Background:
Despite increased awareness of the adverse impact of bullying on mental health, the prevalence of bullying in Australia is uncertain. The aim of the current study was to conduct a ...systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the prevalence of bullying (traditional and cyber) among Australian children and adolescents. This study synthesised bullying prevalence studies on victimisation experiences (being bullied) and perpetration experiences (bullying others).
Method:
A systematic review of electronic databases (A+ Education, EMBASE, ERIC, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus up to 27 May 2017) was conducted. In addition, reference lists of included studies, theses recorded at the National Library of Australia, and government websites were surveyed to identify local area data as well as state and nationally representative data. Overall, 898 studies were screened and out of the 126 studies assessed for eligibility, 46 satisfied the pre-determined inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses based on quality-effects models generated pooled prevalence estimates for each of the two types of bullying involvement (victimisation and perpetration), as well as distinct models for traditional bullying and cyberbullying experiences by the type of involvement.
Results:
Overall, the 12-month prevalence of bullying victimisation was 15.17% (95% confidence interval = 9.17, 22.30) and perpetration was 5.27% (95% confidence interval = 3.13, 7.92). The lifetime prevalence for traditional bullying victimisation was 25.13% (95% confidence interval = 18.73, 32.11) and perpetration was 11.61% (95% confidence interval = 7.41, 16.57). Cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration were less common with lifetime prevalence of 7.02% (95% confidence interval = 2.41, 13.54) and 3.45% (95% confidence interval = 1.13, 6.84), respectively.
Conclusion:
Bullying is common among children and adolescents in Australia. There is a need to improve the measurement of bullying using a standardised instrument and for prevalence estimates to be collected on a regular basis to assess change over time. Wide implementation of anti-bullying programmes in Australian schools is a viable public health approach for the prevention of mental health problems.
Expansion of Hevea brasiliensis rubber plantations is a resurgent driver of deforestation, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian rubber extent is massive, ...equivalent to 67% of oil palm, with rapid further expansion predicted. Results-based carbon finance could dis-incentivise forest conversion to rubber, but efficacy will be limited unless payments match, or at least approach, the costs of avoided deforestation. These include opportunity costs (timber and rubber profits), plus carbon finance scheme setup (transaction) and implementation costs. Using comprehensive Cambodian forest data, exploring scenarios of selective logging and conversion, and assuming land-use choice is based on net present value, we find that carbon prices of $30-$51 per tCO
are needed to break even against costs, higher than those currently paid on carbon markets or through carbon funds. To defend forests from rubber, either carbon prices must be increased, or other strategies are needed, such as corporate zero-deforestation pledges, and governmental regulation and enforcement of forest protection.
Quantum simulation using synthetic systems is a promising route to solve outstanding quantum many-body problems in regimes where other approaches, including numerical ones, fail
. Many platforms are ...being developed towards this goal, in particular based on trapped ions
, superconducting circuits
, neutral atoms
or molecules
. All of these platforms face two key challenges: scaling up the ensemble size while retaining high-quality control over the parameters, and validating the outputs for these large systems. Here we use programmable arrays of individual atoms trapped in optical tweezers, with interactions controlled by laser excitation to Rydberg states
, to implement an iconic many-body problem-the antiferromagnetic two-dimensional transverse-field Ising model. We push this platform to a regime with up to 196 atoms manipulated with high fidelity and probe the antiferromagnetic order by dynamically tuning the parameters of the Hamiltonian. We illustrate the versatility of our platform by exploring various system sizes on two qualitatively different geometries-square and triangular arrays. We obtain good agreement with numerical calculations up to a computationally feasible size (approximately 100 particles). This work demonstrates that our platform can be readily used to address open questions in many-body physics.
The paradigm‐changing opportunities of biologging sensors for ecological research, especially movement ecology, are vast, but the crucial questions of how best to match the most appropriate sensors ...and sensor combinations to specific biological questions and how to analyse complex biologging data, are mostly ignored.
Here, we fill this gap by reviewing how to optimize the use of biologging techniques to answer questions in movement ecology and synthesize this into an Integrated Biologging Framework (IBF).
We highlight that multisensor approaches are a new frontier in biologging, while identifying current limitations and avenues for future development in sensor technology.
We focus on the importance of efficient data exploration, and more advanced multidimensional visualization methods, combined with appropriate archiving and sharing approaches, to tackle the big data issues presented by biologging. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities in matching the peculiarities of specific sensor data to the statistical models used, highlighting at the same time the large advances which will be required in the latter to properly analyse biologging data.
Taking advantage of the biologging revolution will require a large improvement in the theoretical and mathematical foundations of movement ecology, to include the rich set of high‐frequency multivariate data, which greatly expand the fundamentally limited and coarse data that could be collected using location‐only technology such as GPS. Equally important will be the establishment of multidisciplinary collaborations to catalyse the opportunities offered by current and future biologging technology. If this is achieved, clear potential exists for developing a vastly improved mechanistic understanding of animal movements and their roles in ecological processes and for building realistic predictive models.
This paper reviews how to optimize the use of biologging techniques to answer the big questions in movement ecology. The authors identify four critical areas—questions, sensors, data and analysis—and synthesize this into an Integrated Biologging Framework (IBF), highlighting the importance of multidisciplinary collaborations and ethical issues and identify key future developments.
To identify health and psychosocial problems associated with bullying victimization and conduct a meta-analysis summarizing the causal evidence.
A systematic review was conducted using PubMed, ...EMBASE, ERIC and PsycINFO electronic databases up to 28 February 2015. The study included published longitudinal and cross-sectional articles that examined health and psychosocial consequences of bullying victimization. All meta-analyses were based on quality-effects models. Evidence for causality was assessed using Bradford Hill criteria and the grading system developed by the World Cancer Research Fund.
Out of 317 articles assessed for eligibility, 165 satisfied the predetermined inclusion criteria for meta-analysis. Statistically significant associations were observed between bullying victimization and a wide range of adverse health and psychosocial problems. The evidence was strongest for causal associations between bullying victimization and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, poor general health and suicidal ideation and behaviours. Probable causal associations existed between bullying victimization and tobacco and illicit drug use.
Strong evidence exists for a causal relationship between bullying victimization, mental health problems and substance use. Evidence also exists for associations between bullying victimization and other adverse health and psychosocial problems, however, there is insufficient evidence to conclude causality. The strong evidence that bullying victimization is causative of mental illness highlights the need for schools to implement effective interventions to address bullying behaviours.
The current obesity pandemic results from a physiological imbalance in which energy intake chronically exceeds energy expenditure (EE), and prevention and treatment strategies remain generally ...ineffective. Approaches designed to increase EE have been informed by decades of experiments in rodent models designed to stimulate adaptive thermogenesis, a long-term increase in metabolism, primarily induced by chronic cold exposure. At the cellular level, thermogenesis is achieved through increased rates of futile cycling, which are observed in several systems, most notably the regulated uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation from ATP generation by uncoupling protein 1, a tissue-specific protein present in mitochondria of brown adipose tissue (BAT). Physiological activation of BAT and other organ thermogenesis occurs through β-adrenergic receptors (AR), and considerable effort over the past 5 decades has been directed toward developing AR agonists capable of safely achieving a net negative energy balance while avoiding unwanted cardiovascular side effects. Recent discoveries of other BAT futile cycles based on creatine and succinate have provided additional targets. Complicating the current and developing pharmacological-, cold-, and exercise-based methods to increase EE is the emerging evidence for strong physiological drives toward restoring lost weight over the long term. Future studies will need to address technical challenges such as how to accurately measure individual tissue thermogenesis in humans; how to safely activate BAT and other organ thermogenesis; and how to sustain a negative energy balance over many years of treatment.
Youth with chronic medical conditions (CMCs) have been reported to be at increased risk for developing anxiety disorders. Importantly, suffering from anxiety may also have an impact on their ...disease-related outcomes. This study set out to systematically review the literature on anxiety and seven CMCs (asthma, congenital heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and sickle cell disease) among youth.
A systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA statement. Searches were conducted across PubMed, PsycNET, Embase, and reference lists of the included studies (1990-2018). Three independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts and conducted full-text assessment. Studies were included if they reported the prevalence of anxiety or the association of anxiety on disease-related outcomes in children and/or adolescents with the focal CMCs.
A total of 53 studies met the predetermined inclusion criteria. Across the CMCs, the prevalence of anxiety disorder was increased in youths with CMCs compared to the general population. Evidence for a relationship between anxiety and adverse disease-related outcomes was limited. For asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and sickle cell disease, there was some evidence indicating that anxiety was associated with adverse outcomes; supported by two longitudinal studies, one in asthma and one in inflammatory bowel disease. For diabetes, results were inconsistent; with some studies indicating that anxiety was associated with worse and others with better treatment adherence.
The prevalence of anxiety disorders in youth with CMCs is higher than that in the general population. Anxiety may also be associated with adverse disease-related outcomes for youths, but it is not possible to draw definitive conclusions. Longitudinal studies making use of parent/youth composite anxiety measures and a combination of parent/youth reported and objective measures of disease-related outcomes are needed. Given the burden of disease of anxiety disorders, regardless of the impact on the disease outcomes, screening for and treatment of anxiety is recommended in youths with CMCs.
The need for an integrated approach to studying bullying behaviors, both traditional and cyber, in adolescents is increasingly evident. The definitional criteria of bullying are well established in ...the traditional bullying literature and include (i) intention, (ii) repetition, and (iii) power imbalance. There is emerging evidence that these same criteria can be broadly applied to cyberbullying behaviors; however, important additional elements may include anonymity and publicity in a cyber-act. Fundamental to integrating traditional and cyberbullying are the measurement tools used to capture the extent and range of bullying behaviors. Self-report surveys are widely adopted as a method for measuring the prevalence of bullying victimization and perpetration. The current paper reviews the definitional and measurement issues relating to traditional and cyberbullying among school-aged youth. We conclude that both traditional and cyberbullying behaviors should be measured simultaneously. Operationalizing components of the definitional criteria in self-report surveys will result in more consistent and reliable measurement across all bullying behaviors.
Humoral responses in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are often of limited durability, as seen with other human coronavirus epidemics. To address the underlying etiology, we examined post mortem ...thoracic lymph nodes and spleens in acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and observed the absence of germinal centers and a striking reduction in Bcl-6+ germinal center B cells but preservation of AID+ B cells. Absence of germinal centers correlated with an early specific block in Bcl-6+ TFH cell differentiation together with an increase in T-bet+ TH1 cells and aberrant extra-follicular TNF-α accumulation. Parallel peripheral blood studies revealed loss of transitional and follicular B cells in severe disease and accumulation of SARS-CoV-2-specific “disease-related” B cell populations. These data identify defective Bcl-6+ TFH cell generation and dysregulated humoral immune induction early in COVID-19 disease, providing a mechanistic explanation for the limited durability of antibody responses in coronavirus infections, and suggest that achieving herd immunity through natural infection may be difficult.
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•Germinal centers are lost in lymph nodes and spleens in acute COVID-19•Bcl-6+ GC B cells and Bcl-6+ T follicular helper cells are markedly diminished•Abundant TH1 cells and aberrant TNF-α production are seen in COVID-19 lymph nodes•SARS-CoV-2-specific activated B cells accumulate in the blood of patients
Shiv Pillai and colleagues show that in acute COVID-19, there is a striking loss of germinal centers in lymph nodes and spleens and depletion of Bcl-6+ B cells but preservation of AID+ B cells. A specific block in germinal center type Bcl-6+ T follicular helper cell differentiation may explain the loss of germinal centers and the accumulation of non-germinal-center-derived activated B cells. These data suggest an underlying basis for the lower quality and lack of durability of humoral immune responses observed during natural infection with SARS-CoV-2 and have significant implications for expectations of herd immunity.
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