A Pilot Feasibility Evaluation of a Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback App to Improve Self-Care in COVID-19 Healthcare Workers.

COVID-19 exacerbated burnout and mental health concerns among the healthcare workforce. Due to high work stress, demanding schedules made attuned eating behaviors a particularly challenging aspect of self-care for healthcare workers. This study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) mobile app for improving well-being among healthcare workers reporting elevated disordered eating during COVID-19.

Healthcare worker resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: An integrative review.

Aim: The purpose of this review was to examine resilience among healthcare workers during the coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented strain on healthcare workers internationally. Rising infection rates, inadequate personal protective equipment, and the lack of availability of hospital beds has resulted in further deterioration of the already-fragile mental health of healthcare workers.

Predicting the change in perinatal disordered eating symptoms: An examination of psychosocial factors.

Disordered eating symptoms remain a largely unidentified and unsupported area in perinatal healthcare, particularly as they pertain to women without diagnosed eating disorders. In an Australian prospective cohort study, women aged 18-48, completed questionnaires between: 18-24 weeks gestation (n = 249, T1), 30-32 weeks gestation (n = 151, T2) and 8-10 weeks postpartum (n = 124, T3), measuring disordered eating symptoms, psychosocial factors (attitudes to pregnancy or motherhood, self-compassion, relationship satisfaction and perinatal social support) and mental health factors (depressive or anxiety symptoms). Multilevel linear models examined predictive associations between psychosocial factors at T1 and the change in disordered eating symptoms from T1 to T2 and from T1 to T3, in addition to the moderating effects of pre-pregnancy BMI and pregnancy depressive or anxiety symptoms.

Disordered eating from pregnancy to the postpartum period: The role of psychosocial and mental health factors.

The postpartum period has been identified as high-risk period for the increase of disordered eating. This study examined the psychosocial factors-attitudes to motherhood, self-compassion and relationship satisfaction- and mental health factors-depressive and anxiety symptoms-associated with this increase. One hundred and fourteen women completed online questionnaires about their eating behaviours between: 18-24 weeks gestation (T1), 30-32 weeks gestation (T2) and 8-10 weeks postpartum (T3).

Psychosocial factors, mental health symptoms, and disordered eating during pregnancy.

Objective: The impact of disordered eating extends beyond women with a diagnosed eating disorder. Scarce research to date has investigated disordered eating in a general perinatal population, including the complex interplay between psychosocial factors, mental health symptoms, and disordered eating at numerous pregnancy periods. Specifically, maternal attitudes and relationship satisfaction are psychosocial factors that have been identified as a gap in the literature.

Disordered eating and the perinatal period: A systematic review and best evidence synthesis of mental health and psychosocial correlates.

Objective: This paper systematically reviews the literature to date on the relationship between disordered eating and mental health, psychological and social factors during pregnancy and the post-partum period, as well as the direction of associations.

Methods: Peer reviewed articles were sourced from seven databases: PsycINFO, CINAHL, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection, Academic Search Complete, Scopus (MEDLINE), Web of Science, and Proquest. A quality review and best evidence synthesis was conducted.

Doxycycline improves cage activity, but not exercised, supraspinatus tendon and muscle in a rat model.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of doxycycline, a broad-spectrum MMP inhibitor, on cage activity and exercised supraspinatus tendon and muscle using a Sprague-Dawley rat model of non-injurious exercise. Because exercise may alter muscle and tendon MMP activity and matrix turnover, we hypothesized that doxycycline would abolish the beneficial adaptations found with exercise but have no effect on cage activity muscle and tendon properties. Rats were divided into acute or chronic exercise (EX) or cage activity (CA) groups, and half of the rats received doxycycline orally.

Rat supraspinatus tendon responds acutely and chronically to exercise.

The objective of this study was to identify acute responses and chronic adaptations of supraspinatus tendon to noninjurious exercise. We hypothesized that chronic exercise (EX) increases tendon mechanical properties, and a single exercise bout increases matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity acutely. Rats were divided into acute or chronic EX or cage activity groups.

Ibuprofen Differentially Affects Supraspinatus Muscle and Tendon Adaptations to Exercise in a Rat Model.

Background: Previous studies have shown that ibuprofen is detrimental to tissue healing after acute injury; however, the effects of ibuprofen when combined with noninjurious exercise are debated.

Hypothesis: Administration of ibuprofen to rats undergoing a noninjurious treadmill exercise protocol will abolish the beneficial adaptations found with exercise but will have no effect on sedentary muscle and tendon properties.

Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.

Antenatal dietary patterns and depressive symptoms during pregnancy and early post-partum.

Perinatal depression is a debilitating disorder experienced during pregnancy and/or the first year post-partum. Recently, maternal dietary intake during pregnancy has emerged as a possible area of intervention for the prevention of mental disorders in women and their offspring. However, the relationship between antenatal diet quality and perinatal depressive symptoms remains poorly understood.

The association between diet quality and mental health during the perinatal period. A systematic review.

Background: While maternal nutrition during pregnancy is known to play a critical role in the health of both mother and offspring, the magnitude of this association has only recently been realized. Novel, epigenetic data suggest that maternal dietary intake has permanent phenotypic consequences for offspring, highlighting the potency of antenatal diet. To date, the relationship between poor antenatal diet and maternal mental health specifically, remains poorly understood.

Dynamic asymmetry and the role of the conserved active-site thiol in rabbit muscle creatine kinase.

Symmetric and asymmetric crystal structures of the apo and transition state analogue forms, respectively, of the dimeric rabbit muscle creatine kinase have invoked an "induced fit" explanation for asymmetry between the two subunits and their active sites. However, previously reported thiol reactivity studies at the dual active-site cysteine 283 residues suggest a more latent asymmetry between the two subunits. The role of that highly conserved active-site cysteine has also not been clearly determined.

Covalently bound azido groups are very specific water sensors, even in hydrogen-bonding environments.

Covalently bound azido groups are found in many commercially available biomolecular precursors and substrates, and the NNN asymmetric stretching band of these groups is a strong infrared absorber that appears in a spectral region clear of other signals. In order to evaluate comprehensively the solvatochromism of the asymmetric azido NNN stretching band for site-specific use in biomolecular contexts, infrared spectra of the model compounds 5-azido,1-pentanoic acid and 3-(p-azidophenyl),1-propanoic acid were acquired in a large variety of nonpolar, polar, and hydrogen-bond-donating solvents, as well as mixed aqueous-organic solvents. Spectra in pure solvents indicated that the aliphatic NNN stretching frequency maximum does not depend on solvent polarity, while the aromatic NNN frequency displays a weak but nonzero sensitivity to polarity.