Experiences of Users with an Online Self-Guided Mental Health Training Program Using Gamification.

Young adulthood is a period of high risk for the development of mental health concerns. Increasing well-being among young adults is important to prevent mental health concerns and their consequences. Self-compassion has been identified as a modifiable trait with the potential to protect against mental health concerns. An online self-guided mental health training program using gamification was developed and the user experience was evaluated in a 6-week experimental design. During this period, 294 participants were allocated to use the online training program via a website. User experience was assessed via self-report questionnaires, and interaction data for the training program were also collected. Results showed that those who completed the intervention (n= 47) visited the website on average 3.2 days a week, with a mean of 45.8 interactions during the 6 weeks. Participants report positive user experiences of the online training, on average a System Usability Scale Brooke (1) score of 79.1 (out of 100) at the end-point. Participants showed positive engagement with story elements of the training, based on an average score of 4.1 (out of 5) in the evaluation of the story at the end-point. This study found the online self-compassion intervention for youth to be acceptable, although some features seem preferred by users as compared to others. Gamification in the form of a guiding story and a reward structure seemed to be a promising element for successfully motivating participants and serving as a guiding metaphor for self-compassion.

Identification and characterization of human hemopoietic mast cell colonies.

Persisting mast cell colonies from human bone marrow and cord blood cells grown in semisolid agar cultures for over 56 days have been positively identified and characterized using morphology and cytochemistry. Mast cells demonstrated the following features: Cytoplasmic granules frequently contained the specific and characteristic papyrus rolls (transmission electron microscopy); mature cells were positive to the mouse monoclonal antibody YB5.B8 specific for human mast cells (raised against acute myeloid leukemia cells) and RPA-M1 specific for human monocytes but negative to the human basophil monoclonal antibody Bsp-1; morphologically the cells were large (diameter 20-25 micron), deeply basophilic, and contained granules that measured up to 2 micron in diameter (May-Grünwald-Giemsa stain); the presence of heparin by the thrombin clotting time and positive staining with toluidine blue and alcian blue; the presence of histamine by a positive fluorescent o-phthalaldehyde stain; the presence of IgE receptor sites with human IgE and a rabbit anti-human IgE second antibody; and a unique zone of lysis around mast cell colonies occurred when cultured on peripheral blood feeder layers in agar plates that was not present around monocytic, neutrophilic, or eosinophilic colonies under the same culture conditions. Our results identify the cells in persisting colonies as mast cells and describe some specific characteristics that distinguish these cells from basophils.

Neuroimmunological electron microscopy with microwave-accelerated fixation.

Immunoelectron microscopy is an important tool used to determine the precise location of immune complexes. Standard concentrations of glutaraldehyde destroy these complexes. This paper describes a method in which the period of glutaraldehyde fixation is shortened by concomitant microwave treatment. Using 1.25% glutaraldehyde and microwave fixation ideal preservation and demonstration of MHC class I antigen on Schwann cells was obtained by the peroxidase method.