'If you are feeling alone and you are not feeling safe, it impacts everything': a mixed-methods exploration of international students' accommodation, subjective wellbeing and mental health help-seeking.

BACKGROUND: The international education sector is important not only to Australian society, but also to the national economy. There are growing concerns about the potential wellbeing challenges facing international students in their host country, owing to acculturative stress; including loneliness, isolation and experiences of racism. Risks include poor mental health and decreased likelihood to access support due to stigma, language and cultural barriers, not knowing where to seek help, and poor mental health knowledge. METHODS: This study explored students' perceptions of their accommodation, subjective wellbeing (through the Personal Wellbeing Index, ['PWI']), mental health help-seeking and individual engagement with evidence-based everyday health promotion actions (informed by the '5 Ways to Wellbeing' model) through an online survey (N = 375) and three online focus groups (N = 19). A mixed-methods approach using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, regression analysis and thematic analysis, were used. RESULTS: The PWI of international students in the survey was observed to be substantially lower (M = 60.7) than that reported for the Australian population (M = 77.5). Accommodation impacted on wellbeing (loneliness, belonging, connectedness) in a number of different ways including through location, safety, and shared accommodation. In terms of help-seeking, international students noted a number of barriers to accessing support for mental health: cost of accessing support, language and cultural barriers, lack of information on where to find support and stigma. CONCLUSIONS: In the discussion, implications of the findings are considered, including that more could be done to shape policy and practice in service and facility provision around wellbeing, connectedness, and help-seeking for mental health support of international students.

Utility of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms Screen in a Collegiate Athlete Population.

CONTEXT: Mental health screening as a part of collegiate athletic preparticipation evaluations is becoming increasingly common, but effective and efficient screening depends on a screening tool that can accurately identify mental health symptoms and the need for mental health intervention. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Archival clinical records review. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Two cohorts of incoming National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I collegiate athletes (N = 353). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Athletes completed the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS) Screen as a part of their preparticipation evaluation. These data were then matched with basic demographic data and mental health treatment history from clinical records, and the utility of the CCAPS Screen in determining a future or ongoing need for mental health services was analyzed. RESULTS: Score differences for each of the 8 CCAPS Screen scales (Depression, Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Academic Distress, Eating Concerns, Frustration, Family Distress, and Alcohol Use) were found based on several demographic variables. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that female sex, team sport participation, and the Generalized Anxiety scale score predicted future participation in mental health treatment. Decision tree testing of the CCAPS scales showed low utility in classifying those who received mental health treatment versus those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: The CCAPS Screen did not appear to differentiate well between those who eventually received mental health services and those who did not. This should not be taken to mean that mental health screening is not useful but rather that a 1-time, state-based screening is not sufficient for athletes who experience intermittent but recurring stressors in a dynamic environment. A proposed model for improving the current standard of practice for mental health screening is provided as a focus of future research.

Inclusive practices for diverse student populations: Experimental Biology 2017.

As student populations become more diverse, it is essential for educators, administrators, and institutions to implement practices that ensure the success of all students. This is particularly true in the sciences, as students from traditionally underrepresented populations in STEM compose an increasingly greater proportion of the national student demographic. The Teaching Section of the American Physiological Society sponsored a symposium, "Inclusive Practices for Diverse Student Populations," at 2017 Experimental Biology in Chicago, IL, introducing practices that promote inclusion in diverse student populations in STEM. The symposium began with an introduction to quantitative and qualitative assessment strategies of equity and inclusion. The second half of the symposium discussed structural bias and effective inclusive practices.

Rat chromosome 8 confers protection against dyslipidemia caused by a high-fat/low-carbohydrate diet.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Recent studies have highlighted the importance of gene by diet interactions in contributing to risk factors of metabolic syndrome. We used a consomic rat panel, in which a chromosome of the Brown Norway (BN) strain is introgressed onto the background of the Dahl salt-sentitive (SS) strain, to test the hypothesis that these animals will be useful for dissecting gene by diet interactions involved in metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We placed the parental SS and BN strains on a low-fat/high-carbohydrate (LF) or high-fat/low-carbohydrate (HF) diet for 22 weeks and measured several indices of metabolic syndrome. We then investigated the effect of diet in eight consomic rat strains. RESULTS: We show that the HF diet resulted in significantly increased levels of fasting plasma cholesterol and triglycerides in the SS strain, with no effect in the BN. Both strains responded to the HF diet with slight increases in body weight. SSBN8 was the only consomic strain that resembled that of the BN, with low levels of fasting cholesterol and triglycerides even on the HF diet. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that BN chromosome 8 harbors a gene or genes that confer protection against dyslipidemia caused by the HF diet.

Energetics of hibernating yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris).

Yellow-bellied marmots (Rodentia: Sciuridae) typically hibernate for eight months. This study explored energetic costs of hibernation in young and adults at 10 and 6 degrees C. Age significantly affected the percent time torpid, total and mass-specific VO(2), use of energy during torpor, and daily mass loss at 6 degrees C. Thus young had a higher mass-specific VO(2) during a torpor bout, which was attributed to higher metabolism during deep torpor. Total VO(2) during a bout was higher in young and there were significant temperature/age interactions; young had a higher VO(2) during torpor and deep torpor at 6 degrees C than at 10 degrees C. VO(2) increased at T(E)s below 6 degrees C. Young had a higher daily mass loss than adults at 6 degrees C. Euthermy increased energetic costs 19.3 times over those of torpor and 23.5 times over those of deep torpor. Energy costs are minimized by spending 88.6% of the hibernation period in torpor, by the rapid decline of VO(2) from euthermy to torpor and by allowing T(B) to decline at low T(E). Torpidity results in average energy savings during winter of 83.3% of the costs of maintaining euthermy. Energy savings are greater than those reported for Marmota marmota and M. monax.

Group hibernation does not reduce energetic costs of young yellow-bellied marmots.

We investigated mechanisms of energy conservation during hibernation. The amount of time torpid was significantly less for groups of three young marmots than for marmots hibernating singly. Mean daily mass loss (DML; as mg d(-1) g(-1) immergence mass) averaged 1.33 for single marmots and 1.46 for grouped young. Animals were active 17.3% of the time, which used 82.4% of the energy, and were torpid 82.7% of the time, which used 17.6% of the energy expenditure. During longer torpor bouts, more time was spent in deep torpor, which decreased the hourly cost of a complete bout. Bout oxygen consumption V dot o2, percent time in deep torpor, and body temperature (T(B)) during deep torpor changed seasonally and were curvilinearly related to when in the hibernation period the measurements were made and probably represent a stage in the circannual metabolic cycle. The decrease of environmental temperature (T(E)) to 2 degrees C significantly increased metabolism. Potential costs of low T(E) were reduced by allowing T(B) to decrease, thereby reducing the T(B) to T(E) gradient. Average monthly metabolic rate was high early and late in the hibernation period when time spent euthermic was greater and when VO2 was higher. Over the hibernation period, energy saved averaged 77.1% and 88.0% of the costs for winter and summer euthermic metabolism, respectively. Hibernation costs were reduced by the seasonal changes, the high percentage of time in torpor, the rapid decline in V dot o2 following arousal, and allowing T(B) to decline at lower T(E). Asynchrony in the torpor cycles increased energy expenditures in group hibernators, which negated possible beneficial effects of group hibernation.