroup attitudes, the author compared how social workers and welfare recipients explain poverty and perceive the welfare system. The results highlight important similarities and differences between the two groups.