Marta M. Marques

Oriented Immobilization of a Membrane-Bound Hydrogenase onto an Electrode for Direct Electron Transfer

The interaction of redox enzymes with electrodes is of great interest for studying the catalytic mechanisms of redox enzymes and for bioelectronic applications. Efficient electron transport between the biocatalysts and the electrodes has achieved more success with soluble enzymes than with membrane enzymes because of the higher structural complexity and instability of the latter proteins. In this work, we report a strategy for immobilizing a membrane-bound enzyme onto gold electrodes with a controlled orientation in its fully active conformation. The immobilized redox enzyme is the Ni-Fe-Se hydrogenase from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough, which catalyzes H(2)-oxidation reversibly and is associated with the cytoplasmic membrane by a lipidic tail. Gold surfaces modified with this enzyme and phospholipids have been studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electrochemical methods. The combined study indicates that by a two-step immobilization procedure the hydrogenase can be inserted via its lipidic tail onto a phospholipidic bilayer formed over the gold surface, allowing only mediated electron transfer between the enzyme and electrode. However, a one-step immobilization procedure favors the formation of a hydrogenase monolayer over the gold surface with its lipidic tail inserted into a phospholipid bilayer formed on top of the hydrogenase molecules. This latter method has allowed for the first time efficient electron transfer between a membrane-bound enzyme in its native conformation and an electrode.

Prevalence of personal weight control attempts in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The purpose of this systematic review and meta‐analysis was to estimate the prevalence of personal weight control attempts (weight loss and/or maintenance) worldwide and to identify correlates, personal strategies used and the underlying motives. We included epidemiological/observational studies of adults (≥18 years) reporting prevalence of weight control attempts in the past‐year. Seventy‐two studies (n = 1,184,942) met eligibility criteria. Results from high quality studies showed that 42% of adults from general populations and 44% of adults from ethnic‐minority populations reported trying to lose weight, and 23% of adults from general populations reported trying to maintain weight annually. In general population studies, higher prevalence of weight loss attempts was observed in the decade of 2000–2009 (48.2%), in Europe/Central Asia (61.3%) and in overweight/obese individuals and in women (p < 0.01). Of the 37 strategies (grouped in 10 domains of the Oxford Food and Activity Behaviours Taxonomy) and 12 motives reported for trying to control weight, exercising and dieting (within the energy compensation and restraint domains, respectively) and wellbeing and long‐term health were the most prevalent. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review to investigate weight control attempts worldwide. Key strategies and motives were identified which have implications for future public health initiatives on weight control.

The Human Behaviour-Change Project: harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning for evidence synthesis and interpretation

BackgroundBehaviour change is key to addressing both the challenges facing human health and wellbeing and to promoting the uptake of research findings in health policy and practice. We need to make better use of the vast amount of accumulating evidence from behaviour change intervention (BCI) evaluations and promote the uptake of that evidence into a wide range of contexts. The scale and complexity of the task of synthesising and interpreting this evidence, and increasing evidence timeliness and accessibility, will require increased computer support.The Human Behaviour-Change Project (HBCP) will use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to (i) develop and evaluate a ‘Knowledge System’ that automatically extracts, synthesises and interprets findings from BCI evaluation reports to generate new insights about behaviour change and improve prediction of intervention effectiveness and (ii) allow users, such as practitioners, policy makers and researchers, to easily and efficiently query the system to get answers to variants of the question ‘What works, compared with what, how well, with what exposure, with what behaviours (for how long), for whom, in what settings and why?’.MethodsThe HBCP will: a) develop an ontology of BCI evaluations and their reports linking effect sizes for given target behaviours with intervention content and delivery and mechanisms of action, as moderated by exposure, populations and settings; b) develop and train an automated feature extraction system to annotate BCI evaluation reports using this ontology; c) develop and train machine learning and reasoning algorithms to use the annotated BCI evaluation reports to predict effect sizes for particular combinations of behaviours, interventions, populations and settings; d) build user and machine interfaces for interrogating and updating the knowledge base; and e) evaluate all the above in terms of performance and utility.DiscussionThe HBCP aims to revolutionise our ability to synthesise, interpret and deliver evidence on behaviour change interventions that is up-to-date and tailored to user need and context. This will enhance the usefulness, and support the implementation of, that evidence.

Efficacy of suit therapy on functioning in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta‐analysis presents an overview of the efficacy of suit therapy on functioning in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP).

Health Behavior Change for Obesity Management

Health behavior change is central in obesity management. Due to its complexity, there has been a growing body of research on: i) the factors that predict the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors, ii) the development and testing of theories that conceptualize relationships among these factors and with health behaviors, and iii) how these factors can be implemented in effective behavior change interventions, considering characteristics of the content (techniques) and delivery. This short review provides an overview of advances in behavior change science theories and methods, focusing on obesity management, and includes a discussion of the main challenges imposed by this research field.

Advanced Analytic and Statistical Methods in Health Psychology

A pressing issue facing health psychology research, and science in general, is ensuring precision and confidence in findings of empirical studies. With concerns surrounding the replicability of fin...

Promoting Healthy Eating and Weight Management: Research in Portugal

Psychology, Community & Health, 2016, Vol. 5(2), 80–84, doi:10.5964/pch.v5i2.203 Published (VoR): 2016-08-08. *Corresponding author at: CIS-IUL, Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Av. das Forcas Armadas, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal. E-mail: cristina.godinho@ics.ulisboa.pt This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Attribution of weight regain to emotional reasons amongst European adults with overweight and obesity who regained weight following a weight loss attempt

PurposeDespite the wide availability of effective weight loss programmes, maintenance of weight loss remains challenging. Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with binge eating and may represent one barrier to long-term intervention effectiveness in obesity. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and the extent of weight regain in a sample of adults who had lost, and then regained, weight, and to examine the characteristics associated with emotional difficulties.Methods2000 adults from three European countries (UK, Portugal, and Denmark) completed an online survey assessing self-reported weight loss and regain following their most recent weight loss attempt. They also completed a binge eating disorder screening questionnaire and, if they had regained weight, were asked if they attributed it to any emotional factors (a proxy for emotion regulation difficulties). Spearman’s correlations and logistic regression were used to assess the associations between emotion regulation, weight regain, and strategy use.ResultsEmotion regulation difficulties were associated with greater weight regain (N = 1594 who lost and regained weight). Attribution to emotional reasons was associated with younger age, female gender, loss of control and binge eating, lower perceptions of success at maintenance, using more dietary and self-regulatory strategies in weight loss, and fewer dietary strategies in maintenance.ConclusionsWeight-related emotion regulation difficulties are common amongst regainers and are associated with regaining more weight. Affected individuals are already making frequent use of behavioural strategies during weight loss, but do not apply these consistently beyond active attempts. Simply encouraging the use of more numerous strategies, without concurrently teaching emotion regulation skills, may not be an effective means to improving weight outcomes in this group.Level of evidenceLevel V, descriptive (cross-sectional) study.

Using evidence-based guidelines to inform service provision: a structured mapping exercise within the National Health Service Diabetes Prevention Programme in England

ObjectiveThe National Health Service (NHS) in England planned a national diabetes prevention programme (NHS DPP) with phased implementation. Evidence-based guidelines and service specifications support efficient and effective translation of research into practice. We aimed to evaluate the use of a structured mapping exercise to appraise how evidence, service specification and early phase practice could inform recommendations to guide subsequent implementation of the NHS DPP.ResultsThe mapping exercise facilitated comparison and appraisal of key components from different documentary sources (evidence-based NICE guidelines, service specification, and provider documents). Key components were categorised into (A) pathways into programmes, (B) intervention content (C) inequalities and (D) quality assurance and staff training. We identified where key components were the same (accordance), where they varied (discrepancies) and where they were lacking (discontinuities), across the documentary sources. For example there was discrepancy in intervention duration and discontinuity in intervention enrolment procedures. This mapping exercise was useful to compare the fidelity in translation of evidence-based guidance into service specification and programme documents, thus identifying where future service implementation might be improved. This method may be applicable for use with other health conditions where research evidence requires translation into real world population programmes.

Systematic approaches to designing effective behaviour change interventions to impact health

A systematic review of randomized controlled trials studying the preventive effects of physical exercise, manual and behavioural treatments in acute low back pain and neck painIntroduction: The global financial crisis has left governments struggling to reduce their budget deficits. Loans and taxes are two important financial instruments for governments to close their budget gaps. According to models of temporal discounting and expected utility individuals should experience loans as a greater loss than taxes, depleting psychological resources and reducing individuals’ capacity to cope with stressors. The present research examined patterns of cardiovascular (CV) reactivity associated with exposure to loans or taxes. Methods: We randomised 73 students to one of three groups: loans, taxes, control (baseline). Participants in the experimental groups imagined finishing university with debts and having to repay the sums outstanding as a proportion of their salaried income over the next 30 years either via a loan repayment, or via taxes. Participants in the control group imagined finishing university, and then working in salaried employment over the next 30 years. All participants then performed a variant of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), whilst CV responses were monitored [BP (blood pressure), ECG (electrocardiogram), ICG (impedance cardiogram)]. Results: Compared to the control group, participants in the loan group exhibited maladaptive CV responses during the stress task (higher BP and higher total peripheral resistance [TPR]). Conversely, participants in the taxes group exhibited more adaptive CV responses and did not differ from the control group. Conclusions: Economic considerations have dominated debates surrounding macro-financial performance. The present research highlights the need to consider the psychological costs and benefits of tax-based and loan-based financial instruments.