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Department: search.filters.department.Department of PsychologySubject: search.filters.subject.Medicine

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    PublicationOpen Access
    Effect of presentation format on judgment of long-range time intervals
    (Frontiers, 2019) Agostino, Camila Silveira; Zana, Yossi; Claessens, Peter M. E.; Department of Psychology; Balcı, Fuat; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 51269
    Investigations in the temporal estimation domain are quite vast in the range of milliseconds, seconds, and minutes. This study aimed to determine the psychophysical function that best describes long-range time interval estimation and evaluate the effect of numerals in duration presentation on the form of this function. Participants indicated on a line the magnitude of time intervals presented either as a number + time-unit (e.g., "9 months"; Group I), unitless numerals (e.g., "9"; Group II), or tagged future personal events (e.g., "Wedding"; Group III). The horizontal line was labeled rightward ("Very short" = > "Very long") or leftward ("Very long" = > "Very short") for Group I and II, but only rightward for Group III. None of the linear, power, logistic or logarithmic functions provided the best fit to the individual participant data in more than 50% of participants for any group. Individual power exponents were different only between the tagged personal events (Group III) and the other two groups. When the same analysis was repeated for the aggregated data, power functions provided a better fit than other tested functions in all groups with a difference in the power function parameters again between the tagged personal events and the other groups. A non-linear mixed effects analysis indicated a difference in the power function exponent between Group III and the other groups, but not between Group I and II. No effect of scale directionality was found in neither of the experiments in which scale direction was included as independent variable. These results suggest that the judgment of intervals in a number + time-unit presentation invoke, at least in part, processing mechanisms other than those used for time-domain. Consequently, we propose the use of event-tagged assessment for characterizing long-range interval representation. We also recommend that analyses in this field should not be restricted to aggregated data given the qualitative variation between participants.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    High-throughput automated phenotyping of two genetic mouse models of huntington's disease
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Oakeshott, Stephen; Shamy, Jul Lea T; El-Khodor, Bassem Fouad; Filippov, Igor V.; Mushlin, Richard A.; Port, Russell G.; Connor, David; Paintdakhi, Ahmad; Menalled, Liliana B.; Ramboz, Sylvie; Howland, David S.; Kwak, Seung; Brunner, Dani; Department of Psychology; Balcı, Fuat; Faculty Member; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 51269
    Phenotyping with traditional behavioral assays constitutes a major bottleneck in the primary screening, characterization, and validation of genetic mouse modelsof disease, leading to downstream delays in drug discovery efforts. We present a novel and comprehensive one-stop approach to phenotyping, the PhenoCube™. This system simultaneously captures the cognitive performance, motor activity, and circadian patterns of group-housed mice by use of home-cage operant conditioning modules (IntelliCage) and custom-built computer vision software. We evaluated two different mouse models of Huntington's Disease (HD), the R6/2 and the BACHD in the PhenoCube™ system. Our results demonstrated that this system can efficiently capture and track alterations in both cognitive performance and locomotor activity patterns associated with these disease models. This work extends our prior demonstration that PhenoCube™ can characterize circadian dysfunction in BACHD mice and shows that this system, with the experimental protocols used, is a sensitive and efficient tool for a first pass high-throughput screening of mouse disease models in general and mouse models of neurodegeneration in particular
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Planning the scale up of brief psychological interventions using theory of change
    (BioMed Central, 2020) Fuhr, Daniela C.; Sijbrandij, Marit; Brown, Felicity L.; Jordans, Mark J. D.; Woodward, Aniek; McGrath, Michael; Sondorp, Egbert; Ventevogel, Peter; Department of Psychology; Acartürk, Ceren; İlkkurşun, Zeynep; Faculty Member; Master Student; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; 39271; N/A
    Background: a large mental health treatment gap exists among conflict-affected populations, and Syrian refugees specifically. Promising brief psychological interventions for conflict-affected populations exist such as the World Health Organization's Problem Management Plus (PM+) and the Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) intervention, however, there is limited practical guidance for countries of how these interventions can be taken to scale. The aim of this study was to unpack pathways for scaling up PM+ and EASE for Syrian refugees. Methods: we conducted three separate Theory of Change (ToC) workshops in Turkey, the Netherlands, and Lebanon in which PM+ and EASE are implemented for Syrian refugees. ToC is a participatory planning process involving key stakeholders, and aims to understand a process of change by mapping out intermediate and long-term outcomes on a causal pathway. 15-24 stakeholders were invited per country, and they participated in a one-day interactive ToC workshop on scaling up. Results: a cross-country ToC map for scale up brief psychological interventions was developed which was based on three country-specific ToC maps. Two distinct causal pathways for scale up were identified (a policy and financing pathway, and a health services pathway) which are interdependent on each other. A list of key assumptions and interventions which may hamper or facilitate the scaling up process were established. Conclusion: ToC is a useful tool to help unpack the complexity of scaling up. Our approach highlights that scaling up brief psychological interventions for refugees builds on structural changes and reforms in policy and in health systems. Both horizontal and vertical scale up approaches are required to achieve sustainability. This paper provides the first theory-driven map of causal pathways to help support the scaling-up of evidence-based brief psychological interventions for refugees and populations in global mental health more broadly.
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    PublicationMetadata only
    Role of gut microbe composition in psychosocial symptom response to exercise training in breast cancer survivors (ROME) study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial
    (BMJ Publishing Group, 2024) Little, Rebecca B.; Carter, Stephen J.; Motl, Robert W.; Hunter, Gary; Cook, Abby; Liu, Nianjun; Krontiras, Helen; Lefkowitz, Elliot J.; Schleicher, Erica; Rogers, Laura Q.; Department of Psychology; Turan, Bülent; Department of Psychology; College of Social Sciences and Humanities
    Introduction Breast cancer survivors have an increased risk for chronic fatigue and altered gut microbiota composition, both with negative health and quality of life affects. Exercise modestly improves fatigue and is linked to gut microbial diversity and production of beneficial metabolites. Studies suggest that gut microbiota composition is a potential mechanism underlying fatigue response to exercise. Randomised controlled trials testing the effects of exercise on the gut microbiome are limited and there is a scarcity of findings specific to breast cancer survivors. The objective of this study is to determine if fitness-related modifications to gut microbiota occur and, if so, mediate the effects of aerobic exercise on fatigue response. Methods and analysis The research is a randomised controlled trial among breast cancer survivors aged 18-74 with fatigue. The primary aim is to determine the effects of aerobic exercise training compared with an attention control on gut microbiota composition. The secondary study aims are to test if exercise training (1) affects the gut microbiota composition directly and/or indirectly through inflammation (serum cytokines), autonomic nervous system (heart rate variability) or hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis mediators (hair cortisol assays), and (2) effects on fatigue are direct and/or indirect through changes in the gut microbiota composition. All participants receive a standardised controlled diet. Assessments occur at baseline, 5 weeks, 10 weeks and 15 weeks (5 weeks post intervention completion). Faecal samples collect the gut microbiome and 16S gene sequencing will identify the microbiome. Fatigue is measured by a 13-item multidimensional fatigue scale. Ethics and dissemination The University of Alabama at Birmingham Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved this study on 15 May 2019, UAB IRB#30000320. A Data and Safety Monitoring Board convenes annually or more often if indicated. Findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04088708.