19684 research outputs found
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Personality and Attitudinal Predictors of Match Official Abuse:A Survey of Football Players, Spectators and Coaches
No full textDespite a growing body of research surrounding the prevalence and causes of match official abuse (MOA), past studies have primarily drawn data from interviews and surveys with match officials rather than recruiting players and spectators. The present study addressed this gap by examining the prevalence of MOA and dispositional (attitudinal and personality factors) predictors of its perpetration. An online survey was completed by 358 individuals who had encountered referees through spectating or competing in football matches. The survey aimed to explore the prevalence rates of MOA through the perspective of spectators, players and coaches, as well as examining whether perpetration of MOA was associated with aggression, empathy and normalising attitudes (i.e., acceptance of MOA as a part of football). Findings indicated that self-reported levels of MOA (both perpetrated and observed) were lower than previously reported by match officials. Furthermore, statistical analysis indicated that aggression (anger and hostility) and normalising attitudes predicted the perpetration of verbal abuse. The authors propose the utilisation of targeted awareness campaigns and top-down interventions to address the normalisation of MOA among footballers and fans
Diabetic foot osteomyelitis treated with Surgical adjuvant antibiotic loaded bio-composite materials – A comparative retrospective cohort study
No full textDiabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) is a challenging component of the diabetic foot syndrome and the pathway to amputation. It is associated with high morbidity, increased hospitalisation, extended use of antibiotics, and is a significant economic burden to healthcare systems. Conventional treatment encompasses combined medical and surgical management including prolonged antibiotic therapy and radical debridement. The advent of antibiotic loaded bio-composite materials may improve cure rates while facilitating a more conservative surgical approach. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a range of antibiotic loaded bio-composite materials in the presence of DFO. A retrospective cohort study of 133 consecutive DFO cases was conducted over a 60-month period from May 2017 to May 2022 following local ethical approval. All cases were treated with judicious surgical debridement and either hydroxyapatite/calcium sulphate; calcium sulphate; or collagen antibiotic impregnated bio-composite material. The primary outcome measures were re-infection and re-operation rates within 12 months of surgery. 40/133 patients (30.1 %) developed a re-infection at the same location requiring further treatment. 39/133 patients (29.3 %) had revision surgery during the same period. Subgroup analysis comparing re-operation rates classified by specific antibiotic loaded bio-composite material revealed no significant association (p = 0.218). The effect of Diabetes Mellitus control and vascular status did not significantly affect this finding. Adjuvant antibiotic impregnated bio-composite material is a valuable tool in the therapeutic armamentarium against DFO. This material appears to promote a uniformly high rate of infectious clearance while facilitating functional limb salvage
Micro CT evaluation of marginal discrepancies of endocrown restored molars with different intrapulpal depths and materials of fabrication. (in-vitro study)
No full textObjective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of different preparation depths (0, 2 and 4 mm) of different restoration designs (classic endocrown design versus overlay design) on marginal adaptation of restorations fabricated of two different restorative materials (lithium disilicate and PEEK). Materials and methods: Sixty mandibular natural molars were collected as abutments for the restorations of this study, and grouped in three main groups of different cavity depths (0, 2 and 4). Each group was divided into two subgroups according to material of fabrication to (L) for lithium disilicate (IPS emax CAD, Ivoclar vivadent, Switzarland) and (P) for PEEK (Bio-hpp, Bredent, Germany). CAD/CAM milling technology was used for fabrication of restorations. After cementation of restorations over abutments, hydrothermal aging was performed, and then marginal adaptation was evaluated via micro CT technology. Results: Regarding cavity depths, there was a significant difference between different groups (p < 0.001). The highest value was found in samples with 4 mm extension (84.35 ± 18.16), followed by samples with 2 mm extension (66.52 ± 21.86), while the lowest value was found in samples without pulpal extension (59.41 ± 22.16). Post hoc pairwise comparisons showed samples with 4 mm extension to have a significantly higher value than samples without extension (p < 0.001). Regarding materials of fabrication, PEEK (85.32 ± 12.37) had a significantly higher value than Emax (54.86 ± 20.86) (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Increasing intrapulpal cavity depths increases vertical marginal gap of lithium disilicate or PEEK restorations. Endocrowns fabricated of lithium disilicate show less marginal discrepancies than that of endocrowns fabricated of PEEK.</p
Child abduction murder investigations:an exploration of investigative barriers from the perspective of the Senior Investigating Officer
Get PDFPurpose: Child abduction murder (CAM) is a rare offence within the wider spectrum of child victimisation offences, yet its occurrence carries catastrophic consequences for victims’ families, police officers and society in general. Its complex and infrequent nature indicates that there is limited knowledge available to investigators and academics. The present study addressed this paucity of literature by examining the investigative difficulties experienced by Senior Investigating Officers (SIO) from the UK during CAM cases. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews with eight SIOs who had investigated a major CAM case were thematically analysed to identify the challenges faced by investigators during such investigations. Findings: Three cross-cutting themes of investigative challenges were identified: Media Management, Organisational and Procedural Complexity and Operational Stressors, each with their own subthemes and constructs. The identified themes are areas of research in their own right, which if examined in future research, have the potential to assist in the continued improvement of CAM investigations. Originality/value: The current study addresses a heavily under-researched form of criminal investigation and is the first to directly explore the investigative challenges synonymous with CAM investigations. The findings highlight areas that investigative agencies need to address to improve investigative practise.</p
A socially prescribed creative play intervention for new parents:investigating post traumatic stress around birth and changes in postnatal depression and reflective function
No full textBackground: Parenthood is a key transition period which involve emotional, social and physical adjustments. Social prescribing is a method that connects people to community-based activities, groups, and services to addressing various needs impacting their health and wellbeing. This pilot investigation aimed to assess whether a curated socially prescribed creative play programme would impact upon new parents’ social connection, mental health and reflective function through a programme designed to support these changes. Methods: This study was part of a 5-week long socially prescribed creative play programme at a family theatre company in the North of England, aimed at providing social capital to families while teaching creative play. In total, 57 parents (M = 30.73, SD = 6.20) completed baseline and post-intervention measures of birth trauma experiences (City Birth Trauma Scale), postnatal depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) reflective function (Reflective Functioning Questionnaire), and qualitative, open-ended questions on social opportunities. Descriptive analyses were completed using t-tests and chi-square tests, while repeated measures ANOVAs were used to answer questions around the main analyses. Results: The participants experienced a statistically significant reduction in postnatal depression scores following the intervention, but no changes were found in reflective function or birth trauma scores; secondly, birth trauma scores predicted later depression scores as well as reflective functioning uncertainty scores (but not certainty scores). Qualitative analysis found social opportunities were not why parents came but was, after attending, their favourite part of the socially prescribed programme. Those parents reporting on social opportunities were more likely to reference their own needs while non-social activities were associated with their child’s needs. Conclusions: Socially prescribed creative play programmes for new parents could be a “waiting well” intervention. A longer duration and trauma informed focus would need to be considered in future cohorts. <br/
LIME Project Toolkit
No full textListening through play-based methods (LIME): Young children’s experiences of family life in the aftermath of a global pandemic is a British Academy funded project that ran between October 2023 and March 2025. The project explored meaningful ways to capture young children’s voices and experiences of family by focusing on both their verbal and non-verbal expressions. In this toolkit, we illustrate the LIME process that resulted from working with three private day nurseries between December 2023 and May 2024. The project activities were informed by a preliminary questionnaire with parents about what children do with their families, which inspired the design of the kitchen, outdoor and clay trays. The toolkit offers insight, and a set of resources developed during the project, which we hope will encourage anyone working with young children to listen more purposefully and intently to the vast knowledge that the youngest members of society can share with us. <br/
A novel integrative multimodal classifier to enhance the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease
No full textParkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex, progressive neurodegenerative disorder with high heterogeneity, making early diagnosis difficult. Early detection and intervention are crucial for slowing PD progression. Understanding PD’s diverse pathways and mechanisms is key to advancing knowledge. Recent advances in noninvasive imaging and multi-omics technologies have provided valuable insights into PD’s underlying causes and biological processes. However, integrating these diverse data sources remains challenging, especially when deriving meaningful low-level features that can serve as diagnostic indicators. This study developed and validated a novel integrative, multimodal predictive model for detecting PD based on features derived from multimodal data, including hematological information, proteomics, RNA sequencing, metabolomics, and dopamine transporter scan imaging, sourced from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative. Several model architectures were investigated and evaluated, including support vector machine, eXtreme Gradient Boosting, fully connected neural networks with concatenation and joint modeling (FCNN_C and FCNN_JM), and a multimodal encoder-based model with multi-head cross-attention (MMT_CA). The MMT_CA model demonstrated superior predictive performance, achieving a balanced classification accuracy of 97.7%, thus highlighting its ability to capture and leverage cross-modality inter-dependencies to aid predictive analytics. Furthermore, feature importance analysis using SHapley Additive exPlanations not only identified crucial diagnostic biomarkers to inform the predictive models in this study but also holds potential for future research aimed at integrated functional analyses of PD from a multi-omics perspective, ultimately revealing targets required for precision medicine approaches to aid treatment of PD aimed at slowing down its progression.</p
Evaluation of Chemical and Functional Properties of Pectin-like Polymers Extracted from Tomato Using Conventional Acid Extraction
No full textThe present study focuses on the extraction, characterisation, and functional properties of pectin-like polymers from tomatoes. The results revealed that the highest pectin yield (35.5%) of the dry weight was extracted at pH 1, whilst the lowest yield (25.4%) was extracted at pH 3. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra displayed major peaks at 2900–3300 cm−1 and 900–1100 cm−1, which are typical of carbohydrate polymers. A compositional analysis revealed the presence of six monosaccharides (glucose, arabinose, fucose, galactose, mannose, and galacturonic acid) together with trace amounts of xylose, which are typical of pectin (or pectin-like) structures. This suggests that the pectin-like polymers have galactan and/or arabinan side chains. The emulsifying activities and stabilities were ≥50% and ≥96%, respectively. The pectin-like polymers also demonstrated notable antioxidant activities (70%) when determined using the 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay
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