12508 research outputs found
Sort by
Provision of outdoor nature-based activity for older people with cognitive impairment: A scoping review from the ENLIVEN project
Get PDFYesThe health and well-being benefits of outdoor nature-based activity are increasingly recognised, but older people with cognitive impairment face significant barriers to access. The ENLIVEN project aims to promote access by gathering evidence and coproducing guidance for activity providers. As part of this project, we conducted a scoping review to characterise the types of outdoor nature-based activity for older people with dementia and other forms of cognitive impairment for which research evidence is available and the range of outcomes is examined. The protocol is available online. We systematically searched relevant databases from 1st January, 2009, to 20th October, 2022, and screened articles against the following criteria: participants were older people aged 65 and above with cognitive impairment arising from dementia or another health condition. The study described the formal provision of outdoor nature-based activity away from the person’s usual place of residence, and at least one outcome of participation in the activity was evaluated. Twenty-eight articles met inclusion criteria, all focused on people with dementia. In most cases, participants were attending day care or living in residential care, and sample sizes ranged from 4 to 136. Activities fell into three groups: green day care (fifteen articles), equine-assisted interventions (seven articles), and community nature-based activities (six articles). Outcome domains explored were connection with nature, activity engagement, impacts on clinical symptoms, functional ability, physical, psychological and social health,, and quality of life. Outdoor nature-based activity can be offered as an opportunity for meaningful occupation to enrich daily life, as a framework for day care provision, or as an intervention to address clinical needs. The evidence base for green day care is relatively established, but the potential for addressing specific clinical needs remains to be explored. The paucity of evidence regarding community provision, especially for those not attending formal care settings, suggests the need for effective knowledge exchange to stimulate initiatives in this area.UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Healthy Ageing Challenge and UKRI/Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through Grant ES/V016172/1
Talking about falls: a qualitative exploration of spoken communication of patients' fall risks in hospitals and implications for multifactorial approaches to fall prevention.
Get PDFYesInpatient falls are the most common safety incident reported by hospitals worldwide. Traditionally, responses have been guided by categorising patients' levels of fall risk, but multifactorial approaches are now recommended. These target individual, modifiable fall risk factors, requiring clear communication between multidisciplinary team members. Spoken communication is an important channel, but little is known about its form in this context. We aim to address this by exploring spoken communication between hospital staff about fall prevention and how this supports multifactorial fall prevention practice.
Data were collected through semistructured qualitative interviews with 50 staff and ethnographic observations of fall prevention practices (251.25 hours) on orthopaedic and older person wards in four English hospitals. Findings were analysed using a framework approach.
We observed staff engaging in 'multifactorial talk' to address patients' modifiable risk factors, especially during multidisciplinary meetings which were patient focused rather than risk type focused. Such communication coexisted with 'categorisation talk', which focused on patients' levels of fall risk and allocating nursing supervision to 'high risk' patients. Staff negotiated tensions between these different approaches through frequent 'hybrid talk', where, as well as categorising risks, they also discussed how to modify them.
To support hospitals in implementing multifactorial, multidisciplinary fall prevention, we recommend: (1) focusing on patients' individual risk factors and actions to address them (a 'why?' rather than a 'who' approach); (2) where not possible to avoid 'high risk' categorisations, employing 'hybrid' communication which emphasises actions to modify individual risk factors, as well as risk level; (3) challenging assumptions about generic interventions to identify what individual patients need; and (4) timing meetings to enable staff from different disciplines to participate.This research was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme (project number HSDR NIHR129488)
Oxidative DNA damage and repair at non-coding regulatory regions
Get PDFYesDNA breaks at protein-coding sequences are well-established threats to tissue homeostasis and maintenance. They arise from the exposure to intracellular and environmental genotoxins, causing damage in one or two strands of the DNA. DNA breaks have been also reported in non-coding regulatory regions such as enhancers and promoters. They arise from essential cellular processes required for gene transcription, cell identity and function. One such process that has attracted recent attention is the oxidative demethylation of DNA and histones, which generates abasic sites and DNA single-strand breaks. Here, we discuss how oxidative DNA breaks at non-coding regulatory regions are generated and the recently reported role of NuMA (nuclear mitotic apparatus) protein in promoting transcription and repair at these regions
Governing Cyberstalking via the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Malaysia and the United Kingdom
No full textNoIn the past two decades, the ultra-dependency and unlimited access to the Internet has changed relationships, and communication and have brought numerous benefits for users worldwide. However, as a double-edged sword, such technology has also generated a high degree of risk of victimisation, especially cyberstalking. Evidence has indicated that cyberstalking has led to more heinous crimes such as cyber fraud through data mining and social engineering. Moreover, when the crime transcends into the real world it results in rape and even murder. The use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning has also aggravated the situation where victims are now exposed to various vulnerabilities and risks as it opens new pathways for stalkers to commit this heinous crime. Given the severe impacts of cyberstalking, this chapter will examine the nature of the crime, the use of artificial intelligence in committing stalking, the motives of cyberstalkers and the legal response towards the crime
COVID-19 and the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation
Get PDFYesThe coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic coincides with the tenth anniversary of the recognition of the rights to water and sanitation within the United Nations system. Although water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) remain critical for COVID-19 infection prevention and control, billions of people around the world lack access to basic WASH services in different spheres of life. Mostly affected are people living in vulnerable situations. While the pandemic has significantly impacted regulatory practices and access, key actors in the WASH sector continue to adopt diverse approaches to ensure safety, continuity, and reliability of supply. This chapter explores how COVID-19 influences WASH services and how the rights to water and sanitation can ultimately strengthen resilience to health pandemics? It makes recommendations from the perspective of inclusive development theory, for strengthening WASH sector governance towards ensuring the progressive realization of the rights to water and sanitation during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. Experiences with the coronavirus pandemic illustrate the crucial importance of access to water and sanitation as basic human rights and as necessities for the realization of health, education, food, gender equality, and other human rights (United Nations 2020). Emergent issues, particularly include the high public health risks associated with lack of water and sanitation and the disproportionate burden borne by women and girls, transgendered people, people living in informal settlements, people living with disabilities, the urban poor, migrant workers, workers in the informal sector, people who are sick or living with underlying health conditions, the elderly, school-aged children, and other groups living in vulnerable situations (Banerji 2020; Tan 2020; UNESCO n.d.). These highlight intersecting layers of inequalities in different situations of vulnerability and the interconnectedness of human rights. The pandemic has also demonstrated the imperative of leaving no one behind and ensuring universal access to water and sanitation to achieve sustainable development. From Africa to the Pan-European region, it is a similar picture: there are remarkable inequities in access to water and sanitation based on whether people live in urban or rural areas, whether people are rich or poor, and whether they have any special circumstances which render them vulnerable (Local Burden of Disease WaSH Collaborators 2020; Wang et al. 2019; World Health Organization & UN-Water 2019; United Nations 2020). Furthermore, because of the pandemic, several assumptions and modes of service delivery need to be reexamined to ensure continued suitability for promoting universal access to water and sanitation. It is in light of these realizations that this chapter examines the question: How has COVID-19 influenced water, sanitation and hygiene services and how can the rights to water and sanitation strengthen resilience in health pandemics? This question is addressed from the perspective of inclusive development theory which emphasizes the need to address the social, relational, and ecological aspects of human development (Gupta, Pouw, & Ros-Tonen 2015)
Pottery
No full textYesAn interim report on pottery recovered during underwater surveys undertaken around a series of artificial islets on the islands of North and South Uist in 2022.Leverhume Trust, British Academy, Honor Frost Foundatio
Resilience in caregivers of people with mild-to-moderate dementia: findings from the IDEAL cohort
Get PDFYesObjectives: A novel model of resilience was tested in caregivers of people with mild-to-moderate dementia and was extended to explore whether including self-efficacy, optimism, and self-esteem improved its predictive value.
Design: Cross-sectional.
Setting: Data from the IDEAL cohort were used.
Participants: The study comprised 1222 caregivers of people with dementia.
Measurements: A composite resilience score was calculated from five measures. Multivariable regressions were used to investigate factors associated with resilience.
Results: Greater resilience was associated with being older, being male, and caregiving for older people with dementia. Greater resilience was also observed when people with dementia had fewer functional difficulties and/or fewer neuropsychiatric symptoms, there was a stronger dyadic relationship, and the caregiver had fewer social restrictions, less neuroticism, and greater perceived competence. Surprisingly, caregiver self-efficacy, optimism, and self-esteem were unrelated to resilience.
Conclusion: Caregivers of people with mild-to-moderate dementia generally scored well for resilience. Resilience was associated with both the personal characteristics of caregivers and level of care need among people with dementia. Future work is needed to determine whether the caregivers in this cohort appeared resilient because the care recipients had relatively low care needs and consequently placed fewer demands on caregiver well-being than would be the case where dementia is more advanced.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through grant ES/L001853/2. Alzheimer's Society, grant number 348, AS-PR2-16-001
The role of children's hospices in supporting the implementation of perinatal palliative care and advance care planning in the United Kingdom
No full textYesCommentary on: Shaw KL, Spry J, Cummins C, et al. Advance care planning in perinatal settings: national survey of implementation using Normalisation Process Theory. Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition Published Online First: 14 September 2023. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2023-325649
Dyadic influences on awareness of condition in people with dementia: findings from the IDEAL cohort
Get PDFYesThe discrepancy between caregiver-ratings and self-ratings
of abilities is commonly used to assess awareness in people with dementia.
We investigated the contribution of caregiver and dyadic characteristics to the
difference in perspective between caregiver-informants and people with dementia
about difficulties experienced, when considering awareness of condition.
Methods: We conducted exploratory cross-sectional analyses using data from
the IDEAL cohort. Participants were 1,038 community-dwelling people with
mild-to-moderate dementia, and coresident spouse/partner caregivers. The
Representations and Adjustment to Dementia Index (RADIX) checklist reporting
difficulties commonly experienced in dementia was completed by 960 caregiver-informants and 989 people with dementia. Difference in scores was calculated
for 916 dyads. Demographic information, cognition, informant-rated functional
ability and neuropsychiatric symptoms were recorded for the person with
dementia. Self-reported data were collected on mood, comorbidity, religion,
importance of religion, relationship quality, and caregiver stress.
Results: For most dyads, caregivers reported more RADIX difficulties than people
with dementia. Caregiver RADIX ratings were more closely associated with
informant-rated functional ability and neuropsychiatric symptoms than with
cognition. More RADIX difficulties and higher stress were reported by female
caregivers. Greater RADIX difference was associated with more caregiver stress,
and older age but less depression in people with dementia.
Conclusion: Few dyadic characteristics were important, but caregiver stress was
higher where caregivers reported more RADIX difficulties and/or the difference in
perspective was greater, whereas partners with dementia reported better mood.
In addition to offering information about awareness of condition, the caregiver
rating and difference in perspectives could indicate where more support is
needed.The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The IDEAL study was funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through grant ES/L001853/2. m. ESRC is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). ‘Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life: a longitudinal perspective on living well with dementia. The IDEAL-2 study’ is funded by Alzheimer’s Society, grant number 348, AS-PR2-16-001
A Semantic Complex Event Processing Framework for Internet of Things Applications. Towards Detecting Complex Events in Stream Processing
Get PDFThe rapid growth of the internet of things (IoT) has led to an overwhelming
volume of data generated by interconnected devices. Effectively extracting
valuable insights from this data in real-time is crucial for informed
decision-making and optimizing IoT applications. This research explores
the integration of traditional complex event processing (CEP) with semantic
web technologies to detect complex events in real-time streaming data
analysis within the IoT domain.
The research develops a semantic complex event processing framework tailored
specifically for IoT applications. By leveraging the strengths of traditional
CEP in detecting complex event patterns and semantic web technologies
in providing standardised data representation and reasoning capabilities,
the integrated approach proves to be a powerful solution for event
detection. The framework demonstrates enhanced accuracy, real-time analysis
capabilities, and the ability to handle heterogeneous data sources.
The proposed traditional CEP with semantic web technologies framework is
thoroughly evaluated and experimented with to assess its performance and
effectiveness in real-time event detection. Performance metrics, including event detection efficiency, scalability, and accuracy of generated insights,
are used to compare the framework against traditional CEP.
The research findings emphasize the significance of integrating traditional
CEP with semantic web technologies in real-time IoT analytics. The proposed
framework improves event detection efficiency, scalability, and accuracy,
empowering IoT applications with intelligent event processing capabilities.
These results provide valuable insights into IoT data analytics
and have the potential to revolutionise the way we analyse and leverage IoT
data for informed decision-making and optimised system performance.Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) OSS, Nigeri